Impact of COVID-19 on returns-volatility spillovers in national and regional carbon markets in China

China wants to play a leading role in international carbon reduction and has ambitious reduction plans. China is one of the largest carbon emitters globally with an increasing trade volume in both national and regional markets. Owing to carbon emissions are regarded as key policy instruments and important financial assets thus It is important to analyze volatility spillovers between national and regional markets. The Diagonal BEKK model is used to examine daily financial returns, conditional covariances, and volatility spillovers across markets before, during, and after COVID-19. The empirical results show that the magnitudes of the spillovers during COVID-19 are much larger than before and after COVID-19 which implies the impact of COVID-19 on China's economy leads to greater risk transmission across carbon markets. China's experience (from regional to national) was useful in informing the channels of risk transmission and helping understand the relevance of carbon markets for investment decisions and public policymaking in the international carbon markets. Finally, we discuss the motivations, challenges, and possible forms of cooperation between China and the Eurozone on establishing a common carbon market are discussed.

Trump's COVID-19 tweets and Dr. Fauci's emails.

The paper features an analysis of former President Trump's early tweets on COVID-19 in the context of Dr. Fauci's recently revealed email trove. The tweets are analysed using various data mining techniques, including sentiment analysis. These techniques facilitate exploration of content and sentiments within the texts, and their potential implications for the national and international reaction to COVID-19. The data set or corpus includes 159 tweets on COVID-19 that are sourced from the Trump Twitter Archive, running from 24 January 2020 to 2 April 2020. In addition we use Zipf and Mandelbrot's power law to calibrate the extent to which they differ from normal language patterns. A context for the emails is provided by the recently revealed email trove of Dr. Fauci, obtained by Buzzfeed on 1 June 2021 obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

Alternative Global Health Security Indexes for Risk Analysis of COVID-19.

Given the volume of research and discussion on the health, medical, economic, financial, political, and travel advisory aspects of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes the COVID-19 disease, it is essential to enquire if an outbreak of the epidemic might have been anticipated, given the well-documented history of SARS and MERS, among other infectious diseases. If various issues directly related to health security risks could have been predicted accurately, public health and medical contingency plans might have been prepared and activated in advance of an epidemic such as COVID-19. This paper evaluates an important source of health security, the Global Health Security Index (2019), which provided data before the discovery of COVID-19 in December 2019. Therefore, it is possible to evaluate how countries might have been prepared for a global epidemic, or pandemic, and acted accordingly in an effective and timely manner. The GHS index numerical scores are calculated as the arithmetic (AM), geometric (GM), and harmonic (HM) means of six categories, where AM uses equal weights for each category. The GHS Index scores are regressed on the numerical score rankings of the six categories to check if the use of equal weights of 0.167 in the calculation of the GHS Index using AM is justified, with GM and HM providing a check of the robustness of the arithmetic mean. The highest weights are determined to be around 0.244-0.246, while the lowest weights are around 0.186-0.187 for AM. The ordinal GHS Index is regressed on the ordinal rankings of the six categories to check for the optimal weights in the calculation of the ordinal Global Health Security (GHS) Index, where the highest weight is 0.368, while the lowest is 0.142, so the estimated results are wider apart than for the numerical score rankings. Overall, Rapid Response and Detection and Reporting have the largest impacts on the GHS Index score, whereas Risk Environment and Prevention have the smallest effects. The quantitative and qualitative results are different when GM and HM are used.

Common Mental Disorders and Economic Uncertainty: Evidence from the COVID-19 Pandemic in the U.S.

Mental health disorders represent an enormous cost to society, are related to economic outcomes, and have increased markedly since the COVID-19 outbreak. Economic activity contracted dramatically on a global scale in 2020, representing the worst crisis since the Great Depression. This study used the COVID Impact Survey to provide insights on the interactions of mental illness and economic uncertainty during COVID-19. We used a probability-based panel survey, COVID Impact Survey, conducted in the U.S. over three waves in the period April-June 2020. The survey covered individual information on employment, economic and financial uncertainty, mental and physical health, as well as other demographic information. The prevalence of moderate mental distress was measured using a Psychological Distress Scale, a 5-item scale that is scored on a 4-point scale (total range: 0-15). The mental distress effect of employment, economic, and financial uncertainty, was assessed in a logit regression analysis conditioning for demographic and health information. It is found that employment, health coverage, social security, and food provision uncertainty are additional stressors for mental health. These economic factors work in addition to demographic effects, where groups who display increased risk for psychological distress include: women, Hispanics, and those in poor physical health. A decrease in employment and increases in economic uncertainty are associated with a doubling of common mental disorders. The population-representative survey evidence presented strongly suggests that economic policies which support employment (e.g., job keeping, job search support, stimulus spending) provide not only economic security but also constitute a major health intervention. Moving forward, the economic uncertainty effect ought to be reflected in community level intervention and prevention efforts, which should include strengthening economic support to reduce financial and economic strain.

