FAIR TAXATION UNDER THE GLOBAL ANTI-BASE EROSION RULES?

In 2021 the OECD launched the Global Minimum Company Tax to implement the Action 1 of the BEPS Project. This instrument has seen as a good mechanism to prevent company avoiding taxes at the global level and to stop existence of the harmful tax regimes worldwide, as well as a good mechanism to achieve fair taxation in the era of global digitalization. However, the broke-out of the COVID-19 pandemic and, consequently, the close of the national borders, then armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine, boost financial crisis and the crises in almost all social and industrial spheres at the global level. Such unwilling trend, between all, has influenced behavior of the companies and the initial optimism of the OECD and other international organizations that the global minimum company tax, at the very end, would end existence of the harmful tax regimes, tax avoidance and unfair taxation, dropped significantly. Therefore, at the very end of the 2022 and the beginning of the 2023, the OECD launched consultation document on tax certainty in the application of the Pillar Two of the global minimum tax known as a GloBE (Global Anti-Base Erosion) Model Rules. This paper deals with mentioned issue and actual problems that the application of the GLoBE rules is faced with.

The impact of Covid-19 on the capital structure in emerging economies: evidence from India

PurposeCapital structure is an important corporate financing decision, particularly for companies in emerging economies. This paper attempts to understand whether the pandemic had any significant impact on the capital structure of companies in emerging economies. India being a prominent emerging economy is an ideal candidate for the analysis.Design/methodology/approachThe study utilizes three leverage ratios in an extended market index, BSE500, for the period 2015–2021. The ratios considered are short-term leverage ratio (STLR), long-term leverage ratio (LTLR) and total leverage ratio (TLR). A dummy variable differentiates the pre-epidemic (2015–2019) and pandemic (2020–2021) period. Control variables are used to represent firm characteristics such as growth, tangibility, profit, size and liquidity. Dynamic panel data regression is employed to address endogeneity.FindingsThe findings point out that Covid-19 has had a significant, negative effect on LTLR, while the impact on STLR and TLR was insignificant. The findings indicate that companies based in a culturally risk-averse environment, such as India, would reduce the long-term debt to avoid bankruptcy in times of uncertainty.Research limitations/implicationsThe study covers the impact of the pandemic on Indian companies. Hence, generalization of the findings to global context might not be valid.Practical implicationsTo maintain economic growth in the post-crisis period, Indian policymakers should ensure accessibility to low-cost capital. The findings provide impetus to deepen the insignificant corporate bond market in India for future economic revival.Originality/valueDeveloping countries are struggling to revive the economies postpandemic. This is particularly true for Asian economies which are heavily reliant on banks for survival. This research finds evidence to utilize bond market as a source of raising capital for economic revival.

Introduction

Individualised employment relations formed a key pillar of the shift to neoliberal economic policy in the 1980s, complementing other dimensions of orthodoxy deployed across governments, public administrations and central banks in the same time. In the neoliberal narrative, market forces would ‘naturally' and justly compensate labour for its contribution to productivity, like any other input to production. Consequently, redistributive institutions empowering workers to win more adequate wages and conditions (through minimum wages, Awards, unionisation, and collective bargaining) were dramatically eroded, or discarded entirely. Combined with welfare state retrenchment, this restructuring of labour market policy increased the pressure on people to sell their labour, and under terms over which workers wielded little influence. Since then, forms of insecure, non-standard work have proliferated globally, and employment relations have been increasingly individualised. Now, most workers in Anglo-Saxon market economies, and a growing proportion of workers in European and Nordic nations, rely on individual contract instruments (underpinned only by minimum wage floors typically far below living wage benchmarks) to set the terms and conditions of employment. Wages have stagnated, the share of GDP going to workers has declined, and inequality and poverty (even among employed people) has intensified. More recently, after years of this employer-friendly hegemony in workplace relations, successive crises (first the GFC and then the COVID-19 pandemic) have more obviously shattered traditional expectations of a natural linkage between economic growth and workers' living standards.After a generation of experience with this individualised model of employment relations, and with the human costs of that approach becoming ever-more obvious, there is renewed concern with reimagining policies and structures which could support improvements in job quality, stability, and compensation. Important policy dialogue and innovation is now occurring in many industrial countries, in response to the negative consequences of neoliberal labour market policies. In those conversations, institutions like collective bargaining have returned to centre stage.

