Policy Variables Research Articles

Combining the pieces: identifying key determinants of export diversification in Africa amidst model uncertainty

AbstractExport diversification can be a driver of economic growth. Policies to diversify exports attempt to defy an existing comparative advantage in low-value-added goods to promote transformation. Many structural, general policy, and trade-related variables have been identified as important drivers of diversification. This article reviews the literature on the determinants of export diversification and applies Bayesian Model Averaging (BMA) to empirically tackle model uncertainty stemming from many possible determinants. It assesses the relevance and impact of up to 46 drivers of export diversification for up to 47 African countries and 123 trading partners from 1995 to 2018. It finds that African countries’ structural features are especially influential in determining export diversification, a potential explanation for Africa’s more concentrated export baskets compared to other world regions. Furthermore, trade policies, like tariffs and regional integration, are critical in promoting export diversification. These findings underscore the AfCFTA’s potential to foster export diversification across African economies. A diverse set of non-trade-related policy variables also significantly affect export diversification. Factors such as institutions, education, service sector, resource rents, financial development, FDI and exchange rate stability are relevant determinants in different settings. Moreover, the analysis shows that whom you trade with is also important for diversification, and that context-specific differences, such as specific regional integration contexts or type of commodity-dependence, matter. The results suggest that the goals to diversify exports at the extensive margin for structural change and the intensive margin to tackle volatility, seem often not achievable via the same policies.

Exploring the nexus between university sustainability practices and academic performance: An empirical analysis of the QS sustainability ranking and four world university rankings.

Universities, as agents of change, are expected to contribute to society's most pressing challenges, particularly the 21st century's central issue of sustainability. Amid growing expectations from governments, society, and an increasingly conscientious student body, universities have undergone significant institutional adjustments to incorporate sustainability into their core missions of education, research, and outreach. As universities worldwide increasingly engage in sustainability practices, the question arises: How do these sustainability endeavours correlate with academic performance on a global scale? This article, using data from the QS Sustainability Ranking and four prominent academic ranking (THEWUR, ARWU, QSWUR and USWUR), investigates this link. The study explores whether sustainability relates to the academic performance of universities, the validity of the relationship when academic scores of the four rankings are aggregated, and its dependence on country-level sustainability performance scores. Findings reveal that sustainability practices have a reflection on the university rankings, providing a global competitive advantage for universities. While this study incorporates aggregated scores as a methodological innovation addressing the lack of uniformity among ranking systems, it recommends the inclusion of university-level control variables (such as faculty expertise, university budget, infrastructure) and government and policy variables in future studies to ensure robustness of the results.

Participation With Compensation: Ethical Considerations for Research Payment Practices With People Who Are Incarcerated.

The participation of incarcerated individuals in research is necessary to appropriately address the health disparities that affect them and to adapt and implement health services for the carceral setting. Incarceration significantly impacts health, leading to negative outcomes including accelerated aging and increased mortality, with these effects disproportionately impacting communities of color. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office for Human Research Protections outlines ethical approaches to compensating individuals who participate in research activities, yet lacks specific guidance for payment within carceral settings. Historical abuses in carceral research underscore the persistent need for robust protections for incarcerated research participants. Existing regulations offer some protection but inadequately address ethical payment practices. Substantial variability in payment policies across carceral systems and vague national guidelines pose ethical challenges in ensuring equitable treatment for incarcerated research participants. We outline the ethical concerns related to compensating incarcerated individuals for participating in research and present a framework of approaches to payment. We argue for payment parity between incarcerated and community research participants. More community-engaged research is needed to understand the perspectives of incarcerated individuals on ethical payment.

Regional energy consumption policy practice to promote low-carbon economy

IntroductionEnergy is the fundamental driving force for world economic and social development. However, the growth of carbon dioxide emissions and increasing environmental challenges are becoming increasingly problematic, limiting the pace of economic development.MethodsTo optimize the energy consumption structure and promote the development of low-carbon economy, this study took Shaanxi Province as an example to analyze the impact of low-carbon economy policy variables on the energy consumption structure dominated by coal. The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of policy variables on the evolution of energy consumption structure by constructing a system dynamics model. In addition, this study will explore policy optimization issues.ResultsThe error of simulation results was within ±10%. The consumption of non-fossil energy increased from 2,196,400 tons of standard coal in 2009 to 22.578 million tons in 2030, which is in line with the development trend. Under these four policy combinations, the share of coal will fall to 57.8 percent by 2030. In addition, the share of non-fossil energy sources will increase to 21 percent and the share of natural gas will reach 16 percent.DiscussionThe policy suggestions put forward in this paper are of great significance to the optimization of energy structure led by coal. The model constructed can be effectively applied to practical policy simulation and adjustment, and can provide reference for the development of low-carbon economic policies in other regions.

