Industry Structure of Commercial Districts and the Impact of COVID-19

This paper aims to empirically analyze the difference in the closure rate of the commercial district according to the industry structure of the commercial district. Theoretically, the larger the number of stores in a commercial district, the greater the positive externality caused by the agglomeration economies in consumption, namely, the external economies of scale. However, the agglomeration economies could occur from comparison shopping or one-stop shopping, depending on the business structure of the commercial district. According to the empirical results of the regression analysis of all 1164 commercial districts in Korea, the more specialized a commercial district is by stores in a specific industry, the lower the closure rate of that commercial district. This means that the agglomeration economies in consumption are driven by comparison shopping rather than by one-stop shopping and implies that it is necessary to introduce incentives that allow stores in the same industry to cluster together in terms of policy. Meanwhile, if the closure is limited to a specific industry, it will cause an endogeneity problem since it affects the industry structure of the commercial district. Considering this, as a result of additional estimation by 2SLS and GMM using instrumental variables, the error in estimation due to the endogeneity problem was not large, confirming that COVID-19 corresponds to an overall external shock that is not limited to a specific industry. In addition, this paper presents diagnostic indicators for commercial districts to measure the impact of COVID-19. Through this, it will be possible to alleviate conflicts between social classes over compensation or subsidies for sanctions for quarantine. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first time to use all commercial districts in Korea for a research in evaluating the impact of COVID-19, and empirical results on agglomeration economies focusing on the consumption side are limited.

When should grocery stores adopt time-based pricing? Impact of competition and negative congestion externality

Consumers dread shopping during peak hours, and the Covid-19 pandemic has created additional safety concerns about overcrowding in addition to long waiting times. In view of consumer's congestion aversion, should competitive brick-and-mortar grocery stores charge higher prices during congested peak hours to smooth demand? To examine "whether and when” stores should adopt intraday time-based pricing under competition, we examine a 2-stage dynamic duopoly game. At the beginning of each stage, each store can make an irreversible decision to adopt time-based pricing by setting the peak-hour and normal-hour prices. We also endogenize consumer's shopping decisions (i.e., when and which store to shop) by incorporating the issue of negative congestion externality. Our equilibrium analysis reveals that time-based pricing is always beneficial for the stores, and both stores would adopt it eventually in equilibrium. As such, only two equilibria can sustain: either both firms adopt time-based pricing immediately in stage 1, or only one firm adopts in stage 1 while the other postpones its adoption until stage 2. Interestingly, due to the competitive dynamics, it is less likely for both firms to adopt immediately when consumers are more averse to congestion. Moreover, although the adoption of time-based pricing leads to differentiated price competition, it can "soften” price competition, causing both peak-hour and normal-hour prices to rise above the status quo equilibrium uniform prices. We find that time-based pricing can always induce demand smoothing and reduce congestion. Although time-based pricing creates value for the stores (through higher prices), it offers no benefit to consumers. © 2023 Production and Operations Management Society.

The relationship between ESG and firm value. Case study of the automotive industry

The automotive industry is set to face a series of fundamental changes in the following years. Along with the transition to electric vehicles or production of autonomous cars, companies are also expected to better address sustainability issues, usually divided into environmental, social and governance (ESG) aspects. The present paper aims to explore the relationship between non-financial sustainability, measured by ESG scores, and firm value in the automotive industry, where empirical evidence is scarce. A structural equation modelling (SEM) approach has been taken on a novel dataset of 131 listed companies worldwide across 6 years. Our results indicate a mixed influence of the E, S, G scores on firm value in the analyzed period, with some inconclusive effects, especially from the social score. The findings are beneficial for investors, fund managers and automotive companies' executives. Further research directions are also provided.

