non-OECD Countries Research Articles

Can arms breed peace? The consequence of arms imports from the US on civil wars

While little evidence sheds light on the positive role of arms, it is still arguably possible for arms imports to reduce conflicts. In this study, we examine whether and how arms imports from the US affect internal conflicts in 135 non-OECD countries. Leveraging a two-way interacted instrumental variable, we exploit a time-series variation of arms supply that arises from the political component of the US Congress and a cross-country variation of arms demand measured as the propensity of purchasing arms. Our analysis reveals that importing US arms exerts a significantly negative impact on the incidence of civil war, particularly in recipients with extreme climate conditions, scarce natural resources, or less diversified socio-demographic structures. We further provide explanations for such a positive role of arms imports by examining the existence of a deterrent effect, the enhancement of public confidence, and the strengthening of state capacity.

Democratic institutions and regulatory privileges for government debt

How do democratic institutions shape financial market regulation? Focusing on the government’s fiscal motives in financial market regulation, we present a new dataset documenting policies that governments use to place their own debt in an advantageous position on financial markets. These policies, which we call borrowing privileges, commonly require that banks and institutional investors hold their own government’s debt, and take a place in-between prudential and repressive regulation. Drawing on data for 58 non-OECD countries, we document that borrowing privileges are more likely to be implemented in countries with democratic institutions. Focusing on the mechanisms for this association, we show that several characteristics typically associated with democracies – increased revenue needs from trade liberalization, political competition and transparency, and the growth of financial markets – make these policies attractive to policy-makers. We contribute to the literature on the institutional sources of financial regulation and show how governments balance the growth of financial markets with revenue concerns.

Is timing everything? Assessing the evidence on whether energy/electricity demand elasticities are time-varying

In this review we assess both the reasons/hypotheses for why GDP and price elasticities of energy/electricity demand might change over time, and the evidence from papers that have addressed that issue. We consider papers that have used parametric methods (e.g., endogenous or exogenous breaks, rolling window regressions) and semi- or non-parametric approaches (e.g., structural time series models, local linear estimators). The most convincing reasons for GDP and price elasticities varying over time were: (i) results from reactions to the energy price shocks of the 1970s and early-1980s (that would have affected OECD countries directly and non-OECD countries, possibly, via leapfrogging); (ii) saturation of the demand for energy services (typically at high income levels); and (iii) country-specific events such as policy changes and/or economic crises/recoveries/shocks/transitions. Despite those reasons, the weight of evidence points toward income/GDP and price elasticities of energy/electricity demand that are fairly stable over time. In addition to changes caused by reactions to the energy crises and (other) country specific events, the main exception to effectively constant elasticities is the GDP elasticity of economy-wide electricity demand in OECD countries. This elasticity may have declined substantially over time, perhaps, because the share of energy services provided by electricity has saturated. Lastly, it is recommended that modelers consider a combination of (parametric and nonparametric) approaches and search for consensus among the results.

Migrant Men's Views and Experiences towards Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) and its Prevention and Care in OECD Countries: A Qualitative Systematic Review Protocol

Objective: This review aims to synthesise male migrants' views and experiences about the provision of care services for survivors of FGM/C and related prevention strategies in healthcare settings in OECD countries. Introduction: Concerns among survivors about FGM/C care access relate to the potential impact of newly enacted laws in the healthcare service delivery and whether their decisions to seek care are acceptable to their current or future male partners. Little is known about their male partners' views. Inclusion Criteria: The review will consider articles that include male migrants of all ages who have close relationships with survivors and live in OECD countries. In studies comprising (men and women), where perspectives of men are reported separately, they will be included. Non-OECD countries' studies will be excluded. Methods: The databases to be searched will include Ovid MEDLINE, EBSCOhost, CINAHL, ASSIA, Ovid Embase, PsycINFO, Cochrane Library, J.B.I. Databases and hand-searching of relevant journals. Unpublished studies will be searched through OpenGray and websites of national and international organisations working on FGM/C, including the National Health Services and World Health Organisation. The search will identify English-language publications from January 2002 onwards. Titles and abstracts will be reviewed first, and then full texts will be screened by two independent reviewers against the inclusion criteria. Any disagreements will be resolved through discussion or a third reviewer. The result will be critically appraised for methodological quality. Data extraction results will be synthesised and evaluated for credibility and dependability.