THE IMPACT OF GREEN FINANCE ON BANKING PERFORMANCE IN INDONESIA

Green Finance refers to financial practices that can be described through financial services and products that take environmental sustainability to support sustainable development. The role of green finance is to connect financial goals with the environment to encourage inclusive economic growth. One form of green finance implementation is in financial institutions, especially banking. This study aims to analyze the impact of green finance implementation in the banking sector on banking performance as proxied by the profitability ratio in the 2018-2022 period. The Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) dynamic panel is used. The Green Daily Operation (GDO) and Green Finance Policy (GFP) variables indicate the implementation of green finance in banking. Other independent variables use banking performance ratios consisting of the capital adequacy ratio, non-performing loans, and the bank's operational efficiency ratio. The study results show that green finance represented by implementing GFP can increase profitability, while GDO does not significantly affect banks' profitability in Indonesia. Furthermore, the internal banking ratio that is not significant to profitability is the capital adequacy ratio, while increasing non-performing loans and operational efficiency ratio significantly negatively impacts bank performance because it reduces profitability. This research supports applying the green concept in the banking sector to improve sustainable bank performance.

Party politics across levels of governance: relational dynamics of immigrant integration policy making in Belgian cities

ABSTRACT Whereas authors have increasingly studied immigrant integration policies across governance levels, little has been done to explore how relations between actors at different levels of governance shape immigrant integration policies. This paper examines how a relational approach can shed light on the role of party politics in shaping immigrant integration policies. We explore whether party (in)congruence between the regional and local levels can explain the convergence or divergence of policy frames in four Belgian towns. Our findings indicate that in Flanders – where migration is highly politicised – party (in)congruence plays a role in explaining the convergence and divergence of immigrant integration policy frames, while in Wallonia – where migration is little politicised – party (in)congruence cannot explain divergent policy frames. We argue that the degree of politicisation of migration might impact the extent to which party (in)congruence can explain the consistency of immigrant integration policy frames across governance levels.

An Analysis on the Divergence of Monetary Policies Between China and the United States and Its Impact on the Trend of RMB Exchange Rate

The monetary policies of China and the US have differed due to their differing economic circumstances and stages of growth, which has had a significant impact on the RMB exchange rate's trend. This paper uses empirical analysis to examine the three channelsmarket expectations, China's foreign trade, and international capital flowsthrough which the monetary policy divergence between the two countries influences the RMB exchange rate. It also provides a detailed introduction to the historical development and current state of the policy divergence between the two countries.The findings demonstrate how market expectations are impacted by China and the US's divergent monetary policies, which first alter the US dollar index and interest rate disparity before influencing the direction of the RMB exchange rate. Finally, relevant suggestions are put forward on how to keep the RMB stable while addressing the strain on China's monetary policy brought on by the US and China's divergent monetary policies.

UK Labour Party Leaders' Attitudes to Conventional Threats to National Security, 2023-2024

Introduction. The article focuses on the securitisation of power threats in the public speeches of the UK Labour Party leaders (Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Defence Minister John Healey and Foreign Secretary David Lammy) during the 2023-2024 election campaign. An attempt has been made to highlight the commonalities and peculiarities in the approach of the current and previous British governments to countering the main threats to national security. Materials and methods. The paper combines qualitative and quantitative approaches: a critical content analysis of sources and discourse analysis in an electoral context (using data from sociological surveys) are conducted, while the frequency of word usage in the public speeches of the Minister of Foreign Affairs is analysed using the tools of quantitative analysis of big data (R programming language). The methodological basis of the work is the theory of securitisation proposed by the Copenhagen School of the theory of international relations.Research results. It is concluded that the main change in London's foreign policy after Labour's victory in the 2024 parliamentary elections will be the prioritisation of security cooperation with European states. Labour Party leaders do not question the need for ‘dual containment’ of Russia and China, but they give the ‘China threat’ secondary importance: there are noticeable differences within the party on this issue. On the other hand, Labour's position on the ‘special relationship’ with the United States is characterised by a steady continuity with the Conservative government's approach. The need to deepen cooperation in Euro-Atlantic security structures (primarily NATO) and continental formats (EI2, JEF) is stated.Discussion and conclusion. On the basis of qualitative examination of policy documents and statements of the Labour Party leaders, as well as quantitative analysis of big data, conclusions are drawn about the key elements of potential continuity and variability in the foreign policy of London before and after the parliamentary elections on July 4, 2024. The results of the work can be useful in forecasting changes in the foreign policy of Great Britain after the victory of Labour in the parliamentary elections of 2024. The theoretical importance of the work lies in the fact that the article proposes a new methodology for quantitative analysis of the foreign policy of the UK.

