Wealthy Economies Research Articles

Restrictive immigration policies and MNE innovation

AbstractHigh-skill migrant workers significantly contribute to advanced economies by directly generating knowledge-intensive assets and serving as bridges to knowledge in their origin countries. However, rising populist sentiment has led to increased immigration restrictions in wealthy economies like the U.S. and the Europe Union. This study examines the impact of the 2004 H-1B visa cap reduction on U.S.-based multinational enterprises (MNEs). We use a sample of 371,856 patents assigned to 707 U.S.-based MNEs. We find that post-shock, MNEs increased the geographic dispersion of their global R&D workforce, rather than replacing foreigners with local American workers. Despite this, the firms experienced a decline in innovation performance, likely due to elevated coordination challenges. Interestingly, sectors relying more on codified knowledge demonstrated increased R&D team dispersion with less impact on innovation. This suggests that the geographic proximity of innovation teams is crucial for tacit knowledge-intensive sectors. These findings highlight the complex consequences of immigration restrictions and suggest boundary conditions on the effectiveness of work-from-anywhere models in knowledge-intensive industries.

Archetypes of aquaculture development across 150 countries

In this study we compile and integrate data on 42 indicators to examine the social, economic, governance and environmental conditions shaping aquaculture development across 150 countries, including the top 100 aquaculture producing countries. We apply cluster analysis to identify social-ecological archetypes of aquaculture development across these indicators. We also calculate the percentage of global aquaculture production within the quartile ranges of 15 indicators of singular relevance for development. This shows how much aquaculture production is taking place in countries performing low or high on key indices. For example, we show that 85% of global aquaculture production is taking place in countries with the highest or high climate risk, 74% in countries with the lowest or low environmental performance scores, and 90% in countries with the highest or high food supply variability. Our cluster analysis identifies four distinct archetypes driven by the 42 country-level indicators, which includes: climate risk, inland water area, coastal population, seafood consumption, trade balance, governance indices and environmental performance. We characterize the four archetypes as: Archetype 1 - Emerging aquaculture producers, Archetype 2 - Limited aquatic food engagement, Archetype 3 - Developing economy aquaculture producers, Archetype 4 - Wealthy economy aquaculture producers. We discuss this complexity of factors driving each archetype with country specific examples, as well as the utility of integrated social-ecological analysis for both continued aquaculture research and development practice.

Bridging Data Standards and FAIR Principles in Biodiversity Digital Twinning: Prototyping, Challenges, Lessons Learned, and Future Plans

