High US unemployment means social fabric risks

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
African Americans ◽  
Unemployment Insurance ◽  
Federal Reserve ◽  
Insurance Claims ◽  
Exit Strategy ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Social Fabric ◽  
After Effects ◽  
Access To Credit ◽  
Global Access

Significance Unemployment insurance claims have risen sharply during the pandemic. The Labor Department will release its latest data later today: total claims are likely to involve 30 million people or more. Before April, claims were in the low hundreds of thousands. Impacts The Federal Reserve will support domestic and global access to credit, but there is no clear exit strategy. Higher unemployment will disproportionately affect Latinos and African-Americans. Tackling the after-effects of COVID-19 will be a preoccupation in the early stages of the next presidential term.

Volunteerism in Times of Crisis: An Unconventional Response to Processing Unemployment Insurance Claims

2020 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 214-225
Author(s):  
ChiaKo Hung ◽  
Morgen S. Johansen ◽  
Jennifer Kagan ◽  
David Lee ◽  
Helen H. Yu
Keyword(s):  
Unemployment Insurance ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Public Service Motivation ◽  
Insurance Claims ◽  
Public Servants ◽  
Public Agency ◽  
The Relationship

This essay provides a reflective commentary outlining Hawai’i’s unconventional response for employing a volunteer workforce of public servants when faced with the task of processing an unprecedented backlog of unemployment insurance claims triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. Although efforts are still ongoing, this essay applies volunteerism and public service motivation as a framework to explain why public servants would serve in a voluntary capacity at another public agency. The intent of this essay is to spur conversation on how public servants are further stepping up to the frontlines during times of crisis, as well as expand knowledge on the relationship between volunteerism and public service motivation.

Tornadoes, poverty and race in the USA: A five-decade analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Russ D. Kashian ◽  
Tracy Buchman ◽  
Robert Drago
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
African Americans ◽  
Study Finding ◽  
Median Income ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Vulnerable Communities ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Level Data ◽  
The Usa

PurposeThe study aims to analyze the roles of poverty and African American status in terms of vulnerability to tornado damages and barriers to recovery afterward.Design/methodology/approachUsing five decades of county-level data on tornadoes, the authors test whether economic damages from tornadoes are correlated with vulnerability (proxied by poverty and African American status) and wealth (proxied by median income and educational attainment), controlling for tornado risk. A multinomial logistic difference-in-difference (DID) estimator is used to analyze long-run effects of tornadoes in terms of displacement (reduced proportions of the poor and African Americans), abandonment (increased proportions of those groups) and neither or both.FindingsControlling for tornado risk, poverty and African American status are linked to greater tornado damages, as is wealth. Absent tornadoes, displacement and abandonment are both more likely to occur in urban settings and communities with high levels of vulnerability, while abandonment is more likely to occur in wealthy communities, consistent with on-going forces of segregation. Tornado damages significantly increase abandonment in vulnerable communities, thereby increasing the prevalence of poor African Americans in those communities. Therefore, the authors conclude that tornadoes contribute to on-going processes generating inequality by poverty/race.Originality/valueThe current paper is the first study connecting tornado damages to race and poverty. It is also the first study finding that tornadoes contribute to long-term processes of segregation and inequality.

Markets are overreacting to US price and rates risks

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Federal Reserve ◽  
Futures Markets ◽  
The United States ◽  
Oil Price ◽  
Bond Markets ◽  
Crude Oil Price ◽  
Bond Yields ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Bond Yield ◽  
Ongoing Support

Significance The continuation of the modest manufacturing downturn follows the recent report of slower third-quarter GDP growth. Despite slower growth, bond markets are challenging an attempt by the Federal Reserve (Fed) to delink tapering from tightening by bringing forward their forecasts for rate increases: futures markets are pricing in two 25-basis-point rate hikes by end-2022. Impacts Equities are at a record high in the United States; providing ongoing support for this, real US bond yields remain in negative territory. The Brent crude oil price is near its highest since 2014; further upside will be limited but it is likely to stay high well into 2022. Germany’s ten-year bond yield, negative since April 2019, has risen by 40 basis points since end-August and will soon turn positive.

