Efficiency Assessment of Tax Measures in the European Countries Against the Effects of COVID-19

Ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic is not only health crisis but the economic challenge. The future of society depends on how successfully the authorities find a balance between imposition of stringent restrictions and economic development. Tax policies play a role in reducing losses caused by the COVID-19 lockdowns. All countries are taking tax measures to mitigate the impact of the effects of COVID-19 pandemic on society. While the COVID-19 pandemic has not yet been defeated, it is too early to draw conclusions about which tax measures against the effects of COVID-19 are efficient. On the other hand, correct trajectory of economic recovery can be missed if not to analyze the other countries experience. The object of this study is tax measures in the European countries against the effects of COVID-19. The subject of the study is the fuzzy set theory to assess the efficiency of tax measures in the European countries against the effects of COVID-19. The aim of the study is to find out which European countries have been more succeeded in tax measures implementing and type of their immediate crisis response. The analysis is carried out in 29 European countries. The result of the study allows to state that the number of tax measures against the effects of COVID-19 does not affect their efficiency and the most popular type of immediate crisis response has been the business cash-flow enhances.

Going Green Supply Chain Management During COVID-19, Assessing the Best Supplier Selection Criteria: A Triple Bottom Line (TBL) Approach

In the past ten years, sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) attach great importance due to consumers, for-profit and profitless organizations, laws and regulations to the social and corporate responsibilities of consumers, so it has been recognized by practitioners and scholars. Supplier selection, environmental effect like a lockdown, and social cooperation and other SSCM programs can play an important part in realizing the triple bottom line (TBL) of economic, environmental, social assistances. In supply chain management (SCM), the sustainable supplier selection (SSS) and firm performance plays an important role. Traditionally, when evaluating SSS performance, organizations will consider a new framework to obtain the overall criteria/sub-criteria of the sustainability index by encapsulating sustainability. In this paper 12 sub-criteria for 3 pillars of sustainability as economic, environment and social performance is collected. Although there are many articles on SSS and evaluation, so far, research on sustainability issues is very limited. This study endeavours to propose a fuzzy multi-criteria approach to discuss SSCM planning, and studies the issue of determining a current model for SSS in the supply chain during COVID-19 based on the TBL method. For express the linguistic value of the subjective preference of experts we use triangular fuzzy numbers. By using fuzzy numbers to find standard weights for qualitative performance evaluation, then fuzzy TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution) is proposed to find the ranking of SSS. However, COVID-19 has a negative role in SSS and in firm performance. The situation of lockdown due to COVID-19 has a negative effect on the performance of the organizations. An example is given of the proposed method.

Empowering Theory of Poverty Reduction for Sustainable Development: Does the Welfare of Descendants Matter?

The first Sustainable Development Goal expresses the global concern in poverty eradication. We looked at the theory of poverty reduction with a long-term perspective in mind to confirm the congruence of modern approaches and their compliance with the principles of sustainable development. Despite clear signs of targeting Sustainable development goals to the future, we have found that future poverty needs deep discussion. We researched legal acts, policies and scientific sources to prove the possibility and suitability of recognising future poverty as a valid form of poverty. We considered the main possible difficulties that will challenge initiatives of future poverty exhausting. Finally, we proposed several perspective directions of further research to include the future poverty concept into the agenda of governments and supranational organisations.

Green Energy in the Caribbean: Influence on Toursim and Economic Development

The green energy agenda has become one of the most important issues in international relations. Many island states of the Oceania have taken the course of green economy construction. The Caribbean states are in some way similar to the Oceania ones and have also made several steps towards greener future. Some of these states are tightly connected with international tourism, leading to the high dependence of their economies from touristic revenues. The article examines this interconnection, including economic component in the analysis. The major question of the article is how does (or doesn’t) tourism influence the development of green energy in the Caribbean states. The two major economies examined in the region are Cuba and Dominican Republic as the two examples of the totally different economic systems and approaches to the development of the green energy. The key findings of the article include such conclusions as the possibility of synergetic interdependence between tourism, economy and green energy and the positive effects this interdependence has. The other finding is that the Cuban method of introducing green energy is less effective than the Dominican one. The novelty of the article includes the comparison of the two economic models in the Caribbean and the development of strategies for the green energy proliferation in the countries.

The Efficiency of Health Systems in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from the EU Countries

The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the insufficient capacities and capabilities of countries around the world to deal with global infectious diseases and stressed the need to improve the international health security frame-work. An efficient and comprehensive health system that is able to cope with public health emergencies is an essential prerequisite for strengthening health security. The paper analyzes the efficiency of health systems in the European Union (EU) countries and their responsiveness to the COVID-19 pandemic. The research covers 27 EU countries and it is based on the secondary data contained in the 2019 Global Health Security Index Re-port. The aim of the paper is to identify key determinants for improving the efficiency of health systems in the EU, as well as to examine the interdependence between health expenditures and the efficiency of health system in this sample of countries. The research is conducted through descriptive statistics and correlation and regression analysis. The conclusions can be useful for the EU policy makers in formulating a strategy to improve the efficiency of Member States’ health systems and preparedness for possible new pandemics.