Digital twins combine modelling, domain knowledge, computing power, and multiple datasets to offer the potential to unlock new insights into biodiversity (de Koning et al. 2023). The Biodiversity Digital Twin (BioDT) project pioneers this approach to aid in understanding biodiversity through prototyping digital twins (Golivets et al. 2024). However, working with biodiversity data presents challenges due to their dynamic and diverse nature as well as the need for having to deal with incompleteness, uncertainties (Rocchini et al. 2011), disproportionate representation patterns in global studies from wealthier economies (Hughes et al. 2024), and issues with data aggregation and integration (Wüest et al. 2020). Similar to BioDT, there are also plans for creating a Digital Twin of the Ocean (DTO). DTO-Bioflow project addresses these data challenges in the marine domain, where studies show that although European seas host 48,000 marine species (75% described), the data are not yet FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) (Ramírez et al. 2022). These challenges hamper the modelling capabilities needed for effective predictions and conservation prioritisation. The adaptability of digital twins across temporal and spatial scales and their ability to model dynamic ecosystems make them ideal for biodiversity research and real-time conservation efforts. However, their success hinges on the consistent integration and alignment of data from disparate sources (Trantas et al. 2023). This integration involves standardising terms used to describe datasets, such as temporal coverage or controlled vocabularies like "Forest" for targetHabitatScope. Thus, adopting data standards is essential. Additionally, challenges such as model bias (Lewers 2023), research context, and data provenance must be considered, adding complexity to metadata capture and alignment. BioDT addresses these challenges with modular building blocks for data integration, model deployment, and workflow management. This approach facilitates the gradual adoption of data standards and FAIR principles, which need to encompass not just data, but also models and software. As automation, ease of reproducibility, and deployability are critical for digital twinning success, data integration and interoperability issues may arise due to missing or insufficient parameter descriptions in the model, incomplete information on data selection, and the unavailability of required software package details. Thus, data standardisation provides a pathway for a consistent approach that can be adopted for different use cases. Common data sources in BioDT, like species occurrences and environmental variables, benefit from standards such as Darwin Core (Wieczorek et al. 2012) and the Ecological Metadata Language (Jones et al. 2019). While valuable, these standards may not fully encompass the complexity needed for comprehensive biodiversity digital twins. Additionally, differing familiarity with these standards and FAIR principles among communities pose challenges. Continuous adoption of data standards, alongside exploring complementary approaches like schema.org or bioschemas.org for capturing diverse (meta)data, is essential. Collaboration with data providers, modellers, and various research infrastructures is also crucial (Andrew et al. 2024). We share our experience using Research Object Crate (RO-Crate), leveraging common JavaScript Object Notation for Linked Data (JSON-LD) representation for metadata profiles and workflow representation, to connect with different infrastructures. In the BioDT project, we are working with various use cases to create prototype digital twins that can serve as valuable resources for other projects. The evolving landscape of digital twin concepts, along with other European Union-funded initiatives like DTO-Bioflow and Destination Earth (DestinE), emphasises the importance of alignment within the digital twin ecosystem. BioDT is committed to aligning with and contributing to this broader context, highlighting the critical role of data standardisation and FAIR implementation.

Labor force dynamics and economic performance: A case of Nigeria, India, and China

Aim/purpose – This study investigated the nexus between labor force dynamics and economic performance in Nigeria, India, and China. Design/methodology – The study used annual time series data spanning from 1991 to 2021 obtained from World Development Indicators (WDI). After the unit root stationarity test, the Autoregressive Distributed Lag Model (ARDL) was used for the analysis. Findings – Findings from the study support a positive short-run relationship between labor force participation and economic growth in all three countries. However, in China, population growth impacts the economy positively in the long run, while life expectancy at birth negatively impacts the economy in the short run. This is because China’s popula- tion is aging. In India, employment in the industrial and service sectors positively impacts the economy in the long run. In the short run, life expectancy at birth influences the economy negatively. Furthermore, in Nigeria, the industrial and service sector employment impact the economy negatively in the long run, though there are positive effects in the short run. Research implications – The Indian government needs policy reforms in the areas of education and health to take advantage of the potential of its youthful population. The Nigerian government requires implementing a wide range of education, investment, and employment-generating policies to foster tangible economic growth. These reforms could help both India and Nigeria take advantage of the potential for demographic change. The Chinese government, already having policy reforms in place, is geared towards improved fertility and population growth for economic growth in the near future. These policies, coupled with the study’s findings, could provide a more comprehensive understanding of the implications of demographic change on economic performance. Originality/value contributions – This analysis explored and compared the demographic potentials of two young countries (India and Nigeria) and an aging, wealthy economy (China) from the working class. Policy lessons for the attainment of demographic divi- dends are borrowed from China. Keywords: labor force, economic performance, demographic change, population dynamics, ARDL model. JEL Codes: J10, J11

Safety standards in anesthesiology and during regional anesthesia: implementation in Ukraine

