Institutional Impact of Forestry on the Economy

The problems of the forest sector identified by many researchers are primarily related to the quality of institutions and the lack of effective institutional relations in the industry, according to the authors’ opinion. The results presented in the article, which prove the existence of a causal relationship between the qualitative characteristics of institutions and institutional relations and economic results, are shown for the first time in the case of the forest industry. In order to achieve the objective, the economic interrelations between forest industry entities are analyzed in the context of their institutional environment. It is revealed that the existing institutional structure of the industry supports the conflict of incentives between the owner (state) and the user (tenant) of forest land. The theoretical aspects of the specification of property rights, minimization of transaction costs and costs of contractual relations in the Russian forest industry to increase its economic efficiency are investigated. The transformation of Russian forest industry institutions should be based on the comparative advantages of existing institutions, economic models of successful forest management, objective institutional and economic indicators of sustainable growth, such as the specification of property rights and the minimization of specific transaction costs.

Comparative Perspectives on Specialised Intellectual Property Courts: Understanding Japan's Intellectual Property High Court Through the Lens of the US Federal Circuit

This article develops a comparative analysis of specialised courts in intellectual property across both Japan and the US. This article considers the IPHC through the lens of the CAFC to investigate the differing institutional impact and illuminate the most pressing issues in Japanese patent law that have emerged as a result of transplanting this specialised court. Rather than a more conventional analysis of the implementation of these institutions, this article focuses instead on a comparative investigation of the soft law elements that have significantly influenced their effectiveness, providing a different insight on the relationship between these institutions and their broader contextual impact. The main findings of the comparative analysis are found in two primary areas – the impact of specialised courts on the consistency and reliability of patent law; and secondly, recommendations regarding the potential reform of Japanese patent law as it relates to the role of the IPHC. In terms of reform, this article analyzes the double-track problem in Japanese patent law and the key role that, with some modification to the court/patent office relationship, the IPHC could play in addressing this issue with a more fundamental realignment of patent law with its Continental history.

The Role of STEM Program Directors in Broadening the Impact of STEM Interventions

STEM transformation has been a longstanding goal for higher education institutions who not only wish to maintain global economic competitiveness but most recently have also aimed efforts at achieving STEM equity. While researchers have typically looked to students’ and faculty’s experiences for answers, STEM program directors possess great insight from working closely with students in both faculty and administrative roles. This study explores the views of 45 STEM program directors at 10 institutions across the U.S. that had high STEM bachelor’s degree-completion rates relative to similarly resourced institutions. We document the lessons and strategies that STEM program directors have used to broaden institutional impact, including demonstrating their program’s efficacy through assessments and evaluations, coordinating, and streamlining efforts to ensure program efficiency and longevity, incentivizing support for labor, and consolidating support from institutional leaders. We also disentangle the roles STEM program directors play as grassroots leaders or institutional agents, distinguishing them by their authority and decision-making power and by whether they work to transform the institution to better serve students or to transform students’ behaviors to adapt to the institution. Our findings provide avenues to leverage STEM program directors’ efforts in order to move toward STEM education transformation in higher education.

Mapping the impact of papers on various status groups in excellencemapping.net: a new release of the excellence mapping tool based on citation and reader scores

In over five years, Bornmann, Stefaner, de Moya Anegon, and Mutz (2014b) and Bornmann, Stefaner, de Moya Anegón, and Mutz (2014c, 2015) have published several releases of the www.excellencemapping.net tool revealing (clusters of) excellent institutions worldwide based on citation data. With the new release, a completely revised tool has been published. It is not only based on citation data (bibliometrics), but also Mendeley data (altmetrics). Thus, the institutional impact measurement of the tool has been expanded by focusing on additional status groups besides researchers such as students and librarians. Furthermore, the visualization of the data has been completely updated by improving the operability for the user and including new features such as institutional profile pages. In this paper, we describe the datasets for the current excellencemapping.net tool and the indicators applied. Furthermore, the underlying statistics for the tool and the use of the web application are explained.

The long-term economic effects of pandemics: toward an evolutionary approach

COVID-19 has brought to the forefront of academic debates the consequences of pandemics and their appropriate policy responses. Using the PRISMA methodology, we provide a comprehensive review of the economic and historical analysis of the long-term economic consequences of pandemics. Mainstream economists focus on the impact of pandemics on production factors, finding a rich but contrasting set of mechanisms with overall negative or insignificant effects. Historians focus on the institutional impact, finding positive effects of pandemics when they trigger new socioeconomic arrangements. Evolutionary economists can integrate into the economic debate both historical elements and the complex biological characteristics of pandemics. We argue that the evolutionary approach provides new and fertile theoretical foundations to understand the phenomenon and develop effective policies.

Institutional Impact on Achieving the Sustainable Development Goal of Ending Poverty

The role of institutions is increasingly emphasised as a cornerstone of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, previous studies have not sufficiently considered the relationship between institutions and SDGs using cross-country empirical analysis. Therefore, this study examined the effects of institutions on SDG1 (end poverty) performance using a panel data set covering 111 countries for the period 2010–2019. Instrumental variable (IV) estimation (2SLS) and the three-stage least squares (3SLS) method were used to explore the direct and indirect impacts, respectively, of institutions on SDG1 performance. The institutional impact was captured using a composite index developed from individual worldwide governance indicators and SDG1 performance was evaluated with an index constructed using the SDG index database. The results showed that institutions have a highly significant direct positive relationship with SDG1 performance. Regulatory quality has the strongest influence on SDG1 performance while political stability has the lowest. Furthermore, institutions affect SDG1 indirectly via mediating factors – state policy, economic growth, and SDG2 (end hunger) performance. This study provides robust empirical evidence for enhanced regulatory quality and control of corruption creating a conducive environment for facilitating the achievement of the SDG of ending poverty, suggesting that policies aimed at fulfilling this goal should include the prerequisite of upgrading the country’s institutions.

The inter-institutional impact of digital platform companies on democracy: A case study of the UK media’s digital campaigning coverage

Digital platforms, such as Google and Facebook, are under increased scrutiny as regards their impact on society. Having prompted concerns about their capacity to spread misinformation, contribute to filter bubbles and facilitate hate speech, much attention has been paid to the threat platforms pose to democracy. In contrast to existing interventions considering the threats posed by interactions between platforms and users, in this article, I examine platforms’ impact on the democratic work of other bodies. Considering the relationship between platforms and the media, I reveal how platforms affect journalists’ ability to advance their democratic goals. Using a case study of journalistic coverage of digital campaigning at the 2019 UK general election, I show how platforms have hindered journalistic efforts to inform citizens and provide a watchdog function. These findings are significant for our understanding of platforms’ democratic impact and suggest policy makers may wish to regulate platforms’ inter-institutional impact upon democracy.

INSTITUTIONAL INNOVATIONS IN THE «FAR EASTERN FORMAT»: MANIFESTATION IN THE FOREST COMPLEX

The article examines the main instruments of the regional development policy used in the implementation of the "new model" of the development of the Far Eastern Federal District, analyzes the practice of their application in the forest complex. The influence of these instruments on some results of the activity of the forest complex of the FEFD and its main territories is considered. It was revealed that the parameters of the functioning of the forest complex demonstrate instability due to both the institutional impact and the dependence of the complex on the situation in the external market. The importance of the formation of goals for the development of the forest complex is shown based on taking into account both national interests and the development priorities of the regional economy.