The Covid 19 Exogenous Shock and the Crafting of New Multilateral Trade Rules on Subsidies and State Enterprises in the Post-Pandemic World

This Article discusses existing WTO rules on subsidies and state enterprises, relevant caselaw and reform prospects in light of key geopolitical developments and changes in the global economy emerging in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic. Following a general introduction, the Article critically analyzes present WTO rules on industrial subsidies, focusing inter alia on the new problems raised by activist industrial policies pursued by global trading powers, foreign subsidization, the climate change shock and environmental exigencies. It then shifts attention to the application of WTO rules on subsidies to the state sector and the increasing demands for new international trade rules on non-subsidies measures to address the negative spillover effects on trade from government influence on state-owned enterprises (SOEs). With respect to each of these matters, the Article first clarifies the terms of the problem in relation to existing WTO rules and caselaw, and next examines the question of how, and to what extent, "deeper” free trade agreements (FTAs)—those that experts designate as models for WTO reforms on the matter—establish new rules that permit to adequately address the trade concerns raised by SOEs' commercial and financial activities. Based on this multi-layered analysis, the article concludes by examining prospects of reform of WTO rules on state interventionism.

Inframarginal externalities: COVID-19, vaccines, and universal mandates.

COVID-19 vaccine mandates are in place or being debated across the world. Standard neoclassical economics argues that the marginal social benefit from vaccination exceeds the marginal private benefit; everyone vaccinated against a given infectious disease protects others by not transmitting the disease. Consequently, private levels of vaccination will be lower than the socially optimal levels due to free-riding, which requires mandates to overcome the problem. We argue that universal mandates based on free-riding are less compelling for COVID-19. We argue that because the virus can be transmitted even after receiving the vaccine, most of the benefits of the COVID-19 vaccine are internalized: vaccinated individuals are protected from the worst effects of the disease. Therefore, any positive externality may be inframarginal or policy irrelevant. Even when all the benefits are not internalized by the individual, the externalities mainly are local, mostly affecting family and closely associated individuals, requiring local institutional (private and civil society) arrangements to boost vaccine rates, even in a global pandemic. Economists and politicians must justify such universal vaccine mandates on some basis other than free-riding.

The effect of altruism on COVID-19 vaccination rates.

BACKGROUND: After the emergence of the first vaccines against the COVID-19, public health authorities have promoted mass vaccination in order to achieve herd immunity and reduce the effects of the disease. Vaccination rates have differed between countries, depending on supply (availability of resources) and demand (altruism and resistance to vaccination) factors. METHODS: This work considers the hypothesis that individuals' health altruism has been an important factor to explain the different levels of vaccination between countries, using the number of transplants as a proxy for altruism. Taking European Union's countries to remove, as far as possible, supply factors that might affect vaccination, we carry out cross-sectional regressions for the most favorable date of the vaccination process (maximum vaccination speed) and for each month during the vaccination campaign. RESULTS: Our findings confirm that altruism has affected vaccination rates against the COVID-19. We find a direct relationship between transplants rates (proxy variable) and vaccination rates during periods in which the decision to be vaccinated depended on the individual's choice, without supply restrictions. The results show that other demand factors have worked against vaccination: political polarization and belonging to the group of countries of the former Eastern bloc. CONCLUSIONS: Altruism is a useful tool to define future vaccination strategies, since it favors the individuals' awareness for vaccination.

The Empirical Study on the Role of MSMEs Cluster to the Local Economic Development

Purpose: The present empirical study attempted to analyze various factors and stakeholders of the Liluah metal casting cluster and its impact on local economic development. In addition, we explained the role of COVID-19 in this MSMEs cluster. Design/Methodology/Approach: To achieve the set of objectives, the research has used purposive sampling. The data were collected through structured questionnaires and in-depth interviews with firm owners. The primary data have been used and secondary data collected through various sources for the study. Findings: Liluah metal casting cluster plays a crucial role in the local economy in terms of employment and business prospect. The study also found that the manufacturing units and annual turnover increased in the last two decades, and the number of laborers decreased rapidly. Despite the huge scope of improvement in the market, technology, skill training, etc., the present cluster is suffering from a lack of capital, the latest technology, skilled workers, pollution, and competition with foreign products. Further, possibilities of innovation practices in the cluster can be achieved as far as the development of the cluster is concerned. Research Limitations: The study has several limitations. For instance, the study has analyzed the impact of the cluster on the local economic development based on the firm owners' perspective and attempted to explain various challenges and prospects. Future, there is a need to integrate various stakeholders like laborers, government institutions, and intermediaries with other allied manufacturing sectors. The sample was selected only for the Howrah district's Liluah metal casting cluster owners. Managerial Implications: Practically, it highlighted the challenges and prospects of the present cluster. Therefore, the study suggested that innovation practices can be led to positive growth of the cluster where research and development can play an important role. Originality/Value: The empirical study mainly focuses on the Liluah metal casting cluster of the Howrah district. The research paper is based on the Ph.D. thesis, and all the data and information mentioned here are original.