Patient safety in surgical settings is an integral part of the further sustainable development of medicine in Ukraine. This is key in times of the war and post-war state when the budget deficit at all levels of public administration and health care is significant and may grow significantly in the future. Medical errors during anesthetic management and surgery are particularly costly and significantly burden the health care system. Even the wealthiest economies cannot afford such mistakes. The price is particularly high for Ukrainian realities, and these mistakes are fatal for our health care. For this review, the authors used the electronic databases MEDLINE and Embase. 15 studies were included in the review. A part of the data was also included from the department research. Demonstration of own results is limited, as the data have already been published in other publications or materials are in the reviewing process. Basic monitoring according to the WHO standards / World Federation of Societies of Anesthesiologists (WFSA) is mainly used in hospitals of European Union countries. Results are close to 100 % for pulseoximetry and blood pressure, 98 % for electrocardiography, and 96 % for capnography. In Ukraine, monitoring methods do not have critical differences, except for a slightly lower (73.7 %) spread of capnography and ECG monitoring (83.4 %). The situation is less encouraging in the context of regional anesthesia. In Ukraine, the situation is much worse. According to the survey conducted by our department, ultrasound navigation is available in only 67 % of hospitals. There is also a low level of taking safety measures, which include checklists, training, and clinical analyzes of errors. Conclusions. According to the data of this literature review, the components of the Declaration of Helsinki on safety in anesthesiology are gradually being implemented in Ukraine, the use of the WHO checklist “Safe surgery” and safety standards of regional anesthesia is spreading. The main directions for further development are the education of physicians and other staff on patient safety, the approval of national standards and monitoring of their implementation in practice, the creation of a notification and audit system for complications and critical incidents during anesthesia.

Climate policy boosts trade competitiveness: Evidence from timber trade networks

Climate policy affects the economy. Economists typically consider the economic costs associated with climate policy, but not all economic consequences of climate policy are necessarily negative. This paper considers the impact of the Kyoto Protocol on the international trade network for timber products and the competition graph derived therefrom. Implementing an instrumental variables difference-in-differences approach which uses a panel of centrality and clustering measures describing the relative importance of individual nations in the international trade network for timber products, this paper finds that nations that set a binding emissions target under the Kyoto Protocol saw the centrality of their position within this network decrease. Since the nations which set binding emissions targets were also the wealthiest nations, an additional consequence is that less wealthy economies became relative more important members of this international trade network. This is likely due to nations with a binding emissions target placing an increased importance on forested land for carbon sequestration. These results are extended to the competition graph of the international trade network for timber products where it is found that nations with binding emissions targets became marginally less important. However, increased clustering among nations with binding emissions targets in the competition graph occurred as a consequence of the Kyoto Protocol. Collectively, these results indicate that the competitive playing field was leveled in the international timber trade network while helping make progress towards multiple economically and environmentally oriented United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Testing the impacts of renewable energy, natural resources rent, and technological innovation on the ecological footprint in the USA: Evidence from Bootstrapping ARDL

For the past few decades, there has been a vibrant discussion on the connection between natural resources and the quality of the surrounding environment. It has been established that many wealthy economies with natural resources have had favourable progress in technology and economy. Still, the main challenges are how renewable energy, natural resources, and technological innovation in leading natural resources abundant countries such as the USA affect environmental quality. To this end, this paper investigates the impact of natural resources rent, technological innovation, renewable energy, and economic growth on the ecological footprint in the USA from 1970 to 2019. The findings obtained using an innovative testing method known as Bootstrapping ARDL indicate that renewable energy sources improve environmental quality, but natural resources worsen it. The results also affirm that technological innovation is significantly associated with ecological quality. The results have important policy implications for policymakers regarding natural resources and technology innovation toward ecological quality enrichment, being necessary advances in sustainable growth after the COVID-19 process.

UNCONSUMED FOOD CONCERNS: THE CASE OF THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

The article identifies factors influencing consumer attitudes with regard to unconsumed food in the wealthy economy of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where the vast majority of the population are transient residents. The estimated regression coefficients were used to calculate the marginal effects, which measure change in probability of attitude towards the unconsumed food. The study applied the survey data collected from 1,542 UAE residents. The respondents included individuals representing 70 nationalities – transient residents of the UAE, mostly Filipinos (26%) and citizens of India (20%), and the UAE nationals (11%). Results show that persons showing most frequently concern about unconsumed food are women, older, college educated, and high income. Additionally, those concerned were also the long-term residents of the UAE as well as the supporters of investment in renewable energy. The sole factor that was associated with lower probability of being concerned about unconsumed food was the number of owned cars (on average 2.7 cars per household).

