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The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated that entrenched and gendered economic disadvantages can become more pronounced in a disaster environment, especially when the disaster is a long-term situation, as with the pandemic. There is a large body of literature that has highlighted the existence of gender bias against women, in relation to their financial positions pre-disaster, which become more exacerbated during a disaster. Regional elements, including cultural factors, can become more pronounced, in increasing not only physiological and psychological vulnerabilities of women but also financial vulnerabilities during the disaster. A review of current literature (mostly media and academic literature, 2020-2021) has been undertaken to present a discussion of enhanced financial vulnerabilities of women during the COVID-19 pandemic. Recommendations for threat mitigation are also provided. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.
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The COVID-19 pandemic was particularly challenging for developing countries because of pre-existing poverty and severe inequality. Governments tended to set public safety as a primary goal, but it could not be their singular goal. Broadband was an important feature of any policy solution. Business lockdowns, school closures, and social distancing led to an unprecedented acceleration in the demand for broadband. But the government restrictions on social and economic interactions made it difficult to maintain and expand broadband networks. Governments might have let markets work out this challenge of escalating demand and increasing costs of supply, but few did. Governments quickly grew to believe that it would need cooperative relationships among multiple government agencies and private businesses to answer what appeared to be a broadband shortage. Regulatory controls over broadband providers were quickly suspended in favour of developing common goals and coordinated efforts. These approaches proved effective, although citizens continued to suffer from the pandemic. © 2023 the authors.
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The study examines the crisis resilience of startup companies in Hungary among the Visegrad countries as a result of the pandemic situation. It aims to provide guidance on what support is needed for startups in the post-crisis period to re-launch the economy and to contribute to the region's economy with positive results. The research was carried out in two stages: first, in 2021 through an online survey, and then, in 2022 in-depth interviews due to the economic crisis caused by COVID-19 and the Russian–Ukrainian war. A mixed research methodology was used, which comprised an online questionnaire administered in the Crunchbase database (n = 97) and in-depth interviews among startup founders and experts of the startup ecosystem (n = 22). The research summarizes the V4 countries' measures to protect entrepreneurship with a particular focus on startups. The research found that a crisis such as a pandemic did not have a uniformly negative impact on startups. The winners of the economic crisis are startups in IT, healthcare (Medtech. health-tech), e-commerce and digital education, while those who fared worst are startups in tourism and hospitality. The positive impact of the crisis has been a cleansing of the startup ecosystem. Business support measures supported the viable startups and helped them survive.
ABSTRACT
Florida has one of the most diverse agricultural economies in the United States, producing several dozen types of fruits and vegetables that are consumed within the state, across the country, and around the world. The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting policy responses occurred during the peak of spring harvest season for many crops in Florida, abruptly removing market demand from the food service industry and shifting consumer purchasing habits, which enabled insights into several aspects of the fruit and vegetable supply chain. This article examines how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted fruit and vegetable industries in Florida, how these industries responded to COVID-19 impacts, and how Florida's experience compared to that of other states. Data are derived from several sources including a statewide survey that measured agricultural production losses in Florida resulting from COVID-19 in early 2020, interviews with Florida operations that provided insights into how the pandemic induced change across the food supply chain, and a survey of food supply chain operations in three regions of the United States conducted in 2021. © 2022 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston.
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During the first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, Istat performed the quick survey "Situation and perspectives of Italian enterprises during the COVID-19 health emergency,” with the aim of assessing the economic situation and the specific actions adopted by businesses to reduce the economic impacts of the emergency. To ensure the continuity in the information flow and to analyze the temporal evolution of the observed phenomena, the survey has been repeated in three different waves. The outcomes of each wave was released just after 2 months from the launch of the survey. The present work analyses the characteristics of the sampling strategy and describes the complexity of the data editing process, in the case of a survey planned to produce estimates able to ensure an acceptable level of accuracy in the maximum timeliness. © 2023 The Authors. Applied Stochastic Models in Business and Industry published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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The world is engulfed in a global health emergency that is taxing enormous medical, social, and economic tolls upon humanity since early 2020 and lasting early 2022. Despite medical advances, COVID-19 took a toll of more than 6, 132, 461 globally around 0.9 million in USA alone. US is number one in total COVID-19 mortality as of March 30, 2022, followed by Brazil, India, and Russian Federation. In the US, COVID-19 cases are rising modestly in the Northeast, Philadelphia has reinstituted an indoor mask mandate, and some colleges are requiring masks during the final days of the spring semester (CNN in Is COVID endemic yet? Experts aren't so sure, 2022). © TheEditor(s) (ifapplicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021, 2022.