Does noncompliance with COVID-19 regulations impact the depressive symptoms of others?

Before vaccines became commonly available, compliance with nonpharmaceutical only preventive measures offered protection against COVID-19 infection. Compliance is therefore expected to have physical health implications for the individual and others. Moreover, in the context of the highly contagious coronavirus, perceived noncompliance can increase the subjective risk assessment of contracting the virus and, as a result, increase psychological distress. However, the implications of (public) noncompliance on the psychological health of others have not been sufficiently explored in the literature. Examining this is of utmost importance in light of the pandemic's elevated prevalence of depressive symptoms across countries. Using nationally representative data from South Africa, we explore the relationship between depressive symptoms and perceived noncompliance. We examine this relationship using a double machine learning approach while controlling for observable selection. Our result shows that the perception that neighbors are noncompliant is correlated with self-reported depressive symptoms. Therefore, in the context of a highly infectious virus, noncompliance has detrimental effects on the wellbeing of others.

Individuals and Externalities in Economic Epidemiology: A Tension and Synthesis

Both standard economic and public choice approaches to epidemiology ignore the role individuals play in disease prevention. Whereas the standard economic approach recognizes that people respond to changing prevalence rates, the standard public choice approach suggests they succumb to free-riding and collective-action problems. But the literature on collective action and the private provision of public goods suggests people can resolve collection-action problems in response to changing prevalence rates, especially when doing so lowers transaction costs. The insights of that literature suggest that decisions related to migration, housing, and community-and related markets that influence those decisions-influence mosquito control and, potentially, malaria prevalence rates.

Landscape of Attitudes Towards Living Kidney Donation During the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic in the United States: Results of a Public Opinion Survey

Purpose: Solid organ transplantation decreased during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic largely due to temporary shutdowns. The pandemic revealed significant gaps in medical knowledge among the public;disinformation, distrust, and the advent of SARS-CoV-2 may have lingering effects on transplantation rates. We hypothesize that the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has influenced interest in living kidney donation (LKD) among members of the public. Method(s): We surveyed 900 US adults (ages 25-65) in June 2021 about LKD knowledge, attitudes, perceived barriers/facilitators, and impact of the pandemic on their interest in LKD. We evaluated the relationships between self-reported characteristics and interest in LKD using Chi-square tests. Result(s): The experience of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic increased interest in LKD for 12% of participants, decreased interest for 9%, and had no impact for 79%. Increased interest in LKD was significantly associated with White race (White only vs. Asian only: 12.4% vs. 9.4%, p=0.005), younger age (25-34 vs. 55-65: 16.7% vs. 6.1%, p<0.0001 and 35-44 vs. 55-65: 15.9% vs. 6.1%, p<0.0001), male gender (16.3% vs. 8.5%, p= 0.001), higher income ($100,000-149,000 vs. <$50,000: 18.9% vs. 7.5%, p=0.0008), and higher educational attainment (4-year degree vs. some college: 14.4% vs. 6.07%, p=0.0012 and post-graduate degree vs. some college: 21.5% vs. 6.1%, p= <0.0001). Conclusion(s): The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic only impacted 21% of participants' interest in LKD, highlighting an unexpected externality of the pandemic. These findings unveil new opportunities for community engagement and population groups to target in future education and outreach campaigns.