New-onset Geriatric Epilepsy in a Latin American Country: A Multi-centric Study from Mexico.

Background: In Latin America, epilepsy in the elderly is a neglected issue that has never been studied. The epidemiological transition has significantly altered the demographics of epilepsy, and therefore, we would like to draw attention to this topic. Objective: We require local real-world evidence, as the literature often depicts a different scenario, including pharmacological management. Methods: From 2007 to 2018, we recruited all patients with new-onset geriatric epilepsy (first seizure after the age of 60) tracked from ten Mexican hospitals, adding them to patients with similar characteristics from a previously published study. The diagnosis was confirmed in all patients by a certified neurologist, and they were also studied using a conventional electroencephalogram and imaging workup. Results: A diagnosis of new-onset geriatric epilepsy (Elderly patients was established in 100 cases. No specific cause was found in 26% of patients, while 42% had a stroke and 10% had neurocysticercosis (NCC). Monotherapy was the choice in 83 patients, and phenytoin was the most used drug (50%), followed by carbamazepine (25%). Conclusion: NCC remains a frequent cause of new-onset geriatric epilepsy. This distribution is not seen in the literature, mainly representing patients from wealthy economies. In our setting, financial constraints influence the choice of the drug, and newer antiepileptic drugs should be made more affordable to this population with economic and physical frailty.

Role of academia in enhancing technology and innovation for a post COVID-19 recovery and growth

The COVID-19 pandemic represents one of the greatest challenges of this century with wide ranging impacts not only on health but practically every sector of the human society. The pandemic stretched our resources and coping capacities to almost breaking points even in wealthy economies and further exposed crucial weaknesses in infrastructure, human resources and emergency preparedness of most nations. This review article explored the role of technology and innovation in post COVID-19 growth and recovery.The academia has facilitated better understanding of the COVID-19 pandemic by increasing the body of knowledge on the disease. Better understanding of the disease informed technology and innovations which has made it possible to end the pandemic lockdown, and chart the course for recovery and growth.Relevant articles from a search of electronic databases were reviewed and the role of academia as well as some of the innovations that opened the pathway for recovery were highlighted.Recovery and growth after the COVID-19 pandemic will require synergistic efforts between the academia and the industry, more like taking the “Gown” to “Town”. Research and development in academia, and industrial technology and innovation are veritable tools for a post COVID-19 recovery.

Concerning trends on Australia's compliance with the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

ABSTRACT In 2023, the United Nations Committee Economic, Social and Cultural Rights will review Australia's compliance with the International Covenant of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). There have been a number of concerning trends in relation to the realisation of economic, social and cultural rights in Australia since Australia's fifth report to the Committee on 1 February 2016: growing economic inequality exacerbated by a cost-of-living crisis, a lack of meeting Closing the Gap targets for Indigenous Australians, a housing crisis and the Australian government's use of unlawful technology against recipients of social security. Far from meeting its obligations under ICESCR, multiple governments have shown a lack of respect for upholding these rights, leaving Australia without the adequate guarantee of economic, social and cultural rights that should be expected in an industrialised, wealthy economy.

Green trade or green technology? The way forward for G-7 economies to achieve COP 26 targets while making competing policy choices

Making a country's Trade environmentally friendly, aka the Green Trade through environmental restrictions, has long been a popular policy choice, especially for the wealthy and trade-integrated economies. However, the effectiveness of such regulations in terms of improved environmental quality is an essential but less investigated research question. In this paper, we analyze, for G-7 countries, the environmental effects of the two competing policy choices, i.e., imposing environmental restrictions on Trade or investing in green technology and innovation, by following a rigorous econometric approach. Our results are exciting and, to some extent, contrary to mainstream ideas. We find that the increasing share of Green trade in the overall trade portfolio of G-7 countries is futile and more damaging for the environment by causing an increase in consumption-based carbon emissions. On the other hand, the role of Green technology is highly effective in reducing these emissions in the panel of G-7 countries. These results highlight the effectiveness of the two competing policy choices almost every country must make to protect the climate and stop further environmental degradation.