Studies on Improving the Performance of Small and Micro Enterprises through Green Innovation

It is an important goal of China’s 2025 Strategy to build an environmental governance system with the government as the leading role, enterprises as the main body, and social organizations and the public all participate actively. In this context, whether and how small and micro enterprises, as a force of rejuvenating the country through science and technology, participate in the construction of environmental governance system is discussed in this paper. This study uses the 12th China small and micro enterprise survey database to deeply analyze the direct and indirect effects between green innovation and small and micro enterprise performance, and finds that: in the direct effect analysis, the direct promotion effect of green innovation on the financial performance of small and micro enterprises is related to the development stage of small and micro enterprises, which is significant in the initial stage and mature stage, but not significant in the growth stage; in the indirect effect analysis, green innovation can indirectly improve the overall performance of small and micro enterprises by improving their environmental and social responsibility performance. At the same time, green innovation can amplify the role of other factors in promoting the overall performance. This study not only enriches the research scope of green innovation theory from the subdivision dimension, provides a new perspective for the integration of green innovation and social responsibility theory, it also provides theoretical reference and guidance for the green innovation practice of small and micro enterprises.

Efficiency Evaluation and Influencing Factors of Government Financial Expenditure on Environmental Protection: An SBM Super-efficiency Model Based on Undesired Outputs

In recent years, the adoption of the precise approach for coordinating socio-economic growth and environmental protection to attain sustainable development has become an urgent challenge to be addressed in China. The current development of environmental governance and the efficiency of government financial expenditure on environmental protection (EPEE) deserves enormous attention. With the aid of the provincial panel data, this study emphasized on the use of the SBM super-efficiency model based on unexpected output to quantify the efficiency of China’s government expenditure on environmental protection from 2013-2018 and constructed the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression model to investigate the influencing factors of the government expenditure on environmental protection. The results of the efficiency measurement portray that the aggregate EPEE in China is unsatisfactory. The efficiency value for the western region is greater than that of the central and eastern regions, while the values obtained from the eastern region are above that of the central region. Population size and urbanization level have negative implications on the efficiency value, while the regional economic development level positively promotes the efficiency of the government expenditure on environmental protection. Finally, the corresponding countermeasures and suggestions for policy implementation are outlined accordingly.

Financial Development and Sustainable Competitiveness in Arctic Region: A Dynamic Panel Data Analysis

The present study investigates the effect of financial development on sustainable competitiveness and its components (natural capital, resource intensity, and social cohesion) in the Arctic region. We employ bank-based, stock-market based, and composite index to measure financial development. To deal with endogeneity bias, system GMM is utilized. The results show a positive and significant effect of financial development on sustainable competitiveness. The estimates also assert that financial development encourages resource efficiency and social cohesion in the region. In contrast, we find the negative effect of financial development on natural capital. This suggests that overexploitation of natural resources may provide short-term benefits to the local and regional communities but it may threaten the long-term sustainability of the Arctic. Thus, the financial sector should be guided to support financing and investing activities in alternative eco-friendly technologies and ventures for reducing excessive natural resource utilization.

Formation of Sustainable Investment Attractiveness of Regions Under the Conditions of COVID-19

The decline in the forecast indicators of the economy and production activity, the structural transformation of international production and consumer preferences, the reduction in income from bonds and world tourism, the massive layoffs of workers that led to an increase in unemployment and a decrease in household income, deferred investments and the reorientation of investment flows, both in economic sectors and in the regional context, are all the result of the impact of another challenge called COVID-19. The COVID-19 pandemic has changed and continues to change many characteristics of the economy and society. Together with the onset of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the transition to the digital era, as well as taking into account completely new realities of the development of future generations, which are regulated by the concept of sustainable development, the formation of investment attractiveness is also taking place in a fundamentally different way. In this regard, the article substantiates the need to introduce the category sustainable investment attractiveness into everyday use. The author’s vision of the interpretation of this concept is presented. A procedure for forming a stable investment attractiveness of regions in the conditions of COVID-19 has been developed.

Samkhya Philosophy, Deep Ecology and Sustainable Development

Samkhya philosophy is one of the oldest philosophies in the Indian philosophical system. This philosophy is independent in origin and mainly known for its evolution theory. Samkhya philosophy has accepted the two ultimate and independent realities, Nature and pure Consciousness. This paper is an attempt to comprehend the notion of deep ecology from the Samkhya’s evolution theory perspective. In this paper, firstly, we have elucidated the Samkhya philosophy of suffering and the solution to the problem. In the second part of the article, we have argued that how Samkhya’s philosophical notion of Nature demonstrates our embeddedness in Nature. Therefore, the idea of deep ecology is always there in one or another form in Samkhya philosophy. It has also connections to the idea of sustainable development.