Trade Openness and Public Innovation: A Causality Analysis

The comparative advantage theory perspective has been extended to the public innovation and trade openness of OECD and Non-OECD countries by focusing on the role of tariff and asymmetric effect of trade openness by comparing imports and exports growth with the causal relationship among the respective factors. The study’s findings indicate that trade openness, innovation, and tariffs are linked in developing countries more than in developed countries due to the difference in economic perspectives and policies, which disprove the idea of the tariff being ineffective for developed nations. The causality effectiveness in developed and underdeveloped countries has resulted among public innovation toward openness of trade and tariff but not in case of tariff to trade openness. Additionally, the results hold up to sub-indicators and measures of public innovation, evaluating that input sub-index is more impactful than output sub-index, and both are even stronger in developing countries than developed countries. Finally, this study implied the usefulness of monetary policy to encourage the governments to lower import tariffs, paved the way to increased investment in research and development and collaboration between foundations, businesses, and academia. JEL Classification: H7, H8, O31, C26

Does corporate carbon performance converge in the global market? Evidence from a distribution dynamic approach

Converging corporate carbon performance (CCP) to a higher level is necessary to achieve the global goal of controlling temperature rise. However, it remains uncertain whether all international firms endeavour to improve CCP. Using a panel of 19,913 public companies from 76 countries during the 2010–2019 period and two visual tools of the distribution dynamics approach, we conduct a nascent analysis of transitional dynamics and the long-run evolution of CCP. We find that regardless of investigated period (before and after Paris Agreement) and regional location, most firms converge towards the highest CCP of 10, thereby improving carbon performance over time. After Paris Agreement, the convergence to the top CCP is more significant, whereas more companies cluster around the mediocre CCP (a value of 6.7), thus evidencing an increased heterogeneity in convergence paths. Firms from East Asia & Pacific and the North American regions drive such heightened heterogeneity. Specifically, enterprises from East Asia & Pacific show the least convergence towards the highest CCP, probably because more manufacturing firms in the region primarily rely on fossil fuels and face loose environmental regulations. Therefore, further improving CCP may require substantial investments in equipment upgrades and would result in significantly higher costs. For North America, the results can be associated with Donald Trump's policy towards climate change and bid to withdraw from the Paris Agreement, reflecting firms taking a Republican stand, most likely diverging to mediocre CCP and experiencing a decline in future carbon management. The observed convergence towards the highest CCP is nearly twice as significant among firms from OECD than non-OECD countries, which aligns with global enterprises outsourcing emissions to developing countries. The study reveals the pattern of strong convergence to the highest CCP in the global firms as evidence of collective efforts in the transition to net zero. However, divergence and increased heterogeneity may occur in some regions due to politics, industrial structure and regulations.

Correction to: Electoral Confidence and Political Budget Cycles in Non-OECD Countries

Correction to: Electoral Confidence and Political Budget Cycles in Non-OECD Countries

Assessing the impact of road safety agencies and health systems in traffic outcomes across 146 countries, 1994–2012

BackgroundRoad safety policies (RSPs) have emerged worldwide. Yet, while an important group of RSPs have been regarded as necessary to reduce traffic crashes and their consequences, the impact of others remain inconclusive. To advance knowledge on this debate, this article focuses on the potential effects of two RSPs: i) road safety agencies (RSAs) and ii) health systems (HS). Methods and data sourcesCross-sectional longitudinal data corresponding to 146 countries from 1994 to 2012 are analyzed using regression models to account for the endogeneity of RSA formation, including instrumental variable and fixed effects designs. A global dataset compiling information from multiple sources, including the World Bank, and the World Health Organization is built. ResultsRSAs are associated with a decrease of traffic injuries in the long-term. This trend is observed in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries only. Potential data reporting differences between countries could not be accounted for, and therefore it is unclear whether the observation for non-OECD countries is due to an actual difference or due to these reporting differences. HSs decrease traffic fatalities by 5% (95% Confidence interval (CI) 3% to 7%). Across (OECD) countries, HS is not associated with traffic injury variation. ConclusionWhile some authors have theorised that RSA institutions may fail to reduce either traffic injuries or fatalities, our work however captured a long-term effect in RSAs performance when targeting traffic injury outcomes. That well-developed HSs have been effective in decreasing traffic fatalities, and ineffective in decreasing injuries, is consistent with the overall function that this type of policies fulfils. Results call for revisiting the specific mechanisms which explain why RSAs and HSs seem effective in decreasing different traffic outcomes.

Financial Stress, Unemployment, and Suicide - A Meta-Analysis.

