Income Recovery of Thai Workers From the COVID-19 Pandemic

This paper examines how COVID-19 and the resultant lockdown affected Thai workers and how their income has recovered as of the end of 2020. We conducted three phases of telephone surveys to track the income dynamics of Thai workers during the months of May, August, and November 2020. The initial COVID-19 impact on Thai worker income was enormous and very broad. On average, Thai workers' income fell by 47.03%, and 69.7% suffered such a loss. Over the six months survey period, most Thai workers had just begun to stabilize their income, but only a few were actually able to recover. Quantile regression analysis revealed particular factors that influenced income recovery. For example, being a formal worker tended to help one's income to recover faster. Interestingly, COVID-19 assistance schemes from the government, although essential to those in need, had a negative impact on income recovery. On the other hand, the cheap loan policy seems to have been more effective as workers whose incomes were in the middle and the top quantiles experienced faster income recovery. © 2023 by De La Salle University.

Using the Tobin Q model to evaluate the impact of credit risks on the bank's market value during the corona pandemic

PurposeThis paper aims to assess the impact of credit risk on the market values of private banks during the corona pandemic. Design/methodology/approachThis study is identifying critical issues of credit risk at six great private banks. A conceptual framework is designed based on the Tobin Q model for investigating study hypotheses. Quantitative financial analysis methods have been used for processing data, such as financial ratios, arithmetic mean and multiple linear regression. FindingsThe most important result of this study is the lack of influence of credit risk on the market value of selected banks. Because the dimensions of credit risk have critical importance in increasing or decreasing the market value, these banks must continue to adopt quantitative financial analysis to measure credit risks to avoid their risk. Originality/valueThis study elaborates the need for financial indicators to help assess the market value of banks during the economic crises caused by the closure of commercial institutions during the corona pandemic. There is continued increase in bank credit to support these institutions, borrowers and cash withdrawals, which may affect their market reputation.

A pilot predictive model based on COVID-19 data to assess suicidal ideation indirectly.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a negative impact on the mental health of the population. Many studies reported high levels of psychological distress and rising rates of suicidal ideation (SI). Data on a range of psychometric scales from 1790 respondents were collected in Slovenia through an online survey between July 2020 and January 2021. As a worrying percentage (9.7%) of respondents reported having SI within the last month, the goal of this study was to estimate the presence of SI, as indicated by the Suicidal Ideation Attributes Scale (SIDAS). The estimation was based on the change of habits, demographic features, strategies for coping with stress, and satisfaction with three most important aspects of life (relationships, finances, and housing). This could both help recognize the telltale factors indicative of SI and potentially identify people at risk. The factors were specifically selected to be discreet about suicide, likely sacrificing some accuracy in return. We tried four machine learning algorithms: binary logistic regression, random forest, XGBoost, and support vector machines. Logistic regression, random forest, and XGBoost models achieved comparable performance with the highest area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.83 on previously unseen data. We found an association between various subscales of Brief-COPE and SI; Self-Blame was especially indicative of the presence of SI, followed by increase in Substance Use, low Positive Reframing, Behavioral Disengagement, dissatisfaction with relationships and lower age. The results showed that the presence of SI can be estimated with reasonable specificity and sensitivity based on the proposed indicators. This suggests that the indicators we examined have a potential to be developed into a quick screening tool that would assess suicidality indirectly, without unnecessary exposure to direct questions on suicidality. As with any screening tool, subjects identified as being at risk, should be further clinically examined.

Swine breeding in the villages of Valcea county, Oltenia (Romania) - tradition or necessity?

