Altın ve Kripto Paraların BÍST100 Endeksi için Hedge ve Güvenli Liman Özellikleri: Covid-19 Salgını Etkileri

Covid-19 salgınının ortaya çıkmasından sonra dünya çapında ekonomik çalkantılar ve şiddetli piyasa düşüşlerinin ortaya çıktığı görülmüştür. Bu dönemde hisse senedi piyasalarına yatırım yapmış ajanlar için hedge ve/veya güvenli liman araçları arayışları artmıştır. Kripto paralar ve altın özellikle gelişmekte olan ülke piyasalarındaki yatırımcılar için hedge ve/veya güvenli liman olma konusunda iyi potansiyellere sahiptir. Bu çalışmada, Borsa Ístanbul için Bitcoin, Etherium, Ripple, Litecoin ve altın piyasalarının hedge ve/veya güvenli liman piyasalar olup olmadığı, GARCH(1,1) hata terimleri varsayımı altında modellenmiş regresyon sistemi yardımı ile araştırılmıştır. Analizlerde örneklem olarak 4 Eylül 2017 – 30 Mart 2022 tarihleri arasındaki günlük frekanslı verilerden faydalanılmıştır. Ayrıca, Covid-19 salgın dönemi etkilerini ayrıştırmak için örneklem iki alt gruba ayrılmış ve tahminler Covid-19 öncesi dönem (31 Aralık 2019 öncesi) ve Covid-19 dönemi (31 Aralık 2019 ve sonrası) için ayrı ayrı analiz edilmiştir.A.B.D. doları cinsinden elde edilmiş kripto para (BTC, ETH, XRP, LTC), altın ve BÍST100 endeks getirileri kullanılarak bulunan tahmin sonuçlarına göre, tüm örneklem için Litecoin zayıf güvenli liman olarak ortaya çıkarken, Covid-19 öncesi dönemde Bitcoin ve Etherium zayıf hedge, Covid-19 salgın döneminde de Etherium zayıf güvenli liman olma özellikleri göstermektedir. Tüm örneklem ve salgın öncesi dönem verileri söz konusu olduğunda, BÍST100 endeks getiri dağılımının %10 çeyrek değerinden az olduğu durumlarda Bitcoin, Etherium ve Ripple güvenli liman piyasalar olarak gözlemlenirken, salgın döneminde altın, BÍST100 endeks getiri dağılımının %1 çeyrek değerinden az olduğu durumlarda güvenli bir liman olarak ortaya çıkmıştır. Fakat tüm analizlere dayanarak, altının genel görünümüyle BÍST100 endeksi için hedge veya güvenli limandan çok bir çeşitlendirici varlık olarak öne çıktığı söylenebilir.Alternate :After the Covid-19 outbreak, economic turmoil and severe market crashes have been observed around the world. During this crisis period, cyriptocurrencies and gold have become potentially good hedge and/or safe haven assets for especially the stock investors in emerging markets. This study investigates whether or not Bitcoin, Etherium, Ripple, Litecoin and gold markets have hedge and/or safe-haven properties for Borsa Ístanbul through a regression system modeled under the assumption of GARCH(1,1) error terms. Daily frequency data covering the period September 4, 2017 through March 30, 2022 is used in the sample analysis. In addition, to separate out the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the analysis, full sample is divided into two subgroups and the estimations are made separately for the pre-Covid-19 period (before 31 December 2019) and the Covid-19 period (31 December 2019 and later).According to the estimation results, Litecoin emerges as a weak safe haven for Borsa Ístanbul over the entire sample period, while Bitcoin and Etherium appear to be weak hedges in the pre-pandemic period. During the Covid-19 pandemic period, Etherium is shown to be a weak safe haven for the BÍST100 index. Full sample and pre-pandemic data analysis reveal that, Bitcoin, Etherium and Ripple act as safe-haven markets in some cases when the BÍST100 index returns hit lower than their 10% quantile value. After the outburst of the Covid-19 however, gold seems to act as a safe haven asset for Borsa Ístanbul when the BÍST100 index returns hit lower than their 1% quantile value. Based on the overall estimation results, gold stands out as a diversifier rather than a hedge and/or a safe haven asset for the BÍST100 index.

