Violence against healthcare workers in the middle of a global health crisis: what is it about policy and what to learn from international comparison?

Introduction: Violence against healthcare workers is a global health problem threatening healthcare workforce retention and health system resilience in a fragile post-COVID 'normalisation' period. In this perspective article, we argue that violence against healthcare workers must be made a greater priority. Our novel contribution to the debate is a comparative health system and policy approach. Methods: We have chosen a most different systems comparative approach concerning the epidemiological, political, and geographic contexts. Brazil (under the Bolsonaro government) and the United Kingdom (under the Johnson government) serve as examples of countries that were strongly hit by the pandemic in epidemiological terms while also displaying policy failures. New Zealand and Germany represent the opposite. A rapid assessment was undertaken based on secondary sources and country expertise. Results: We found similar problems across countries. A global crisis makes healthcare workers vulnerable to violence. Furthermore, insufficient data and monitoring hamper effective prevention, and lack of attention may threaten women, the nursing profession, and migrant/minority groups the most. There were also relevant differences. No clear health system pattern can be identified. At the same time, professional associations and partly the media are strong policy actors against violence. Conclusion: In all countries, muchmore involvement from political leadership is needed. In addition, attention to the political dimension and all forms of violence are essential.

Reflections on trust and COVID-19: do politics, medicine and the environment need each other?

This short article is centred on how trust can be a valuable resource for developing cognate responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in the medical and social sciences. Politics and medicine can learn from each other. Governments need to persuade individuals to adapt their behaviours, and such persuasion will be all the more convincing in that it is nested in social networks. Trust in government requires consistent (benevolent, performative and joined-up) explanations. The distinction between hard medical and soft social science blurs when patients/citizens are required to be active participants in combatting a pandemic virus.

Designing short-time work for mass use

In the course of the Covid-19 pandemic, short-time work as an instrument of income replacement once again proved to be an effective means of stabilising employment. However, the very concept, based on individual entitlement, led to its operational limits in respect of mass use. For example, in Germany, the complete processing of all cases in multiple stages can take years, involving corresponding strains and uncertainties for firms and labour administration. Against this background, we discuss the development of variants of job retention schemes compatible with mass use. An international comparison indicates that the legal instrument of force majeure could facilitate access with simplified criteria and procedures. We elaborate on specific proposals for the well-known German system. Going beyond simplifying existing rules, we outline a collective instrument of a wage subsidy increasing with lost revenue or hours. In this respect, drawing on results from the relevant literature, we argue that the need to limit redundancies and the precision of the instrument must be carefully balanced. Particularly in the case of mass use, qualification is indispensable, which is why the need for a concept with flexibly applicable, modular and online-based training formats, incentives and counselling services is essential. Finally, preconditions for the phasing-out of the mass use scheme are outlined. The exceptional situation would have to be officially ended - or extended - at an appropriate time with sufficient notice. Subsequent schemes may provide for transition to regular arrangements, a gradual reduction of wage subsidies, and liquidity support.

SDG5 "Gender Equality" and the COVID-19 pandemic: A rapid assessment of health system responses in selected upper-middle and high-income countries.

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted healthcare and societies, exacerbating existing inequalities for women and girls across every sphere. Our study explores health system responses to gender equality goals during the COVID-19 pandemic and inclusion in future policies. Methods: We apply a qualitative comparative approach, drawing on secondary sources and expert information; the data was collected from March-July 2022. Australia, Brazil, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the USA were selected, reflecting upper-middle and high-income countries with established public health and gender policies but different types of healthcare systems and epidemiological and geo-political conditions. Three sub-goals of SDG5 were analyzed: maternity care/reproductive health, gender-based violence, and gender equality/women's leadership. Results: We found similar trends across countries. Pandemic policies strongly cut into women's health, constrained prevention and support services, and weakened reproductive rights, while essential maternity care services were kept open. Intersecting gender inequalities were reinforced, sexual violence increased and women's leadership was weak. All healthcare systems failed to protect women's health and essential public health targets. Yet there were relevant differences in the responses to increased violence and reproductive rights, ranging from some support measures in Australia to an abortion ban in the US. Conclusions: Our study highlights a need for revising pandemic policies through a feminist lens.