Do natural resources impact economic growth: An investigation of P5 + 1 countries under sustainable management

Natural resources represent the base of our living and the entire economic activity. Their depletion is a major challenge for the economic development of both developed and developing economies. Their efficient use is an indispensable requirement and must be the aim of the public policies designed by the authorities worldwide. In this research, we have investigated the impact of the natural resources rent on the economic growth in some major wealthy economies of the world (P5 + 1 countries namely: US, UK, France, China, Russia, and Germany). We have applied a quantile-on-quantile regression to analyse this impact on different quantiles and a cross-sectional autoregressive distributed lag (CS-ARDL) approach for the panel of these six countries. The Dumitrescu-Hurlin panel causality test was also used to check the causality between natural resource rents and economic growth in these countries. Results show a negative relationship between natural resources rent and economic growth for the panel but a different impact on quantiles in each country. Only for China and the US, a positive effect can be noticed for both lower and higher quantiles of natural resources and economic growth. The Dumitrescu-Hurlin causality test shows that natural resources can predict economic growth only in China, the U.S., and the panel. In contrast, no causality was found for the other four countries included in the panel. We suggest that nations invest in wind and solar projects, use biofuels and nuclear energy, introduce a temporary profit tax to protect consumers from escalating energy prices, and increase energy efficiency in buildings and industry. Businesses would benefit from a regulatory framework that is uniform and exhaustive, as well as easier to traverse and more receptive to innovation and creativity. Public-private partnership investments in innovation, innovation incentives, and environmental sector opportunities may foster long-term economic growth.

НАСИЛЬНИЦЬКА КОЛЕКТИВІЗАЦІЯ В ЗАХІДНИХ ОБЛАСТЯХ УРСР У ПІСЛЯВОЄННИЙ ПЕРІОД

The article reveals the violent nature of the so-called «socialist transformations» carried out by the Soviet totalitarian system, which were the most clearly manifested in the nationalization of agriculture in the production region. Over the centuries, a single-person farm type of management developed in the western Ukrainian region, and the peasant cherished private ownership of land as the highest value. The purpose of the forced collectivization of the western Ukrainian countryside was to strike a blow at the wealthy and middle-class economy, to socialize them and thereby undermine the basic social base of the national liberation insurgent movement. The peasantry was attracted to the collective farms by methods of economic coercion, intimidation and resettlement from the farms and as a result of other repressive measures. The peculiarity of obtaining agricultural production was that one, being carried out mainly by workers sent from the eastern regions. Due to the fact that the proper material and technical base was not laid for collectivization in its first years, internal tension grew in the village, which, at the same time as the destruction of the traditional system, led to the undermining of agricultural production and the impoverishment of the population. For a long time, the ideas of violent collectivization brought to Ukrainian territory from outside were not accepted and supported by the main mass of rural workers. The establishment of Soviet power in the Western Ukrainian region was carried out by traditional forced command-administrative and repressive-punitive methods already tested in the pre-war period, completely ignoring the local socio-economic and spiritual-cultural specifics, relying on the repressive machine and the military forces support.

Climate change: north and south EU economies-an application of dynamic asymmetric panel data models.

The need for a cleaner environment and wealthier economies has been highly recognized by European Union (EU) policymakers of the last years, as evidenced by the creation of a plethora of laws and regulations for reducing carbon dioxide emissions while promoting the economic prosperity of EU countries. Indeed, many works have been done in this field, remarking on climate change’s impacts on economies and the need for determinant environmental policies inside the EU. This paper investigates the effect of climate change on economic growth using nonlinear dynamic panel methods for 15 countries of the EU in the period 1981–2019. Specifically, it is examined the impact of temperature, precipitation, and CO2 emissions on economic growth. So, autoregressive distributed lags (ARDL) methods were employed, overcoming cross-dependency and also considering linearity and nonlinearity. The results showed that economic growth has positive nonlinear relationship with long-run temperature, but in short-run they have a symmetric negative association. Moreover, precipitation has long-run negative and a short-run positive relationship with economic growth. However, when CO2 emissions are added, then model’s performance is decreased, and precipitation has a positive effect on economic growth, but all others, except from temperature increase, become insignificant. Finally, actions should be taken for more stable climate conditions and consistent environmental policies by EU countries.Graphical abstract