A Nonlinear Autoregressive Distributed Lag (NARDL) Analysis of the FTSE and S&P500 Indexes

The paper features an examination of the link between the behaviour of the FTSE 100 and S&P500 Indexes in both an autoregressive distributed lag ARDL, plus a nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag NARDL framework. The attraction of NARDL is that it represents the simplest method available of modelling combined short- and long-run asymmetries. The bounds testing framework adopted means that it can be applied to stationary and non-stationary time series vectors, or combinations of both. The data comprise a daily FTSE adjusted price series, commencing in April 2009 and terminating in March 2021, and a corresponding daily S&P500 Index adjusted-price series obtained from Yahoo Finance. The data period includes all the gyrations caused by the Brexit vote in the UK, beginning with the vote to leave in 2016 and culminating in the actual agreement to withdraw in January 2020. It was then followed by the impact of the global spread of COVID-19 from the beginning of 2020. The results of the analysis suggest that movements in the contemporaneous levels of daily S&P500 Index levels have very significant effects on the behaviour of the levels of the daily FTSE 100 Index. They also suggest that negative movements have larger impacts than do positive movements in S&P500 levels, and that long-term multiplier impacts take about 10 days to take effect. These effects are supported by the results of quantile regression analysis. A key result is that weak form market efficiency does not apply in the second period.

Perspectives on Topical Medical Research in the COVID-19 Era

The SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on the global community in terms of every imaginable parameter. The research output on COVID-19 has been nothing short of phenomenal, especially in the medical and biomedical sciences, where the search for a potential vaccine has been conducted in earnest. Much of the advanced research has been distributed in leading medical journals, including the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), where the latest research is distributed on a daily basis. The purpose of this paper is to provide some perspectives on 44 interesting and highly topical research papers that have been published in JAMA, at the time of writing, within the past two weeks. The diverse topics include public health, general medicine, internal medicine, oncology, pediatrics, geriatrics, and biostatistics.

COVID-19 restrictions and age-specific mental health-U.S. probability-based panel evidence.

Social distancing, self-isolation, quarantining, and lockdowns arising from the COVID-19 pandemic have been common restrictions as governments have attempted to limit the rapid virus transmission. In this study, we identified drivers of adverse mental and behavioral health during the COVID-19 pandemic and whether factors such as social isolation and various restrictions serve as additional stressors for different age groups. Univariate and multivariate regression analyses were conducted on a unique dataset based on a national probability-based survey dedicated to understanding the impact of COVID-19 in the U.S., which includes 19 questions on the individual impact of restrictions, bans, and closures. The analysis used a moderate distress scale built on five questions related to mental health for 3,646 respondents. The mental health of young adults (18-34 years old) was the most affected by restrictions, while that of older adults (>55 years old) was less affected. In addition, demographic and health characteristics associated with differences in mental health varied by age group. The findings in this analysis highlight the differential mental health needs of different age groups and point to the marked necessity for differentiated and targeted responses to the mental health effects of COVID-19 by age group.

Risk Management of COVID-19 by Universities in China

The rapid spread of new coronaviruses throughout China and the world in 2019–2020 has had a great impact on China’s economic and social development. As the backbone of Chinese society, Chinese universities have made significant contributions to emergency risk management. Such contributions have been made primarily in the following areas: alumni resource collection, medical rescue and emergency management, mental health maintenance, control of staff mobility, and innovation in online education models. Through the support of these methods, Chinese universities have played a positive role in the prevention and control of the epidemic situation. However, they also face the problems of alumni’s economic development difficulties, the risk of deadly infection to medical rescue teams and health workers, infection of teachers and students, and the unsatisfactory application of information technology in resolving the crisis. In response to these risks and emergency problems, we propose some corresponding solutions for public dissemination, including issues related to medical security, emergency research, professional assistance, positive communication, and hierarchical information-based teaching.

Seeking Clarity in a World Infected by COVID-19 and Fake News

The world has been changed irrevocably by the infectious severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that causes the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) that was first identified in Wuhan, China in December 2019. COVID-19 affects everyone everywhere. A separate and significant, though not necessarily as infectious, malady affecting many, though not all, individuals worldwide, is "Fake News", known alternatively as yellow journalism, junk news, pseudo news, false news, alternative facts, hoaxes, misinformation, disinformation, fabricated news, corrupt news, unfathomable nonsense, or outright lies, which are typically based on provably false statements, and are distributed widely through mainstream news media and social media. The opinion piece presents a brief history of COVID-19 and fake news, and existing international efforts to deal with each of these infections, and to encourage critical comments, concepts and ideas.