Food supply has been a constant source of concern for mankind. In the present context, with food security a priority of European and national policies, an analysis of pig farming in a representative NUTS2 administrative level of Romania that emphasizes the proportion of households raising at least one pig and the main factors influencing farmers to adopt or give up swine breeding could allow a much clearer understanding of this phenomenon that lies at the border between cultural tradition and socio-economic necessity. This study uses mixed methods that complement each another to help reveal this complex phenomenon in the analyzed territory. Cluster analysis shows the concentration of swine breeding and maps its spread in terms of both subsistence and larger farms, and qualitative interviews prove the motivation of farmers to continue in this occupation. As a primary result, the study visualizes the spatial distribution of pig farming in the rural environment of Valcea county, Romania, from a diachronic perspective in the post-communist period. It also reveals areas of differing concentrations of both very small-sized farms, which prioritize meeting their own food needs, and larger farms, which prioritize commercial production to supplement their revenue streams. Both categories, but particularly the latter, are of particular interest in a period in which the socio-economic environment after 1990 - marked by economic restructuring, unemployment, population migration, the economic crisis of 2008-2010, the pandemic of 2020-2021, and the most recent energy crisis - periodically highlights the importance of rural areas in ensuring food security and sufficiency at both the local and regional levels.

Investor Behavior during Periods of Crises: The Chinese Funds Market during the 2020 Pandemic

This study seeks to contribute to the body of research on economic sustainability during periods of crisis by examining investor behavior in China during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Economic conditions in China during 2020 can be separated into the first half of the year, a period of extreme economic uncertainty, and the second half of the year when there was almost no COVID and was a period of relative economic stability. Unexpectedly, Chinese funds showed consistent, strong growth throughout all of 2020. This study applies behavioral finance theory to interpret data gathered through an online survey to examine several factors in the psychology of investors during these two periods. Factors included;risk avoidance, heuristic, prospect, and herding. The heuristic factor was further divided into: representativeness, anchoring, overconfidence, gambler fallacy, and availability bias. The prospect factor included loss aversion and regret aversion. The analysis indicates that low-risk funds' investments grew significantly during the first half of the year due to risk avoidance behavior. During the second half of 2020, as the level of uncertainty and risk in China was considerably reduced, investment in low-risk funds continued with robust activity and growth due to the investment psychology of the herding effect. The findings contribute to the body of knowledge on investor behavior and market resiliency during periods of crisis. Copyright © 2023 GMP Press and Printing.

Protein level in feed for gestating sows can be reduced

Research showed that reducing the protein level in the compound feed for gestating sows can have a positive effect on piglet growth. Sows fed with a lower protein content had more energy to produce milk, resulting in heavier piglets at weaning. Reducing protein intake did not negatively affect birth weight or the number of live-born piglets. The results suggest that the sows' daily need for crude protein may be even lower than the level investigated in the study. The findings are particularly relevant in light of the global shortage of organic soyabean meal and other protein sources due to the COVID-19 crisis.

Recommendations for changes in the methodology of public EU funds allocation in the context of economic crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic

The article presents the national allocations of EU funds under the Next Generation fund and two selected financial instruments: RRF and REACT EU, which were then interpreted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Studies have shown that Spain, Italy and France have received more than 50% and, in the case of the REACT EU programme, 64% of the European public intervention value under the RRF instrument to combat the effects of COVID-19. It should be noted that in the current algorithm for the distribution of EU funds, the values of the identified amounts of support in selected financial instruments depend on population, GDP and unemployment. In the second part of the research, which focused on satisfaction indicators, it was shown that citizens of European Union countries value having a job more than high earnings, and this means that they value life stability more than the amount of remuneration. It has also been shown that for EU citizens, social ties are rated higher than spending free time. Taking into account the results of the research, the authors believe that when developing future methodologies for the allocation of European funds, the amount of support from European public funds should be additionally relativized to the indicator of life and time satisfaction, as well as the types and intensity of global asymmetric jumps. The pandemic or the unjustified aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine and the related energy crises clearly demonstrate that public funds should not be allocated from the point of view of only indicators determining the socio-economic situation of the country. Based on the research, the authors believe that quality of life indicators (finance, employment, social contacts and leisure activities) should be included as a new insight in the criteria for the distribution of EU funds. © 2022 Narodowy Bank Polski. All rights reserved.

