Economic Literature Research Articles

Progressive-Era Racism and Another 'Blaming the Victim' Narrative

This note reproduces a brief article by Thomas Nixon Carver, a leading Progressive Era American economist on what was then called the ‘Negro Question’. This virtually unknown piece represents a striking in-stance of blaming the victim for her/his condition which is to be found in the economic literature of the period.

The impact of ease of doing business and technological infrastructure on economic growth in the Arab world

Purpose: This paper examines the effects of technological infrastructure and a business-friendly environment on economic growth in the Arab world from 2004 to 2021 using a detailed panel data analysis approach. Design/Methodology/Approach: The study chooses the fixed effect model based on the Hausman test with additional diagnostic tests confirming the absence of serial correlation and heteroscedasticity employing fixed and random effect models on data from thirteen Arab countries. Findings: Findings reveal a negative relationship between ease of doing business and GDP growth (Gross Domestic Product) suggesting that improvements in the business environment paradoxically decrease economic growth. Conversely, a positive relationship exists between the human development index and economic growth underscoring the significance of human capital. Notably, no significant relationship is detected between technological infrastructure and economic growth. Conclusion: The study concludes that regulatory reforms and human capital investment are pivotal for economic growth in the Arab world challenging the assumed positive impact of ease of doing business on economic expansion. It underscores the need for a strategic focus on developing human resources and technological infrastructure to foster sustainable economic growth. Contribution to the Literature: This research contributes to the economic literature by highlighting the nuanced effects of the ease of doing business and the essential role of human capital in driving economic growth within the Arab region offering new insights for policymakers.

On the scientometric value of full-text, beyond abstracts and titles: evidence from the business and economic literature

On the scientometric value of full-text, beyond abstracts and titles: evidence from the business and economic literature

UNVEILING THE ROLE OF INDUSTRIES FOR EUROPEAN FINANCIAL STABILITY. INSIGHTS FROM THE ENERGY SECTOR

Extensive analysis of intertwinement with other industries caused the energy sector to gain momentum in the recent economic literature. This paper aims to create an indicator that captures the impact of financial stability for energy companies on all other industrial groups. To this end, we use daily data from 2007 until the end of 2021 to compute financial stability metrics for all European companies from the STOXX 600 index. The main contribution of our study is to harness the neural network forecasting power to predict extreme levels of this impact. We motivate this choice with evidence from the literature that documents the improved performance of these methods in predicting crises. Our methodological approach also employs an outlier detection algorithm based on copula (COPOD) to identify situations when the energy sector substantially impacts other industries and develop a framework to predict out-of-sample situations. We found evidence that the Deep Renewal model has superior forecasting accuracy to the standard Croston model. The main conclusion is that the design of this methodological framework allows authorities to monitor the impact of shocks produced by the energy sector on financial stability at the European level and undertake strategic management actions.

ECONOMIC INTEGRATION ASSESSING MODELS IN REGIONAL INTEGRATION ASSOCIATIONS

Rapid development of economic integration encourages the scientific community to search for models and cooperation mechanisms that could explain the integration processes in the world economy. This paper examines the key models of integration assessment that exist in economic scientific literature - “linear” by B. Balassa (1), “core-periphery” by L. Tindemans (2), “gravitational” by J. Tinbergen (3). The purpose of the article is to determine the most relevant and universal model that allows evaluating the integration interaction in all integration associations. Using the example of the of EAEU, APEC and AC integration blocks, the author carries out the analysis of these three integration models. The study is based on the author's approach, which are determines a set of indicators and defines each model characteristics. The paper highlights the criteria for correlating regional integration blocks with their corresponding integration assessment models and provides a graphical visualization of the models. The findings show that a wide variety of regional integration blocks in the world economy today call into question the choice of one universal integration model from the existing ones. The author develops a new system of indicators which will subsequently help conduct a comprehensive assessment of integration between different countries and groups of countries.