Analysis of Network Security Protection Based on Digital Economy

Since the first half of 2020, the COVID-19 epidemic has continued to spread across the country. Based on this background, with the continuous promotion of a new round of technological innovation and industrial transformation, and the combined impact of the epidemic factors, the digital economy has become a new pillar of the steady development of China's macro economy. Emerging industries have provided good opportunities for the digital economy. Cyber security has risen to the height of national sovereignty, which is the direct embodiment of national competitiveness and the foundation for the healthy development of the digital economy. However, with the concentration of massive data and the progress of information technology, the data is easily and conveniently used, personal privacy security, corporate business secrets and even national security suffered serious damage, and network security protection has also become the bottleneck of the digital economy to a new level. It is particularly important to strengthen the network security governance capacity, improve the network security laws and regulations, and implement the hierarchical protection system. © 2023 SPIE.

Dynamic effects and driving intermediations of oil price shocks on major economies

Interest in oil price shocks' economic effects has grown in recent years. However, previous studies mostly failed to clarify the dynamic transmissions of oil price shocks on representative economies from global and driver perspectives, even ignoring oil price fluctuations when linking oil prices and economy together. This paper examines the dynamic relationships and driving intermediations between multiple oil price shocks and macroeconomy by applying Bayesian vector autoregressive models with stochastic volatility and time-varying parameters, using the USA, China, the Euro-19, and Japan as research objects. Results show that, in the whole sample, all oil prices have the strongest effects on Japan, followed by China, Euro-19, and the USA, with possible directional differences. All oil prices' economic effects intensified during the crisis and Covid-19, accompanying significant oil price fluctuations. Regarding asymmetry, in the whole sample and critical times, stronger effects of rising oil prices show in the short term, but opposite in the long term. Consumer price, interest rate, and exchange rate are the general intermediations of oil prices in China and the USA, Euro-19, and Japan, respectively, and exchange rate is the additional intermediation in China, Euro-19, and Japan during the crisis and Covid-19. Overall, the results are solid.

Labour Reforms and Economic Justice: Inequality, the COVID-19 Pandemic and Regionalism

Analysing the patterns of inequality in India, this paper argues that those at the bottom of the income pyramid lack the enabling conditions of access to good healthcare and education to break out of the cycle of poverty. Addressing extreme inequalities would require not just the redistribution of wealth but also a transformation in the structure of the economy so that the processes of income generation become more equitable. A beginning in this direction would require a fundamental change in the relationship between labour and capital. Analysing recent legislations to reform labour laws within India, the author observes that while they provided some benefits to the unprivileged working classes, the overall effect has been to weaken labour unions and relax labour laws making it easier for them to be exploited. Enduring change will require new development models based on strong normative frameworks for ensuring equity and sustainability. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023.

An Intrusion Detection System Using Machine Learning for Internet of Medical Things

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted everyday life, the global economy, travel, and commerce. In many cases, the tight measures put in place to stop COVID-19 have caused depression and other diseases. As many medical systems over the world are unable to hospitalize all the patients, some of them may get home healthcare assistance, while the government and healthcare organizations have access to substantial sickness management data. It allows patients to routinely update their health status and have it sent to distant hospitals. In certain cases, the medical authorities may designate quarantine stations and provide supervision equipment and platforms (such as Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) devices) for performing an infection-free treatment, whereas IoMT devices often lack enough protection, making them vulnerable to many threats. In this paper, we present an intrusion detection system (IDS) for IoMTs based on the following gradient boosting machines approaches: XGBoost, LightGBM, and CatBoost. With more than 99% in many evaluation measures, these approaches had a high detection rate and could be an effective solution in preventing attacks on IoMT devices. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

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.

The Moderating Effects of Corporate Social Responsibility on Corporate Financial Performance: Evidence from OECD Countries

This study aims to investigate the nature and intensity of the changes in corporate financial performance due to the corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosures as a result of certain relationships between corporate governance and company performance in the non-financial sector. This study selected 625 non-financial companies across six organizations for economic cooperations (OECD) countries' stock markets for the period of 10 years (2012–2021). For this qualitative study, corporate governance, financial performance, and corporate social responsibility score data were collected from the DataStream, a reliable database for examining the research on OECD countries' listed companies. For the data analysis we applied various statistical tools such as regression analysis and moderation analysis. The findings of the study show that all attributes of the corporate governance mechanism, except for audit board attendance, have significant positive impacts on financial performance indicators for all the selected OECD economies except the country France. France's code of corporate governance has a significant negative impact on return on asset (ROA) and return on equity (ROE) due to differences in cultural and operational norms of the country. The audit board attendance has no significant impact on ROA. Moreover, all the attributes except board size (BSIZ) have significant positive impacts on the earnings per share (EPS) in Spain, The United Kingdom (UK) and Belgium. The values obtained from the moderation effect show that Corporate social responsibility is the key factor in motivating corporate governance practices which eventually improves corporate financial performance. However, this study advocated the implications, Investors and stakeholders should consider both corporate governance and CSR disclosures when making investment decisions. Companies that prioritize both governance and CSR tend to have better financial performance and are more likely to mitigate risks. Moreover, the policy makers can improve the code of corporate governance in order to attain sustainable development in the stock market.

