Understanding the globalization-crisis linkage: A "differenced” approach

The recent string of adverse global shocks (financial crisis, trade war, COVID-19, Ukraine war) poses a potential challenge to the well-known welfare enhancing effects of globalization, necessitating a better understanding of the longer run globalization-crisis linkage as opposed to its shorter run effects. Focusing on the Great Recession, we discover an evolving role of trade and financial openness from one that propagates and deepens the negative effects of crises to one that confirms its well-established contributions. Key to this is generating counterfactual output for open countries as if they were closed and examining the comparative impact of the crisis. © 2023 The Authors. Review of International Economics published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Lifelong learning policy responses to global crises impacting the Bologna process in the context of Scotland

This chapter provides a qualitative discussion on the role of social justice mechanisms as a response to alleviate stressors within neoliberal frameworks. Lifelong learning (LLL) has various models and goals, inclusive of social justice. It establishes flexible learning modes and environments to expand educational opportunities to include disadvantaged or marginalised individuals (Armstrong, 2014;Yang, Schneller, & Roche, 2015). Further, LLL has the capability to assess new events and use methods to effectively implement strategies that manage negative educational and economic impacts (Sharma, 2004). Within the Bologna Process (BP), LLL continues to be evaluated, and interestingly, LLL operates within this system that aims to create universalised and standardised practices across participating countries. As a result, there is a dynamic relationship of flexible learning within a structured framework. This chapter addresses the issue of whether and how LLL has been responsive to major social and economic crises that have impacted the BP and inevitably learning processes. To determine LLL responses and possible contributions, a case study examination of policy and implementation in Scotland is presented through the lens of two major global crises. The two crises are the 2008-2009 Global Recession and the 2019-present day COVID-19 pandemic, which have impacted the planning and provision of education across the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). Analysis is drawn from national government documents, academic and international organisation research papers, an interview and articles from relevant years. Challenges in LLL provision are also presented in the analysis. And although we cannot forecast with certainty the next global crisis to impact our educational system, this chapter concludes with points on how future impacts may be mitigated through LLL. © 2023 by Emerald Group Publishing Ltd..

Does corporate sustainable development still promote corporate financial performance during global crises? Empirical Study from China

The purpose of this study is to find out how the positive influence of corporate sustainable development on corporate financial performance alters during the two recent crises i.e. the global recession (2008–10) and COVID-19 (2019–20). The fixed effect modeling of panel data is applied in the main analysis of Chinese manufacturing companies ranging from 2008 to 2020. The results of the study disclose that there is an overall positive influence of corporate sustainable development on corporate financial performance. However, this influence becomes stronger during both crises i.e. the global recession (2008–10) and COVID-19 (2019–20). Moreover, this positive influence is even stronger during covid −19 recession as compared to this influence during the global recession (2008–10). © 2023 The Author(s). This open access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 license.

Using Machine Learning to Predict Business Survival in COVID-19

The global recession due to the pandemic has knocked the business landscape and brought the world to its knees. There were a number of renowned companies that made the headlines for being the top industry hard hits. Nonetheless, there were businesses that survived this pandemic and navigated the COVID complexities so effectively that it tipped the scales in their favor. We attempt to study the factors that helped these businesses masterfully work their way through the conundrums of coronavirus pandemic. We first build a dataset that entailed information pertinent to businesses and relevant COVID-related information that was sourced from Yelp and other platforms. We used a variety of classifiers to make predictions about the survival of these businesses followed by that after assessing their performance through varied methods. The model efficiency was classified based on several rating techniques to evaluate both underperforming and profitable businesses. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

Using Machine Learning to Predict Business Survival in COVID-19

The global recession due to the pandemic has knocked the business landscape and brought the world to its knees. There were a number of renowned companies that made the headlines for being the top industry hard hits. Nonetheless, there were businesses that survived this pandemic and navigated the COVID complexities so effectively that it tipped the scales in their favor. We attempt to study the factors that helped these businesses masterfully work their way through the conundrums of coronavirus pandemic. We first build a dataset that entailed information pertinent to businesses and relevant COVID-related information that was sourced from Yelp and other platforms. We used a variety of classifiers to make predictions about the survival of these businesses followed by that after assessing their performance through varied methods. The model efficiency was classified based on several rating techniques to evaluate both underperforming and profitable businesses. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