АУДИТ ОПОДАТКУВАННЯ В СИСТЕМІ НЕЗАЛЕЖНОГО ЕКОНОМІЧНОГО КОНТРОЛЮ В УМОВАХ ВОЄННОГО СТАНУ: СУТЬ, ПРОБЛЕМИ, ПЕРСПЕКТИВИ

Introduction. Taxation audit is an independent check of the company's tax reporting for the purpose of confirming its authenticity and warning about additional payments to the budget in the form of taxes and fines that may be added by state control bodies in the future. Problem Statement. Today, the definitions of “taxation audit” and “tax audit” are not clearly defined in the economic literature, there is no clear model of taxation audit in the conditions of martial law. Purpose. To improve the categorical apparatus “taxation audit”, to analyze the place of taxation audit in the system of independent audit; to develop measures for improving the organization of its conduct. Methods. Theoretical approaches to the “taxation audit” category by various scientists, official data from the public report of the State Tax Service of Ukraine, results of the research work of the Department of Financial Analysis and Taxation of the State University of Trade and Economics were used. The methods used are: generalization, systematization, comparison, critical analysis, grouping, evaluation, coefficient analysis. Results. The results of research into the economic essence of “tax audit” are highlighted. The author's interpretation of the “tax audit” category is designed. An analysis of tax audit methods was carried out, a general model of taxation audit for small business enterprises was developed. Conclusions. The interpretation of “tax audit” proposed by the authors will make it possible to identify new criteria for distinguishing (detection) and classifying tax audits, thereby improving the provision of management decision-making, which will provide a greater probability of knowing the object.

Digital technologies for the development of sustainable tourism in mountain areas

The promotion of sustainable tourism models in mountain areas represents a critical success factor for the territory and the environment. In political and economic literature there has been much debate in the attempt to interpret the phenomenon of growth and development with the changing socio-economic environment. Today the topic remains at the center of the debate of many economic policy authorities due to the exodus phenomena occurring in internal areas. In this study, we examined how the resources of mountain areas can create income opportunities as a function of the diffusion of sustainable income. On the one hand, in mountain environments, we have natural resources that represent common goods that must be maintained precisely according to the opportunities they create for sustainable tourism where they represent its essential feature. The complexity of the economic phenomena, which on the one hand leads to an exodus from these environments, determines the need to create new management structures, that can satisfy the needs of the local community and guarantee appropriate management of natural resources. In this study, we analyzed the relationships between sustainable tourism models and natural resource management considering the case of the Ficuzza Forest and applying new digital technologies such as mobile apps that allow you to make hotel reservations, read reviews about the best restaurant in the area, and buy museum tickets to avoid the queue. Starting from the theoretical framework, and subsequently analyzing the empirical case, we highlighted the utility flows that descend from the Bosco. The resulting results have considerable relevance for the planning of mountain territories. The study highlights that the interconnection between public and private management models can guarantee the growth and development of mountain territories.

Can Digital Skills Empower Disadvantaged Castes and Women? Evidence From India

How do digital skills influence individuals’ wages in contexts where caste-based and gender-based social stratification play an important role? We draw on sociology and economics literature to argue that the returns to digital skills in such contexts are shaped by caste and gender, and that digital skills empower disadvantaged individuals to increase their wages. Our empirical analysis of a rich micro-dataset on more than 20,000 individuals across all states in India from two waves of Indian Human Development Survey in 2005 and 2011 yields two key findings. First, we find that the positive returns to digital skills are greater for individuals from the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in India than for individuals from other castes. Second, we find that the returns to digital skills are greater for women than for men. We also find that movement up the skilled occupation ladder is a mechanism that mediates the relationship between digital skills and wages. Our post hoc exploratory analyses suggest that among individuals from the lowest castes (Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes), the returns to digital skills are greater for women than for men, and that returns to digital skills are lower in regions with less developed infrastructure and lower literacy rates than in other regions. We discuss the implications of our findings for diversity, equity, and inclusion research in operations management.

Reconciling Legal and Empirical Conceptions of Disparate Impact: An Analysis of Police Stops Across California

We evaluate the statistical and conceptual foundations of empirical tests for disparate impact. We begin by considering a recent, popular proposal in the economics literature that seeks to assess disparate impact via a comparison of error rates for the majority and the minority group. Building on past work, we show that this approach suffers from what is colloquially known as “the problem of inframarginality”, in turn putting it in direct conflict with legal understandings of discrimination. We then analyze two alternative proposals that quantify disparate impact either in terms of risk-adjusted disparities or by comparing existing disparities to those under a statistically optimized decision policy. Both approaches have differing, context-specific strengths and weaknesses, and we discuss how they relate to the individual elements in the legal test for disparate impact. We then turn towards assessing disparate impact of search decisions among approximately 1.5 million police stops recorded across California in 2022 pursuant to its Racial Identity and Profiling Act (RIPA). The results are suggestive of disparate impact against Black and Hispanic drivers for several large law enforcement agencies. We further propose alternative search strategies that more efficiently recover contraband while also exerting fewer racial disparities.