Performance, cultural resistance and social justice: India's creative economies since the COVID-19 pandemic

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the global cultural and creative sector has experienced major transformations in the way performances are conceived of, produced, packaged, and sustained. The involuntary shift to the online (and now hybrid) models and platforms of showcasing have compelled artists not just to rethink performance itself but also to address larger global and local socio-political and economic issues. This paper aims to look at two short case studies - dance and theatre - to underscore the transformations in "performance economy" in the pandemic. It considers the adaptability of these forms to newer idioms/platforms, and the creative labour involved in their sustenance through ongoing challenges. The study focusses on interviews of performers, and self-reflexive experiences of pedagogic training as a dancer through online apps. In doing so, the paper asks how cultural resistance, social citizenship and inclusivity in performing arts address questions of labour, inequality, and creative justice.

Sustainable, Smart and Safe Mobility at the Core of Sustainable Tourism in Six European Islands

Transport and tourism are rising economic sectors based on their mutual growth on reliable technological tools, affordable energy sources in relatively peaceful decades. This growing trend, faced along years of sudden slowdown caused mainly by the financial and health crisis;one of the most severe and recent episodes was theCOVID-19 pandemic.The pandemic outbreak is representing a global turning point for both international markets of tourism and transport which can be addressed with innovative solutions looking to retake the growing trends. In such a changing framework CIVITAS DESTINATIONS European project addressed the main challenges of tourism and resident mobility at local (rural, urban area, large city) and regional levels, focusing on six European islands (Malta, Cyprus, Elba, Crete, Gran Canaria, Madeira) aiming to implement and evaluate 83 different sustainablemobility measures. The project proves to have a cumulative relevant impact on environmental indicators such as CO2 emission avoided, fossil fuel saved and energy saved. Additionally, the project findings focus on the quality of life and economic development to grant long-run environmental and financial sustainability of tourism and transport at the local and regional levels. The main aspects observed were related to public participation and governance models in touristic mobility integrated with the residents' needs, touristic mobility the island, role of technologies to focus on final user needs, growing trends of elder and disabled people, new integrated and innovative business in tourism and mobility markets, health at the core of future trends. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2022.

COVID-19 and the Interruption of Sister Cities Activities: Lexington, Kentucky and Its Four "Sister” Thoroughbred Raising/Racing Cities

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly and negatively influenced human organizations and activities at global scales. The impacts are evident in not only the cancelation of events, but also in the postponement of events for a year or more. Countries, cities, economies and voluntary organizations have been affected by these events and activities at local, regional and international scales. One major international non-governmental organization with multiple global networks is Sister Cities International (SCI) which links businesses, schools, and community groups. Groups interested in recreation/tourism, sports, art, culture, health care, human empowerment and more are among the networks evident at all scales. This study looks specifically at the linkages of five sister cities with strong Thoroughbred racing and raising economies and how COVID-19 affected the events planned for 2020 and 2021. The specific focus is on Lexington, Kentucky, the center of the Thoroughbred industry in the U.S. Details reveal that while a few events and activities were canceled, many more were rescheduled for 2021, including the Sister Cities International conference which was held virtually in July 2021. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.

Resilience Based on Management Practices in Higher Education Institutions in an Emerging Economy

Although the potential benefits of management practices have been widely publicized, less is known about how management practices affect resilience in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in emerging economies. In this article, we test a research framework capable of capturing the relationships between management practices and resilience in HEIs in Brazil, in a context of post-pandemic SARS-CoV-2 (new normal). Primary survey-based data were collected from HEI managers using a scalar-type questionnaire (Likert). Data Mining, Spearman Correlation and Ordinal Regression techniques were applied. The calculations were developed using R software. The results of our research cover expected and unexpected results and suggest that the adoption of management practices in HEIs pays off in terms of economic and social resilience. Strategic planning and human resources are the most prominent practices. Our findings can be useful for HEIs from emerging economies that share similar characteristics with Brazil. This study is original, fills a gap in the literature and makes contributions to theory and practice: (i) it serves as a guide for managers in the formulation and implementation of management practices;(ii) advances the arguments of the literature on management in HEIs.