Comparing Health Workforce Policy during a Major Global Health Crisis: A Critical Conceptual Debate and International Empirical Investigation.

BACKGROUND: The health workforce is central to healthcare systems and population health, but marginal in comparative health policy. This study aims to highlight the crucial relevance of the health workforce and contribute comparative evidence to help improve the protection of healthcare workers and prevention of inequalities during a major public health crisis. METHODS: Our integrated governance framework considers system, sector, organizational and socio-cultural dimensions of health workforce policy. The COVID-19 pandemic serves as the policy field and Brazil, Canada, Italy, and Germany as illustrative cases. We draw on secondary sources (literature, document analysis, public statistics, reports) and country expert information with a focus on the first COVID-19 waves until the summer of 2021. RESULTS: Our comparative investigation illustrates the benefits of a multi-level governance approach beyond health system typologies. In the selected countries, we found similar problems and governance gaps concerning increased workplace stress, lack of mental health support, and gender and racial inequalities. Health policy across countries failed to adequately respond to the needs of HCWs, thus exacerbating inequalities during a major global health crisis. CONCLUSIONS: Comparative health workforce policy research may contribute new knowledge to improve health system resilience and population health during a crisis.

Differences between Rural and Urban Practices in the Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic: Outcomes from the PRICOV-19 Study in 38 Countries.

This paper explores the differences between rural and urban practices in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, emphasizing aspects such as management of patient flow, infection prevention and control, information processing, communication and collaboration. Using a cross-sectional design, data were collected through the online PRICOV-19 questionnaire sent to general practices in 38 countries. Rural practices in our sample were smaller than urban-based practices. They reported an above-average number of old and multimorbid patients and a below-average number of patients with a migrant background or financial problems. Rural practices were less likely to provide leaflets and information, but were more likely to have ceased using the waiting room or to have made structural changes to their waiting room and to have changed their prescribing practices in terms of patients attending the practices. They were less likely to perform video consultations or use electronic prescription methods. Our findings show the existence of certain issues that could impact patient safety in rural areas more than in urban areas due to the underlying differences in population profile and supports. These could be used to plan the organization of care for similar future pandemic situations.

Comparing consumer preferences for sustainable dairy activities among countries.

This study measures consumer preferences for 11 sustainable dairy activities and examines the differences in preferences among five countries: the UK, the Netherlands, France, Italy, and Japan. A case 1 best-worst scaling is used to evaluate greenhouse gas emissions, fertilizer application, soil management, water management, biodiversity, working environment, animal care, wastes, market development, rural communities, and product safety and quality. Consumers across countries have diverse preferences for sustainable dairy farming activities, which may be related to the COVID-19 pandemic and social attention toward the environment and agriculture. Preferential differences for some activities were also revealed by gender and age. When discussing the priorities of some activities, conflicts between gender and generations could arise. Information on consumer preference can help various stakeholders discuss how to improve the sustainability of the dairy sector.

The Organization of Outreach Work for Vulnerable Patients in General Practice during COVID-19: Results from the Cross-Sectional PRICOV-19 Study in 38 Countries.

The COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately affected vulnerable populations' access to health care. By proactively reaching out to them, general practices attempted to prevent the underutilization of their services. This paper examined the association between practice and country characteristics and the organization of outreach work in general practices during COVID-19. Linear mixed model analyses with practices nested in countries were performed on the data of 4982 practices from 38 countries. A 4-item scale on outreach work was constructed as the outcome variable with a reliability of 0.77 and 0.97 at the practice and country level. The results showed that many practices set up outreach work, including extracting at least one list of patients with chronic conditions from their electronic medical record (30.1%); and performing telephone outreach to patients with chronic conditions (62.8%), a psychological vulnerability (35.6%), or possible situation of domestic violence or a child-rearing situation (17.2%). Outreach work was positively related to the availability of an administrative assistant or practice manager (p < 0.05) or paramedical support staff (p < 0.01). Other practice and country characteristics were not significantly associated with undertaking outreach work. Policy and financial interventions supporting general practices to organize outreach work should focus on the range of personnel available to support such practice activities.

