Recent Economic Crisis Research Articles

Utility of fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) methodology to identify causal relations conducting to cooperative failure

This study focuses on the search for the causes, or combination of circumstances, that lead to business failure processes. There is renewed interest in this subject due to the adverse consequences that the recent economic crisis has caused in the business world. A fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) is thus carried out to identify the combination of financial ratios that points to situations of financial difficulty. The study centres on the cooperative sector, represented by a sample of 56 companies holding this legal status, belonging to various different productive sectors. The results obtained, and confirmed through a number of different robustness tests, reveal the presence of sufficient conditions comprising combinations of variables reflecting high indebtedness, low liquidity, low solvency and small firm size, representing a scenario that would be sufficient for an entity to face business continuity problems. Thanks to its ability to identify combinations of variables that warn of business failure, as well as its ease of interpretability, the fsQCA technique can be extremely useful for business management and the identification of business failure situations.

Gendered Experiences in Pharmacy Education Exposed Through a National Financial Collapse – A Reflection From the Lebanese Crisis

Women have long been drawn to pharmacy; it is often seen as a profession that allows them to balance their professional and personal responsibilities, and Lebanon is not an exception, where the majority of practicing pharmacists are women. Despite gender equality commitments and educational attainments, women are still underrepresented at high positions in the pharmacy academia. In Lebanon, the recent multidimensional economic crisis has added to and compounded existing difficulties. Women have been forced to improvise their jobs and household responsibilities, resulting in an increase in unpaid care and other household work.The aim of this commentary is to provide a critical reflection of the impact of a national financial collapse on the roles and expectations of women in academia, by highlighting the leadership, research, service, and contributions achieved by 2 women academics during these difficult times. These experiences are linked with existing literature to draw some conclusions and suggest recommendations for future research. Our experiences demonstrated that women are engines of recovery, as seen by their tenacity, resourcefulness in adversity, self-reliance, and desire to engage in proactive community activity. The multifaceted crisis in Lebanon has unlocked new demands, where hard-won accomplishments for women should be reassessed, and inquiries into gendered realities for women of academics in the field of pharmacy are necessary. Responding to the Lebanese crisis from the perspective of pharmacy education should include not just repairing disparities, but also restructuring a more robust system with women academics at its core.

IMPACT OF PAK-IMF BAILOUT ARRANGEMENT ON ECONOMIC GROWTH

Government of Pakistan has been facing various macro-economic challenges due to internal and external factors. Pak economy suffers from monetary, fiscal and BOP crisis after every few years building up a near crisis scenario which needs to be managed through traditional stabilization policies most common among them is approaching to IMF. Pakistan’s policy of dependence on internal and external loans is not new and the cost of these crisis management plans has a strong reason behind slowing down socio-economic development.
 The recent economic crisis has approached after facing a significantly harsh macroeconomic imbalance during 2000-2016 while Pakistan was under an IMF Program. To bridge up the gaps in import- export, making up declining foreign reserves, satisfying FATF and support the BOP imbalance, Government was left with no alternative except to have a bailout package with IMF embracing all the attached harsh conditions.
 During the recent past Pakistan failed to enhance its portfolio, put a gauge on unnecessary and luxury exports at higher rates, a weak tax system where tax evasions increases fiscal deficit, lavish exemption and reductions in tax rates rising inflations, expanding unemployment and a weaker industrial base make Pakistan stand on the verge of serious dip. All this has a trickle down impact to the poor masses due to weaker economic policies and deepening corruption in Pakistan. These are the ideal ecological factors which held the IMF plant grow greener and healthier. The present bailout program has a list of policies to correct domestic and external factors and strengthen the economy of Pakistan as it has been doing in many other countered. This paper is an attempt to cover the impacts of previous program and of the recent one on the economy of Pakistan.

Understanding Determinants of Electronic Cigarette and Heated Tobacco Product Use among Young Adults in Lebanon: Prevention and Policy Implications.

In line with the global trends, electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) and heated tobacco products (HTPs) have found their way to the Lebanese market. The present study aims to explore the determinants of e-cigarette and HTP use among young adults in Lebanon. Convenience and snowball sampling were used to recruit participants aged 18-30 residing in Lebanon, who were familiar with e-cigarettes products. Twenty-one consenting participants were interviewed via Zoom and the verbatim transcriptions were analyzed thematically. The outcome expectancy theory was used to categorize the results into determinants and deterrents of use. HTPs were viewed by participants as another mode of smoking. The results showed that most participants perceived e-cigarettes and HTPs to be healthier alternatives to cigarettes/waterpipes and to be used as smoking cessation tools. Both e-cigarettes and HTPs were found to be easily accessible in Lebanon; although, in the recent economic crisis, e-cigarettes have become unaffordable. More research is needed to investigate the motivations and behaviors of e-cigarette and HTP users if effective policies and regulations are to be developed and enforced. Furthermore, greater public health efforts need to be made to increase awareness of the harmful impacts of e-cigarettes and HTPs and to implement evidence-based cessation programs tailored to those modes of smoking.

