How COVID-19 Changed the Culture of Work

2022 ◽  
pp. 33-44
Author(s):  
Alistair Fyfe

The COVID-19 pandemic created a historic disruption to contemporary society including how, where, and when we work. Given the ubiquity of human capital, most if not every society was crippled by the displacement of the workforce with historic impacts on productivity; GDP in the UK will be at its lowest in 300 years, requiring the largest peacetime debt accumulation in history. Stimulus packages occurred in many countries as a result of the inability to access the workplace, particularly school, restaurant, or travel. Airline travel in the US fell by a precipitous 93% at its nadir, the cruise industry collapsed, and trans-national crossing all but ceased to exist. Along with the freeze in people movement, supply chains were disrupted including components necessary for both treatment and vaccination. The shrinkage of the world we had grown up with became the catalyst for the first pandemic in a century.

1983 ◽  
Vol 106 ◽  
pp. 26-38

The recovery in the OECD area gathered pace in the second quarter, when its total GDP probably increased by as much as 1 per cent. The rise was, however, heavily concentrated in North America and particularly the US. There may well have been a slight fall in Western Europe, where the level of industrial production hardly changed and increases in gross product in West Germany and, to a minor extent, in France were outweighed by falls in Italy and (according to the expenditure measure) the UK.


1997 ◽  
Vol 159 ◽  
pp. 28-56
Author(s):  
Julian Morgan ◽  
Nigel Pain ◽  
Florence Hubert

There are now widespread signs that activity in the world economy has begun to recover steadily from the pause in growth apparent at the beginning of 1996. Output rose by 0.6 per cent in the North American economies in the third quarter of last year and by 0.8 per cent in Europe. Business and consumer sentiment has improved gradually in recent months in most of the major economies. We expect world economic growth to pick up further over the course of this year as the contractionary effects from the downturn in world trade and prolonged inventory adjustment come to an end and as the effects from a more relaxed monetary stance begin to outweigh those from ongoing fiscal consolidation. Recent currency movements should help to stimulate external demand in Germany, France and Japan, but may act to constrain growth within the UK, Italy and the US. For both this year and 1998 we expect growth of around 2½ per cent per annum in the OECD economies.


Paranoia ◽  
2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Freeman ◽  
Jason Freeman

Over the past few years, a new and deadly epidemic has stalked the land. Britain and the US, just like much of the rest of the world, are getting fat. Around 60 per cent of adults in the UK are heavier than they should be. It’s a similar story in the US, where two-thirds of adults are overweight or extremely overweight (obese). That’s a pretty shocking statistic, but we all know that keeping in shape when you’re trying to balance the demands of work and family life is tough. Who’s got time to get to the gym? Who has the energy to do more than heat up a ready meal after ten hours in the office? Besides, we all get bigger as we get older, don’t we? It’s a metabolism thing—isn’t it? But if you think the statistics for adults are alarming, wait till you find out how our kids are faring. In 2003, 27 per cent of children under 11 in England were either overweight or obese. In the US, where different methods to measure obesity are used, nearly 20 per cent of children aged 6 to 11 were classified as overweight or obese in 2004. The numbers have almost doubled in a decade. How did so many children get to be overweight before they’ve even reached the ripe old age of 11? How do you become overweight when so much of your day is taken up with charging round a playground or park, when you can’t drive, and when you’re not free—like the rest of us—to stuff your face at will with chocolate, crisps, and alcohol? The answer, of course, is a complex one. If adults are eating much less healthily than they used to, so are their kids. Instead of spending their evenings playing outside, children now have the delights of multi-channel television, computer games, and the Internet to choose from. And then there’s the fact that increasing numbers of us just won’t let our children outside on their own. Back in the mid 1970s, we were 6 years old.


2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 1069-1075 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Brighton ◽  
S. Sherker ◽  
R. Brander ◽  
M. Thompson ◽  
A. Bradstreet

Abstract. Rip currents are a common hazard to beachgoers found on many beaches around the world, but it has proven difficult to accurately quantify the actual number of rip current related drowning deaths in many regions and countries. Consequently, reported estimates of rip current drowning can fluctuate considerably and are often based on anecdotal evidence. This study aims to quantify the incidence of rip current related drowning deaths and rescues in Australia from 2004 to 2011. A retrospective search was undertaken for fatal and non-fatal rip-related drowning incidents from Australia's National Coronial Information System (NCIS), Surf Life Saving Australia's (SLSA, 2005–2011) SurfGuard Incident Report Database (IRD), and Media Monitors for the period 1 July 2004 to 30 June 2011. In this time, rip currents were recorded as a factor in 142 fatalities of a total of 613 coastal drowning deaths (23.2%), an average of 21 per year. Rip currents were related to 44% of all beach-related drowning deaths and were involved in 57.4% of reported major rescues in Australian locations where rips occur. A comparison with international operational statistics over the same time period describes rip-related rescues as 53.7% of the total rescues in the US, 57.9% in the UK and 49.4% in New Zealand. The range 49–58% is much lower than 80–89% traditionally cited. The results reported are likely to underestimate the size of the rip current hazard, because we are limited by the completeness of data on rip-related events; however this is the most comprehensive estimate to date. Beach safety practitioners need improved data collection and standardized definitions across organisations. The collection of drowning data using consistent categories and the routine collection of rip current information will allow for more accurate global comparisons.