ABSTRACT
Purpose: This research paper highlights the economic impact on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) due to Coronavirus outbreaks. It proposes factors that influence the strengthening and survival of SMEs. Design/methodology/approach: In this research, resilience is reflected in the following aspects hope, problem resolution and persistence. This quantitative study analyses a purposive sample of 120 small and medium-sized firms in India. The study's primary data are the responses to questionnaires issued to respondents, analyzed and hypotheses formed and tested using the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique. Findings: The study results show that all the variables significantly reduce the impact of COVID-19 on SMEs. The presented model is expected to help researchers, business modelers, analysts and real professionals with further studies in the SME context. Originality/value: This new approach adds to the business resilience knowledge of SMEs and has practical implications for manufacturing organizations seeking to become robust during and after COVID-19. © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has had a dramatic socio-economic impact on mankind;however, the COVID-19 lockdown brought a drastic reduction of anthropic impacts on the environment worldwide, including the marine–coastal system. This study is concentrated on the Mar Piccolo basin of Taranto, a complex marine ecosystem model that is important in terms of ecological, social, and economic activities. Although many numerical studies have been conducted to investigate the features of the water fluxes in the Mar Piccolo basin, this is the first study conducted in order to link meteo-oceanographic conditions, water quality, and potential reduction of anthropic inputs. In particular, we used the model results in order to study the response of the Mar Piccolo basin to a drastic reduction in the leakage of heavy metal IPAs from industrial discharges during the two months of the mandated nationwide lockdown. The results show the different behavior of the two sub-basins of Mar Piccolo, showing the different times necessary for a reduction in the concentrations of heavy metals even after a total stop in the leakage of heavy metal IPAs. The results highlight the high sensitivity of the basin to environmental problems and the different times necessary for the renewal of the water in both sub-basins. © 2023 by the authors.
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Coronavirus is a public health issue with socioeconomic and livelihood dimensions. The World Health Organization declared the current novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) epidemic a public health emergency of international concern on January 30, 2020, and a global pandemic on March 11, 2020. The South African government has implemented different strategies, ranging from total lockdown in certain locations and provision of palliatives in some provinces across the country. This study, therefore, investigated the correlates of vulnerability and responsiveness to the adverse impacts of COVID-19 in South Africa. The study utilized primary data collected among 477 respondents. Descriptive statistical tools, Tobit and Probit regression models, were used to analyze the data. The study found different levels of vulnerability (low, medium, and high) and responsiveness among households, including stocking up of food items, remote working, reliance on palliatives, and social grant provision, among others. Some of the correlates of responsiveness to the COVID-19 pandemic include being employed, the type of community, and the income of respondents. The study, therefore, recommends increased investments in welfare programmes (safety nets, palliative measures and economic stimulus packages) as well as capacity building of households through education to reduce vulnerability. © Authors retain all copyrights.
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Resilience in business continuity of an entire industrial complex has direct local socioeconomic impact;however, there are few methods available for objective assessment of its status. This study investigated whether change in air quality could explain the state of economic activity in an industrial complex. Concentrations of PM2.5 and NO2 above several industrial complexes in central Thailand were extracted using the Google Earth Engine™ and analyzed to examine their temporal characteristics in relation to decline in business activity caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Results confirmed that industrial complexes whose activities were diminished by the pandemic showed concurrent trends of reduction in each pollutant, proving that the concentration of airborne substances has potential to reveal the level of activity of industrial complexes. To enhance the application potential of the proposed method, further study should investigate specific causal inferences by extracting the characteristics of other airborne substances, and consider industrial complexes that include a greater number of companies and major industries. © 2023 IEEE.