Canada protests over Indian Residential Schools expand

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Economic Activity ◽  
Indigenous Population ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Residential Schools ◽  
Public Works ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Social Fabric ◽  
Government Services ◽  
Indian Residential Schools

Significance The discovery of the bodies of hundreds of children at Canada’s former Indian Residential Schools has unleashed a wave of anger and mourning across Canada’s growing Indigenous population. More discoveries are expected, posing challenges for the country’s economic and social fabric. Impacts Public works projects may slow amid intensified disputes between the Canadian state and Indigenous peoples over lands and resources. There will be more pressure to share wealth from economic activity that directly affects Indigenous communities. Indigenous communities are likely to benefit from greater control over the design and delivery of government services. Cultural and academic institutions will increasingly prioritise and amplify Indigenous voices and perspectives. Canada’s reputation as an advocate for human rights will be affected by its handling of the residential schools issue.

Cryptocurrency bubble risk and the FOMC announcements during COVID-19 black swan event

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anis Jarboui ◽  
Emna Mnif
Keyword(s):  
Federal Reserve ◽  
Abnormal Returns ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Open Market ◽  
Predictive Capacity ◽  
Federal Open Market Committee ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Cumulative Abnormal Returns ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose After the COVID-19 outbreak, the Federal Reserve has undertaken several monetary policies to alleviate the pandemic consequences on the markets. This paper aims to evaluate the effects of the Federal Reserve monetary policy on the cryptocurrency dynamics during the COVID19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach We examine the response and feedback effects via an event study methodology. For this purpose, abnormal returns (AR) and cumulative abnormal returns (CARs) around the first FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) announcement related to the COVID-19 pandemic for the top five cryptocurrencies are explored. We, further investigate the effect of the eight FOMC statement announcements during the COVID19 pandemic on these cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether, Litecoin, and Ripple). In the above-mentioned crypto-currency markets, we investigate the presence of bubbles by using the PSY test. We then examine the concordance of the dates of these bubbles with the dates of the FOMC announcements. Findings The empirical results show that the first FOMC event has a negative significant effect after 4 days of the announcement date for all studied cryptocurrencies except Tether. The results also indicate that cumulative abnormal returns are significant during the event windows of (−3,8), (−3,9), and (−3,10). Besides, we find that Bitcoin, Ethereum and, Litecoin lived short bubbles lasting for a few days. However, Ripple and Tether markets present no bubbles and no explosive periods. Research limitations/implications This paper presents trained proof that FOMC announcements have a positive effect on volatility's predictive capacity. This work therefore promotes the study of the data quality of volatility in future research as well. Practical implications The justified effect of the FOMC announcements on cryptocurrency as a speculative asset has practical implications for investors in building their trading strategies in anticipation of the next FOMC announcement. Therefore, this study implies that the FOMC announcements contain very relevant information for investors in the cryptocurrency market. This research may not only encourage a better understanding of the evolution of the expectations of policymakers, but also facilitate a better understanding of how these expectations are developed. Originality/value The COVID-19 pandemic has disturbed the stability of financial markets, inciting the Fed to take some monetary regulations. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first one that analyses the response of five major cryptocurrencies to FOMC announcements during COVID 19 pandemic and associates these dates with bubble occurrences.

Access to justice as a human right, organizational entitlement and precursor to diversity and inclusion

2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (7) ◽  
pp. 787-791 ◽  
Author(s):  
Quinetta Roberson
Keyword(s):  
African Americans ◽  
Civil Rights ◽  
The United States ◽  
Police Brutality ◽  
Access To Justice ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Organizational Policies ◽  
Corporate Leaders ◽  
Diversity And Inclusion ◽  
Policies And Practices