International perspectives on information avoidance during the coronavirus pandemic: Comparing media evaluations and media use in Pakistan, Germany, and Indonesia

This study investigates the comparative prevalence of information avoidance concerning the coronavirus and its relationship with media evaluation and use. We argue that information avoidance is a behavior that broadly signifies the intermittent and conscious practice of shunning specific content. It is problematic because having an informed citizenry is essential, especially during a global pandemic. Given the global affectedness of the world by the coronavirus, we believe in the necessity for international comparative research and conduct our study in Pakistan, Germany, and Indonesia. Based on the existing literature, which stems predominantly from the Global North, we assume that media use and its evaluations are associated with information avoidance and test our assumptions against cross-cultural differences. Hence, we collected data in Germany (n = 822), Indonesia (n = 1164), and Pakistan (n = 467). The results indicate important differences with regard to the prevalence of information avoidance as well as media use and its evaluations across the three countries. The analysis further confirms a rather stable relationship between media evaluations with information avoidance but revealed interesting differences in the associations between media use and avoidance. © Christina Schumann, Waqas Ejaz, Mira Rochyadi-Reetz, Eni Maryani, Anna Agustina.

Research on International Benchmarking of Building China's Transport Power

In order to objectively evaluate the international status and level of China's transport development under the background of building a transport power, this paper selects major countries in the world to carry out international benchmarking analysis from the perspective of international comparison. Firstly, the evaluation index system of transport power construction suitable for international comparison is proposed by focusing on the positioning of indicators and construction principles, and the definition, statistical caliber, calculation formula, data source and other basic elements of indicators are further clarified. Secondly, by determining the evaluation scope, standardizing treatment, and setting weights, the two methods of cluster analysis and index weighting are used for calculation and analysis and mutual comparison. Finally, the results of the two methods show that: China's transport development level is generally in the third echelon, higher than the main BRICS countries, but there is still a significant gap compared with the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, and other countries. China is speeding up its efforts to build into a transport power. In recent years, China's transport development has been at the forefront and at a high speed, with a good momentum of development. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the transport growth rate in China was significantly faster than that of other countries, and the gap between China and the world's transport power is narrowing at a faster pace. © 2022 IEEE.

Has the COVID-19 Pandemic Led to Changes in the Tasks of the Primary Care Workforce? An International Survey among General Practices in 38 Countries (PRICOV-19).

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a large and varying impact on primary care. This paper studies changes in the tasks of general practitioners (GPs) and associated staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data from the PRICOV-19 study of 5093 GPs in 38 countries were used. We constructed a scale for task changes and performed multilevel analyses. The scale was reliable at both GP and country level. Clustering of task changes at country level was considerable (25%). During the pandemic, staff members were more involved in giving information and recommendations to patients contacting the practice by phone, and they were more involved in triage. GPs took on additional responsibilities and were more involved in reaching out to patients. Problems due to staff absence, when dealt with internally, were related to more task changes. Task changes were larger in practices employing a wider range of professional groups. Whilst GPs were happy with the task changes in practices with more changes, they also felt the need for further training. A higher-than-average proportion of elderly people and people with a chronic condition in the practice were related to task changes. The number of infections in a country during the first wave of the pandemic was related to task changes. Other characteristics at country level were not associated with task changes. Future research on the sustainability of task changes after the pandemic is needed.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the work of social workers - a comparison between Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on everyone’s life. Like many other professionals, social workers have been forced to adapt to these new working conditions and new challenges in order to support clients during the pandemic, as new needs have arisen. Together with professional associations from three nations (Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands), we used a coordinated approach to explore the consequences of the pandemic for social work professionals. This study was conducted during the most severe contact and hygiene restrictions of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the winter of 2020/2021. The data addresses the changes perceived by social work professionals in relation to their contact and communication with clients, the use of digital technology in the context of work, the professional response in terms of innovation, the working conditions and the psychosocial risks they face. Methods Cross-sectional data was collected from 7,241 social workers in Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands through online surveys. Results The results show an increase in the workload of professional social workers and compounding problems of clients, together with a negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on communication and contact with clients. All of this takes place within the framework of changing working conditions and contexts. Our data shows that the use of digital technologies does not cause bigger problems for most of the participating social workers. It should in fact be noted that professionals have many positive associations with the use of digital technology in general. Conclusions There are both remarkable and alarming results concerning the mental health of social workers and their working conditions, as well as the position of the social work profession in general. © This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Is the Inheritance and Gift Tax a Reasonable Alternative for the Net Wealth Tax?: A Legal and Economic Analysis Across OECD Countries