The Implications of the Recent Economic Crisis on Fertility in Greece

A systematic review of past economic recessions occurred in developed countries confirms that social and economic crises often have serious effects on fertility while, beyond national differentiations, these effects have certain characteristics, e. g. a weak effect on generational fertility;an postponement on the timing of first birth, closely related to a late marriage or union;a close relationship between unemployment and age-specific fertility. The sensitivity of fertility behavior to economic crises is less marked in countries with longstanding family policies and strong social security systems. The recent social and economic recession in Greece took place under different social conditions than many recessions in the past. More women than ever are participating in the labor market, most couples use reliable contraception that enables them to postpone childbearing, while social security and health costs are burdened from the rapidly expanding numbers of elderly. All these factors can affect reproductive decisions and potentially aggravate the negative effects of the recession on fertility. This work, using the latest available official data of Greece, provides an investigation of the impact of the current economic crisis on fertility levels, as well as the evolution of these levels through time.

IN THE EYE OF THE STORM: UNCOVERING FRACTALITY IN GREEK BANK DEPOSITS DURING CRISIS

In this work, we analyze the high-frequency time series of the deposits collected from the systemic biggest Greek banks during the recent economic crisis in Greece. Our focus has been to reveal hidden fractal and periodic patterns using a hybrid approach, which combines correlation and frequency analysis of the original and difference series in a synergistic manner. We find that during the first period of the recorded series featured by the dramatic decrease of deposits, the short time behavior exhibits Brownian motion characteristics with fractal dimension close to 1.5, while a cyclical pattern of monthly repetition (21 days) is detected in the difference series to bound fractal behavior. The Brownian property is also observed in the second uprising segment of deposit series, but it lasts more (50 days) and no well-defined cyclical pattern is detected. Our work reveals that the economic crisis in Greece has gradually eroded the cyclical behavior of daily differences in bank deposits, while maintaining a short-term Brownian motion pattern, albeit with an increased duration.

Fuzzy model for assessing acquired competencies

The recent pandemic and economic crises demonstrated that traditional educational approaches cannot face the today’s world challenges. A creative student-centered approach competency-based approach is becoming the leading educational trend around the world. In this regard, it is necessary to improve digital tools used at university to solve a wide range of new educational tasks. In this paper, a model that allows generating automatically the final testing of competencies is designed, along with the model of results evaluation with help of fuzzy logic. The presented model helps to assess the level of competencies through its components (understanding, having skill, ability), makes the assessment more flexible and adaptive and reduces teacher stress.

Economic crises – causes, effects and ways to overcome

Purpose: The aim of the research undertaken in the article is to review the greatest crises of modern times, starting from 1997, when the Asian crisis broke out, to the last global crisis, which was the pandemic crisis. In particular, the causes, effects and ways of overcoming crises were analyzed. Design/methodology/approach: The article consists of literature studies, which review publications on the greatest crises that have affected the economy in recent years. The research allowed us to determine the scale of subsequent economic crises occurring in global economies in recent years. Findings: During the research, an attempt was made to identify the causes, effects and ways of overcoming crises Research limitations/implications: Based on the research conducted, implications for the future can be identified. They may concern stimulating selected elements of the economic environment in such a way that it would effectively translate into positive effects for the economy. Practical implications: The practical implications of the obtained results may concern the further use by decision-makers of appropriate instruments, which, introduced in times of crises, brought positive effects for the economy. Using them in post-crisis conditions, or building similar tools on their basis, may bring the desired economic effect. Examples include monetary or fiscal policy instruments. Social implications: What will be the impact on society of this research? How will it influence public attitudes? How will it influence (corporate) social responsibility or environmental issues? How could it inform public or industry policy? How might it affect quality of life? Not all papers will have social implications. Originality/value: The article compares the crisis conditions that occurred during recent major economic crises. The value of such research is the ability to stimulate positive economic effects by using the same or modified tools that were used during the crisis. Keywords: pandemic crisis, Asian crisis, Russian crisis, financial crisis, economy. Category of the paper: Research paper.

