Explanatory power of the tourist destination competitiveness index on the control of the first wave of COVID-19

Purpose: This article intends to analyse the explanatory power of the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI) and some of its constituent factors on national success metrics in managing the initial surge of the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach: The authors study the outbreak control effectiveness of 132 countries during the first semester of 2020. The authors apply generalized linear regression models and weighted least squares models using 6 COVID-19-related dependent variables, 9 TTCI-related independent variables and 12 control variables. Findings: The results suggest that countries with superior TTCI values and selected constituent factors have the highest daily averages of coronavirus infections and fatalities per million and the highest speed rates of COVID-19 spread. The authors also find that these countries have the shortest government response time, the lowest daily average of the social restrictions index and the shortest time from the first case reported in China to the first case reported nationally. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' awareness, no previous study exists analysing the statistical relationship between the TTCIB and some of its constituent factors with the selected metrics of national success at managing the initial surge of the COVID-19 pandemic. This fact represents the primary evidence of this article's unique contribution. © 2022, Juan Dempere and Kennedy Modugu.

Control of the first wave of COVID-19: Some economic freedom-related success factors

This research aims to study some economic freedom-related factors with explanatory power on the countries’ success in controlling the first wave of COVID-19. Our selected factors include the economic, business, labour, monetary, trade, investment, financial, press, human, and personal freedom indexes. Our dependent variables include the government’s daily average stringency index, the outbreak response time, the daily average of cases per million, the daily average of deaths per million, and the daily average of COVID-19 tests per thousand. We find that countries with superior degrees of freedom suffered a more severe impact of the outbreak as confirmed by the highest daily average of cases and deaths per million. This severe impact happened while governments had a controllable response to the outbreak as verified by the lowest daily average stringency index. However, these countries were more effective at controlling the first wave of COVID-19 as measured by the shorter outbreak response time and a higher daily average of COVID-19 tests per thousand.

Globalization and Foreign Direct Investment in the GCC Countries: A Recipe for Post COVID-19 Recovery

This study investigates the long-run relationship between the de jure economic, political, and social globalization and foreign direct investments in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to establish whether policies that foster trade and investment relations among geographical entities can help revive the GCC countries from the prevailing economic debacles of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study is driven by the GCC's quest to fully overcome the economic challenges occasioned by the outbreak of the global pandemic and position itself as the most potent regional economic bloc in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The study employs the panel data of the six GCC countries of Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, and Saudi Arabia from 1971 to 2017. The findings of the panel fully modified ordinary least square regression estimation show that the de jure economic and social globalization have a significant positive impact on the region's foreign direct investment inflows. The impact of the de jure political globalization on foreign direct investment is statistically significant but negatively signed. Based on the preceding findings, we offer some holistic policy recommendations to the GCC region as recipes for timely recovery from the economic impact of COVID-19 and beyond.

A recipe to control the first wave of COVID-19: More or less democracy?

Purpose - This research aims to study some national government success factors at controlling the first wave of COVID-19. The author placed special attention on democracy-related factors. Design/methodology/approach - A sample of 156 countries were studied during the first half of 2020 and their government effectiveness was analyzed regarding six dependent variables, namely, the government's daily average of stringency index, the outbreak response time, the daily average of cases and deaths per million, the daily average of tests per thousand and the mortality rate. Findings - The study finds that countries with the highest democracy indexes applied the softest social constraints measured by the daily average stringency index. These countries suffered a more severe pandemic impact confirmed by the highest daily averages of cases and deaths per million and the highest mortality rate. Similarly, these countries exhibited the shortest outbreak response time and the most extensive daily average tests per thousand. Research limitations/implications - The limitations of this study include lack of universal consensus for the dependent variables' definitions, inconsistencies in how countries record COVID-19 deaths, differences in testing efforts, variances on health services, unreliable data from less democratic countries and so on. Originality/value - To the best of the author's knowledge, no previous research paper has studied the explanatory power of the author selected government success factors at controlling the first wave of COVID-19, which constitutes this study's original contribution.