An MCDM Approach to Assessing Influential Factors on Healthcare Providers' Safe Performance during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Probing into Demographic Variables

This study assessed the influence of occupational stress, individual resilience, and organizational resilience on the safety performance of healthcare providers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Demographic variables including age, work experience, and sex were explored. Data were collected from 344 healthcare providers employed at a teaching hospital. The entropy method and the multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) method were used to examine the influence of occupational stress, individual resilience, and organizational resilience on the safe performance of healthcare providers. The results of the entropy method showed that organizational resilience was the most influential factor in the safe performance of older healthcare providers. In contrast, individual resilience was the most significant factor in enhancing the safety performance of younger healthcare providers. Analyses of work experience indicated that individual resilience was the most influential factor in the safe performance of less experienced healthcare providers. Gender-based analysis revealed that individual resilience had a major effect on the safety performance of both women and men. The findings of this study could assist managers in improving the performance of the healthcare sector during pandemics by using and implementing resilience concepts at both the individual and organizational levels.

Bitcoin and money supply relationship: An analysis of selected country economies

Bitcoin has become quite known after the 2008 economic crisis and the COVID-19 health crisis. For some, these cryptocurrencies constitute rebellion against the existing system as governments encourage uncontrolled expansions in the money supply;for some others, it is a quick source of income. Undeniably, the volume of the crypto money market has grown considerably in recent years, regardless of the reasoning of the people who invest and trade in this field. At this point, one of the most important questions to be investigated is "what variables have caused the tremendous growth in the crypto money quantities in recent years?" This study tests the assumption that changes in cryptocurrencies are affected by changes in national currencies. Thus, the Bitcoin price is the dependent variable, and M1 monetary supply changes in the USA, European Union and Japanese economies are considered independent variables. The variables in this study were tested using the time-varying Granger causality method. The results obtained from this study confirm the philosophy of Bitcoin's emergence and the possibility that it can be a hedge against the inflationary effects of money, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Coupling Machine Learning and Agent-Based Modeling to Characterize Contamination Sources in Water Distribution Systems for Changing Demand Regimes

Water distribution systems (WDSs) deliver clean, safe drinking water to consumers, providing an essential service to constituents. WDSs are increasingly at risk of contamination due to aging infrastructure and intentional acts that are possible through cyber-physical vulnerabilities. Identifying the source of a contamination event is challenging due to limited system-wide water quality monitoring and non-uniqueness present in solving inverse problems to identify source characteristics. In addition, changes in the expected demand patterns that are caused by, for example, social distancing during a pandemic, adoption of water conservation behaviors, or use of decentralized water sources can change the anticipated propagation of contaminant plumes in a network. This research develops a computational framework to characterize contamination sources using machine learning (ML) techniques and simulate water demands and human exposure to a contaminant using agent-based modeling (ABM). An ABM framework is developed to simulate demand changes during the COVID-19 pandemic. The ABM simulates population movement dynamics, transmission of COVID-19 within a community, decisions to social distance, and changes in demands that occur due to social distancing decisions. The ABM is coupled with a hydraulic simulation model, which calculates flows in the network to simulate the movement of a contaminant plume in the network for several contamination event scenarios. ML algorithms are applied to determine the location of source nodes. Research results demonstrate that ML using random forests can identify source nodes based on inline and mobile sensor data. Sensitivity analysis is conducted to explore the number of mobile sensors that are needed to accurately identify the source node. Rapidly identifying contamination source nodes can increase the speed of response to a contamination event, reducing the impact to the community and increasing the resiliency of WDSs during periods of changing demands. © World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2023.All rights reserved

The COVID-19 pandemic, economic policy uncertainty and the hedging role of cryptocurrencies: a global perspective