Resource booms and the energy transition: What can we learn from Dutch economists' response to the discovery of natural gas reserves (1959–1977)?

Geopolitical instability and climate change are about to bring about large-scale energy reconfigurations. Recent discoveries of fossil fuel potential echo important historical episodes, starting with the finding of natural gas reserves in the Netherlands in 1959, which gave birth to the notion of Dutch Disease, in reference to the macroeconomic structural readjustments that followed the resource boom. Recently, the economic literature on whether such a boom might be a blessing or a curse for a country has been growing. What has not received attention so far is the attitude of Dutch economists in the 1960s and 1970s and the lessons to be drawn from them in today's economic research. This article explores how they understood the gas boom, how they anticipated its effects, and the role they played in shaping Dutch energy policies. We show that the 1960s were a parenthesis, and that energy optimism has historically been more an exception than a rule. In situ economists correctly anticipated some but not all of the transmission channels of the resource boom. These results are insightful for the 21st century, as they not only allow for historicizing the concept of the resource curse but also provide lessons for macroeconomic policies in the context of the energy transition, especially in countries endowed with fossil fuels and mineral resources.

‘The Economy is Rigged’: Inequality Narratives, Fairness, and Support for Redistribution in Six Countries

Do narratives about the causes of inequality influence support for redistribution? Scholarship suggests that information about levels of inequality does not easily shift redistributive attitudes. We embed information about inequality within a commentary article depicting the economy as being rigged to advantage elites, a common populist narrative of both the left and right. Drawing on the media effects and political economy literature, we expect articles employing narratives that portray inequality as the consequence of systemic unfairness to increase demands for redistribution. We test this proposition via an online survey experiment with 7426 respondents in Australia, France, Germany, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Our narrative treatment significantly increases attitudes favoring redistribution in five of the countries. In the US the treatment has no effect. We consider several reasons for the non-result in the US – highlighting beliefs about government inefficiency – and conclude by discussing general implications of our findings.

The impacts of exporting to China: assessing the productivity gains of developing countries using an instrumental variable approach

ABSTRACT Developing countries have taken substantial measures to liberalize protected domestic markets to facilitate international trade. However, market liberalization often depends on policies of export expansion and innovations, raising the question: Is export expansion sufficient for productivity gains of developing countries? How does export expansion mediate the relationship between innovations and productivity gains? Are further policy interventions necessary? Hence, this study examines the impacts of developing countries’ exports to China on productivity gains from 1992-2022. Further, it investigates how innovations mediate the relationship between export expansion and productivity gains. The 2SLS method is applied for estimation, which addresses the endogeneity by using export expansion to China from other developing countries. The findings reveal that exports positively impact productivity driven by China’s rise. Innovations and learning by exporting significantly mediate the association between key variables. It highlights how developing countries benefit from China’s growth, contributing insights to trade and economic growth literature.

Impact of Gender Inequalities on Education in Morocco: An Economic Analysis of Barriers and Opportunities

Gender inequalities in the field of education pose a major issue that continues to challenge development efforts in Morocco. Despite significant progress made in the education sector over the past decades, persistent gender disparities hinder equitable access to quality education. This study aims to examine the economic impact of these gender inequalities on the Moroccan education system, focusing on the barriers that impede girls' access to education and the potential opportunities associated with promoting gender equality.Drawing on an exhaustive review of recent economic literature, this research explores the socio-economic determinants of gender inequalities in education in Morocco. It also examines the economic consequences of these disparities, both in the short and long term, with an emphasis on their impact on productivity, economic growth, and poverty reduction.The study employs a rigorous quantitative methodology, analyzing empirical data from various national and international sources. An advanced econometric model is applied to assess the extent of the impact of gender inequalities on educational performance and the country's economic outcomes.Through this analysis, we hope to provide relevant insights for policymakers, researchers, and development stakeholders concerned with promoting gender equality and improving the education system in Morocco. The findings will contribute to guiding public policies aimed at strengthening equitable access to education and creating an enabling environment for the development of all individuals, regardless of their gender.