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Lockdown measures adopted to contain the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic resulted in severe disruptions to mobility, both in demand and supply of passenger and goods transport and supply chain activities globally. This research was designed to understand the immediate reactions of households and society during the curfew imposed in Sri Lanka, a developing country, to curb the spread of the pandemic. This paper investigates psychometric perceptions across different socio-economic characteristics of households using statistical techniques to explore the association between the sample and population parameters. Results prominently indicate that these immediate impacts of health advisories and lockdown on personal mobility and consumption patterns were short-term in nature and unlikely to continue beyond the curfew. These results would be useful in understanding how society would deal with a similar unforeseen event in the future if it were to arise. © 2023 The Authors
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The coronavirus outbreak in 2020 has made it difficult to implement macroeconomic initiatives and has affected the economy in all countries in Africa. There has been a lot of concern regarding how to stabilize the economy at least to where it was before the coronavirus outbreak. There was increased governmental allocation to combat the spread and reduce COVID-19's impacts. This study evaluates the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on some African countries and examines the cognitive analysis as it affects the economy considering layoffs and other revenue losses, as well as a consistent recession and deterioration in the banking and economic sectors. A linear regression method was used in the analysis of this work. Although the pandemic affects every aspect of life and society at large, this study examines how it affects the nation's economy. It was recognized that numerous policy instruments, including those connected to health and social protection, fiscal policy, and financial, industrial, and trade policies, needed to be implemented for the economy to recover properly from the financial loss. The analysis of the data, shows that there was a reduction in the GDP of each country during the Covid-19 pandemic. It is predicted that adopting these technologies may minimize suffering among people and aid in the economy's recovery from recession and bankruptcy. © 2022 IEEE.
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Economic shocks are unanticipated events that have widespread impact on an economy and can lead to supply chain disruptions that propagate from one region to another. The COVID-19 pandemic is a recent example. Simulations have been applied to study the impact of COVID-19 shocks on supply chains at the macro level using various approaches. This research has developed a hybrid System Dynamics and Input/Output simulation to model the economic impact of various types of supply chain disruptions. The hybrid model provides results that match historical performance of the U.S. economy under COVID-19 shocks and provides reasonable results when applied to investigate U.S. dependence on foreign trade. Its graphical nature also supports a decision support tool that will allow policymakers to explore the costs and benefits of various policy decisions designed to mitigate the impact of a broad set of potential supply chain disruptions. © 2022 IEEE.
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Since early 2020, COVID-19 has had devastating and ongoing health and economic impacts worldwide. The construction industry has not been immune to these impacts. Although construction was generally deemed essential, in some jurisdictions only certain sectors of the construction industry were deemed essential and therefore allowed to continue with work. Any construction that took place was subject to additional precautions that may have resulted in delay and disruption claims. The methodology of the paper involves a review of primary and secondary legal resources in the United States that are used to derive applicable rules of law. Those rules of law are then applied to force majeure contract language from the American Institute of Architects to outline the criteria for successful delay and disruption claims. For construction contracts entered into prior to the onset of the pandemic, delay claims will likely result only in an extension of the contract time, whereas disruption claims may result in additional time and/or money depending on how the contract addresses unforeseen costs. In the absence of express contract terms addressing unforeseen costs in a situation such as COVID-19, principles of equity will dictate whether additional compensation is granted. © 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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This article looks at the impact on biological and medical companies in the context of covid-19. Through linear analysis, data model plots, and variance comparisons, the study finds that the economy of the traditional medical sector continues to decline and eventually plateaus, however, the pharmaceutical as well as biological research sectors, which are associated with the epidemic, continue to rise. The advantages and disadvantages of combining the internet and healthcare are presented. Although internet healthcare is a more convenient way for people to see a doctor. Some people can even see a doctor for treatment without leaving home, but diagnosis lacks accuracy and large testing machines. And a more rational approach to healthcare must still be researched in the future. © 2023 SPIE.