Engineering Intangibles: Technical Employment in the US Service Economy

Engineering occupations coevolved with industries producing material outputs: mining, construction, manufacturing. Yet wealthy economies have long been moving toward intangible services, the products of industries including finance, wholesale and retail trade, entertainment, travel and transportation, health care, and the public sector (including, e.g. much of education). For the United States the shift is evident in statistical data going back well over a century and services now account for nearly 90 percent of all employment. The job share is lower for engineers, but even so the majority work for service-producing entities. Entanglement and interdependence of services and goods hinders understanding of the dynamics, as does rapid growth in jobs classed in official employment statistics as computer-related even though much of the work resembles engineering. Because of this, field studies that explore actual job content will be needed to develop clearer pictures of the everyday tasks employers assign technical workers in postindustrial economies.

Integrating degrowth and efficiency perspectives enables an emission-neutral food system by 2100.

Degrowth proponents advocate reducing ecologically destructive forms of production and resource throughput in wealthy economies to achieve environmental goals, while transforming production to focus on human well-being. Here we present a quantitative model to test degrowth principles in the food and land system. Our results confirm that reducing and redistributing income alone, within current development paradigms, leads to limited greenhouse gas (GHG) emission mitigation from agriculture and land-use change, as the nutrition transition towards unsustainable diets already occurs at relatively low income levels. Instead, we show that a structural, qualitative food system transformation can achieve a steady-state food system economy that is net GHG-neutral by 2100 while improving nutritional outcomes. This sustainable transformation reduces material throughput via a convergence towards a needs-based food system, is enabled by a more equitable income distribution and includes efficient resource allocation through the pricing of GHG emissions as a complementary strategy. It thereby integrates degrowth and efficiency perspectives.

A Cross‐Cutting Approach for Relating Anthropocene, Environmental Injustice and Sacrifice Zones

AbstractThe Anthropocene is an uneven phenomenon. Accelerated shifts in the functioning of the Earth System are mainly driven by the production and consumption of wealthy economies. Social, environmental and health costs of such industrialization, however, bear on low‐income communities inhabiting severely degraded territories by polluting activities (i.e., sacrifice zones). How global, national and local socio‐economic and governance processes have interacted in perpetuating socio‐environmental inequalities in these territories has been rarely explored. Here, we develop an historical quantitative approach integrating a novel chemostratigraphic record, data on policy making, and socio‐economic trends to evaluate the feedback relationship between environmental injustice and Anthropocene in sacrifice zones. We specifically outline a case study for the Puchuncaví valley ‐one of the most emblematic sacrifice zones from Chile‐. We verify an ever‐growing burden of heavy metals and metalloids over the past five decades paced by the staggering expansion of local industrial activities, which has ultimately been spurred by national and transnational market forces. Local poverty levels have declined concomitantly, but this path toward social equality is marginal as costs of pollution have grown through time. Indeed, national and international pollution control actions appear insufficient in mitigating the cumulative impact brought by highly toxic elements. Thus, our sub‐decadal reconstruction for pollution trends over the past 136 years from a sediment record, emerges as a science‐based tool for informing the discussion on Anthropocene governance. Furthermore, it helps to advance in the assessment of environmental inequality in societal models that prioritize economic growth to the detriment of socio‐environmental security.

Brand inequity in access to COVID-19 vaccines

Brand inequity in access to COVID-19 vaccines

Conceptual contours of migration studies in and from Asia

Conceptual contours of migration studies in and from Asia