Background: Socioeconomic factors such as financial stress and unemployment are known predictors of suicide. However, no large-scale meta-analyses exist. Aims: Determine the suicide risk following unemployment or financial stress. Method: Literature searched through July 31, 2021. Robust meta-analysis and metaregression of the risk of suicide following financial stress (23 studies) or unemployment (43 studies), from 20 nations. Subgroup meta-analyses by sex, age, year, country, and methodology. Results: The suicide risk following financial stress or unemployment was not significantly elevated among those with diagnosed mental illness. In the general population, we found significantly elevated suicide risks for financial stress (RR: 1.742; 95% CI: 1.339, -2.266) and unemployment (RR: 1.874; CI: 1.501, -2.341). However, neither was significant among studies controlling for physical/mental health (perhaps partially due to lower statistical power). We observed no significant differences by sex, age, or by GDP. We observed a higher suicide risk following unemployment in more recent years. Limitations: Publication bias was evident. We could not examine some individual-level characteristics, most notably the severity/duration of unemployment/financial stress. Heterogeneity was high for some meta-analyses. Studies from non-OECD countries are under-represented. Conclusion: After accounting for physical/mental health, financial stress and unemployment weakly associated with suicide, and the associations may be nonsignificant.

Artificial intelligence and productivity: global evidence from AI patent and bibliometric data

In this paper we analyse the relationship between technological innovation in the artificial intelligence (AI) domain and macroeconomic productivity. We embed recently released data on patents and publications related to AI in an augmented model of productivity growth, which we estimate for the OECD countries and compare to an extended sample including non-OECD countries. Our estimates provide evidence in favour of the modern productivity paradox. We show that the development of AI technologies remains a niche innovation phenomenon with a negligible role in the officially recorded productivity growth process. This general result, i.e. a lack of a strong relationship between AI and registered macroeconomic productivity growth, is robust to changes in the country sample, in the way we quantify labour productivity and technology (including AI stock), in the specification of the empirical model (control variables) and in estimation methods.

Exploring risks and benefits of overshooting a 1.5 °C carbon budget over space and time

Temperature targets of the Paris Agreement limit global net cumulative emissions to very tight carbon budgets. The possibility to overshoot the budget and offset near-term excess emissions by net-negative emissions is considered economically attractive as it eases near-term mitigation pressure. While potential side effects of carbon removal deployment are discussed extensively, the additional climate risks and the impacts and damages have attracted less attention. We link six models for an integrative analysis of the climatic, environmental and socio-economic consequences of temporarily overshooting a carbon budget consistent with the 1.5 °C temperature target along the cause-effect chain from emissions and carbon removals to climate risks and impact. Global climatic indicators such as CO2-concentration and mean temperature closely follow the carbon budget overshoot with mid-century peaks of 50 ppmv and 0.35 °C, respectively. Our findings highlight that investigating overshoot scenarios requires temporally and spatially differentiated analysis of climate, environmental and socioeconomic systems. We find persistent and spatially heterogeneous differences in the distribution of carbon across various pools, ocean heat content, sea-level rise as well as economic damages. Moreover, we find that key impacts, including degradation of marine ecosystem, heat wave exposure and economic damages, are more severe in equatorial areas than in higher latitudes, although absolute temperature changes being stronger in higher latitudes. The detrimental effects of a 1.5 °C warming and the additional effects due to overshoots are strongest in non-OECD countries (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development). Constraining the overshoot inflates CO2 prices, thus shifting carbon removal towards early afforestation while reducing the total cumulative deployment only slightly, while mitigation costs increase sharply in developing countries. Thus, scenarios with carbon budget overshoots can reverse global mean temperature increase but imply more persistent and geographically heterogeneous impacts. Overall, the decision about overshooting implies more severe trade-offs between mitigation and impacts in developing countries.

Green innovation, natural extreme events, and energy transition: Evidence from Asia-Pacific economies

With 90% of global CO2 emissions being energy-related, promoting the transition to renewable energy is the first task of green development. The Asia-Pacific region accounts for more than half of the world's energy consumption, although progress on energy transition is still being made slowly. Thus, this research examines the effects of natural extreme events and green innovation on the sustainable goals for energy transition in 49 APAC economies between 2000 and 2019. The findings demonstrate that green innovation influences access to clean cooking (4.2%), encourages renewable energy consumption (3.9%), and lowers energy intensity (0.9%). While natural extreme events hamper progress on clean cooking access, they increase renewable energy consumption. By encouraging the modernization of industrial structures and renewable energy capacity, green innovation supports such an energy transition. The impact of green innovation differs significantly across economies, with non-OECD countries experiencing a greater influence than OECD countries.

