scholarly journals COVID-19 and Global Beverage Markets: Implications for Wine

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 117-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Glyn Wittwer ◽  
Kym Anderson

AbstractThis article provides an empirical case study of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on global beverage markets, particularly the wine sector. Both international trade and domestic sales have been adversely affected by temporary shifts away from on-premise sales by social distancing measures and self-isolation that led to the closure of restaurants, bars, and clubs, plus declines in international travel and tourism. Partly offsetting this has been a boost to off-premise and direct e-commerce sales. We first estimate those impacts in 2020 and their expected partial recovery in 2021 using a new model of global beverage markets. Further recent disruption to the global wine trade has been the imposition by China in late 2020 of prohibitive tariffs on its imports of bottled wine from Australia. Its diversionary and trade-reducing effects are compared with those due to COVID-19. (JEL Classifications: C63, D12, F14, F17, Q17)

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 74-98
Author(s):  
Peter Hugo Nelson

ABSTRACT Students develop and test simple kinetic models of the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus. Microsoft Excel is used as the modeling platform because it is nonthreatening to students and it is widely available. Students develop finite difference models and implement them in the cells of preformatted spreadsheets following a guided inquiry pedagogy that introduces new model parameters in a scaffolded step-by-step manner. That approach allows students to investigate the implications of new model parameters in a systematic way. Students fit the resulting models to reported cases per day data for the United States using least squares techniques with Excel's Solver. Using their own spreadsheets, students discover for themselves that the initial exponential growth of COVID-19 can be explained by a simplified unlimited growth model and by the susceptible-infected-recovered (SIR) model. They also discover that the effects of social distancing can be modeled using a Gaussian transition function for the infection rate coefficient and that the summer surge was caused by prematurely relaxing social distancing and then reimposing stricter social distancing. Students then model the effect of vaccinations and validate the resulting susceptible-infected-recovered-vaccinated (SIRV) model by showing that it successfully predicts the reported cases per day data from Thanksgiving through the holiday period up to 14 February 2021. The same SIRV model is then extended and successfully fits the fourth peak up to 1 June 2021, caused by further relaxation of social distancing measures. Finally, students extend the model up to the present day (27 August 2021) and successfully account for the appearance of the delta variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The fitted model also predicts that the delta variant peak will be comparatively short, and the cases per day data should begin to fall off in early September 2021, counter to current expectations. This case study makes an excellent capstone experience for students interested in scientific modeling.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Prashneel Ravisan Goundar ◽  
Sherita Sharma

The global education system came under scrutiny in 2020 due to the unexpected pandemic. COVID-19 forced higher education institutions everywhere to rethink the way to deliver classes or continue offering their services due to travel restrictions, lockdowns and social distancing policies. This caused major disruptions in carrying out normal teaching and learning. The intervention of university leadership in maintaining decorum during the pandemic entailed making pivotal decisions within a short period of time. The aim of this paper is to highlight various statements made by a group of universities from Fiji and New Zealand to present their position, and policies during the global pandemic. This article discusses how university leaders in the South Pacific with a case study of Fiji and New Zealand have responded to the pandemic. It discusses the statements and media releases of university leaders in Fiji (a developing nation) and New Zealand (a developed nation), particularly their responses and comments on the mode of teaching, international travel, social distancing, financial impact, and research. These focus areas need to be priority for university leaders in making crucial decisions in operating higher education institutions during unexpected events such as the pandemic.


Significance Studies currently estimate that only a small fraction of people were infected prior to strict social-distancing enforcement. A major second wave of COVID-19 cases and deaths is likely if countries exit lockdowns without strategies to reduce transmissibility of the virus. However, policymakers have few tried-and-tested strategies to fall upon as the situation is unprecedented. Researchers are now rushing to produce models to estimate the impact of epidemic mitigation strategies while they wait for more data. Impacts A new London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine platform, pooling worldwide interventions, could help clarify intervention effects. Long-term social distancing will particularly harm the wellbeing of the unemployed, self-employed and elderly in particular. Continued remote working or cyclical return to work will help moderate demand on healthcare capacity in the medium term. International travel restrictions will have a lasting impact on the travel and tourism sectors.


2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 454-460 ◽  
Author(s):  
Afzal Mahmood. ◽  
◽  
Kanwal Zahra ◽  
Mehmood Khalid. ◽  
◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Iman Pal ◽  
Saibal Kar

Several strands of the static and dynamic theoretical constructs and the empirical applications in the subject of economics owe substantially to the well-known principles of physical sciences. The present article explores as to how the development of the popular gravity models in international trade can be traced back to Newton’s law of gravitation, and to both Ohm’s Law and Kirchhoff’s Law of current electricity, as well as to the pattern recognition techniques commonly deployed in scientific applications. In addition to surveying these theoretical analogies, the article also offers numerical applications for observed trade patterns between India and a set of countries. JEL Classifications: F41, F42, C61, F47


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