COVID-19 pandemic and stock market performance: A comparative study of emerging economies.

The paper investigates the co-movement of COVID-19 pandemic and performance of stock markets of four emerging economies. The Quantile-on-Quantile regression model was applied to daily share prices of stock markets from March 13, 2020 to November 30, 2021 in these economies. The results indicate varied relationships across various quantiles of COVID-19 cases and share prices. Whilst both positive and negative relationships are established at different quantiles of share prices for Brazil and Kenya, negative co-movements are recorded for India and South Africa for all quantiles of share prices. The varying dependence between COVID-19 and stock markets provide critical insights to policy makers.

Zoom-ing Past "the New Normal”? Understanding Students' Engagement with Online Learning in Higher Education during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Although higher education institutes were the early adopters of remote learning through virtual, synchronous classrooms during the pandemic, the efficacy of this medium has received mixed reactions. Engaging online learners still remains a major challenge for instructors and institutions in general. Amidst variety of distractions at home, achieving positive learning outcomes and student engagement during the class is imperative for a quality learning experience. Achieving the same level of success with online learning requires overcoming the barriers of the modality while promoting collaboration, discussion and engagement, which encapsulate the essence of a great learning ecosystem. This demands our attention to acquire a comprehensive understanding of student engagement with online learning. Hence, the present chapter aims to provide a holistic view of student engagement from a stakeholders' perspective. The framework offers practical and actionable insights into the key stakeholders in enhancing students' engagement and offering quality online education during and post pandemic periods. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.

Do the macro and global economic factors drive the nonperforming loans in GCC economies?

PurposeThe current study aims to investigate the determinants of nonperforming loans (NPLs) in the GCC economies during the period spanning 2000 to 2018. It also examines whether the worldwide financial crisis of 2007–2008, which brought the issue of non–performing loans to the greater attention of academics and policymakers, had a substantial impact on NPLs in this region.Design/methodology/approachThe sample consists of 53 conventional banks from GCC countries, and the basic data for the study is obtained from various sources such as Bankscope, IMF World Economic Outlook, World Bank and Chicago Board of Options Exchange Market Volatility Index. The estimations were done by dynamic panel data regression modeling using system generalized methods of moments.FindingsThe findings reveal that both, the non-oil real GDP growth rate and inflation have favorable effects on NPLs. On the other hand, domestic credit to the private sector and the volatility index have an adverse effect on NPLs. Furthermore, the period-wise analysis shows that the relevance and significance of the determinants of NPLs vary between the precrisis and postcrisis periods. It is also reflected through the intercept dummy, which is found to be significant, indicating that the financial crisis, as a global economic factor, had a significant impact on NPLs. A number of robustness tests are applied, which indicate that the results are mostly robust and consistent in terms of the significance of the explanatory variables and the direction of their relationship with the dependent variable.Practical implicationsPolicymakers and bank authorities must strive to maintain a healthy economy and implement macroprudential policies to improve the financial stability of banks and reduce credit risk.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors' knowledge, this is likely the first study that empirically investigates the influence of the financial crisis on NPLs in the context of GCC economies. In addition, the research spans 19 years to produce more conclusive results.

Environment and natural resources degradation under COVID-19 crises: Recovery post pandemic.

Environmental stability improved during the covid 19 pandemic when production and industrial activities, and natural resources depletion processes stopped during the lockdown environment worldwide; however, based on the judgment of COP26 and the recent COP27, environmental degradation increased in the world in post-pandemic; therefore, policymakers and researchers re-focused their attention on the determinants of CO2 in economies. Hence, this study investigates the nexus of natural resource rents, including oil rents, mineral rents, and coal rents, on the carbon emissions of upper-middle-income economies from 1984 to 2021. The study included economic growth and renewable energy as additional determinants. We have presented detailed time series methods that aid in examining the modeled variables characteristics in the current research, i.e., ADF and ADF-GLS for a unit root in the data variables and considering their stationarity, Johansen cointegration for long-term cointegration among variables, FMOLS, DOLS and CCR for the long run elasticities between dependent and independent variables and Granger causality test in our range of methods. Robustness checks analysis is done through a non-parametric approach by quantile regression and robust regression analysis. Our results exhibit that two natural resource rents that are oil rents and coal rents, have adverse impacts on carbon emissions, and both are positive and significant. In contrast, mineral rents have no statistical significance and role in the carbon emissions of upper-middle-income economies. Moreover, economic growth and renewable energy also positively and significantly impact carbon emissions. Granger causality analysis exerts that natural resources rents, except for mineral rents, economic growth, and renewable energy, all granger causes CO2 emissions, and the feedback is also true. The relevant findings are suitable for policymakers in upper-middle-income economies to ensure environmental sustainability in upper-middle-income economies.