Net wealth taxes are one of the most controversial topics in taxation. Strained government finances due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the increasing inequality in the distribution of wealth are fuelling this debate (See, for example, Wealth Tax Commission, A Wealth Tax for the UK, Final Report (2020) that refers to the need to raise substantial revenue after the pandemic). While some countries (Especially France: The net wealth tax - referred to as the ISF (impot sur la fortune) - was abolished in 2017. See also the overview in Rainer Niemann & Caren Sureth-Sloane, Investment timing effects of wealth taxes under uncertainty and irreversibility, Journal of Business Economics 89, 385 (2019), 405) have abolished net wealth taxes, their (re)introduction is being considered in others (For example, Austria, Germany, and the United States (proposed by Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders), to specify just a few of them). Unfortunately, legal and economic arguments are rarely brought together in the public discussion, and the academic tax community has remained relatively quiet. Given the politically delicate nature of net wealth taxes, an interdisciplinary discussion seems necessary. This policy note focuses on the policy discussion on net wealth taxes from both economic and legal perspectives. It begins by identifying the characteristics of a net wealth tax compared to related taxes, such as property taxes and inheritance and gift taxes (Chapter I.). This is followed by an overview of the status quo of net wealth taxes and wealth-related taxes in the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries (Chapter II.). Building on this, the article deals with the main arguments proposed in the literature in favour of and against the (re)introduction of net wealth taxes (Chapter III.). Since a net wealth tax has far-reaching effects on economic decision-making and on taxpayer compliance, a purely legal analysis is necessarily incomplete and requires an economic counterpart. Likewise, economically motivated tax reform proposals require an analysis of their legitimacy. A comprehensive discussion therefore requires a simultaneous legal and economic analysis. Since net wealth taxes are predominantly justified with distributional reasons, this note also discusses whether an inheritance and gift tax represents a reasonable alternative to a net wealth tax (Chapter IV.). After all, an inheritance and gift tax could also counteract the inequality of wealth. The objective of this article is to provide an interdisciplinary basis for the tax policy debate on wealth-related taxes.

On a Comparative Analysis of Individual Customer Purchases on the Internet for Poland, Turkey and the People’s Republic of China at the Time of the COVID-19 Pandemic

The main purpose of this article is to compare the state and dynamics of e-commerce development in selected countries: Poland, Turkey and the PRC (People’s Republic of China), from the point of view of individual customers. The comparison was carried out in two stages: the first months of 2020 (before the COVID-19 pandemic) and the first months of 2021 (during the pandemic). The study conducted involved university students. The surveys were carried out using the CAWI method, and they were made available on the servers of the Faculty of Management at the University of Warsaw. The research sample included 650 individuals. Differences in the obtained results were evaluated using the City distance. The hypothesis concerning the lack of differentiation between the evaluations of individual e-commerce criteria was formulated, and it was disproved in the course of the study. The results of the research indicate that the variation between countries appeared mainly in relation to the direction of the development of e-commerce during the COVID-19 pandemic, the type of (mobile/traditional) device used to shop online and, above all, the specificity of the country where the study took place with its past experiences, cultural circumstances and shopping habits, as reflected in the development of online commerce. The limitation of the study was the fact that it was conducted in an academic environment and, at this stage, it was limited to the analysis of the results covering selected countries. Nevertheless, the valuable contribution and undoubted achievement of the work consist in the fact that, for the first time, e-commerce solutions have been compared for countries that are so culturally, economically and demographically different. The results of this study may be used by business practitioners to guide them on possible strategies regarding the development of e-commerce in their countries in the post-pandemic reality. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Has Covid-19 increased gender inequalities in professional advancement? Cross-country evidence on productivity differences between male and female software developers