Guest editorial: Innovation in hospitality and tourism: ethical issues and challenges

If there was any doubt about the perceived harmfulness of the industry with its growth rate prior to pandemic, evidence was provided by multiple articles advocating that the 2020 COVID standstill be used for a radical change or “reset” of tourism (Brouder, 2020;Gössling et al., 2020;Gössling and Schweiggart, 2022;Hall et al., 2020;Niewiadomski, 2020;Prideaux et al., 2020;Sigala, 2020). Besides an evident growth of the problems themselves, with the example of climate change symptoms manifesting themselves with increasing frequency around the world, and a greater awareness among scholars and practitioners, the attention to sustainable business and Corporate Social Responsibility is also the consequence of changing social forces. The private and corporate responsibility to act against pollution, injustice and other negative externalities of their economic activities mirrors the inability of public authorities to constrain the dark sides of market forces, either because they operate at a global, supranational level, or because of a withdrawal of public authorities from their regulatory roles. [...]in A systematic review of ethical issues in hospitality and tourism innovation, the authors give an overview of the state-of-the-art in studies of the overlap of ethical issues and innovation in the hospitality and tourism discipline.

On-Demand Logistics: Solutions, Barriers, and Enablers

The urban freight sector provides an essential service by delivering goods that are required by shops, companies, and households at a specific place and time. However, the growth of e-commerce and the dawn of on-demand logistics (hereinafter ODL) have raised citizens’ expectations of logistics systems, further stressing them and thereby increasing their operational and environmental costs. To the authors’ best knowledge, there are no extensive literature reviews specifically on the topic of ODL and on suggestions for policy prioritisation for tackling its effects. This paper aims at addressing this issue by providing an extensive literature review of ODL and its enablers. This research, after a thorough explanation of the ODL rationale, its trends, and its effects, analyses possible solutions to its inefficiencies, focusing on enablers and barriers. Furthermore, it illustrates and clarifies the role of external factors in influencing ODL. Finally, it proposes a systematic evaluation approach by identifying knowledge gaps and consequently defining the subsequent actions needed, broken down by the individual influencing components, rendering these solutions compatible with the status quo and effective for solving the highlighted issues.

Nonlinear Impact of Circulation-Industry Intelligentization on the Urban–Rural Income Gap: Evidence from China

Integrating informatization into the circulation industry has led to the concept of circulation-industry intelligence. By reducing transportation costs and increasing total factor productivity, the incomes of rural-area residents can be improved;a new pattern of regional economy can be established;urban, rural, social, and economic development can become more coordinated;and social sustainable development can be promoted. In this study, we used China’s provincial panel data corresponding to the 2007–2019 period to measure the intelligence index of the circulation industry in each region and determine the factors that affect the urban–rural income gap;thereafter, we conducted comparative analyses. Further, a fixed-effects model was established based on the theory of agglomeration and diffusion effects to analyze the relationship between these two variables. Our analysis identified innovation investment as a significant intermediary mechanism. The robustness of this finding was verified by substituting variables and controlling for endogeneity. Thus, the effect was shown to be regionally heterogeneous. This study innovatively integrated informatization into the circulation industry, and the results obtained provide a reference for formulating transportation infrastructure as well as informatization strategies for promoting urban–rural coordination and sustainable development globally.

The citizen preferences-positive externality trade-off: A survey study of COVID-19 vaccine deployment in Japan.