Crisis, firm characteristics and stock performance: evidence from hospitality and tourism sector

This study investigates the critical firm-level strengths and weaknesses that explain cross-sectional variations in abnormal stock returns of Hospitality and Tourism (HT) firms during different phases of a crisis. We used the event study and multivariate regression framework for analysing the Indian HT firms' data around the COVID-19 crisis. While reporting a significant negative influence of COVID-19, we identified the early crisis, market crash and continuation of the crisis periods. Furthermore, we observe that during the early-crisis period, business diversity, financial stability and board diversity improved HT firms' strength to withstand the risk, while business group affiliation was of little help. During the market crash and continuation of the crisis phase, better capital intensity and financial stability proved helpful. The managers of HT firms can take cues from this study to understand firm-level characteristics that provide resilience to their firms' value in managing different phases of the crisis.

Earnings management during the COVID-19 crisis: evidence from the Brazilian and American capital markets

PurposeThe main purpose of this study is to evaluate whether the COVID-19 pandemic has stimulated earnings management among publicly traded companies in Brazil and the USA.Design/methodology/approachThe authors analyzed the above-mentioned effects based on 22,244 observations of Brazilian companies and 139,856 observations of American companies from 1998 to 2020. The proxy used to detect earnings management based on discretionary accruals (DAC) was obtained by using the Modified Jones Model (MJM) (Dechow et al., 1995), with adjustments suggested by Kothari et al. (2005). In accordance with previous studies (e.g. Brown et al., 2015;Enomoto et al., 2015;Galdi et al., 2020;Huang and Sun, 2017;Roychowdhury, 2006), the authors also employed a second proxy to detect earnings management through real activities associated with unusual losses for fixed assets (property, plant and equipment (PPE)).FindingsThe study's findings indicate that the discretionary accruals of Brazilian companies varied in a more accentuated manner during the COVID-19 pandemic, making it possible to deduce that a recent history of economic depression may entail greater incentives for earnings management in an emerging economy. In addition, the authors verified that the effects of the current crisis on earnings management proxies denote a signal that is distinct from previous economic crises, which may be interpreted as an attempt to postpone the effects of the pandemic on financial statements, especially those of the Brazilian capital markets.Originality/valueUnlike previous crises, this pandemic has led to direct restrictions on a wide variety of economic segments rather than indirect contagion due to anomalies in the financial markets, making it a phenomenon with the characteristics of a quasi-natural experiment for studies related to the quality of accounting information. Considering that both Brazil and the USA provide an opportune economic contrast, given their discrepancies in terms of economic growth over the past two decades, the researchers believe that there is an unusual opportunity to understand how earnings management can be an incentive for managers in environments where crises arose from natural causes.

Crisis, What Crisis? The Effect of Economic Crises on Spending on Online and Offline Gambling in Spain: Implications for Preventing Gambling Disorder.

(1) Background: In the period between 2008 and 2020, the world experienced two global economic crises that affected people's way of life and well-being: the financial crisis of 2008 and that precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the crises' radically different causes, their consequences for economic activity have been equally dramatic; (2) Methods: This article analyzes the consequences of both crises on gambling spending in Spain and compares traditional (offline) games with more recent online offerings. The data were collected from databases maintained by the Spanish government and gambling companies; (3) Results: The paper offers two main conclusions. The first is that, while traditional (offline) gambling has been significantly affected by economic crises, online gambling has exhibited consistent growth since its legalization. The second is that the measures implemented to resolve the two economic crises differed significantly and thus had different impacts on spending on the various types of gambling; (4) Conclusions: The key conclusion is that purchasing power (measured in terms of GDP) can only explain spending on less addictive gambling games, such as lotteries. However, the availability and accessibility of games are both directly related to spending on games of all types.

From Pre-crises to Global Recoveries and Why We Can Build Sustainable Futures for the World

The coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) generated a crisis;however, it also gave us an opportunity to imagine the future and build a better world. Moreover, as we are convinced of the importance of understanding the lessons of history when facing both current and future challenges, this chapter seeks to present a concise overview of global crises since the end of the nineteenth century and to show crises for which we ignored the warning signs and wakeup calls, the consequences of said crises and how we managed to recover and thrive in several cases. Ultimately, we seek to justify the capacity of humanity to build a sustainable future-ideally, a regenerative future. © 2022 Emerald Publishing Limited.