Objective: This article analyzed gender differences in professional advancement following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic based on data from open-source software developers in 37 countries. Background: Men and women may have been affected differently from the social distancing measures implemented to contain the Covid-19 pandemic. Given that men and women tend to work in different jobs and that they have been unequally involved in childcare duties, school and workplace closings may have impacted men's and women's professional lives unequally. Method: We analyzed original data from the world's largest social coding community, GitHub. We first estimated a Holt-Winters forecast model to compare the predicted and the observed average weekly productivity of a random sample of male and female developers (N=177,480) during the first lockdown period in 2020. To explain the crosscountry variation in the gendered effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on software developers' productivity, we estimated two-way fixed effects models with different lockdown measures as predictors - school and workplace closures, in particular. Results: In most countries, both male and female developers were, on average, more productive than predicted, and productivity increased for both genders with increasing lockdown stringency. When examining the effects of the most relevant types of lockdown measures separately, we found that stay-at-home restrictions increased both men's and women's productivity and that workplace closures also increased the number of weekly contributions on average - but for women, only when schools were open. Conclusion: Having found gender differences in the effect of workplace closures contingent on school and daycare closures within a population that is relatively young and unlikely to have children (software developers), we conclude that the Covid-19 pandemic may indeed have contributed to increased gender inequalities in professional advancement.

Students' use of technology and their perceptions of its usefulness in higher education: International comparison

Background Objectives Methods Results and conclusion The rapid globalization along with the growing trend of openness and sharing approach enabled widespread of digital technologies all over the world. However, we can still find differences between countries in technology use and perceptions of usefulness for learning. Understanding students' use of educational technology and their perceptions of its usefulness is especially significant today, given the rapid penetration of online learning into higher education as a response to Covid‐19.This research aimed to understand students' actual experiences with digital technologies during their academic studies and their perceptions of technology usefulness across institutional and international contexts (Israel and Australia).This quantitative study used data from a large‐scale bi‐national online survey of 3003 students in both countries. Comparative analyses were conducted. In addition, factor analysis was used to identify latent factors from 16 variables of students' perceptions of the usefulness of digital resources usefulness.The results revealed significant differences in technology usage and its perceived usefulness between students in the two countries. They confirmed the predominance of ‘official’ digital resources, such as learning management systems and online library resources. However, large percentages also reported the use of ‘non‐official’ digital resources, including academic search services;subject‐related videos and audio recordings on content‐sharing websites such as YouTube and Wikipedia;and communication and/or collaboration with other students through social networks. Thus, universities need to consider the potential use of incorporating these resources for improving teaching and learning. Moreover, understanding the differences will assist in implementing tailored techno‐pedagogical solutions to the students. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of Computer Assisted Learning is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Preparation and Response to COVID-19: An Exploratory Analysis of Policy Response Spending and Health Expenditures in 20 OECD Countries

This article examines the comparative impact of COVID-19 in terms of the number of cases per capita and the per capita mortality rate and an-alyzes the relationships between these impact estimates and three policy measures in 20 OECD countries, controlling for the population over age 65. The policy measures involve public and private health expenditures prior to the pandemic onset and per capita fiscal expenditures devoted to policies designed to address the pandemic, which are identified in the International Monetary Fund’s policy tracker. The findings show no rela-tionship between the policy measures and COVID-19 when controlling for the population over 65 years of age. © 2021, Western Michigan University. All rights reserved.

[Mortality in sepsis and septic shock in Germany. Results of a systematic review and meta-analysis]. / Sterblichkeit bei Sepsis und septischem Schock in Deutschland. Ergebnisse eines systematischen Reviews mit Metaanalyse.