Objective: Medicine is a scarce resource and a public good that benefits others by bettering patients' health. COVID-19 vaccines in shortage are, 1) a scarce resource and 2) a public good with the positive externality of building herd immunity. These features are expected to drive citizens' attitudes in opposite directions, exclusionist and inclusionist, respectively. Scarcity would drive citizens' exclusionism, while the positive externality might mitigate exclusionism. Setting and design: We recruited 15,000 Japanese adults and asked them to rank, in the context of a COVID-19 vaccine shortage, the deservingness of hypothetical vaccine recipients who differed according to 1) citizenship status, 2) visa type and duration of stay (if foreign), 3) occupation, 4) age, 5) whether they lived with a child, and 6) whether they lived with an elderly individual. Citizenship options were Japanese, Chinese, Taiwanese, South Korean, American, or European. The occupations were healthcare, education, other employed, self-employed, or not employed. The 6 attributes were randomly combined, and respondents were shown 3 hypothetical vaccine recipients: one was Japanese, and the others were foreigners. Treatments: First, through a conjoint design, we created hypothetical vaccine recipients whose attributes were randomized except for the benchmark citizenship, Japanese national. Second, we randomly presented two scenarios for vaccination payments: 1) billed at cost or 2) fully subsidized by the government. Results: 1) Whether the vaccines were billed at cost or fully subsidized did not affect the rankings of deservingness. 2) Japanese citizenship was prioritized. 3) The penalty for being a foreigner was higher for individuals from nations with which Japan has geopolitical tensions. 4) Working in health or education reduced the penalty on foreigners, indicating that the positive externality related to occupation amplifies the positive externality associated with vaccination and mitigates exclusionist attitudes. Conclusions: The positive occupational externalities that amplify the positive externality of vaccination substantially allay the foreigner penalty.

"We Are the World": When More Equality Improves Efficiency and Antipandemic Consumptions Are Intervened

There are two general challenges for social planners in combating a pandemic: how to increase antipandemic consumptions that exhibit widespread externality, and how to trade-off between efficiency and equality. We show that these conventional concerns need not always be valid. We consider a market for antipandemic resources, where two groups of people can be either high or low in their (diminishing) marginal private returns and the suppliers are price takers with increasing marginal costs. Our basic result is that the socially efficient consumption is higher for the low type but can be lower for the high type, relative to the competitive equilibrium. This is because the high type's consumption is crowded out by that of low type who turns out to be marginally more productive in generating social benefits. Therefore, more equal consumptions can be efficient. Discriminatory subsidies in favor of the low type can maximize social welfare while yielding more equal consumptions. Quantity forcing or rationing can increase both social welfare and equality. In addition, policy portfolios combining uniform subsidy with quantity forcing or rationing can achieve full efficiency. Moreover, the main results are robust to alternative demand-side specifications, as long as the groups are sufficiently heterogenous in their overall consumption incentives.

Urban Sprawl in Poland (2016–2021): Drivers, Wildcards, and Spatial Externalities

The COVID-19 lockdown in 2020–2021 and the refugee crisis in 2021–2022 were two new and unexpected social and political events in Poland in recent years. These “wildcards” will certainly have major effects on individuals and cities, both directly and indirectly, through the influence of “externalities.” The paper examines trends in the spatial development of Polish cities during the last five years (2016–2021), focusing on residential suburbanization and urban sprawl. The study aims to reveal the elements that determine the spatial scale of suburbanization, as well as “wildcards” that may have an indirect impact on the process but are difficult to quantify and include in spatial analysis. The use of location quotient (LQ) metrics, as well as a subset of the Global Human Settlement Layer in the spatial analysis allow for comparisons of locations with intensified urbanization throughout different periods, serving a task that is comparable to feature standardization from a time and space viewpoint. The analysis provides evidence of growing suburbanization surrounding major Polish cities from 2016 to 2021, while also exposing distinct elements of spatial development during a period that was marked by social and political stress (2021).

Reorienting the sharing economy for social benefit: the nonprofit digital platform business model

Purpose>Digital platforms enable the sharing economy and have become dominant business models in many industries. Despite their many benefits, negative externalities associated with the growth of for-profit digital platforms, such as Uber and Google, have ignited concerns among market participants, policymakers and society as a whole, without corrective market forces in sight. One way to address this problem is through a combination of government regulation, criminal enforcement actions and private antitrust litigation. This study aims to analyze an alternative approach, called the nonprofit digital platform (NDP), which is an emerging business model capable of unleashing free-market forces and enhancing the sharing economy’s social benefits.Design/methodology/approach>This study documents the negative externalities (actual and potential) of for-profit digital platforms, uses the product attributes model to explain the market position and strategy of NDPs with respect to for-profit digital platforms and provides recommendations for the successful launch and management of NDPs.Findings>An NDP is a market-based alternative to antitrust, regulation and litigation that enhances the social value created by the sharing economy, but its success requires startup-like management that attracts and retains talent, capital, effective advertising and positive network externalities.Social implications>NDPs can force free-market adjustments in the industries they enter, reduce the negative spillovers of for-profit digital platforms and increase social value by incrementally raising the level of competition.Originality/value>This study conceptually explores the value that nonprofits could bring to the sharing economy in fulfilling its promise and provides strategic recommendations for social-digital entrepreneurs and nonprofits.

