Economic Growth and Electricity Consumption in India: An Econometric Analysis

The purpose of this study is to analyse the long-run causal relationship among the per capita electricity consumption ( PCEC) and per capita gross domestic product ( PCGDP), urban population ( UP) and employment ( EMP) pattern in India over the period of 1991–2018. To analyse the long-run association Johansen co-integration test has been used. The results of the Granger-causality test imply that there exists a bidirectional causal relationship between the PCEC and PCGDP whereas there exist unidirectional causality from EMP and UP to PCGDP. Jel Codes: L52, C53, P1

The Optimum Level of Income Inequality in South Asia: An Econometric Analysis

Inequality in the distribution of income can be beneficial or detrimental for economic growth depending on the level of inequality. This study advocates that when income inequality is low, increase in income inequality increases economic growth, whereas when income inequality is high, increase in income inequality decreases economic growth. The level of inequality that maximizes economic growth is defined as the optimum level of income inequality. This article attempts to determine the optimum level of income inequality for South Asia through an econometric analysis. It uses panel data from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, over a 34-year period to undertake a systematic investigation using panel instrumental variables techniques. The results of this study confirm that an optimum level of income inequality does exist, and occurs at a Gini coefficient value of 0.4492. Thus, this research empirically confirms that the relationship between income inequality and economic growth is non-linear. Further calculations show that for an economy that is at the optimum level of income inequality, the per capita gross domestic product can be expected to double within approximately 13 years, provided all other factors are held constant. However, a change in the Gini coefficient by 0.10 units in either direction—higher or lower—away from the optimum level, can increase the number of years for the per capita gross domestic product to double by 55 to 57 years, depending on the method of approximation. JEL: D31, D63, O15, O40

Clusters of cause specific neonatal mortality and its association with per capita gross domestic product: A structured spatial analytical approach

Background Infant mortality rate is a measure of population health and neonatal mortality account for great proportion of these deaths. Underdevelopment might be associated to higher neonatal mortality risk due to assistant related factors. Spatial and temporal distribution of mortality help identifying and developing strategies for interventions. Objective To investigate the cluster areas of asphyxia-associated neonatal mortality and to explore its association with per capita gross domestic product (GDP) in São Paulo State (SP), Brazil. Methods Ecological study including live births residents in SP from 2004–2013. Neonatal deaths (0–27 days) with perinatal asphyxia were defined as intrauterine hypoxia, birth asphyxia or meconium aspiration syndrome written in any line of the Death Certificate. Geoprocessing analytical approach included detection of first order effects through quintiles and spatial moving average maps, followed by second order effects by global and local spatial autocorrelation (Moran and LISA, respectively) before and after smoothing with local Bayesian estimates. Finally, Spearman correlation was applied between asphyxia-associated neonatal mortality and mean per capita GDP rates for the municipalities with significant LISA. Results There were 6,713 asphyxia-associated neonatal deaths among 5,949,267 live births (rate: 1.13/1000) in SP. Spatial moving average maps showed a non-random distribution among municipalities, with presence of clusters (I = 0.048; p = 0.023). LISA map identified clusters of asphyxia-associated neonatal mortality in the south, southeast and northwest. After applying local Bayes estimates, clusters were more pronounced (I = 0.589; p = 0.001). There was a partial overlap of the areas of higher asphyxia-associated neonatal mortality and lower mean per capita GDP. Conclusions Spatial analysis identified cluster areas of high asphyxia-associated neonatal mortality and low per capita GDP rates, with a significant negative correlation. This optimized, structured, and hierarchical approach to identify high-risk areas of cause-specific neonatal mortality may be helpful for guiding public health efforts to decrease neonatal mortality.

An Empirical Investigation on the Validity of Linder Hypothesis for Manufacturing Exports from Turkey to Eurozone Countries

Linder's hypothesis expresses that non-homogenous manufacturing trade has been determined by the consumers’ tastes and preferences rather than production cost differences between countries. Also, it is claimed that the consumers’ tastes and preferences relate positively to the level of per capita income of the relevant country. Accordingly, the country pairs which have similar levels of per capita income trade each other more than other country pairs. This study analyses the validity of the Linder hypothesis in manufacturing exports from Turkey to 19 Eurozone countries for the period of 2002-2018. In compliance with the bilateral trade structure, an augmented gravity model is constructed with variables representing the Linder effect. Generally, convergence between country pairs in terms of per capita income is taken while testing the Linder hypothesis into account. Therefore, while testing the Linder hypothesis, the study considers per capita gross domestic product differences between Turkey and Eurozone countries. Besides, as a more salient and efficient tool, a similarity index representing the Linder effect is constructed. By doing so, whether the Linder hypothesis is valid or not can be demonstrated more robustly. Empirical results prove the existence of the Linder effect for Turkey's manufacturing exports to Eurozone countries. In other words, on the contrary of factor endowment differences, demand similarities between Turkey and Eurozone countries encourage this type of trade. In this regard, the exporters who target more manufacturing exports should monitor the course of consumer behaviors and adapt their product structure according to consumer's tastes and preferences in Eurozone countries.