Magic in Computer Networks Class

Many institutions have been pushed by the recent economic crisis to reduce expenses by cramming students into huge lecture groups. Large auditoriums have the drawback of discouraging student-faculty interaction and limiting participation. Additionally, students typically discover that the discipline of computer science is replete with theoretical and technological notions. They get disinterested and/or unmotivated when there is a lack of understanding. The lecturer should use alternate teaching techniques, particularly for first-year undergraduate students, to pique their attention and introduce fundamental ideas, according to classroom experience. This paper has outlined a few strategies for engaging students and fostering a sense of ease while they learn fundamental ideas about computer networks. Keywords— Dynamic teaching; Engineering Education; Flipped classroom; JIGSAW; Lecture improvement.

Prediction of corporate financial distress in the travel and tourism industry

Currently, most countries in the world endure financial distress due to the ongoing economic crisis. Thus, financial distress prediction (FDP) has become vital in speculating the business continuity for the corporate world. In the context of Sri Lanka, the travel and tourism industry has been highly exposed to political, economic and climate (weather) shocks, as well as being sensitive to the impacts of COVID-19. Along with those shakes the recent economic crisis and the need for FDP led the researchers to empirically investigate the discrimination zones, i.e., distress zone, grey zone, and safe zone of the travel and tourism industry in developed and developing countries. This study adopted Altman’s (1968) original Z-score model for data analysis. This research is based on secondary data from annual reports of 138 listed travel and tourism companies listed on the stock exchanges of developed and developing countries: the USA, Australia, Singapore, South Africa, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka during the five-years period (2016–2020). The purposive sampling method is used to obtain the secondary data for the study. The finding revealed that 96.38% of travel and tourism companies are in the distress zone, 2.90% grey zone, and 0.72% safe zone in developed and developing countries. This study recommends all the travel and tourism companies in developed and developing countries maintain enough retained earnings to avoid corporate failure. This study is significant since it evidences the FDP and signals the global economic depression.

FORECASTING NIGERIAN ECONOMIC GROWTH BASED CORPORATE INCOME TAX

Developing countries like Nigeria have been hit hard by recent economic crises, and uncertainty is one of the characteristics that all prices and revenues share. A forecast of Nigerian economic growth was attempted using an artificial neural network (ANN) and statistical model to analyse the contribution of non-oil income tax generation to Nigerian economic development. While the primary objective is to develop and implement the proposed models capable of simulating a real non-oil income tax and evaluate their performances. The dataset (Corporate Income Tax) from 2015–2020 was obtained from the National Bureau of Statistics of Nigeria (NBSN). Three training algorithms for ANN were adopted, such as conjugate gradient back-propagation with Fletcher-Reeves restarts, Bayesian regularisation, and gradient descent with an adaptive learning rate, whereas in the statistical part, multiple linear regressions were applied. Comparing all the models revealed that the Bayesian regularisation produced more accurate results than the other models.

The Housing Question a century and a half later: Notes from New York City

New York City serves as an entry point for a brief reflection on today’s housing question. Drawing on Friedrich Engels’ inspiring work in the late 19th century, it is argued that some issues he pointed out are still present and have become endemic to the capitalist city, while others have emerged amidst recent economic and health crises. In the US economic growth machine and in one of the global capitals, working-class, vulnerable, and unemployed populations still suffer precarious and unworthy dwelling conditions, and finding a place to live is gradually becoming more complex. With many people struggling after the pandemic, homelessness is also growing. The situation comes after decades of defunding public housing, dismantling rent regulations, and neglecting welfare protections in an increasingly financialized housing market that privileges profits over human rights. However, these issues are not unique to NYC; similar accounts can be found throughout urban geographies worldwide. We need to think locally and globally about the current housing question, improve cooperation across housing justice groups and social movements, and prompt a debate about ways to rethink the tenancy regime alongside the capitalist system that has proven incapable of providing housing for everyone.

The Importance of the Strategic Urban Rehabilitation Plan in the Sustainable Development of the Municipality of Machico

Through the requalification of buildings, the improvement of public spaces and the reorganization of motorized and pedestrian circulation, success is achieved, and thus the trend of decay of the urban fabric is reversed, transforming and returning urban centers to the people. The Strategic Plan for Urban Rehabilitation of Machico is an important document for the sustainable development of the city, which will contribute to social harmony and the improvement of the people’s quality of life, reducing the environmental impact of human mobility, boosting the economy, and creating conditions for the usufruct of the city of Machico in terms of mobility. The current article arises with the main objective of analyzing the Strategic Plan for Urban Rehabilitation of the Municipality (PERU) of Machico, which is an essential tool for the sustainable development of Machico. It is also important to emphasize the dimension of PERU in local economic development, from the perspective of the real estate market and in public investment. The results obtained showed that the Municipality of Machico faces some challenges in the implementation of sustainable urban development programs, due to the recent financial and economic crisis, which could limit the existing funding to fund sustainable urban development programs. It is from this plan, from the solutions determined for the rehabilitation of the public space in terms of security and mobility, based on the urban operations that are being developed, that it will be possible to offer the population a sustainable future.