A theory of fiscal policy response to an epidemic.

Governments worldwide have issued massive amounts of debt to inject fiscal stimulus during the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper analyzes fiscal responses to an epidemic, in which interactions at work increase the risk of disease and mortality. Fiscal policies, which are designed to borrow against the future and provide transfers to individuals suffering economic hardship, can facilitate consumption smoothing while reduce hours worked and hence mitigate infections. We examine the optimal fiscal policy and characterize the condition under which fiscal policy improves social welfare. We then extend the model analyzing the static and dynamic pecuniary externalities under scale economies-the decrease in labor supply during the epidemic lowers the contemporaneous average wage rate while enhances the post-epidemic workforce health and productivity. We suggest that fiscal policy may not work effectively unless the government coordinates working time, and the optimal size of public debt is affected by production technology and disease severity and transmissibility.

The Impact of Employee Attitudes on the Effectiveness of Corporate Governance and Social External Effects: Business Analytics Platform

The article solves the problem of ensuring effective corporate governance through the study of social effects and such a phenomenon as employee resistance to change. The main purpose of the study is to develop practical ways of increasing the effectiveness of corporate governance by assessing the intensity of employee resistance to change in turbulent external socio-economic conditions based on the business analytics platform. To achieve this, the authors compared theoretical thinking with empirical testing methods. This study was conducted using the methods of analysis and synthesis, surveys, expert evaluations, and the method of taxonomy. The results revealed: (1) Reliability and sustainability of survey tools;(2) Dependence of employee resistance to change on individual psychological and socio-psychological reasons and organizational barriers;(3) The effectiveness of assessing the level of intensity of employee resistance to organizational change in negative socio-economic conditions based on the calculation of the integrated coefficient;(4) The importance of effective work of HR managers that is aimed at overcoming employee resistance to change in order to achieve positive social effects. We have determined that achieving strategic goals of the company's development through the implementation of corporate governance is conditioned by positive organizational change, for the successful implementation of which it is necessary to assess the employee resistance to change in order to effectively overcome it. The study substantiates the main groups of reasons for persistent employee resistance to change. We offer practical recommendations on how to assess the intensity of employee resistance to change. In the course of additional research, proposals for successful planning of employee development programs were formulated. Positive social external effects of corporate governance effectiveness were determined.

Achievement of Sustainable Development Goals through the Implementation of Circular Economy and Developing Regional Cooperation

Circular economy is a tool based on the inclusion of environmental, social, and governance performance (ESG) in decision-making to achieve sustainable development goals (SDG). In recent years, it has become clear that business-as-usual has nothing to do with sustainability, and alternative business models, primarily on technological grounds, must be implemented to mitigate the damage caused by significant and unpredictable effects of climate change. The current situation requires unprecedented and urgent changes to policies and business development models. The current research aimed to target on industrial symbiosis as one of the business models of the circular economy. It evaluated the benefits of symbiosis and the fostering of cooperation between industries and, consequently, has a major impact on resource efficiency ratios. The research is based on quantitative and qualitative research methods, including a literature review, assessment, and application of the triangulation method. As a result of this research, the authors realized a matrix for the development of regional or cross-country industrial symbiosis that can be used by policymakers to foster the development of symbiotic interconnections on a wide scale. The authors also recommend the development of the Baltic University Program (BUP) network center of excellence and methodological justification for industries to engage in industrial symbiosis (IS).