PurposeThe COVID-19 pandemic has led to global economic policy uncertainty, which has increased the need to investigate ways to mitigate the uncertainty. This study aims to examine the potential of cryptocurrencies as a hedge and safe haven avenue against economic policy uncertainty.Design/methodology/approachThis study investigates the behavior of the five leading cryptocurrencies in relation to country-level and group-level economic policy uncertainty indices, as measured by the text-based method developed by Baker et al. (The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2016, 131, 1593-1636). The research covers a broad range of emerging and developed economies from July 2013 to September 2020. The study employs the approach of Narayan et al. (Economic Modelling, 2016, 53, 388-397) to examine the hedging and safe-haven properties of cryptocurrencies.FindingsThis study finds that the top cryptocurrencies play a hedging role against economic policy uncertainty, with some exceptions. Additionally, there is evidence to support the idea that cryptocurrencies can serve as a safe haven during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, investors may benefit from using cryptocurrencies as a risk-management avenue during times of uncertainty.Originality/valueThis research contributes to the existing literature by testing the cryptocurrencies' hedging and safe haven properties in a new way, by analyzing their lead and lag behaviors using a recent and innovative approach. Additionally, it examines a wide range of emerging and advanced markets, providing insight into the potential of using cryptocurrencies as a risk mitigation avenue.

Post-authorization safety surveillance of Ad.26.COV2.S vaccine: Reports to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System and v-safe, February 2021-February 2022.

BACKGROUND: On 2/27/2021, FDA authorized Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine (Ad.26.COV2.S) for use in individuals 18 years of age and older. Vaccine safety was monitored using the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), a national passive surveillance system, and v-safe, a smartphone-based surveillance system. METHODS: VAERS and v-safe data from 2/27/2021 to 2/28/2022 were analyzed. Descriptive analyses included sex, age, race/ethnicity, seriousness, AEs of special interest (AESIs), and cause of death. For prespecified AESIs, reporting rates were calculated using the total number of doses of Ad26.COV2.S administered. For myopericarditis, observed-to-expected (O/E) analysis was performed based on the number verified cases, vaccine administration data, and published background rates. Proportions of v-safe participants reporting local and systemic reactions, as well as health impacts, were calculated. RESULTS: During the analytic period, 17,018,042 doses of Ad26.COV2.S were administered in the United States, and VAERS received 67,995 reports of AEs after Ad26.COV2.S vaccination. Most AEs (59,750; 87.9 %) were non-serious and were similar to those observed during clinical trials. Serious AEs included COVID-19 disease, coagulopathy (including thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome; TTS), myocardial infarction, Bell's Palsy, and Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS). Among AESIs, reporting rates per million doses of Ad26.COV2.S administered ranged from 0.06 for multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children to 263.43 for COVID-19 disease. O/E analysis revealed elevated reporting rate ratios (RRs) for myopericarditis; among adults ages 18-64 years, the RR was 3.19 (95 % CI 2.00, 4.83) within 7 days and 1.79 (95 % CI 1.26, 2.46) within 21 days of vaccination. Of 416,384 Ad26.COV2.S recipients enrolled into v-safe, 60.9 % reported local symptoms (e.g. injection site pain) and 75.9 % reported systemic symptoms (e.g., fatigue, headache). One-third of participants (141,334; 33.9 %) reported a health impact, but only 1.4 % sought medical care. CONCLUSION: Our review confirmed previously established safety risks for TTS and GBS and identified a potential safety concern for myocarditis.

Corrigendum: Saving more lives on time: Strategic policy implementation and financial inclusion for safe abortion in Indonesia during COVID-19 and beyond.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fgwh.2022.901842.].