Ten Most Highly Cited Papers in Journal of Risk and Financial Management (JRFM), 2018–2020

Of the numerous important, significant, and high-quality papers that have been published in the Journal of Risk and Financial Management (JRFM), the journal’s highly dedicated and efficient team have determined the top 10 cited papers for 2018–2020, as listed in the references, two of which are included in the World Health Organization’s (2020a, 2020b) list of “WHO COVID-19 Global literature on coronavirus disease”, and three of which are sole-authored papers [...]

The Future of Academic Journals in a COVID-19 World

Many academics are critical of the current publishing system, but it is difficult to create a better alternative. This review relates to the Sciences and Social Sciences, and discusses the primary purpose of academic journals as providing a seal of approval for perceived quality, impact, significance, and importance. The key issues considered include the role of anonymous refereeing, continuous rather than discrete frequency of publications, avoidance of time wasting, and seeking adventure. Here we give recommendations about the organization of journal articles, the roles of associate editors and referees, measuring the time frame for refereeing submitted articles in days and weeks rather than months and years, encouraging open access internet publishing, emphasizing the continuity of publishing online, academic publishing as a continuous dynamic process, and how to improve research after publication. Citations and functions thereof, such as the journal impact factor and h-index, are the benchmark for evaluating the importance and impact of academic journals and published articles. Even in the very top journals, a high proportion of published articles are never cited, not even by the authors themselves. Top journal publications do not guarantee that published articles will make significant contributions, or that they will ever be highly cited. The COVID-19 world should encourage academics worldwide not only to rethink academic teaching, but also to re-evaluate key issues associated with academic journal publishing in the future.

Comments on Recent COVID-19 Research in JAMA *

The SARS-CoV-2 that causes the COVID-19 disease is a one-in-a-century disaster that has led to profound structural change in every conceivable aspect of the worldwide community. The COVID-19 pandemic is the most topical subject in the academic community across all disciplines, but especially in the medical and biomedical research disciplines, where attempts to discover a safe, effective, timely, inexpensive, and accessible vaccine is at the top of everyone's wish list. There is a substantial amount of confusion, ambiguity, and misinformation in the academic community, and far more so in social mass media. Leading medical Journals, such as the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), The Lancet, and the New England Journal of Medicine, have published informative case studies that seek to provide guidance on COVID-19 at the earliest possible opportunity.

Herding behaviour in energy stock markets during the Global Financial Crisis, SARS, and ongoing COVID-19.

Environmental change created worldwide interest in investing in renewable energy. Less reliance on fossil fuels would have a substantial influence on investors for alternative energy, especially renewable energy. The literature has concentrated on empirical studies of herding behaviour in finance, but not in renewable energy. This paper fills the gap by investigating herding in renewable energy, using daily closing prices in renewable and fossil fuel energy stock returns in the USA, Europe, and Asia, for March 24, 2000-May 29, 2020, which covers the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) (2007-2009), the coronavirus crises of SARS (2003). And the ongoing COVID-19 (2019-2020) pandemic. The paper shows that: (1) for low extreme oil returns, investors are more likely to display herding in the stock market; (2) for SARS and COVID-19, herding is more likely during extremely high oil returns after the GFC; and (3) herding is more likely during periods of extremely low oil returns during the coronavirus crises. These results suggest that after the GFC, investors are more sensitive to asset losses, so they will be more likely to display herding in the stock market. However, during SARS and COVID-19, investors panic so they may unwisely sell their assets. There are strong cross-sector herding spillover effects from US fossil fuel energy to renewable energy, especially before the GFC, while the US fossil fuel energy market has a significant influence on the Europe and Asia renewable energy returns during COVID-19. During SARS, which was not a pandemic, US fossil fuels only had an impact on US renewable energy returns.

Is One Diagnostic Test for COVID-19 Enough?

There is no doubt about the importance of diagnostic testing in an emergency;specifically, which range of tests is available, where and when they are dispensed, and who might be tested using laboratory-developed tests, or other diagnostic tests including experimental tests. This includes testing for the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes the COVID-19 disease. Testing is essential to “flatten the curve”of the number of confirmed positive cases of the disease, in addition to handwashing, isolation, and social distancing, among other essential measures. Is one diagnostic test enough to obtain the correct decision about a confirmed positive outcome?

A Charter for Sustainable Tourism after COVID-19

The SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes the COVID-19 disease is highly infectious and contagious. The long-term consequences for individuals are as yet unknown, while the long-term effects on the international community will be dramatic. COVID-19 has changed the world forever in every imaginable respect and has impacted heavily on the international travel, tourism demand, and hospitality industry, which is one of the world’s largest employers and is highly sensitive to significant shocks like the COVID-19 pandemic. It is essential to investigate how the industry will recover after COVID-19 and how the industry can be made sustainable in a dramatically changed world. This paper presents a charter for tourism, travel, and hospitality after COVID-19 as a contribution to the industry.