The Impact of Outward FDI on the Employment Skills Structure of Chinese Firms

Based on the panel data of China's manufacturing public listed firms from 2011 to 2015, this paper examines the impact of Chinese manufacturing enterprises' foreign direct investment on the employment skills structure using the fixed-effect model. We found that firms with OFDI, compared to those domestic firms, tend to reduce their employment of producer and finance employees, increase the employment of sales, technical and unskilled labor; increase the share of technical workers and reduce the proportion of producer, finance, sales, and unskilled workers. Compare to intermittent OFDI, firms with continuous OFDI have more employment of sales and technical personnel. With respect to OFDI host countries, OFDI toward OECD countries has negative effect on non-skill jobs, while toward non-OECD countries has positive effect on skill jobs, such as finance, sale and techs job. Using the PSM method to conduct an endogenous test, we find that the key results of OFDI impacts remain robust.

Digital Service Trade and Labor Income Share—Empirical Research on 48 Countries

Fast-paced digitization is affecting all aspects of life, including the way we trade. This study empirically analyzes the influence and mechanism of digital service trade on labor income share using 48 countries’ panel data from 2005 to 2019. The research results show that digital service trade has a positive effect on labor income share. Specifically, the impact of digital service trade on labor income share includes productivity effect, structural effect, and distribution effect. The results also show that the export of digital service trade is more conducive to increasing domestic labor income share than the import. The positive impact of digital service trade on labor income share in OECD countries is more significant than in non-OECD countries. At the same time, the digital service trade’s income distribution effect has heterogeneity due to differentiated national digital service trade barriers’ level. This paper discusses theoretically and empirically the impact of digital service trade on the share of labor income for the first time, and puts forward policy suggestions on formulating more open and win-win digital service trade policies, improving labor income, and promoting social equity and inclusive global trade.

When policy meets reality: the new 18-hour on-call shift policy and the Israeli anesthesia workforce crisis

BackgroundThe Israeli physician workforce faces multiple challenges. These include planned policies reducing physician on-call from 26 to 18 h and, from 2026, allowing only graduates of Ministry of Health approved foreign medical schools to take the Israeli licensing examination and an ongoing physician shortage (2019: Israel had 3.19 physicians/1000 persons vs. OECD average of 3.49 physicians/1000 persons). This study examines the potential impact of these planned policies on the Israeli anesthesiology workforce.MethodsSurveys conducted among 34 public and private Israeli hospital anesthesiology department chairs collected data on their department's number of weekday on-call anesthesiologists and current shortage of anesthesiologists. A subsequent survey collected data on each anesthesiologist in the workforce, including the country where they studied medicine.ResultsEach weekday night there were 114 on-call anesthesiologists; 72 residents and 42 attendings. Using productive work coefficients, this translates to 104 resident and 51 attending anesthesiologists. Furthermore, 21 departments had existing anesthesia workforce shortages totaling 110 anesthesiologists. There were 873 anesthesiologists from non-OECD countries whose medical schools are not accredited by the World Federation for Medical Education, of whom 332 were residents (61.9% of residents). Only 20.1% of anesthesiology residents were Israeli medical school graduates.ConclusionsDescriptive survey data assessed the immediate and long-term consequences for the healthcare system and anesthesiology workforce of two new Health Ministry policies. Implementing the 18-h policy will immediately remove from the daytime workforce 155 anesthesiologists and who will be unavailable to staff elective surgery operating rooms. This will compound the current national shortage of 110 anesthesiologists. It is unclear how to replace this shortfall since there are no surplus Israeli physicians and very few Israeli graduates choose anesthesiology as a specialty. This situation will be exacerbated after 2026 when graduates of certain foreign medical schools will be unable to enter the medical workforce, further reducing the pool of potential anesthesiology residents. Both policies were promulgated without adequate operational and budgetary planning or fiscal or workforce resources; implementation of the 18-h on-call policy has already been postponed. Therefore, new or updated policies must be accompanied by specific operational plans, budgetary allocations and funds for additional workforce.

A systematic review of UTAUT2 constructs’ analysis among MSMEs in non-OECD countries

PurposeThis paper aims to analyse the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) and UTAUT2 constructs used in research on information and communication technology (ICT) adoption and use among micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in non-organisation for economic co-operation and development (OECD) countries. It also investigates the areas of ICT adoption along the value chain in studies using these constructs.Design/methodology/approachSystematic literature review (SLR) was conducted, where 910 studies were retrieved manually in five academic databases. Forty-eight studies were finalised after four filtration levels.FindingsMajority of the studies were published within the past six years, and 85.42% were studies in the form of journal papers. UTAUT constructs more researched compared to UTAUT2 constructs. More than half of the studies investigated ICT application in value chain boundaries, while 16 studies were organisation-wide studies.Research limitations/implicationsWith developments in MSMEs’ technology, the UTAUT2 model must be expanded to internal company operations including finance and infrastructure maintenance. To boost competitiveness and productivity, non-OECD authorities should focus on the cost and user-centric characteristics of MSMEs’ technology adoption.Originality/valueAlthough SLRs on UTAUT and UTAUT2 constructs have been attempted previously, this study contributes to the body of knowledge by focusing analysis on the application of those constructs on MSMEs in non-OECD countries and also by situating ICT adoption along the value chain of enterprises.