Factors affecting the willingness to pay extra for safe food.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: With the outbreak of infectious diseases, such as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), public interest in health and safety has increased, and consequently, interests in food safety have been heightened too. The purpose of this study was to compare and analyze the involvement of various categories of consumers in food safety, the subjective evaluation of food safety in Korea, and the willingness of the consumers to pay extra for safe food according to their demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. MATERIALS/METHODS: This study used data from the 2020 Consumer Behavior Survey for Food provided by the Korea Rural Economic Institute (KREI). The subjects were 6,355 adult household members aged 19 to 75 years old. The survey was conducted from June 10th to August 21st, 2020. The data for the study were subjected to statistical analyses, including descriptive statistics, complex sample general linear model, k-means cluster, and multiple regression analyses. RESULTS: The factors affecting the willingness to pay extra for safe food were education level, occupation, monthly household income, presence of a young (teenager) household member, and the subjects' involvement in food safety. the significant factors affecting the willingness to pay extra for safe food were sex, age, and income level for the group exhibiting a low level of involvement in food safety, while education level and presence of a young household member were the statistically significant factors for the group exhibiting a high level of involvement in food safety. CONCLUSION: This study verified the differences in the factors associated with the willingness to pay extra for safe food according to the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, involvement in food safety, subjective evaluation of food safety. This study offers practical implications to the industry and government that would help in directing strategies to strengthen safe food management.

Feasible intervention combinations for achieving a safe exit of the Zero-COVID policy in China and its determinants: an individual-based model study.

BACKGROUND: Although several pathways have been proposed as the prerequisite for a safe phase-out in China, it is not clear which of them are the most important for keeping the mortality rate low, what thresholds should be achieved for these most important interventions, and how the thresholds change with the assumed key epidemiological parameters and population characteristics. METHODS: We developed an individual-based model (IBM) to simulate the transmission of the Omicron variant in the synthetic population, accounting for the age-dependent probabilities of severe clinical outcomes, waning vaccine-induced immunity, increased mortality rates when hospitals are overburdened, and reduced transmission when self-isolated at home after testing positive. We applied machine learning algorithms on the simulation outputs to examine the importance of each intervention parameter and the feasible intervention parameter combinations for safe exits, which is defined as having mortality rates lower than that of influenza in China (14.3 per 100, 000 persons). RESULTS: We identified vaccine coverage in those above 70 years old, number of ICU beds per capita, and the availability of antiviral treatment as the most important interventions for safe exits across all studied locations, although the thresholds required for safe exits vary remarkably with the assumed vaccine effectiveness, as well as the age structure, age-specific vaccine coverage, community healthcare capacity of the studied locations. CONCLUSIONS: The analytical framework developed here can provide the basis for further policy decisions that incorporate considerations about economic costs and societal impacts. Achieving safe exits from the Zero-COVID policy is possible, but challenging for China's cities. When planning for safe exits, local realities such as the age structure and current age-specific vaccine coverage must be taken into consideration.

Is gold a safe haven for the CIVETS countries under extremely adverse market conditions? Some new evidence from the MF-DCCA analysis

This paper investigates the safe haven attributes of gold under extreme market conditions. Our main goal is to understand if this property still holds under exceptional times characterized by unusual high levels of uncertainty. To this end, we gathered data from 2018 to 2023 for a group of emerging markets – the CIVETS (Colombia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Egypt, Turkey and South Africa) – thus encompassing a stable and a particularly turbulent period, which was marked by two consecutive crises: the COVID-19 and the Russian-Ukrainian war. We chose these countries as they are fast growing economies, which represent important investing opportunities, and because among the emerging markets these are the least studied. To achieve our goal we employed the Multifractal Detrended Cross-Correlation Analysis (MF-DCCA). Our results showed that before the pandemic the cross-correlations between gold and the financial markets were mainly negative. However, with the onset of the crisis they became positive. This demonstrates that gold lost its popular safe haven attributes and highlights the need for investors to seek alternative investments to protect downward risk, especially under extremely turbulent scenarios.

Are gold and cryptocurrency a safe haven for stocks and bonds? Conventional vs Islamic markets during the COVID-19 pandemic

