Transport-related emissions and lifetime risk of maternal death in developing nations.

In this study, the authors investigate whether transport-related emissions impact the lifetime risk of maternal death in developing nations. The authors estimate a health production model that incorporates annual data on carbon emissions from transportation on lifetime risks of maternal death and mortality rate for adult females from 2002 to 2016 for thirty-eight developing countries. Our analysis reveals a statistically significant positive correlation between transport-related carbon emissions and the lifetime risk of maternal death. A positive but statistically insignificant correlation between transportation-related carbon emissions and adult female mortality rates is also revealed. The success of Sustainable Development Goal 3, Target 3.1, will largely depend on the developing countries' solid commitments to adopt policies for clean energy in the transportation sector that can reduce women's exposure to pollutants and minimize the risk imposed on their health.

The findings of this study reveal a strong positive association between transport-related carbon emissions and the lifetime risk of maternal death.Developing nations need to adopt policies for clean energy in the transportation sector that can minimize women's exposure to pollutants and ensure the timely achievement of the Sustainable Development Goal 3, Target 3.1.

Using a consumer choice model to explain the effect of the newly developed oxford COVID-19 government stringency measure on hotel occupancy rates.

In response to the unexpected outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), governments worldwide implemented stringent measures to contain its transmission. This study investigates the effect of the stringency of COVID-19 outbreak government measures on hotel occupancy rates in the world's top ten visitor destination countries. The analysis in this study draws upon the recently developed novel indicator, government stringency, compiled systematically by the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker for March 2020 to March 2021. By adopting a structural consumer choice model, the panel estimation procedure is applied to assess the effect of government stringency on hotel occupancy rates. The findings revealed a statistically significant adverse effect of government stringency on hotel occupancy rates. The findings suggest that although government containment measures had the desired effect of reducing transmissions of COVID-19 and a crucial predictor of hotel occupancy rates in the top ten tourist destination countries, it adversely impacted the tourism hospitality sector through reduced demand for hotel accommodation as occupancy rates plunged. This study's analysis supports the consumer choice modelling approach as it can be considered a relevant analytical framework that is satisfactorily able to explain the adverse effects of governments containment measures on hotel occupancy rates. This research contributes to the tourism modelling literature and complements previous studies in providing an additional understanding of the effect of government stringency measures based on the newly established Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker Database within a coherent modelling framework.

Health care financing and health outcomes in Pacific Island countries.

This paper provides empirical evidence on the relationship between per capita public health expenditure and three measures of health outcomes (infant and under-five mortality rates and crude death rates) using cross-country data from seven Pacific Island countries for selected years between 1990 and 2002. The results of the fixed-effects estimation procedure, correcting for AR(1) errors, provide strong evidence that per capita health expenditure is an important factor in determining health outcomes. The elasticity of the infant mortality rate with respect to per capita health expenditure is -0.66. Based on this elasticity, a 10% increase in per capita health expenditure means that a country such as Papua New Guinea, with a high infant mortality rate, would see a reduction of 3.6 infant deaths per 1000 live births, with an average reduction of 2.0 infant deaths per 1000 live births for the Pacific Island countries. The empirical results also provide strong evidence that per capita incomes and immunization are additional core factors that determine health outcomes. Some policy implications are drawn.