The decline of labour share in OECD and non-OECD since the 1980s

ABSTRACT This paper examines the causes of falling labour share in OECD and non-OECD countries since the 1980s by using Karabarbounis and Neiman’s (2014) labour share model. While both groups of countries experience an elasticity of substitution between capital and labour, the factors driving down labour share are different. In OECD countries, export and volatility are key drivers, but in non-OECD countries, the significant factors are financial openness and the capital’s relative price. Overall, technological advancement – as reflected by declining capital’s relative price – coupled with globalization and low economic risk are key factors in explaining a long-term decline of labour share worldwide.

DOES CARBON EMISSION, ENERGY CONSUMPTION AND INCOME MATTER? INVESTIGATING FACTORS AFFECTING HEALTHCARE EXPENDITURE AMONG 61 NATIONS

Empirical studies on the effects of carbon emissions on population health are still in their infancy and its true implications have not yet been fully understood. The purpose of this study is to conduct a comparative analysis on the relationship between carbon emissions, energy consumption, income and public healthcare expenditure in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and non-OECD countries. The empirical research employs the dynamic common correlated effects of mean group (DCCEMG) and two-stage least square estimators. The findings indicate that carbon emissions increase healthcare spending only in non-OECD countries. The relationship between energy consumption and health expenditure varies significantly between OECD and non-OECD countries. Income increases health expenditure; however, the correlation is more robust in the OECD than in non-OECD countries. As a result, the findings recommend that non-OECD governments implement strategic environmental management policies that prioritize clean and healthy air to reduce healthcare costs.

Material Flow Analysis in WEEE Management for Circular Economy: A Content Review on Applications, Limitations, and Future Outlook

Recently, the material flow analysis (MFA) of waste from electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) has attracted much interest from researchers worldwide because of its function as a decision-making tool for moving towards a circular economy and sustainability in WEEE management. However, review studies on the development of MFA in WEEE management studies are still lacking. To fill this gap, 115 MFA studies published in various databases between 2010 and 2022 were analysed to provide a comprehensive overview of current research progress and recommendations for future studies. Three major elements from previous studies were reviewed using content analysis: (i) the trend of publishing in OECD and non-OECD countries over time; (ii) the scope and boundaries of the aspect studied, and the use of MFA in forecasting the generation, flow, and stock of WEEE; and (iii) providing a future outlook for MFA studies based on its limitations. Further analysis has revealed a considerable increase in the number of studies on MFA of WEEE in major OECD nations; however, the number of studies on concentrated areas of WEEE, particularly in non-OECD countries, remains low. Another limitation of MFA research is the scope and boundaries, with very few studies addressing the aspects of uncertainty analysis, circular economy, and life cycle analysis. Due to the increasing number of newly developed methodologies and the absence of thorough evaluation on this study topic, few studies properly utilised the static or dynamic MFA model. Thus, based on the research limitations and gaps discussed, recommendations for future studies are proposed.

Achieving gender equality in seafaring: an analysis of stakeholders' suggestions

PurposeThis paper examines the changes suggested by maritime stakeholders to achieve gender equality in seafaring, a male-dominated profession.Design/methodology/approachAdopting a four-stage career cycle framework, this paper analyzes changes proposed by 423 industry stakeholders to promote gender equality in seafaring. These proposed changes were posted on the Day of Seafarers 2019 virtual wall set up by the International Maritime Organization, which served as a forum for industry stakeholders from all over the world to voice their opinions and suggestions.FindingsThe data analysis shows that the suggested changes reflect many challenges and barriers women seafarers face. While stakeholders from Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries are more likely to call for changes to remove barriers in the retention and development stage, gender equality in seafaring in non-OECD countries is still seriously hindered by barriers in the recruitment stage. The paper also reveals that comparatively male stakeholders are less likely to appreciate the problems women seafarers face.Originality/valueThis paper takes a comparative approach, comparing the changes proposed by seafarers and other industry stakeholders from different parts of the world. This approach provides a nuanced understanding of issues related to gender equality in seafaring by showing that stakeholders from different backgrounds have different priorities.