Modelling the factors affecting global economy during COVID-19 using ISM approach

The global pandemic created by COVID-19 has affected the world economy. The global human assets have been compelled to be lockdown and were made to maintain social distancing by the order of governments. Even in some cases, people by themselves have started taking precautionary measures to safeguard themselves, their near ones and the world at large. These steps of governments and people have stressed various economic variables. To understand the interrelation among various distressed economic variables so identified through literature, interpretive structure modelling (ISM) was applied to understand the hierarchical relationship among the variables. The results of the model and MICMAC analysis indicate that heavy expenditure on social security, rise in unemployment, catastrophe containment and relief fund and emergency fund are the top-level economic variables. The findings of this work suggest how global policymakers are creating and using various funds to mitigate health and human assets of the world. © 2021 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

WHAT INDIAN WORKING CLASS IS SAYING ABOUT THE COVID- 19 PANDEMIC: CONCERNS AND REACTIONS

This is an exploratory research highlighting the concerns and reactions of Indian working-class people towards the COVID-19. It was observed that most of the Indian working-class people were seriously concerned about the pandemic and responded well to the measures suggested by the Governments and other agencies in a big way. Most of the respondents believed the pandemic will be effectively controlled across the globe within one year. Word cloud and other data visualization techniques were used to analyze the reactions of the Indian working class towards the Central and State government's initiatives to contain COVID-19. In the word cloud of the top 150 popular words for both central and state governments Lockdown, People and Government have taken the central stage. The word streaming analysis suggests the intense relationship among the most frequent words in the dataset. For the central government, it was social distancing and for state government, it was social distancing and relationship between central and state governments. The sentiment analysis for both central and state government was neutral, mostly. The researchers are of the view that the research will provide a deeper insight into human perception and behavior towards the measures initiated by the Central and State Governments in any similar difficult situations. Further the concerns identified may be taken into consideration by the Government while designing the policy measures and other interventions by the Government.

An assessment of government measures in combatting COVID-19 using ISM and DEMATEL modelling

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the interplay of various measures used by different governments around the world in combatting COVID-19. Design/methodology/approach: The research uses the interpretative structural modelling (ISM) for assessing the powerful measures amongst the recognized ones, whereas to establish the cause-and-effect relations amongst the variables, the Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method is used. Both approaches utilized in the study aid in the comprehension of the relationship amongst the assessed measures. Findings: According to the ISM model, international support measures have the most important role in reducing the risk of COVID-19. There has also been a suggestion of a relationship between economic and risk measures. Surprisingly, no linkage factor (unstable one) was reported in the research. The study indicates social welfare measures, R&D measures, centralized power and decentralized governance measures and universal healthcare measures as independent factors. The DEMATEL analysis reveals that the net causes are social welfare measures, centralized power and decentralized government, universal health coverage measure and R&D measures, while the net effects are economic measures, green recovery measures, risk measures and international support measures. Originality/value: The study includes a list of numerous government measures deployed throughout the world to mitigate the risk of COVID-19, as well as the structural links amongst the identified government measures. The Matrice d'Impacts croises-multiplication applique and classment analysis can help the policymakers in understanding measures used in combatting COVID-19 based on their driving and dependence power. These insights may assist them in employing these measures for mitigating the risks associated with COVID-19 or any other similar pandemic situation in the future. © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited.