scholarly journals Whether Urbanization Has Intensified the Spread of Infectious Diseases—Renewed Question by the COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dongsheng Yu ◽  
Xiaoping Li ◽  
Juanjuan Yu ◽  
Xunpeng Shi ◽  
Pei Liu ◽  
...  

The outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic has triggered adiscussion of the relationship between urbanization and the spread of infectious diseases. Namely, whether urbanization will exacerbate the spread of infectious diseases. Based on 31 provincial data from 2002 to 2018 in China, the impact of urbanization on the spread of infectious diseases from the dimensions of “population” and “land” is analyzed in this paper by using the GMM (generalized method of moments) model. The empirical study shows that the population increase brought by urbanization does not aggravate the spread of infectious diseases. On the contrary, urban education, employment and entrepreneurship, housing, medical and health care, and other basic public services brought by population urbanization can help reduce the risk of the spread of infectious diseases. The increasing density of buildings caused by land urbanization increases the risk of the spread of infectious diseases. Moreover, the impact of urbanization on the spread of infectious diseases has regional heterogeneity. Therefore, the prevention and control of disease play a crucial role.

Processes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 1264
Author(s):  
Meng Zeng ◽  
Lihang Liu ◽  
Fangyi Zhou ◽  
Yigui Xiao

Many studies have found that FDI can reduce the pollutant emissions of host countries. At the same time, the intensity of environmental regulation would affect the emission reduction effect of FDI in the host country. This study aims to reveal the internal mechanisms of this effect. Specifically, this paper studies the impact of FDI on technological innovation in China’s industrial sectors from the perspective of technology transactions from 2001 to 2019, and then analyzes whether the intensity of environmental regulation can promote the relationship. Results indicate that FDI promotes technological innovation through technology transactions. In addition, it finds that the intensity of environmental regulation significantly positively moderates the relationship between FDI and technological innovation, which is achieved by positively moderating the FDI–technology transaction relationship. Regional heterogeneity analysis is further conducted, and results show that in the eastern and western regions of China, FDI can stimulate technological innovation within regional industrial sectors through technology trading. Moreover, environmental regulation has a significant positive regulatory effect on the above relationship, but these effects are not supported by evidence in the central region of China.


2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 638-669
Author(s):  
Miriam Alzate ◽  
Marta Arce-Urriza ◽  
Javier Cebollada

When studying the impact of online reviews on product sales, previous scholars have usually assumed that every review for a product has the same probability of being viewed by consumers. However, decision-making and information processing theories underline that the accessibility of information plays a role in consumer decision-making. We incorporate the notion of review visibility to study the relationship between online reviews and product sales, which is proxied by sales rank information, studying three different cases: (1) when every online review is assumed to have the same probability of being viewed; (2) when we assume that consumers sort online reviews by the most helpful mechanism; and (3) when we assume that consumers sort online reviews by the most recent mechanism. Review non-textual and textual variables are analyzed. The empirical analysis is conducted using a panel of 119 cosmetic products over a period of nine weeks. Using the system generalized method of moments (system GMM) method for dynamic models of panel data, our findings reveal that review variables influence product sales, but the magnitude, and even the direction of the effect, vary amongst visibility cases. Overall, the characteristics of the most helpful reviews have a higher impact on sales.


Author(s):  
Wenyi Yang ◽  
Xueli Wang ◽  
Keke Zhang ◽  
Zikan Ke

In the context of the rapid development of urbanization and increasing population mobility in China, the outbreak of COVID-19 has had a significant impact on China’s economy and society. This article uses China UnionPay transaction data and takes Hubei, the worst-hit region by COVID-19 in China, as an example, to conduct empirical analysis using the generalized method of moments (GMM) of the impact of current urbanization patterns on the spread of the epidemic and economic recovery from the perspectives of time, industry, and regional differences. The study found that during the different stages of COVID-19, including discovery, outbreak, and subsidence, the overall impact of urbanization on the economy in Hubei Province was first positive, then became negative, and finally gradually increased. This process had significant industrial and urban heterogeneity, which was mainly manifested in losses in tourism and catering industries that were significantly greater than those in the audio-visual entertainment and digital office industries. Similarly, the recovery speed of large cities was lower than that of small and medium-sized cities. The main reason for these differences is that the one-sided problem of urbanization is more obvious in areas with higher urbanization rates. COVID-19 has drawn attention to the development of urbanization in the future, that is, the development path of one-sided economic resource agglomeration and scale expansion should be abandoned, with greater attention paid to the improvement of service functions and the development of amenities. This transformation is necessary to enhance urban economic resilience and reduce public health risks.


2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (7) ◽  
pp. 673-686 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pengfei Sheng ◽  
Yaping He ◽  
Xiaohui Guo

There is no consensus about the impact of urbanization on energy efficiency. We seek to fill this gap in literature using data from 78 countries for the period of 1995 through 2012. Extending the Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence, and Technology model, we identify the impact of urbanization on energy consumption and efficiency. Results of generalized method of moments estimation indicate that the process of urbanization leads to substantial increases in both the actual and the optimal energy consumption, but a decrease in efficiency of energy use. In addition, we find that the extent to which energy inefficiency correlates with urbanization is greater in countries with higher gross domestic product per capita.