Sino–Africa Trade Flows: Effect of Interaction Between Africa’s Population Density and Governance

Investigating the determinants of trade flows has been the focus of extensive literature in international economics. Early studies focus on the effect of the distance between countries. However, answers to many important economic questions depend largely on the extent to which market size and stability affect supply and consumption. This paper augments the gravity model with the interaction between population density and governance. It uses a panel dataset of 51 African countries from 2000 to 2019 to investigate the impact of the interaction between Africa’s population density and governance on Sino–Africa trade flows. The main results reveal that China’s exports to Africa and Africa’s openness with China are directly proportional to the interaction between Africa’s population density and governance. However, China’s imports from Africa are inversely proportional to the interaction between Africa’s population density and governance. Also, results reveal the polarization of Sino–Africa trade flows, causing the revaluation of the Chinese Yuan. All other things being equal, concurrent improvement in Africa’s population density and governance is a significant factor leading Africa to depend more on imports from China and reduce Africa’s exports to China. This paper suggests that the effectiveness of international trade policy reforms is conditional on implementing efficient mechanisms to balance global population density with improvement in good governance.

Shaping the Future of Environmental Economics: A Bibliometric Review of Current Trends and Future Directions

Environmental economics is increasingly pivotal in addressing global environmental challenges. This study aims to elucidate the research landscape in this field, focusing on prevalent themes such as climate change, carbon emissions, sustainable development, and environmental policy. Employing a bibliometric analysis, we analyzed a substantial corpus of literature from Scopus. We applied Lotka's Law to assess author productivity and distribution and conducted institutional and country-level analyses to map the geographical spread and institutional affiliations in environmental economics research. Our analysis highlights a significant growth in the environmental economics literature, with a notable focus on climate change and sustainability. A concentration of publications among a few authors was observed, indicating influential researchers and potential for increased collaboration. The rise in publications, particularly in China and leading journals like 'The Journal of Cleaner Production,' reflects a global upsurge in environmental economics research. Distinct clusters were identified, covering diverse topics from climate change economics to environmental policy. The study acknowledges limitations due to exclusive reliance on Scopus data, suggesting future research to include other databases like the Web of Science for a more comprehensive analysis. Considering the evolving nature of environmental challenges, we advocate for interdisciplinary approaches and continual updates in research to address emergent trends in this critical field.

The Effect of Unemployment on Health in Russia: a Systematic Literature Review (2015‑2023)

The influence of unemployment on health is widely discussed in the economic literature. However, the question about the negative direct effect or the deterioration of health of the unemployed population remains open in the context of the existence of a reverse effect — the influence of health on employment. This study aims to assess the statistical associations between unemployment and health status, as well as to identify direct and reverse effects in this relationship in the Russian studies. The authors use a systematic literature review as the main research method. The search is conducted in Elibrary, Cyberleninka and Google Scholar databases to find published works on the research topic in 2015-2023 for men and women of working age. The full-text search identified fifteen publications that were included in the systematic review. The selected papers used self-rated health, mental health, cardiovascular health, and general well-being as health indicators. All studies confirmed the presence of statistically significant negative associations between the “unemployed” status and health. At the same time, employed respondents of both sexes reported good health one and a half times more often than unemployed individuals. Nine studies presented econometric models linking the labor market status variables to health. Of these, only one paper estimated direct and reverse effects for a mental health variable. There was no direct effect estimate for the self-rated health. This gap in the literature will be addressed by the authors in their next article using the matching method. If the assessment of the direct effect is negative, the authors plan to develop a series of policy recommendations to improve the health of unemployed and economically inactive individuals at the regional and federal levels. Due to the innovative approach, this study is of a great value to the research in health economics.

The Model of Social Responsibility of Islamic Banks

Islamic banks, in addition to their "specialized duties", also have "social responsibilities". In economic and managerial literature, this is interpreted as "Corporate Social Responsibility" (CSR), which is a set of benevolent duties arising from the divine and voluntary will that has been determined in the structure of serving the Islamic and human community for Islamic banks. In the Islamic perspective, the responsibility of banks goes beyond the level of shareholder profitability and encompasses the realm of public interest and welfare. Welfare includes both worldly interests and salvation in the hereafter. The origin of these "social responsibilities" is the will of God, from which only wise matters arise. This research aims to present a "model of social responsibility" for Islamic banks. The proposed model consists of structures and variables: the "independent variable" such as governance of ethical and religious values, institutional factors, and economic motivations; the "moderating variable" such as education and awareness of Islamic bank managers, technological and technical factors, compliance with regulations and laws of the Islamic government, the proximity of Islamic banks' location, and convenience for customers; and the "mediating variable" such as market factors (banking products and services), media coverage (advertising), economic-political factors (economic institutions), cultural-social factors (effective cultural-social institutions), international factors (civil society institutions). The "dependent variable" is the social responsibility of Islamic banks. Data analysis was performed using both quantitative and qualitative methods, and the study population is Afghan banks. For fitting the conceptual model of research and investigating the main hypotheses of the research, the structural equation modeling (SEM) method by software (SMART PLS3) has been used, and the research findings indicate that there is a significant relationship between all research variables.