PurposeIn the wake of the death of George Floyd in the United States, many corporate leaders have released statements condemning racism and police brutality and committed their organizations to focus on diversity and inclusion. While such statements, intentions, and goals are laudable, they evade the phenomenon at the crux of the current social movement: access to justice.Design/methodology/approachThis essay draws upon theory and research across a variety of disciplines to examine the accessibility of justice for African Americans in society and in work organizations.FindingsAs corporate leaders have made statements decrying racism and police brutality and offered their support to civil rights groups and organizations fighting for racial justice, there is a need for that same level of scrutiny and support within their own organizations. As a precursor to diversity and inclusion initiatives, corporate leaders need to take actions to ensure the fairness of outcomes, policies and practices, and treatment by others for African Americans within their organizations.Practical implicationsStrategies for reviewing and revising organizational policies and practices to preserve fairness in the work experiences of African Americans and for creating and maintaining cultures of fairness are offered.Originality/valueThe author integrates historical documents, research, opinion, and literary devices to understand the meaning and practice of justice in society and organizations.

The development experiences of two small African and Northern European communities under globalisation

2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 234-260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomi Ovaska ◽  
Louw Van der Walt ◽  
Robert B. Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Global Economy ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Small Communities ◽  
Social Fabric ◽  
Stakeholder Groups ◽  
Northern European ◽  
The Social ◽  
Development Literature ◽  
Global World

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to focus on the development experience in the global world of two small communities, Viimsi in Estonia and Magog in South Africa. These two communities were chosen as exemplars because the authors were familiar with both, and understood them to be illustrative of differing outcomes of interaction of small communities with the global economy offering the prospect of generalisation of findings to the framework and theory. Twenty years ago, both were poor, since then Viimsi has become wealthy, while Magopa remains poor. It is not believed that becoming the wealthiest community in Estonia was Viimsi’s per-determined destiny. What people of Viimsi did to make their community a success relative to the surrounding peer communities is a story of the visible as much as the invisible attributes. Design/methodology/approach – These attributes are examined using a framework the authors’ originally developed to explore the participation of Indigenous communities in the global economy in pursuit of development as they defined it. A thorough investigation was done on the interactions among various community stakeholder groups in an attempt to describe the social fabric of these two communities, and this was used to explain why Viimsi was able to take advantage of globalisation, when Magopa was not. Findings – While it will be hard, no doubt, to translate all the success attributes of Viimsi to a different location and time, some of the lessons that were uncovered from the study are universal in nature, making them potentially useable for other small communities trying to find their way in the global world. Research limitations/implications – Studying only two communities means that the generalisation of the findings is limited to theory. None can be made directly to the population of similar communities, except indirectly through exploration using the theory being developed to test its validity in other circumstances. Practical implications – The findings from this paper will increase the understanding of the factors that contribute the a community’s success of lack of, in participating in the global economy. Originality/value – This is an under-researched area within development literature.

scholarly journals The impacts of interest rate changes on US Midwest farmland values

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Albulena Basha ◽  
Wendong Zhang ◽  
Chad Hart
Keyword(s):  
Interest Rate ◽  
Great Plains ◽  
Federal Reserve ◽  
State Level ◽  
Land Values ◽  
Federal Funds ◽  
Federal Funds Rate ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Distributed Lag ◽  
Farmland Values

PurposeThis paper quantifies the effects of recent Federal Reserve interest rate changes, specifically recent hikes and cuts in the federal funds rate since 2015, on Midwest farmland values.Design/methodology/approachThe authors apply three autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) models to a panel data of state-level farmland values from 1963 to 2018 to estimate the dynamic effects of interest rate changes on the US farmland market. We focus on the I-states, Lakes states and Great Plains states. The models in the study capture both short-term and long-term impacts of policy changes on land values.FindingsThe authors find that changes in the federal funds rate have long-lasting impacts on farmland values, as it takes at least a decade for the full effects of an interest rate change to be capitalized in farmland values. The results show that the three recent federal funds rate cuts in 2019 were not sufficient to offset the downward pressures from the 2015–2018 interest rate hikes, but the 2020 cut is. The combined effect of the Federal Reserve's recent interest rate moves on farmland values will be positive for some time starting in 2022.Originality/valueThis paper provides the first empirical quantification of the immediate and long-run impacts of recent Federal Reserve interest rate moves on farmland values. The authors demonstrate the long-lasting repercussions of Federal Reserve's policy choices in the farmland market.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document