BACKGROUND: The reported mortality for sepsis and septic shock varies between 15% and 59% in international comparison. For Germany, the number of studies is limited. Previous estimations of mortality in Germany are outdated or based on claims data analyses. Various authors discuss whether lacking quality initiatives and treatment standards in Germany could cause higher mortality for sepsis. This contrasts with the internationally well-recognized performance of the German intensive care infrastructure during the COVID-19 pandemic. OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this systematic review and meta-analysis were to estimate 30-day and 90-day mortality of patients with sepsis and patients with septic shock in Germany and to compare the mortality with that of other industrialized regions (Europe, North America). MATERIAL AND METHODS: A systematic literature search included interventional and observational studies published between 2009 and 2020 in PubMed and the Cochrane Library that analyzed adult patients with sepsis, severe sepsis and septic shock in Europe and North America. Studies with less than 20 patients were excluded. The 30-day and 90-day mortality for sepsis and septic shock were pooled separately for studies conducted in Germany, Europe (excluding Germany) and North America in a meta-analysis using a random effects model. Mortality over time was analyzed in a linear regression model. RESULTS: Overall, 134 studies were included. Of these, 15 studies were identified for the estimation of mortality in Germany, covering 10,434 patients, the number of patients per study ranged from 28 to 4183 patients. The 30-day mortality for sepsis was 26.50% (95% confidence interval, CI: 19.86-33.15%) in Germany, 23.85% (95% CI: 20.49-27.21%) in Europe (excluding Germany) and 19.58% (95% CI: 14.03-25.14%) in North America. The 30-day mortality for septic shock was 30.48% (95% CI: 29.30-31.67%) in Germany, 34.57% (95% CI: 33.51-35.64%) in Europe (excluding Germany) and 33.69% (95% CI: 31.51-35.86%) in North America. The 90-day mortality for septic shock was 38.78% (95% CI: 32.70-44.86%) in Germany, 41.90% (95% CI: 38.88-44.91%) in Europe (excluding Germany) and 34.41% (95% CI: 25.66-43.16%) in North America. A comparable decreasing trend in sepsis 30-day mortality was observed in all considered regions since 2009. CONCLUSION: Our analysis does not support the notion that mortality related to sepsis and septic shock in Germany is higher in international comparison. A higher mortality would not be obvious either, since intensive care, for example also during the COVID-19 pandemic, is regarded as exemplary in Germany and the structural quality, such as the number of intensive care beds per 100,000 inhabitants, is high in international comparison. Nevertheless, deficits could also exist outside intensive care medicine. A comparison of international individual studies should take greater account of the structure of healthcare systems, the severity of disease and the limitations resulting from the data sources used.

Inequality in mortality between Black and White Americans by age, place, and cause and in comparison to Europe, 1990 to 2018.

Although there is a large gap between Black and White American life expectancies, the gap fell 48.9% between 1990 and 2018, mainly due to mortality declines among Black Americans. We examine age-specific mortality trends and racial gaps in life expectancy in high- and low-income US areas and with reference to six European countries. Inequalities in life expectancy are starker in the United States than in Europe. In 1990, White Americans and Europeans in high-income areas had similar overall life expectancy, while life expectancy for White Americans in low-income areas was lower. However, since then, even high-income White Americans have lost ground relative to Europeans. Meanwhile, the gap in life expectancy between Black Americans and Europeans decreased by 8.3%. Black American life expectancy increased more than White American life expectancy in all US areas, but improvements in lower-income areas had the greatest impact on the racial life expectancy gap. The causes that contributed the most to Black Americans' mortality reductions included cancer, homicide, HIV, and causes originating in the fetal or infant period. Life expectancy for both Black and White Americans plateaued or slightly declined after 2012, but this stalling was most evident among Black Americans even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. If improvements had continued at the 1990 to 2012 rate, the racial gap in life expectancy would have closed by 2036. European life expectancy also stalled after 2014. Still, the comparison with Europe suggests that mortality rates of both Black and White Americans could fall much further across all ages and in both high-income and low-income areas.

GDP, wellbeing, and health: thoughts on the 2017 round of the International Comparison Program.

In March 2020, the International Comparison Project published its latest results, for the calendar year 2017. This round presents common-unit or purchasing-power-parity data for 176 countries on Gross Domestic Product and its components. We review a number of important issues, what is new, what is not new, and what the new data can and cannot do. Of great importance is the lack of news, that the results are broadly in line with earlier results from 2011. We consider the relationship between national accounts measures and health, particularly in light of the COVID-19 epidemic which may reduce global inequality, even as it increases inequality within countries. We emphasize things that GDP cannot do, some familiar-like its silence on distribution-and some less familiar-including its increasing detachment from national material wellbeing in a globalized world where international transfers of capital and property rights can have enormous effects on GDP, such as the 26 percent increase in Ireland's GDP in 2015.