In the 21st Century: Cultural Geography of India

The practice of cultural geography in India is already part of the broader field of human geography. Despite multidisciplinary approaches to the Indian classics, there are rarely hagiographic attempts to self-reflect internal social and cultural phenomena, as Wescott and others conclude. (2003). They also point out that most of the notable work in this field has been done by non-geographers and that geographers have not paid serious attention to the work of geographers for other purposes. This has had the effect of weakening the practice of cultural geography in India. Habitat, economic and traditional anthropological literatures still predominate in geographical publications. These studies include descriptions of tribes and their lives, language differences, and East-West discourse in the representation of cultures and peoples, including new topics such as cinema, the role of media, diaspora communities, religious landscapes, sacred geometry, symbolism, etc. Architecture, and cultural astronomy. The study of pilgrimages and sacred landscapes has also received recent attention, with a long tradition begun by Bhardwaj (1973). Recent additions to these topics include conservation and cultural heritage, always within the framework of an interdisciplinary approach.

Spatial spillover effects of skilled migration on innovation in China

Despite the importance of interregional skilled migration to regional development, few studies have explored its spatial spillover effects and their changes over time. Thus, employing the Spatial Durbin Model, we investigate the presence of regional spillovers of skilled migration at both national and sub-national levels in China. Especially, we focus on the regional difference and change in the spatial spillover. Although our results confirm positive spillover effects at the national level due to the strong mobility characteristic of skilled migrants, developed regions benefit more from spillovers of skilled migration than developing regions, and such effects are divergent in different regions over time. Our findings also indicate that changes in spatial spillovers among regions are closely associated with the mobility of economic factors in geography. Theoretically, by considering the spatial effects of skilled migration on the innovation output of recipient regions, we extend the labour economics literature into geographical economic agglomeration, especially innovation economic geography. Methodologically, we examine the spatial effects at both national and sub-national levels, and capture the spatial externalities; we also apply Maximum Likelihood estimation to assess the endogeneity issues to understand the mechanisms of spillover change over time. The study can be of significance for municipalities in the policy-making of attracting talents and promoting regional innovation.

The contradictions of unconventional monetary policy as a post-2008 thwarting mechanism: financial dominance, shadow banking, and inequality

The global financial crisis (GFC) of 2008 has triggered profound changes in the macro-financial regulatory architecture. Ever since, the interplay between political, institutional, and macroeconomic developments has received increasing attention in political economy, as in the evolutionary macro-financial approach of institutional super-cycles with its concept of thwarting mechanisms. While these institutional structures aim to stabilise the macro-financial system, they may also contradict each other due to unintended side effects. This paper argues that the understanding of thwarting mechanisms can be enriched by further integrating it with political economy literature on finance within the post-GFC institutional setup. It conceptualises unconventional monetary policy as a novel thwarting mechanism and analyses the contradictory implications for overall macro-financial stability with a particular focus on aggregate demand. It suggests three reasons why this thwarting mechanism failed to restore sustained economic growth in the post-crisis decade: First, sustained large-scale asset purchases perpetuate the structural drivers of financial dominance in political power relations, entrenching the role of the shadow banking system within the macro-financial order and impairing the development of other thwarting mechanisms. Second, unconventional monetary policy maintains the tenets of the inflation targeting regime and thereby sustains neoliberal macroeconomic governance with restrained fiscal policy. Third, it exacerbates preexisting wealth and income inequality by redistributing wealth towards asset owners, undermines consumer demand, and thus contributes to stagnation tendencies. Thus, this paper suggests that the contradictions of this novel post-GFC thwarting mechanism contribute to weaken economic growth and thus fail to restore macro-financial stability.