The Entrepreneurial Spirit of Industrial Laborers: Household-Based Ventures and the Greek Economic Crisis in a Post-Industrial City

In this article, I examine the household-based ventures of industrial laborers in the context of the recent economic crisis, in Chalkida, Greece, a mid-sized post-industrial city where I conducted fieldwork from April 2015 to December 2016. I investigate grassroots economic projects and meanings of entrepreneurialism. I focus my analysis on the household scale by bringing together political economy, history and ethnography. I assess the impact of austerity crisis on social reproduction practices and household organization of former industrial laborers who engaged in entrepreneurial projects. The recent economic crisis has reconstituted extended family resource pooling units, enhanced intergenerational dependencies and produced gendered reversals in households where unemployed males started to appear as the “helping hand” to female-owned businesses.

NFLATION PERSISTENCE AND UNIT ROOT TESTS IN THE EURO AREA COUNTRIES

Persistence is one of the main characteristics of inflation. One of the definitions of persistent inflation is, that it is the rate at which inflation reaches equilibrium after a certain macroeconomic shock. If the inflation persistence is high, the response to inflation shocks is long-lasting and difficult for the central bank to control. Conversely, if the country’s inflation persistence is low, the central bank can keep the inflation rate in line with the inflation target. The recent economic crisis made central banks adopt several unconventional monetary policy instruments to boost economic recovery and preserve price stability. Many authors note that data on stationary inflation in the euro area countries is a precondition for joining the European Union. As far as the functioning of the European Union is concerned, it is desirable to take the necessary decisions. The primary objective of the paper is to test the inflation rate data in the euro area countries to verify the existence of a unit root considering that central banks design their monetary policy frameworks under the assumption that inflation is a stationary process. The verification of the stationarity of the inflation data is divided into two sections. In the first section, the monthly data panel of the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) for euro-zone countries is used. The second section uses a panel of monthly data the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices for each category of Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose for euro area countries. Our results indicate that time series for inflation in 11 of 19 euro area member countries are non-stationary and have a unit root. Considering our results we propose the creation of a two-speed euro area and the adjustment of the monetary policy framework in the euro area countries.

Economic Performance and Stock Market Integration in BRICS and G7 Countries: An Application with Quantile Panel Data and Random Coefficients Modeling

The interest in studies aimed at understanding the integration of the stock market with the economic performance of countries has been growing in recent years, perhaps driven by the recent economic crises faced by the world. Although several studies on the topic have been carried out, the results are still far from a meaningful conclusion. In this sense, this paper considered the dual objective of investigating whether there is significant variance in the economic performance of developed and emerging markets’ countries and whether the global risk factors are statistically significant in explaining the variations in their future economic performance over time. From a sample of (i) gross domestic products from BRICS and G7 countries (total of twelve countries), and (ii) returns of the risk factors of developed and emerging stock markets for the period 1993 to 2019, we applied longitudinal regression modeling for five distinct percentiles, and random coefficients modeling (RCM) with repeated measures. We found that risk factors explain the future economic performance, there is significant variation in economic performance over time among countries, and the temporal variation in the random effects of intercepts can be explained by RCM. The results of this study confirm that stock markets follow an integration process and that moderately integrated markets may have the same risk factors. Furthermore, considering that risk factors are related to future GDP growth, they act as proxies for unidentified state variables.

Evaluation of the economic crisis on the conservation of the ichthyofauna in Marine Protected Areas

The use of marine protected areas can be an effective way to simultaneously achieve both conservation and fisheries management objectives. The creation of marine protected areas, in addition to many benefits, also entails several costs, including the need for financing to maintain adequate surveillance and conservation. The recent economic crisis significantly lowered budgets for the maintenance of Spanish Marine Protected Areas, that may have had serious consequences for the marine resources sustainability. In this study we evaluated the indirect impact of the 2008 economic crisis on the conservation of fish stocks in Marine Protected Areas. We compared the number of species, abundance and biomass levels of the ichthyofauna, and abundance and biomass of selected species in two marine reserves (Cabo de San Antonio and Tabarca Island) with control areas, two years before (2008 and 2010) and two years after (2014 and 2015) the budget cut. Results in San Antonio revealed a decrease in total abundance, total biomass and number of species after the crisis, which translates into a decrease in the reserve effect. While in Tabarca no reduction has been observed in these variables, so the reserve effect was maintained after the crisis. We have found that of the 18 species analyzed, in San Antonio the abundance and biomass of 8 and 6 species respectively have decreased after the crisis, while in Tabarca the abundance and biomass of 6 and 8 species respectively have decreased after the crisis. Therefore, surveillance in marine reserves is necessary for the conservation of the species.