Macroeconomic factors and financing strategies in working capital: Evidence from China

Changing economic situation of a country affects working capital by influencing lenders' financing abilities, firms' business activities, and managers' decisions. Hence, this paper explores the influence of macroeconomic factors in the relationship between working capital financing and firm performance over the period of 2000–2018. Applying the two-step generalized methods of moments, we found a non-linear and inverted U-shaped relationship between working capital finance (WCF) and firm performance, significantly influenced by the macroeconomic indicators that is, gross domestic product (GDP) growth, Inflation rate, and interest rate. We segregated the data regarding the global financial recession period 2008–2010 and disclosed that the non-linear and inverted U-shaped relationship between WCF and firm performance turns to linear and negative during this recession period. We also evaluated the role of GDP growth, inflation, and interest rate in WCF and firm performance relationship during the global recession and found that these factors do not influence the nexus during this period. Firm managers, lending agencies, and researchers may use these results in choosing the best financing options in working capital under the changing situation of macroeconomic factors. The WCF and firm performance analysis during the global recession period (2008–2010) may be the best prediction model for the current financial crisis caused by COVID-19. © 2022 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

COVID-19 in Africa: socio-economic impact, policy response and opportunities

Purpose>This paper examines the socio-economic impact of COVID-19 and the policy response in African countries.Design/methodology/approach>This study uses discourse analysis to analyse the socio-economic impact of COVID-19 in Africa.Findings>The findings reveal that African countries have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic, and the effect was more severe for African regions compared to other regions. The rising pandemic affected social interaction and economic activities through the imposed social distancing policies that have different levels of strictness in several African countriesPractical implications>The implication of the findings is that social policies can affect the social and economic well-being of citizens. Secondly, the coronavirus outbreak has revealed how a biological crisis can be transformed to a sociological subject. The most important sociological consequence of the coronavirus outbreak for African citizens is the creation of social anxiety among families and households in the region. The outbreak has also shown how vulnerable African societies are in facing health hazards. Policymakers should enforce social policies that unite communities in bad times, to reduce social anxiety.Originality/value>This is the first paper that explore the socio-economic impact of coronavirus and the policy response in African countries.

Preventing carbon emission retaliatory rebound post-COVID-19 requires expanding free trade and improving energy efficiency.

Existing studies have shown that the COVID-19 pandemic caused a sharp drop in carbon emissions in 2020. A recent example of the impact of sudden extreme events on carbon emissions occurred in the 2008 global financial crisis, in which carbon emissions droped in 2009, but jumped in 2010. This study is aimed to discuss how to prevent the retaliatory growth of carbon emissions post COVID-19 through learning the lessons from analysis of short-term and long-term drivers of carbon emissions. This study explored the short-term (annual) effects (population scale. affluence level, carbon intensity, energy intensity) of changes in carbon emissions by decomposing carbon emissions in the world, different income groups and selected countries before and after the 2008 financial crisis using LMDI technique. In addition, this study explored the long-term effects (energy consumption per capita, energy structure, energy intensity, foreign direct investment, and trade openness) of changes in carbon emissions by decomposing carbon emission in the world and different income groups from 1990 to 2014 using VAR technique. The decomposition results of short-term drivers of carbon emission uncovered that the deterioration in energy efficiency (increase in energy intensity) was the main reason for the retaliatory rebound in carbon emissions post-2008 financial crisis, especially in high-income countries. The decomposition results of long-term drivers of carbon emission uncovered that trade openness contributed to reduce carbon emission in the world and the incomes groups in the long term, although trade openness led to increase in carbon emission in developing countries in the short term. To prevent retaliatory rebound of carbon emissions, what we should learn two lessons from the decomposition of carbon emission: improving energy efficiency, and expanding trade openness. Unfortunately, energy efficiency has been neglected in the economic recovery plans to respond to COVID-19 of various countries, especially developed countries, and worse, trade protectionism is on the rise, especially in developed countries. Therefore, we are pessimistic about preventing a retaliatory rebound in carbon emissions post-COVID-19 for now.