AN ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ECONOMIC GROWTH AND THE ENVIRONMENT: IN IRAQ FOR THE PERIOD 2000-2017

The research aims to study the most important factors affecting carbon dioxide emissions Co2, through a model. Explanatory variables were used in the model, which are the average per capita gross domestic product (GDP), the square per capita gross domestic product (GDPSQ), per capita energy consumption (CONS), and the POP population for the period 2000-2017 via using double logarithmic formula which is more suitable for economic, statistical and econometric logic in this type of studies, the results of the research showed that all the explanatory variables were statistically significant at the level of 1% and that the model was significant as a whole according to the statistic F and the value of R2=0.99. Economically, we find that the parameter of the average per capita GDP was 0.46 and it came with a positive signal consistent with the methodology of the Environmental Curve Kuznets ECK, the parameter of per capita energy consumption was 0.04, and it came with a negative sign that contradicts the Kuznets methodology, the reason may belong to the conditions that affected the country after 2003. The research recommended to go to investing in renewable energy, because it is environmentally friendly, such as sun energy, and to reduce the size of the gas in the sectors emitting to it, such as the transport sector, factories, the extraction sector, and manufacturing industries, in order to preserve the integrity of the environment and the plant and animal wealth it contains ,to a better environment in Iraq.

Epidemiological Investigation of Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis in China

Background. At present, most research on HLH focus on etiology and therapy, leaving few epidemiological reports. The published studies of China are mainly regional investigations. We aim to present the overall epidemiological status of HLH in China, and provide Chinese data for the international HLH epidemiological investigation. Methods. The data of HLH cases in China in 2019 was collected and statistically analyzed. Findings. Among 1445 cases in 31 areas, EBV accounting for 44.01% is the most common cause. Lymphoma-associated HLH patients are mostly males (P<0.05) while rheumatic and immune-associated HLH mostly females (P<0.001). Children have mainly primary HLH and EBV-associated HLH (P<0.001) while adults mostly tumor-associated HLH. Lymphoma-associated HLH is positively correlated with the age of onset (P<0.01). The diagnosis rate of 29 areas has a significant correlation with per capita Gross domestic product (P<0.05). Conclusion. The etiology distribution of HLH in different age and sex is different, assisting clinicians with the diagnosis of HLH; The diagnosis rate of regions with a high incidence of HLH in China is not ideal as the result of the effect of the local economic level indicating the importance of improving the regional medical level.

The European Union’s Recovery Plan: A Critical Evaluation

This article reviews the European Union’s Recovery Plan to cope with COVID-19 by examining two of its main hypotheses. I primarily use Greece as a case study of those who benefit from receiving funds, and in some cases Germany, because it played, and still plays, an instrumental role in promoting this unfounded idea of transferring European taxpayers’ money to the hands of national politicians. First, it was alleged that the health situation is improving. Second, the pandemic increases economic divergence between member states. The stylized facts so far do not seem to support either hypothesis. Since the July Summit of the European Council, the epidemiological situation has worsened as measured by deaths and cases. Data on per capita Gross Domestic Product released by the European Commission on 6 May 2020 show an unprecedented for peace years decline in economic growth rates for all 27 member states in 2020. The data estimations also assume a V-shaped recovery for 2021. However, the alleged hypothesis of economic divergence in 2020 and economic convergence in 2021 is not supported by the data themselves. The main conclusion of this study is that the economic impact cannot be fully ascertained if the pandemic is not permanently over and therefore the titanic EU spending of 750 billion euro cannot be based on the stylized economic and epidemiological facts. Keywords: European Union, pandemic, Covid-19, health, growth, public pending, recovery plan, Germany, Greece.

Beyond the carbon footprint: Virtual conferences increase diversity, equity, and inclusion

Among many roles, conferences disseminate research, grow professional networks, and train employees. They also significantly contribute to climate change due to their sizable carbon footprint. More recently, additional negative aspects have surfaced. Namely, they present significant barriers to achieving Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). Here, we perform a meta-analysis of events that transitioned to virtual formats during the COVID-19 pandemic and show that this approach may provide a solution. Our analysis compared demographic and travel data of the same scientific conferences. When evaluating DEI, we considered factors including cost, gender, career stage, and geographic location. Costs associated with attending in-person conferences varied between 3% to 142% of attendees’ regional annual per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP). An increase in the fractional make-up of 2020 virtual conference delegations was observed for students (29% to 43%). Notable increases in attendance were observed for women (66% to 253% increase) and non-research-intensive countries (29% to 482% increase).

Natural and Socioeconomic Factors and Their Interactive Effects on House Collapse Caused by Typhoon Mangkhut

Typhoons are an environmental threat that mainly affects coastal regions worldwide. The interactive effects of natural and socioeconomic factors on the losses caused by typhoon disasters need further examination. In this study, GeoDetector was used to quantify the determinant powers of natural and socioeconomic factors and their interactive effects on the rate of house collapse in Guangdong and Guangxi Provinces of southeast China caused by Typhoon Mangkhut in 2018. We further identify the dominant factors that influenced the disaster losses. The local indicators of spatial association method was then introduced to explain the spatial heterogeneity of the disaster losses under the influence of the dominant factor. The results indicate that both natural and socioeconomic factors significantly affected the house collapse rate. The maximum precipitation was the dominant factor, with a q value of 0.21, followed by slope and elevation, with q values of 0.17 and 0.13, respectively. Population density and per capita gross domestic product had q values of 0.15 and 0.13, respectively. Among all of the interactive effects of the influencing factors, the interactive effect of elevation and the ratio of brick-wood houses had the greatest influence (q = 0.63) on the house collapse rate. These results can contribute to the formulation of more specific safety and property protection policies.