ABSTRACT
This paper analyzes the growing complexity of cross-market interdependence during financial crises. From macroeconomic, investor constraint, and quantitative easing policy perspectives, we investigate crisis transmission channels across major stock markets by comparing the 2008 global financial crisis, the 2020 COVID-19 crisis, and the 2022 Russo-Ukrainian crisis. We find that lower-tail contagion is mainly driven by the wealth effect and upper-tail contagion is mainly driven by the portfolio rebalancing, and shed light on the underlying dynamic mechanisms, such as credit spreads, risk aversion, economic policy uncertainty, and quantitative easing policy. Additionally, we show the impact of macroeconomic fundamentals, investor sentiment, and quantitative easing policy on lower-tail and upper-tail financial contagion.
ABSTRACT
The outbreak of COVID-19 at the end of 2019 spreads over the world extensively and rapidly. The daily lives are affected by lockdowns, work-from-home, and travel bans. The economic growth is stagnated. Many industries are severely affected by this pandemic. There are, however, also industries that are unexpectedly benefited from the pandemic. The objective of this paper is to investigate the industries in Taiwan that are affected by the pandemic. Samples of the top 1,000 manufacturing and the top 500 service companies in Taiwan are collected to calculate their productivities before the pandemic, in the period of 2016–2019, and during the pandemic, in the year of 2020. The results show that three industries: automobile, tourism, and electronic products distribution, have their productivities significantly decreased by 3.98%, 4.92%, and 1.27%, respectively. There are also four industries: electronic components, optoelectronic, electrical and cable, and oil, gas and electricity, whose productivities are unexpectedly increased significantly by 1.37%, 1.98%, 3.32%, and 4.31%, respectively. The impact of COVID-19 to large companies in Taiwan seems to be not severe. In 2021, approximately five sixths of the industries have their productivities increased. There are only five industries whose productivities become lower;however, the decreases are not significant, indicating that the economy in Taiwan is recovering from the pandemic.
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Background: To look at the differences and similarities in albumin and lipid metabolism in non-severe COVID-19 infection, non-severe community-acquired pneumonia, and severe community pneumonia with underlying diseases, as well as the relationship between albumin and lipid metabolism and inflammatory mediators. Methods: This retrospective analysis comprised 253 individuals with bacterial pneumonia and COVID-19 infection (1 May 2021-1 May 2022). Routine blood examination, blood lipid levels, albumin level, C-reactive protein (CRP) levels, coagulation function, cardiac enzymes, liver function, renal function, immunological function, and bacterial culture were also collected. Correlation analysis was performed using Spearman's test for lipid parameter and Inflammatory factors in the blood. Furthermore, the multiple linear regression (MLR) analysis was employed to analyze the multicollinearity in lipidomics data. The statistical analysis was performed using SPSS statistic version 19.0. Results: There were 63 (24.90%) non-severe community-acquired pneumonia patients (NSCAP), 48 (18.97%) severe community-acquired pneumonia patients (SCAP), 112 (44.27%) non-severe COVID-19 infection patients (NSCOV), and 30 (11.86%) healthy volunteers (HV). In all, 45.59% (116/253) of the patients had underlying diseases. Patients with community-acquired pneumonia had lower albumin and cholesterol levels than those with non-severe COVID-19 infection and healthy controls (t = -3.81, -2.09, P = 0.00, 0.04). Albumin, triglyceride, cholesterol, and LDL-C levels in peripheral blood were considerably lower in the SCAP group than in the NSCAP group. Albumin, cholesterol, HDL-C, LDL-C, and aop-A were all inversely connected with CRP in the SCAP with underlying illness group, but cholesterol level was favorably correlated with lymphocyte count (R = 0.36, P = 0.01). Hypoproteinemia, hypotriglyceridemia, and an elevated neutrophil-to-lymphocyte count ratio are all risk factors for severe community-acquired pneumonia. Conclusion: Hypoalbuminemia and abnormal lipid metabolism are important indicators of bacterial infection, especially severe bacterial pneumonia.
ABSTRACT
This paper studies the pandemic-driven financial contagion during the COVID-19 period and the impact of investor behavior on it by constructing three types of direct behavior measurements based on Google search volumes. More specifically, using a sample of 26 major stock markets around the world during the COVID-19 pandemic, we construct a non-linear financial contagion network via a dynamic mixture copula-EVT (extreme value theory) model to quantitatively detect and measure the complex nature of pandemic-driven financial contagion. Furthermore, through constructing direct investor behavior measurements including investor attention, sentiment, and fear, we find investor behavior plays an important role in explaining pandemic-driven financial contagion. We also find that the impacts of investor behavior on the pandemic-driven financial contagion are heterogeneous under several different settings, including market conditions, market development levels, regional subsets, and contagion directions.
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This study aims to develop a multi-dimensional night-time economy vitality index (NTEVI) to measure the vitality of night-time economic (NTE) activities in Zhejiang Province, China, covering its 11 cities and 90 counties. Comprising 44 supply and demand indicators of the NTE, the index was composed of an overall index and six major sub-indices that measured the vitality of six typical NTE subsectors, including catering, shopping, recreation, accommodation, touring, and fitness. The NTEVI was calculated using a unique multi-source dataset based on hourly online transaction data from a leading Chinese online-to-offline service platform, monthly night-time electricity consumption data, and official statistics from 2019 to 2020. Robustness and sensitivity analyses were conducted to ensure high credibility of the index results. The findings of this study suggested that the NTEVI was highly and significantly correlated with night light indices, economic indicators, and tourism demand measures. By identifying regional and temporal differences across several service sectors over time at the county, city, and provincial levels, the NTEVI serves as a powerful numerical and visual tool: it offers key information to guide policy formulation, resource allocation, and policy evaluation. In the context of COVID-19, the index analyses also reflect the NTE recovery process in Zhejiang Province. Our findings indicate that it is important for the Chinese government, regional authorities, and enterprises to encourage the NTE as a main driver of economic revitalization.
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ABSTRACT: To investigate the anxiety and depression of patients with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) who participated in Baduanjin exercise.From February 20, 2020 to March 7, 2020, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale (HAD) were used to investigate the anxiety and depression levels of patients with COVID-19 who participated in Baduanjin exercise. Ninety one questionnaires were received, including 40 males and 51 females. Stepwise regression analysis was used to analyze the effects of related factors on anxiety and depression levels.In Square cabin hospital, 91% of patients participated in Baduanjin exercise had no obvious anxiety and 82% had no obvious depression. The scores of anxiety and depression of female patients were significantly higher than that of male patients. Bachelor degree or above with low scores for anxiety and depression. The frequency of Baduanjin exercise was negatively correlated with anxiety and depression score.The development of Baduanjin exercise has a certain positive influence on the COVID-19 patients in the Square cabin hospital, which is conducive to alleviate anxiety and depression symptoms of the patients.