Identifying and tracking climate change mitigation strategies with a cluster-based assessment

To guide climate change mitigation efforts, we identify and characterize the different types of mitigation strategies countries adopted over the last two decades. The analysis exploits the novel and rich policy repository of the OECD’s Climate Actions and Policies Measurement Framework (CAPMF), covering more than 120 policy variables and 50 countries over 2000–2020. All countries in the dataset increased the number of climate policy instruments and their stringency over the past two decades, but at a different pace and using different policy instruments. Using statistical cluster analysis, we identify four distinct types of mitigation strategies, which differ in the composition and stringency of mitigation policies. Regression results show that emissions are negatively associated with the overall stringency of the country’s mitigation strategies. Evidence also supports the hypothesis that this relationship is stronger for mitigation strategies comprising a more diverse set of instruments, pointing to possible policy synergies.

Addressing the Difficulties and Opportunities to Bridge the Integration Gaps of Bio-Based Insulation Materials in the European Construction Sector: A Systematic Literature Review

Bio-based insulation materials (BbIMs) represent a potential alternative to conventional insulations, with their characteristics that favor a negative-carbon built environment. However, their use may face challenges that could prevent them from being used on a large scale in certain countries. The current study aims to provide focused insights into the practical difficulties and market opportunities for the application of BbIMs in Europe through a systematic literature review (SLR). The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines were used as the basis for the conduct and reporting of this review. A keyword search was performed in Web of Science, Scopus, and ScienceDirect databases to select peer-reviewed English-language articles. HubMeta web tool was used to organize the selection process. The quantitative visualization of the literature was made by the Bibliometrix R package V4.1.4. Data were manually extracted and clustered in an Excel sheet. The review included 28 studies that have revealed interrelated insights. Difficulties range from regulatory and policy limitations and variability in performance, such as microbial growth and inconsistency in the behavior of materials under different conditions, to cost barriers. However, there are promising opportunities, including policy incentives and material performance benefits such as improved energy efficiency and indoor air quality. This research contributes to the literature by providing focused insights into the practical difficulties and market opportunities for the application of BbIMs in Europe. Research gaps and future perspectives point to the need for more field validation experiments, exploration of alternative production processes, and expanding life cycle assessment scopes to optimize their integration and performance. Stakeholders’ perceptions were made with a small sample in certain countries. Stakeholder perceptions were conducted with a small sample in some countries, so insights from stakeholders are needed to confirm or correct current findings.

Monetary Policy and The Financial Performance of Listed Consumer Goods Firms in Nigeria

This study assesses the impact of monetary policy on the financial performance of the listed consumer goods firms in Nigeria. The study uses the purposive sampling technique and elimination method to determine the considered listed consumer goods firms in Nigeria from 2012 to 2023 and analyzed the impact of monetary policy variables of interest rates and inflation rate on the financial performance of these firms, measured by earnings per share as the indicator. Regression analysis was used to analyze the data. The results specifically show that changes in interest rate have a positive significant influence on the financial performance of listed consumer goods firms while changes in inflation rate have no significant influence on the financial performance of listed consumer goods firms. The study recommends the implementation of interest rate policies by the monetary authority that will balance stability and economic growth knowing the positive impact on the financial performance of the consumer goods firms.

Peran Profitabilitas dalam Memediasi Kebijakan Dividen: Studi Kasus pada Jakarta Islamic Indeks 70

This study stems from the phenomenon of investment shifting from the real sector to financial Practice with expectations of obtaining returns in the form of dividend policies. The research examines the impact of Leverage, liquidity and profitability as intermediate variables in dividend policy, for issuers listed in the Jakarta Islamic Index (JII 70). Using several purposive sampling criteria, 25 issuers were selected as research samples. Leverage describes the company's ability to settle obligations with debt; companies with high leverage tend to retain earnings rather than distribute dividends. Liquidity reflects the company's ability to meet short-term obligations; liquid issuers tend to distribute dividends. Profitability, measured through Return on Equity (ROE), is expected to mediate the relationship between leverage and liquidity with dividend policy. According to the Trade-Off Theory, the balance between the use of debt and current assets positively impacts profitability, increasing the likelihood of dividend distribution. The research results show that leverage and liquidity have an adverse impact on dividend policy, with liquidity having a beneficial effect but not contributing to profitability, while leverage negatively affects profitability. Profitability does not significantly mediate the relationship between leverage and liquidity with dividend policy. These findings are important for investors and management in understanding the factors impacting dividend policy decisions in the Sharia capital market.