Bhutan's foresighted resilience in the initial period of the COVID-19 pandemic: through the Lens of gross national happiness

When COVID-19 first emerged in late-2019 in Wuhan, China, without adequate containment, the virus and the economic shock waves that followed quickly spread across the world, leaving few countries unaffected by the contagion. COVID-19 quickly escalated into an ongoing and widespread global crisis, placing acute pressure on prevailing economic systems, governance structures, development institutions and health systems not experienced since the Spanish flu of 1918. In doing so, it crippled economies and ruptured trajectories of globalization and development, with a myriad of negative impacts as well as unintended positive effects such as reduced carbon emissions. As the pandemic continues to unfold, the responses of individual nation-states and sub-national regions have been both varied and divergent.

Novel welfare state responses in times of crises: the COVID-19 crisis versus the Great Recession

Using microsimulation tools, we explore the social policy responses to the Great Recession and the COVID-19 crisis, and their impact on preserving living standards in Ireland. During the Great Recession, the focus was on cost reduction. By contrast, during the COVID-19 crisis, the focus was on mitigating the impact on household incomes. In addition, an innovation in joint public and private responses emerged through social partnership. We find a stronger policy response during the COVID-19 crisis than the Great Recession. The COVID-19 crisis was more rapid, leaving more individuals out of work, thus family support was weaker. This was compensated by stronger private support through social partnership. Consequently, those with lower incomes had larger disposable incomes at the onset of the crisis;an effect that reduced with policy learning. We find increasing trust in public institutions during the COVID-19 crisis as opposed to a decline during the Great Recession.

An impact of economic slowdown on health. New evidence from 21 European countries.

BACKGROUND: The economic slowdown affects the population's health. Based on a social gradient concept, we usually assume that this detrimental impact results from a lower social status, joblessness, or other related factors. Although many researchers dealt with the relationship between economy and health, the findings are still inconsistent, primarily related to unemployment. This study reinvestigates a relationship between the economy's condition and health by decomposing it into macroeconomic indicators. METHODS: We use data for 21 European countries to estimate the panel models, covering the years 1995-2019. Dependent variables describe population health (objective measures - life expectancy for a newborn and 65 years old, healthy life expectancy, separately for male and female). The explanatory variables primarily represent GDP and other variables describing the public finance and health sectors. RESULTS: (1) the level of economic activity affects the population's health - GDP stimulates the life expectancies positively; this finding is strongly statistically significant; (2) the unemployment rate also positively affects health; hence, increasing the unemployment rate is linked to better health - this effect is relatively short-term. CONCLUSIONS: Social benefits or budgetary imbalance may play a protective role during an economic downturn.

Pandemic pandemonium in the tropical timber sector: measures to contain COVID-19 are having devastating impacts on the tropical timber sector

This paper describes the impact of COVID-19 on the tropical timber sector. An ITTO survey of stakeholders shows that the measures are having devastating impacts on the tropical timber sector. Correspondents in Brazil, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar and Viet Nam were asked in April to use their networks to seek answers to questions on the impacts of the pandemic. Highlights of the responses are: (1) unemployment;(2) economic decline;(3) low output production in the forestry and timber sector;and (4) financial losses in timber sector.

Macroeconomic trends in public healthcare and risk management in the period to 2025

Healthcare, economic and social crises deepened globally and in Bulgaria as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Questions about the future of public healthcare have become relevant for public health managers, who often have to work with inadequate financial resources in an environment of increasing expectations from society. What risks lay ahead? Are there macroeconomic foundations to solve these profound problems or will they deepen in the period 2022 to 2025? Would it be prudent to raise debt levels in Bulgaria to the brink of bankruptcy? Would it be necessary to raise taxes for employees, including medical personnel, to overcome the crises? The purpose of the current article is to analyse the macroeconomic environment and key financial indicators in Bulgaria and the EU, and use the analysis to propose risk management strategies to increase healthcare funds in an unprecedented demographic crisis without raising debt and government taxation.