Purpose: This study aims to identify the ability of gold and cryptocurrency (Cryptocurrency Uncertainty Index (UCRY) Price) as safe haven assets (SHA) for stocks and bonds in both conventional (i.e. stock indices and government bonds) and Islamic markets (i.e. Islamic stock indices and Islamic bonds (IB)). Design/methodology/approach: The authors employed the nonadditive panel quantile regression model by Powell (2016). It measured the safe haven characteristics of gold and UCRY Price for stock indices, government bonds, Islamic stocks, and IB under gold circumstances and level of cryptocurrency uncertainty, respectively. The period spanned from 11 March 2020 to 31 December 2021. Findings: This study discovered three findings, including: (1) gold is a strong safe haven for stocks and bonds in conventional and Islamic markets under bearish conditions;(2) UCRY Price is a strong safe haven for conventional stocks and bonds but only a weak safe haven for Islamic stocks under high crypto uncertainty;and (3) gold offers a safe haven in both emerging and developed countries, while UCRY Price provides a better safe haven in developed than in emerging countries. Practical implications: Gold always wins big for safe haven properties during unstable economy. It can also win over investors who consider shariah compliant products. Therefore, it should be included in an investor's portfolio. Meanwhile, cryptocurrencies are more common for developed countries. Thus, the governments and regulators of emerging countries need to provide more guidance around cryptocurrency so that the societies have better literacy. On top of that, the investors can consider crypto to mitigate risks but with limited safe haven functions. Originality/value: The originality aspects of this study include: (1) four chosen assets from conventional and Islamic markets altogether (i.e. stock indices, government bonds, Islamic stock indices and IB);(2) indicator countries selected based on the most used and owned cryptocurrencies for the SHA study;and (3) the utilization of UCRY Price as a crypto indicator and a further examination of the SHA study toward four financial assets. © 2023, Michaelia Widjaja, Gaby and Shinta Amalina Hazrati Havidz.

Stimulus Checks: True-Up and Safe-Harbor Costs

Stimulus checks were sent in response to recent US recessions. These checks grew from about $40 billion in the 2001 recession to $800 billion in the COVID era. Prior studies, however, ignored additional stimulus received upon filing tax returns (true-ups) and safe harbors that prevent possible stimulus repayment. Using population-level tax data, I estimate true-up and safe-harbor costs and decompose them by reasons, such as changes in income or the number of children. True-ups and safe harbors are costly. For the three rounds of COVID-era stimulus, true-ups and safe harbors cost more than $130 billion.

Reevaluating the risk minimization utility of Islamic stocks and bonds (Sukuk) in international financial markets

We examine the risk minimization utility of Islamic stock and Sukuk (bond) indices by studying their linkages against traditional global counterparts. We first employ an asymmetric power ARCH-based ADCC model on an extended dataset employed by Kenourgios et al. (2016). Our sample ranges from July 2007 to June 2021 covering the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), the European Sovereign Debt Crisis (ESDC), and the COVID-19 pandemic. Econometric tests suggest strong evidence of coupling in the bulk of Islamic equity indices. A handful of emerging market indices constitute exceptions. Qualitatively similar results emerge from time–frequency analysis via wavelet tools, revealing pervasive coupling in both returns and volatility series. The linkages are scale-dependent in only a few pairs. In contrast, Sukuk indices are uncoupled from their global fixed income counterparts and relevant risky debt portfolios. In sum, the risk-return characteristics of Islamic equities (especially in developed economies) remain coupled to major global benchmarks and therefore are unlikely to appeal as safe haven candidates. The converse applies to Sukuk, which promises potential portfolio diversification benefits and safe haven status in ‘normal' and crisis periods.

Smoking identified as preferred mode of opioid safe supply use; investigating correlates of smoking preference through a 2021 cross-sectional study in British Columbia.