Entrepreneurial behaviors that shape performance in small family and non-family hotels during times of crisis

Recent economic and public health crises have posed important challenges to family businesses – particularly those in the hospitality sector. While sustaining a business, performance becomes critical; there is insufficient knowledge on the use of entrepreneurial behaviors in mitigating the impact of a crisis by family businesses. To help fill this gap, this study explores the configurations of entrepreneurial behaviors that lead to improved performance in small firms under crisis market conditions – particularly, risk-taking, innovativeness, proactiveness, flexibility, and digitalization. This study employs fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). The sample consists of 117 one- and two-star Polish hotels that are comprised of both family and non-family businesses. The data was collected in November and December 2021. The results confirm the core role of risk-taking, proactiveness, and flexibility in increasing the performance of these small firms. However, performance outcomes depend on the configurations of the firms; differences between family and non-family businesses stood out. In family hotels, risk-taking is accompanied by flexibility as a core factor, and digitalization does not play an important role in achieving higher performance. Overall, these results contribute to the literature on organizational entrepreneurship (especially entrepreneurial orientation) as well as family business crisis management in the tourism sector. These findings offer implications for managers by indicating combinations of entrepreneurial behaviors that can help foster business performance.

6.A. Workshop: Strategies to build up health system resilience: Legacy of the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract Health systems are the central part of infrastructure in societies and their smooth operation is important for the continuation of a wide range of critical operations in any country. The COVID-19 pandemic has actualised questions on health system resilience defined as the system's ability to prepare for, manage (absorb, adapt and transform) and learn from external shocks.. However, economic recessions as well as long- and short-term stresses related to aging, climate change and migration, and most recently a war have underlined that also in Europe the governments need to prepare their health systems to face different types of threats in order to guarantee effective protection to population health in their countries. The importance of the task to strengthen health system resilience has been comprehended at national and international level. International actors including WHO, OECD and World Bank have designed policy advice on strengthening health systems against external shocks, the European Union has launched programmes for preparing for future health emergencies, and individual countries are designing policy and system reforms allowing for health crises. In the workshop we address policies to strengthen health system resilience drawing on the experiences in three countries: Ireland which entered the COVID-19 pandemic with a legacy of the recent economic crisis hitting hard health care financing, Finland which has been implementing a major health care reform concomitantly with the pandemic, and Denmark which offers a case study on organisational learning from the pandemic within the hospital sector and chronic patient care. Based on these three case studies the workshop also contemplates whether learning from shocks is always helpful in terms of system transformation or whether they can also create path dependencies that weaken the systems’ ability to prepare for unknown threats. The workshop will broaden the view by discussing the trends of health system reforms in European countries and considering international advice on system and policy reforms to strengthen health system resilience. Key messages • Shocks create opportunities for reform and better performance and challenges through overloaded systems and fast decision-making. • Assuming all shocks are like the last weakens preparedness and adaptability.

Welfare Attitudes in Crisis: The Role of Ideology in Healthcare Satisfaction in Portugal and Ireland

AbstractPrevious studies have documented that crisis trends are associated with negative changes in healthcare satisfaction. Yet, most research has focused on the role of self-interest and little is known about the ideological dimension of these changes. The article investigates this underexplored topic by examining the ideological divide in satisfaction with healthcare in two countries strongly hit by the recent economic crisis, Portugal and Ireland. The results of the empirical analysis based on the European Social Survey data from 2008 to 2015 show that ideology played a role in shaping healthcare satisfaction in both countries. In Portugal, healthcare satisfaction declined more for the left- than for the right-oriented, while in Ireland the right-oriented demonstrated a stronger decline in satisfaction than the left-oriented. In addition, the results identify an interaction between ideology and self-interest, showing that ideology trumps self-interest among the low income, but the opposite is true among the high income groups. Overall, these findings suggest that there is a substantive ideology-driven dimension in public satisfaction with health systems and point to the need for theoretical integration of different approaches in the analysis of healthcare attitudes in the crisis context.