The effect of globalisation, foreign direct investment, and natural resource rent on economic recovery: Evidence from G7 economies

Economic and natural resources are key indicators that significantly contribute to reducing environmental degradation and promoting economic progress in the present age of globalisation. Therefore, this study analyses the relationship between globalisation, foreign direct investment, and natural resource rent on economic recovery for the G7 nations between 2000 and 2020. We have the applied GMM model to analyse linkages among the variables. According to the empirical results of our model, higher natural resource rent impedes the economic development of G7 countries. Foreign direct investment, financial development, technological innovation, and involvement in trade openness are combined to produce economic growth. Another intriguing conclusion from this study is the synergistic effect of natural resources and foreign direct investment on economic development. Therefore, it can be claimed that in the case of the G7 nations, human capital development helps offset the effects of the resource curse. In contrast, economic globalisation impedes the growth of the financial sector. The empirical data offers policymakers a fresh perspective on exploiting natural resources as a tool for long-term financial growth.

Drug abuse and suicidal thoughts among employees: an emerging economy perspective

Purpose: Anchored with turbulence emanating from the COVID-19 pandemic, the work environment has become more stressful with debilitating effects on the well-being of employees. Employees rely on varying means of coping including drug abuse. However, the association between drug abuse and suicidal thoughts among employees in Ghana is unknown. Therefore, this study sought to examine the relationship between drug abuse and suicidal thoughts among employees in Ghana. Design/methodology/approach: In a cross-sectional survey, this study purposively sampled 470 employees from three sectors of the Ghanaian economy (telecommunication, banking and manufacturing). The data was analysed using the multivariate analysis (MANOVA), Pearson's r test and hierarchical regression. Findings: Analysis of data revealed a positive relationship between drug abuse and suicidal thoughts, indicating that drug abuse is a risk factor for suicidal thoughts. Besides, it was also revealed that banking sector employees have a higher risk of having suicidal thoughts than employees in the telecommunication and manufacturing sectors. Practical implications: Managers of organisations need to redesign work to embrace the challenging circumstances brought about as a result of COVID-19 and post-COVID implications. The work environment needs to be more supportive to shield employees from the physical and emotional demands of work during and after this period of the COVID-19 pandemic. Today than ever, investment in the implementation of employee-assisted programmes (EAPs) and employee well-being programmes (EWPs) to equip employees with the needed skills to cope with stressful conditions has been more than justified. Originality/value: From a broader perspective, this study identifies drug abuse as a key risk factor for suicidal thoughts among employees, thereby highlighting the fact that smoking cessation programs and drug management therapies are an integral part of well-being programmes aimed at establishing equilibrium and gradually creating a wide gap between employees and suicidal thoughts. © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Inflation Spillovers among Advanced and Emerging Economies: Evidence from the G20 Group

The influence of recent global shocks such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian–Ukrainian war on the variability of major macroeconomic trends not only shows synchronized behavior across economies but also induces similar policy responses to counter these shocks. The purpose of this article is to explore the transmission of inflation among the G20 economies and evaluate its contribution to domestic inflation. To this end, we use the Diebold and Yilmaz spillover approach. The results that emerge from unconditional analysis reveal stark dissimilarities in inflation spillover patterns between advanced and emerging economies. Advanced economies are subject to higher spillover rates and thereby more exposed to global shocks compared to their emerging counterparts. Inflation in emerging countries is mainly derived from idiosyncratic shocks, while global shocks have only a modest influence on domestic inflation. In addition, bilateral spillovers among the G20 members show that the average pairwise directional spillovers between emerging economies are lower compared to advanced economies. The results pertaining to the spillover dynamics, on the other hand, show that total inflation spillover has a clear upward trend, indicating that the overall interconnectedness between G20 countries is increasing over time. Moreover, the estimates of spillover dynamics show a growing influence of received inflation spillovers from external shocks in both advanced and emerging economies. Policymakers in advanced economies are expected to respond to global shocks to mitigate the influence of spillovers, which is essential for economies that display high spillovers and turn out to be net receivers of shocks. However, public agencies in emerging economies should concentrate more on internal shocks to control inflation while not ignoring global shocks.