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The global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has been felt in diverse ways. Although the death rate in Africa has not been as devastating as predicted by the World Health Organization (WHO), its economic and social impact has been fully felt by the African continent. As the world goes through the vaccination process to achieve herd immunity, Africa has not only faced problems like the inability to produce and procure vaccines, but some countries in the west are doubting the authenticity of the vaccination process and even vaccine certificates coming from various countries on the continent. The approach of using centralized systems to validate COVID-19 vaccine certificates makes these systems susceptible to Denial of Service (DoS), modification, and Man-in-The-Middle (MiTM) attacks. To curb this problem, we proposed a blockchain-based digital COVID-19 vaccination certificate verification system called BLOCOVID. The proposed system uses the decentralized approach of distributed ledgers to ensure that vaccine certificates are secured, immutable, and verifiable. Our proposed system stores vaccine serial numbers and their corresponding certificates as hash values. These hash values are stored on the blockchain network as transaction values. The authenticity of a vaccine certificate is determined by the availability of the hash values of the certificate and its corresponding vaccine serial number on the blockchain network. The proposed system was simulated using the BlockSim simulator. To begin with, the simulation results show that the proposed system can ensure system availability, thereby minimizing DoS attacks. Secondly, the proposed system can ensure the integrity of vaccine certificates by allowing third parties to verify the authenticity of these certificates. The simulation results show that even with 10240 nodes, the average transaction time was 137.2ms, with a total transaction rate of 9911.034 transactions per second. © 2022 IEEE.
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The state, through the government, should ensure national security and stability through the policies taken. For this reason, fast and accurate information and data are needed to form the basis for policymaking. Intelligence actors have an essential role in gathering information to identify and prevent threats within and outside the country. Technological advances affect changes in threats and increase the classification of these threats. Covid-19 is a real example of the threat in this era because almost all countries feel its impact. In addition to affecting health, the Covid-19 pandemic also impacts the global economic sector. The economic impact is felt by small and medium industries, goods and services products, and also the tourism sector. The method that is used in this study is a literature review from various national and international journals. AI and Big Data can be used to track viruses in real time, collect adequate public health data, and integrate vaccine use. Also, AI and Big Data can provide local decision and policy-makers with informed, evidence-based predictions. the threat of the Covid-19 pandemic and other infectious diseases that disrupt public health and have a broad impact must be anticipated and addressed in order to achieve the safety and existence of the nation and state. The author wants to emphasize the importance of the role of intelligence in anticipating threats from the visible to the invisible. © 2022 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
This article looks at the impact on biological and medical companies in the context of covid-19. Through linear analysis, data model plots, and variance comparisons, the study finds that the economy of the traditional medical sector continues to decline and eventually plateaus, however, the pharmaceutical as well as biological research sectors, which are associated with the epidemic, continue to rise. The advantages and disadvantages of combining the internet and healthcare are presented. Although internet healthcare is a more convenient way for people to see a doctor. Some people can even see a doctor for treatment without leaving home, but diagnosis lacks accuracy and large testing machines. And a more rational approach to healthcare must still be researched in the future. © 2023 SPIE.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has caused turmoil in every aspect of life and may be prevalent for years. Therefore, this study aimed to determine whether the pandemic reflects oil prices in China. We utilized a model to simulate and examine the energy, economic, and environmental effects of COVID-19, which affects a wide range of industries and households. The impact of the pandemic is considered in terms of customer expectations and factor input changes. Based on these changes, we find that factor input changes are the primary cause of the economic recession. We further find a parallel relationship between CO2 emissions and economic downturn. In addition, a reduction in transportation has significantly influenced the Gross Domestic product (GDP), which plunged during the pandemic period by 0.49%. Transportation negatively influences industrial production, railway sector, and air transportation by 10.17%, 1.76%, and 1.53%, respectively. Based on these findings, this study proposes important policy implications.
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The economic impacts of pandemics can be enormous. However, lockdown and human mobility restrictions are effective policies for containing the spread of the disease. This study proposes a framework for assessing the economic impact of varying degrees of movement restrictions and examines the effectiveness of this framework in a case study examining COVID-19 control measures in Japan. First, mobile network operators data and total employment statistics on a 500-meter grid scale are used to determine the status of mobility restrictions and impacts on consumption in 30 industrial sectors. Next, the economic impacts are assessed using a spatial computable general equilibrium (CGE) model, proven to yield valuable insights into the total economic impacts of natural disasters. In sectors that implement telework and e-commerce-wholesale/retail, finance/insurance, and communication sectors-estimates of production and GDP are obtained that are close to the actual figures. The current case study is limited to Japan, but similar analysis can be conducted by using the CGE model for each country and open mobility data. Thus, the framework has potential to serve as an effective tool for assessing trade-offs between infection risks and economic impacts to inform policy-making by combining with findings from epidemiology.