Spillover effects of pandemic crisis to the EU agricultural sector

The economic crisis caused by the external shock in the form of the COVID-19 pandemic had the character of a systemic risk affecting all markets in the world. Due to high levels of economic integration, negative spillover effects were inevitable. Indirect effects particularly affected the agricultural sector with simultaneous shocks on the supply and demand side. The research includes an analysis of negative distortions of a macroeconomic nature in order to show in the most adequate way the vital importance of the agricultural sector at the level of the European Union (EU). Given the acute nature of the economic crisis, interventions at the EU level (and in countries) targeting exit strategies have a key role to play. The analysis of the implemented strategies in the EU in 2020 indicates that: (a) economic policymakers have minimized the gap in the implementation of measures, by applying generous and prompt programs aimed at the agricultural sector;(b) there is a need to move from urgent rescue programs to "no regrets" programs that can improve the resilience of the agricultural sector to future external shocks in the long run.

The management practices of tourism SMEs in pandemic times: innovation as a quest of survival

The objective of this paper is to analyze the strategies and actions implemented by small and medium-sized companies in the tourism sector (SMEs) based on the social and economic crisis caused by COVID-19. The study focuses mainly on direct customer service on the coastline of the Metropolitan Area of Puerto Vallarta, including souvenir shops, accommodation, restaurants, and art galleries, among others. Our argument is that to keep operating, companies had to implement various changes, mainly the incorporation of digital tools in their management and communication processes with both suppliers and their customers. The research uses quantitative methods, both digital and traditional (face-to-face) instruments were used to data collection in order to overcome the obstacles imposed by the social distancing, and confinement required in the general population. The results show what were the activities implemented by the companies that contribute to innovation, as well as particularly two types of innovation, according to the Oslo Manual (2007) in relation to commercial and organizational innovations. We conclude that tourism is an activity of direct contact with the consumer and experience, which limits certain services to be digitalized, so that it must be considered the profile of tourists, the age group and their region of origin to explain the acceptance to digitalization of some practices related to the provision of tourist services.

Forecasting the crisis of Vietnam's financial market by Markov Switching Var model

The global economy and financial markets have experienced "The most adverse shock in a century" due to the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic but are also transforming enormously in the digital era. Besides, Vietnam's financial system has been making vital development steps, increasing its resilience. Still, its development prospects depend mainly on the recovery of the global economy and financial markets, the Stability of the economy, and the Stability of the economic stability and sustainability of investor confidence in the market. The Markov Switching Var (MSVAR) model will measure the crisis in the Vietnamese financial system. The research goals reveal that the volatility of macro variables such as the exchange rate (ER), foreign exchange reserves (FR), and the domestic interest rate differential (ID) affects the financial market crisis in Vietnam from 2010 to 2020. According to MSVAR estimation, establishing the time of the financial market crisis correlates with the period of higher volatility in the foreign currency market. Thus, the article's novelty is to proactively seize opportunities development prospects and prevent risks towards sustainable development, and strategic solutions are needed.

Fight against COVID-19 with technology: a review. (Special Issue: Covid-19 in India.)

Coronavirus disease is an infectious disease also known as COVID-19 caused by a newly discovered coronavirus;it was named severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). The COVID-19 pandemic poses a global health threat and has resulted in the largest global economic crisis since the II World War. This pandemic affects different people in different ways. Most of the infected people will develop mild to moderate illness and recover without hospitalization. The most common symptoms of COVID-19 pandemic are - fever, dry cough, tiredness, headache, loss of taste or smell. The COVID-19 virus spreads primarily through droplets of saliva or discharge from the nose when an infected person coughs or sneezes (WHO). The older people, and those with underlying medical problems are more likely to develop serious illness. In the absence of population immunity to the disease and effective treatments, extensive lockdowns and related sanitary and social distancing measures. This paper provides advancements in the treatment measures of COVID-19 pandemic throughout the world.