Analyzing the Influence of Telematics-Based Pricing Strategies on Traditional Rating Factors in Auto Insurance Rate Regulation

This study examines how telematics variables such as annual percentage driven, total miles driven, and driving patterns influence the distributional behaviour of conventional rating factors when incorporated into predictive models for capturing auto insurance risk in rate regulation. To effectively manage the complexity inherent in telematics data, we advocate for the adoption of non-negative sparse principal component analysis (NSPCA) as a structured approach for data dimensionality reduction. By emphasizing sparsity and non-negativity constraints, NSPCA enhances the interpretability and predictive power of models concerning both loss severity and claim counts. This methodological innovation aims to advance statistical analyses within insurance pricing frameworks, ensuring the robustness of predictive models and providing insights crucial for rate regulation strategies specific to the auto insurance sector. Results show that, to enhance auto insurance risk pricing models, it is essential to address data dimension reduction challenges when integrating telematics data variables. Our findings underscore that integrating telematics variables into predictive models maintains the integrity of risk relativity estimates associated with traditional policy variables.

Macro-Economic Policy Coordination and Macro-Economic Instability in Pakistan

This study is intended to examine the impact of macroeconomic policies on macroeconomic instability in Pakistan. This study used time series data for the period of 1990 to 2022. To deal with the stationarity of the data ADF and PP tests are used which suggest the use of ARDL. The existence of a long-run relationship is confirmed by the Bound test. The impact of fiscal & monetary policy is found to be significant in the long run. The impact of the fiscal policy variable (GEXP) on macroeconomic instability (MI) negatively means that an increase in GEXP (expansionary fiscal policy) leads to a decrease in MI while the impact of monetary policy variable IR (tight monetary policy) is found positive and significant in the long run means that the impact of tight monetary policy leads to increase MI. Similarly, the impact of expansionary fiscal policy on MI is effective but the monetary policy variable is effective in the short run. The impact of domestic investment is found to be negative and significant means that an increase in domestic investment leads to a decrease in MI. Therefore this study suggests that special attention should be paid to fiscal and monetary policies to deal with MI in Pakistan.

Effects of trilemma policies patterns on monetary policy credibility

The open economy trilemma refers to the impossibility of a country fully and simultaneously achieving three political objectives: monetary policy independence, exchange rate stability and financial openness. However, corner configurations related to the three policies of the trilemma are increasingly rare. In fact, countries tend to choose a policy combination composed of partial financial integration, managed exchange rate flexibility and partial monetary independence. Given the possibility of intermediate choices, there exists an index able to measure the relative divergence (or convergence) regarding the policy choices of the trilemma. The index identifies whether countries are adopting similar (or divergent) policy mixes in relation to the trilemma policy options. However, the consequences of adopting a more (or less) convergent policy arrangement on monetary policy credibility are unknown. Hence, this study investigates the effects of trilemma policies convergence patterns on monetary policy credibility. The idea is to verify whether a more convergent arrangement of policies related to the trilemma in open economies helps build monetary policy credibility. Our database is formed by 94 (developed and developing) countries with different characteristics. Thus, we run estimates based on a family of Tobit models for different sub-samples of countries, and also considering different periods – before and after the Global Financial Crisis. The study brings important practical implications. In general, the findings show that a convergent strategy increases credibility. The estimates corroborate the idea that countries adopting divergent policies from the global standard tend to be more exposed to economic instability and, as a result, have difficulties in anchoring inflation expectations.

A Multi-State Examination of School District Policies to Address Teen Dating Violence.

In 2021, 13.6% of United States (U.S.) high school students reported experiencing teen dating violence (TDV). Most states have at least one law for addressing TDV in high schools through policies and/or educational programs. Limited research has been done to analyze the content and variability of school district TDV policies across the U.S., and its association with TDV victimization. Twenty-three large urban school districts across the U.S. were included in the analysis. School district TDV policies were obtained through an online search and were coded for the presence or absence of information pertaining to the scope, prevention education, response to TDV, and implementation of the policy. Self-reported TDV victimization was also obtained for each school district from the 2021 Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Overall, 18 school districts had a written TDV policy available online, with 15 school districts defining TDV in the policy. In terms of prevention education, only two school districts used culturally responsive language for diverse populations in the policy. Although 17 school districts included disciplinary consequences for TDV perpetration in the policy, only 6 school districts specified the consequences. All school districts with a TDV policy designated a liaison for TDV coordination. Overall, the prevalence and odds of self-reported TDV victimization was higher in school districts without a TDV policy compared to school districts with a TDV policy. Although most of the school districts had a TDV policy, there was substantial variation in the content of these TDV policies. Identifying and addressing gaps in school district TDV policies can potentially lead schools to preventing and responding to TDV more comprehensively, ultimately creating safer school environments.

