Does COVID-19 really make people risk aversion in investment decision-making?

The economic fallout from COVID-19 pandemic changes individuals’ investment perceptions and behaviors in a tremendous way. Consequently, investment decision-making has been affected as people have to adjust to the new environment. This study aims to study whether COVID-19 really make people risk aversion due to the economic slowdown. Our empirical results are analyzed from household finance data in U.S in July 2021. It is found that COVID-19 proximity, income, and occupation are positively associate with risking taking in investment decision-making, while age and family size are not. This study contributes to the newly emerged body of knowledge on post pandemic investment decision-making and risk behavior analysis and provide implications for financial investment institutions.

Intra-jihadist rivalry fuels violence in Lake Chad

Significance Competition between the jihadist groups remains tense and insecurity is being stoked further by intercommunal conflict over land and water resources that overstretched security forces are struggling to contain. Impacts Economic hardship will increase in the Lake Chad region amid the effects of climate change and economic slowdown due to the pandemic. Jihadist dominance in the region is almost certain to swing back and forth between ISWAP and Boko Haram. The use of the Boko Haram moniker to describe all jihadist operations poses challenges to accurate attribution of attacks.

Bankruptcy at family and non-family firms: do they fail differently?

PurposeFamily firms strive for transgenerational survivability. Thus, bankruptcy is a daunting event. Whether family firms fail for other causes than non-family firms has been scarcely researched and is investigated in this study.Design/methodology/approachThe paper draws on a sample of 459 Austrian bankruptcy cases to examine the effects of the distinct characteristics of family firms on failure causes.FindingsOur results indicate that family firm characteristics impact their failure, as bankruptcy causes differ from non-family firms. While family firms fail less often than non-family firms due to unqualified management and poor business-economic competencies, external bankruptcy causes, in particular bad debt and economic slowdown, are more widespread.Practical implicationsAs our findings suggest that the close social bonds of family firms may become a burden in crisis situations and make them especially prone to external bankruptcy causes, owner-managers should pay more attention to the dependencies, deficiencies and risks that come with their binding social ties. Moreover, they should rely on external advice and appropriate management tools to better recognize and fend off the resulting risks.Originality/valueTo the best of our knowledge, this is the first study that quantitatively examines differences in bankruptcy causes between family and non-family firms.

Behavioral Changes in Accessing Outpatient Care During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Unwillingness to seek healthcare has been observed in citizens from many countries during the Covid-19 pandemic. Previous studies show that the changes in behavior are due to various reasons such as economic slowdown, loss of health insurance due to termination of employment, and fear of contracting the virus. This behavior may result in worsened health conditions, making a individual more susceptible to the virus. The supply side of health care is one of the things that should be considered in the discussion about access to health care in developing countries. This paper investigates access to the healthcare problem of Indonesians, discusses both the supply side and demand side by looking at the change of behavior due to the patients’ fear of getting treatment during pandemic covid-19. We will serve this purpose through a small-scale survey and offer some insights from a statistical analysis perspective as well. Based on a survey from 588 respondents from the west Indonesia region, this study observes that the respondents’ health condition shows no significant change before and during the Covid-19 pandemic era. On the other hand, the respondents’ frequency of accessing outpatient healthcare proves to be significantly decreasing during the Covid-19 pandemic era, with 23,4% of the respondents stating that they avoid utilizing outpatient healthcare as an effort to avoid the Coronavirus. The frequency of using Kartu Indonesia Sehat to access outpatient healthcare also shows a significant decrease during this pandemic era.

Kenya's election will pit ‘princes’ against ‘hustlers’

Significance In June, President Uhuru Kenyatta reportedly told opposition National Super Alliance (NASA) leaders that he would back one of them as his successor. Although there is controversy over exactly what Kenyatta said, it has been interpreted as a snub to ruling Jubilee Party leaders -- in particular, Deputy President William Ruto, whom Kenyatta had previously promised to back in 2022. Impacts The Ruto campaign’s efforts to curb dependence on regional ‘big men’ may reduce defection risks but also weaken its mobilisation capacities. Divisive language will increase the prospect of political instability and violence when the campaigns begin in earnest. Political uncertainty will likely undermine investment and result in an economic slowdown around the election. The efforts of candidates to curry favour with regional powers may strain Kenyan relations within East Africa.