2005 ◽  
Vol 13 (04) ◽  
pp. 359-381 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. M. BENJAMIN MARTZ ◽  
ALESSANDRO BISCACCIANTI ◽  
THOMAS C. NEIL ◽  
ROBERT J. WILLIAMS

Business schools around the world offer courses and even complete degrees emphasizing entrepreneurship. However, the perception of an entrepreneur differs across cultures. This paper presents results from a set of 900 questionnaires collected over two years in three countries: United States; United Kingdom and France. The analysis found support for the basic conjecture that the perception of entrepreneurship differs between countries; the US students perceived the entrepreneurship lifestyle as a better lifestyle than did students from the France or the UK. Historically, the area of entrepreneurship is suggested as a key factor for a successful business environment. Business schools around the world offer courses and even complete degrees emphasizing entrepreneurship. However, the perception of an entrepreneur differs across cultures. The entrepreneurial lifestyle is perceived, rewarded, acknowledged, etc. differently across cultures based upon cultural norms. This paper presents results from a set of data collected over two years in three countries: United States; United Kingdom and France. The analysis of over 900 questionnaires found support for the basic conjecture that the perception of entrepreneurship differs between countries and in the direction predicted by the TEA report; the US students perceived the entrepreneurship lifestyle better than did students from the France or the UK. The final section of the paper is highlights the cross-cultural differences found and offers some ideas on why they occur.


English Today ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 3-4 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Graddol

Whenever I've given a lecture on the future of English, the question I am most frequently asked is ‘Will Chinese take over from English as the global language?’. With China's economy continuing to grow fast, whilst those of the west slow down in recession, China has been rising up the world economic rankings and has overtaken other economies faster than predicted. It seems no time since it overhauled the UK economy to become the world's number 4 (2005), and then Germany (2007) to become number 3. During the summer of 2010 it edged past Japan to become the world's second largest economy. It may take another 20 years to overtake the US economy in absolute size, though it may already have become the world's largest exporter (overtaking Germany), and has already overtaken the US in energy consumption. Next year, China is expected to take over from the US as the world's largest manufacturer – a position the US has held since it overtook the UK in the late 1890s.


1984 ◽  
Vol 109 ◽  
pp. 21-32

The growth of US GNP, which in the first quarter was responsible for the greater part of an increase of the order of 1½ per cent in the output of the whole OECD area, slowed down somewhat in the second quarter but it was still exceptionally fast. With the help mainly of sustained growth in Japan it probably kept total OECD output growing, despite the depressing effects of major strikes in West Germany and the UK. The deceleration in the US mainly reflected a reduction in stockbuilding, which in the first quarter had made the biggest contribution to the growth of demand both there and in West Germany and France.


1999 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 401-423 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nigel White

On 27 February 1998, the International Court of Justice rejected the preliminary objections of the US and of the UK in the cases concerning Questions of Interpretation and Application of the 1971 Montreal Convention Arising From the Aerial Incident at Lockerbie. The arguments made to the Court, and its decisions on jurisdiction and admissibility, are examined with a view to ascertaining the issues facing the Court, as well as the possible outcomes, if the cases reach the merits stage. The disputes over the Montreal Convention are considered, but particular attention is paid to the legal effects and, more widely, the legality of the relevant Security Council resolutions (Resolutions 748 and 883). The underlying question to be considered is whether there are any indications in the judgments that the Court is moving towards review of those resolutions.


2008 ◽  
Vol 205 ◽  
pp. 8-13
Author(s):  
Ray Barrell

In interesting times several things may happen simultaneously, and they may have connected roots. The financial turmoil that developed initially in the US banking sector had its roots in financial innovation that had made available cheap finance and increased demand for housing. This wave of low cost finance had spread to Europe, and house prices rose in a correlated way. The increase in demand in the world economy that resulted from strong growth in lending and high asset values helped raise output growth outside the OECD, and this in turn put upward pressure on oil prices. Markets sometimes work slowly, and the effects of the increase in demand on prices appear to be coming through just as the asset bubble is collapsing. The sequence of events was not inevitable, as low personal sector saving in the US and the UK as well as elsewhere could have been offset by tighter fiscal policy, and better prudential regulation of lenders would also definitely have helped. The desire to move financial regulation from the central bank, as in the UK, may have been for good, competition based, reasons, but it has meant that financial sector oversight has not taken account of the macroeconomic implications of a wave of lending that rested on risky financial innovation and therefore it has not properly addressed the issue of systemic risk (see Barrell and Davis, 2005). The resulting financial turmoil has meant that banks have made losses, and have been unable to trust each other's solvency when making deals. As a result three month interbank rates have risen well above central bank intervention rates, as can be seen in figure 1.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Melton

Abstract Enormous differences exist in rates of death from COVID-19 in countries around the world. Collectivist cultures and countries are characterized by concern for culture and country to a greater extent than for self-interest, whereas the reverse is true for individualistic cultures and countries. In light of this cultural difference, and suggestive evidence that cultures known for their collectivist orientation are more likely to have near-universal compliance with infection-preventive behaviors such as public mask-wearing and less likely to place their elderly in nursing homes (which account for a high proportion of deaths in individualistic countries such as the US, Canada, and the UK), we hypothesized that death per million (DPM) rates would be significantly lower for collectivist countries than individualistic countries. We categorized every country for which there are collectivist-individualistic scores and split the countries into two groups as defined by Hofstede’s (1980) cut-offs. As predicted, the DPM rate for collectivist countries was significantly lower than for individualistic countries. Furthermore, an analysis of covariance controlling for median age showed that the alternative explanation that the observed difference could be accounted for in terms of the significantly lower average age of citizens of collectivist countries was implausible. Implications in areas related to reopening schools, etc., and directions for future research are discussed.


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