Author(s):  
Raúl Payá Castiblanque

The aim of this research was to study the relationship between the different levels of direct participation of workers (passive, consultative or active-delegated) in risk prevention management with the levels of absenteeism in Spain. To this end, a transversal study was carried out using microdata from the Second European Survey of Companies on New and Emerging Risks (ESENER-2-Spain, 2014) with a master population of 3162 work centres. A multinomial logistic regression model was carried out, with the dependent variable being the levels of absenteeism and the independent variables, the participation indicators and preventive management, calculating the adjusted odds ratio (aOR) between all the independent and control variables, with their corresponding 95% confidence intervals (95% IC). The results obtained showed how the active-delegative participation of workers in the design and adoption of psychosocial risk prevention measures reported 2.33 less probabilities of having a very high or fairly high level of absenteeism (aOR = 0.43; 95%IC:0.27–0.69). However, having documented aspects of preventive management (plan, risk assessment, planning measures) did not have any impact on absenteeism levels, which shows that we can fall into an unrealistic institutional mirage of security with active policies of co-education or co-management being necessary to reduce absenteeism.


Author(s):  
Maryam Fattahi

One of the available challenges in areas of health economics is identification of the effective factors on health expenditures. Air pollution plays important role in the public and private health expenditure but most studies have ignored the role of this category in explanation of health expenditures. On the other hand, the impact of air pollution on health expenditures is influenced by several factors. This study intends to investigate the effect of air pollution on public and private health expenditures and to identify the urbanization rate factor affecting the relationship between air pollution and public and private health expenditures. Scope of the present study is developing countries over period of 1995-2011. We used a dynamic panel and Generalized Method of Moments method. The empirical results indicate that air pollution has positive and significant effect on public and private health expenditures. Also, the results imply that urbanization rate affecting the relationship between air pollution and health expenditures that urbanization rate plays a reinforcing role.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leping Tu ◽  
Yan Chen

Abstract To investigate the relationship between air quality and its Baidu index, we collect the annual Baidu index of air pollution hazards, causes and responses. Grey correlation analysis, particle swarm optimization and grey multivariate convolution model are used to simulate and forecast the comprehensive air quality index. The result shows that the excessive growth of the comprehensive air quality index will lead to an increase in the corresponding Baidu index. The number of search for the causes of air quality has the closest link with the comprehensive air quality index. Strengthening the awareness of public about air pollution is conducive to the improvement of air quality. The result provides a reference for relevant departments to prevent and control air pollution.


2020 ◽  
pp. 157-204
Author(s):  
Geoffrey Morse ◽  
Thomas Braithwaite

This chapter concerns the relationship between partners and the interface between the contractual and fiduciary duties implicit in such a relationship, including the internal management of the firm. It examines the impact of equity on contractual agreements, including the doctrine of forfeiture. The nebulous overriding duty of good faith is followed by the statutory duties of honesty, no conflict/no profit and no competition. The implied terms in relation to management (including access to partnership information) and control, financial affairs (detailing capital, capital profits and income profits) and the limits on change of partners are followed by a detailed consideration of the validity and exercise of expulsion clauses. Finally, the chapter details the limited effects of both voluntary and involuntary assignments of a partner's share.


2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Syed Moudud-Ul-Huq

Purpose This paper aims to empirically investigate the impact of bank diversification on performance and risk-taking behavior. The analysis uses an unbalanced panel data set covering the period between 2007 and 2015 for a total of 1,397 banks from ASEAN-5 and BRICS economies. Design/methodology/approach Dynamic panel generalized method of moments (GMM) has been used primarily to examine the relationship between bank diversification on performance and risk-taking and later, validate the core results by incorporating two-stage least squares (2SLS). Findings Similar to the results of previous studies based on the developed economy, this study also confirms the hypothesis of the portfolio diversification. The key robust result is that the benefits from revenue and assets diversification are heterogeneous and the BRICS banks achieve higher benefit from using both diversification strategies. On the other hand, ASEAN-5 banks fail to show the significant advantage from assets diversification. Among the diverse sources of income, interest is not a major determinant of efficiency and bank’s stability, while ASEAN-5 banks should foster commission and others income as mechanisms for diversification benefit in the region. Originality/value A few studies are available in the current literature which examines the impact of revenue and assets diversification on either bank performance or risk-taking in the developed economy’s context. However, very few studies are found that examine the relationship between bank diversification, performance and risk-taking together. Moreover, to the best of the author’s knowledge, there is a dearth of literature on this topic that built on the comparative analysis between two regions, i.e. ASEAN-5 and BRICS. As a result, the empirical results of this research provide useful information to the stakeholders so that they can enhance bank diversification strategy and implement them successfully by considering the other factors.


2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-152

<p>This study focuses on the impact of climate change on rainfall-runoff pattern, and to assess the surface runoff and groundwater recharge potential from the intensified rainfall for the effective management of surface and groundwater resources in Tirunelveli city. The rainfall contribution is consistent, dependent, maximum and intensified during the month of November followed by October and December. The intensified rainfall in these months causes a temperature decrease and the climate becomes more and more colder than ever. The indices SPI and DI clear show that there is a change in climatic pattern. Landuse Landcover (LULC) analysis shows that the residential area and mining area is on the increasing trend, Village area is slightly increasing, agricultural area and dense scrub area is on the decreasing trend. The present capacity of the storage tanks available in Tirunelveli city is less than the maximum runoff generated during the month of November. The increase in residential area in LULC reflects the direct linear relation with the population increase of the city. The impact of urbanization leads to LULC change with the loss of agricultural land and water bodies.</p>


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