Variability, Attributes, and Drivers of Optimal Forecast-Informed Reservoir Operating Policies for Water Supply and Flood Control in California

Variability, Attributes, and Drivers of Optimal Forecast-Informed Reservoir Operating Policies for Water Supply and Flood Control in California

S804 Variability in Practices, Policies, and Onboarding at Gastrointestinal Motility Laboratories in the USA

S804 Variability in Practices, Policies, and Onboarding at Gastrointestinal Motility Laboratories in the USA

Normothermic Regional Perfusion Experience of Organ Procurement Organizations in the US

Despite the unmet need for donor organs, organ use from donation after circulatory determination of death (DCD) donors has been limited by inferior transplant outcomes. Normothermic regional perfusion (NRP) improves recipient outcomes and organ utilization from DCD donors. There is variability in NRP policies and experience among US organ procurement organizations (OPOs). To determine OPO experience, identify operational inconsistencies, and explore needs related to NRP. This survey study included 55 OPOs in the US that had recovered DCD organs and completed a survey on operational, administrative, and educational components related to NRP in November to December 2023. Data analysis was performed from February to April 2024. The primary outcome was the number of OPOs participating in and/or anticipating NRP participation. Secondary outcomes were NRP implementation barriers, OPO education practices, and future needs regarding consensus NRP recommendations and standards. Of 55 respondents, 11 (20%) were chief executive officers, 8 (15%) were chief operating officers, and 36 (65%) were medical directors or chief clinical officers. Forty-nine OPOs facilitated NRP cases: 26 OPOs (53%) facilitated both thoracoabdominal NRP (TA-NRP) and abdominal NRP (A-NRP) cases, 16 OPOs (33%) facilitated only TA-NRP, and 7 OPOs (14%) facilitated only A-NRP. OPOs reported 606 NRP cases (421 TA-NRP [69%], 185 A-NRP [31%]); median (range) case experience was 8 (1-52). Fifty-two of 55 OPOs (95%) thought standardized guidance documents would be helpful. All 49 OPOs facilitated NRP at a transplant center's request; 39 (80%) had NRP initiated by a nonlocal transplant center. Twenty-three of 49 OPOs (47%) participated in NRP without a policy and without a policy pending approval. Positive donor hospital feedback was received by 29 OPOs (59%), primarily focused on increased organs transplanted and prerecovery communication. Allocation challenges were experienced by 21 OPOs (43%); their median (range) case volume was higher than those with no reported allocation challenges (11 [3-52] vs 6.5 [1-29]; P = .03). Eleven OPOs (22%) had incorporated NRP into general donor hospital education. In this survey study of US OPOs, wide variation existed with respect to NRP experience and practice. Allocation challenges occurred more frequently with increased NRP experience. NRP guidelines and standardization were desired by most OPOs to decrease allocation challenges and maximize the gift of organ donation.

Analisis Kebijakan Investasi, Kebijakan Hutang, Kebijakan Dividen dan Nilai Perusahaan Sektor Energi

Purpose: This research aims to partially analyze the influence of investment policy, debt policy and dividend policy on firm value in energy sector companies listed on the IDX for the 2018-2022 period. Methodology: This research uses quantitative methods. The population in this research was 75 companies. The sample was obtained using a purposive sampling technique of 14 companies. The data used in this research is secondary data from energy sector companies listed on the Indonesian Stock Exchange in 2018-2022, the amount of data is 70. The analytical tool used in this research is panel data regression with the help of E-views 12 software. Results: The results of this study show that investment policy and dividend policy have a positive significant effect on firm value, while debt policy does not have a significant effect on firm value. Limitations: The limitation of this research is that the value of the coefficient of determination (R²) is only 62.05%, which is still relatively low because it is below 80%. Besides that, there is one hypothesis that can not be proven, namely the debt policy variable. Contribution: This research can be used as consideration for investors before investing because the three company policies, namely investment policy, debt policy and dividend policy can provide an overview of the firm's condition.