BACKGROUND: The increasing number of illicit drug toxicity deaths in British Columbia (BC) has led to calls for a regulated (pharmaceutical grade) supply of substances ("safe supply"). In order to inform safe supply recommendations, we aimed to identify why people currently smoke opioids and assess the preferred mode of consumption if people who use opioids were provided with opioid safe supply. METHODS: The BC Harm Reduction Client Survey (HRCS) is an annual survey that gathers information about people who use drugs' (PWUD) substance use characteristic with the goal of contributing to evidence-based policy. This study utilized data from the 2021 HRCS. The outcome variable was "prefer smoking opioid safe supply" ('yes/no'). Explanatory variables included participants' demographics, drug use, and overdose characteristics. Bivariate and hierarchical multivariable logistic regressions were conducted to identify factors associated with the outcome. RESULTS: Of 282 total participants who indicated a preference for a mode of consumption for opioid safe supply, 62.4% preferred a smokable option and 19.9% preferred to inject if provided with opioid safe supply. Variables significantly associated with the outcome (preferred smoking) included: being 19-29 years old (AOR=5.95, CI =1.93 - 18.31) compared to >50 years old, having witnessed an overdose in the last 6 months (AOR=2.26, CI=1.20 - 4.28), having smoked opioids in the last 3 days (AOR=6.35, CI=2.98 - 13.53) and having a preference to smoke stimulants safe supply (AOR=5.04, CI=2.53 - 10.07). CONCLUSION: We found that over half of participants prefer smokable options when accessing opioid safe supply. Currently in BC, there are limited smokable opioid safe supply options as alternatives to the toxic street supply. To reduce overdose deaths, safe supply options should be expanded to accommodate PWUD that prefer smoking opioids.

Resident Perceptions and Confidence Regarding Pediatric Preventive Care

Purpose of Study: Residents have experienced changes in educational structure, format, content, and patient experience due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Resident physicians across the country have reported changes in workload including a decrease in well child checks and immunizations resulting in limited clinical exposure. This study aimed to assess the confidence of first year pediatric residents (interns) in conducting routine preventive screening for children and to identify potential gaps in knowledge among this cohort. Methods Used: We conducted a cross-sectional observation study that included 13 categorical first year pediatric residents. A voluntary, anonymous online survey was administered in September 2022. The survey assessed confidence levels, and perceived comfort regarding common preventive pediatric encounters and screening tools. The survey included 7-questions based on the 4th Edition Bright Future's Guidelines and respondents rated their answers on a 5-point Likert scale. The surveys were distributed anonymously via e-mail using Survey Monkey, a web-based software platform that provided an intuitive interface for validated data capture. Participants were given 2 weeks to complete the survey and reminders were sent via email. Summary of Results: Eight of 13 interns participated for a response rate of 62%. Sixty-three percent of the residents had completed a subinternship in pediatrics. Of our respondents, 75% reported feeling "not at all confident" in executing well child check-ups for children <12months old and 63% reported feeling "very confident" in examining children> 13months old. Regarding the ability to perform a genitourinary examination in children >12years of age, 63% of respondents stated that they were "slightly" or "not at all confident". We asked interns to rate their confidence in providing anticipatory guidance to their patients. Interns perceived being somewhat confident regarding guidance about safe sex, tobacco use, and healthy lifestyles but less confident regarding newborn care, breast feeding and infant nutrition. Nearly 40% reported comfort in recommending and advising parents about the risks and benefits of age appropriate immunizations. We asked residents to report their ability in administering and interpreting screening tools (ASQ, MCAT, EPDS). Interns reported that were able to interpret results but lacked confidence in providing guidance. Conclusion(s): Our study identifies opportunities to bridge experiential knowledge gaps and confidence among pediatric interns who may have had limited clinical exposure to pediatrics following the COVID-19 pandemic. Graduate medical education programs should consider developing tailored educational interventions specifically geared for identified learning gaps to mitigate the challenges posed by the pandemic.

Evaluating the Safe-Haven Abilities of Bitcoin and Gold for Crude Oil Market: Evidence During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic poses a serious threat to investors in the crude oil market. Furthermore, investors have an increasing need to find a safe haven in their investment portfolios when facing unprecedented risks in crude oil markets during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a review of the literature, there are contradictory findings on which investment is the safer haven for the oil market. Therefore, this paper aims to evaluate whether bitcoin is a safer haven for the crude oil market than the commonly used gold during the COVID-19 pandemic. Three spillover measurements based on the time, and frequency domains, and a network framework are employed to quantify the return spillover effects among bitcoin, gold and three major crude oil futures markets. We divide the sample into two periods, pre-COVID-19 and post-COVID-19. The results show that bitcoin has a weak safe-haven effect on the crude oil market only over a short period, while gold maintains a good safe-haven ability for crude oil futures across various time horizons (frequencies), both before and after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings of this study have important implications for policy-makers, crude oil producers and global investors. In particularly, investors cannot ignore the importance of bitcoin and gold in selecting more profitable portfolio policies when searching for safe-haven assets.

Safe havens in Islamic financial markets: COVID-19 versus GFC

Using a bivariate dynamic conditional correlation (DCC) generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (GARCH) model, this study compares the safe-haven properties of various assets against the major Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) stock indexes during two periods of financial turmoil, the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2008 Global Financial Crisis (GFC). Sovereign bonds offered the highest hedging benefits under both crises. The traditional safe assets, gold and silver, which were reasonably productive under the GFC, have been less so during the pandemic. The Japanese yen emerged as a very safe choice for investors holding GCC stock indexes. Both sector indexes and stock indexes failed to safeguard investors most of the time during each crisis.

Gold and the herd of Cryptos: Saving oil in blurry times

This paper assesses the effectiveness of a broad set of 1066 active and continuously traded cryptocurrencies as a safe haven instrument against extreme oil price movements, in comparison to the corresponding roles of gold. The uncertainty for the oil market during the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent Russia–Ukraine conflict set the tone for natural experiments for our study. We use a trail-blazing dynamic generalized autoregressive score model to estimate the tail riskiness of the potential safe haven assets from January 1, 2020, to September 30, 2022. By estimating the risk exposure of all cryptocurrency assets, we determine top ten safest assets for investment. Our results show the emergence of new safe haven cryptocurrencies, which have previously been ignored by the academic literature and policy makers alike. Intriguingly, our findings reveal that gold has been replaced by altcoins as the safest assets during both the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia–Ukraine conflict. At this instance, our findings suggest that Bitcoin provides lengthier safe haven properties than gold for oil returns in both periods. However, the safe haven properties of gold and cryptocurrencies are time varying. Last but not least, we introduce a new Cryptocurrency Tail Risk Index (CTRI) that captures the risk exposure of cryptocurrency market, as a whole. Our results suggest that investment in numerous cryptocurrencies provides lengthier safe haven properties than investing in gold alone.

Post-Traumatic Stress in Children and Adolescents during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Meta-Analysis and Intervention Approaches to Ensure Mental Health and Well-Being

Background: Since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, many measures have been taken to prevent the spread of the virus. Consequently, many minors have been confined to their homes and have had to subsequently adapt to countless protocol changes. These factors appear to have contributed to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in many children. Materials and Methods: The authors searched Medline through PubMed and other databases for studies published from 1 December 2019 to 31 December 2021 on the prevalence of PTSD in schoolchildren. The authors used a random-effects model to calculate the pooled prevalence of PTSD. Results: A total of six studies were included in this review. Our results show a pooled prevalence of PTSD of 14% in children and adolescents. Subgroup analyses identify a significantly higher prevalence of PTSD for studies conducted in China and a higher prevalence in boys. The prevalence of PTSD appeared independent of child age or the methodological rigor of the study. Conclusions: Our results suggest that a large number of children may be suffering from PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). Public health measures are thus needed to improve children's mental health during and after the pandemic, so that the suffering is mitigated to prevent long-lasting effects.

Upside/Downside spillovers between oil and Chinese stock sectors: From the global financial crisis to global pandemic

This paper examines the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak, recent oil price fall, and both global and European financial crises on dependence structure and asymmetric risk spillovers between crude oil and Chinese stock sectors. Using time-varying symmetric and asymmetric copula functions and the conditional Value at Risk measure, we provide evidence of positive tail dependence in most sectors using copula and conditional Value-at-Risk techniques. We can see the average dependence between oil and industries during the oil crisis. Moreover, we find strong evidence of bidirectional risk spillovers for all oil-sector pairs. The intensity of risk spillovers from oil to all stock sectors varies across sectors. The risk spillovers from sectors to oil are substantially larger than those from oil to sectors during COVID-19. Furthermore, the return spillover is time varying and sensitive to external shocks. The spillover strengths are higher during COVID-19 than financial and oil crises. Finally, oil do not exhibit neither hedge nor safe-haven characteristics irrespective of crisis periods.