An Epidemiologic, Longitudinal, and Discordant-Twin Study of the Association Between Gambling Disorder and Suicidal Behaviors

Gambling disorder is associated with suicidal behaviors, but it is not clear whether the association is due to common etiologic factors or to gambling disorder being causally related to suicidality. This question was examined from the perspective of epidemiologic, longitudinal, and discordant-twin studies. The results suggested that the causes of the association with disordered gambling differed for suicidal ideation, plan, and attempt and differed for men and women. The association of suicidal thoughts with disordered gambling was noncausally explained by common genetic influences among women but not men. Conversely, there was evidence consistent with a potentially causal influence of disordered gambling on suicide attempt among men but not women, which might have been related to gambling-related financial problems. The use of monetary data to identify individuals experiencing financial harms associated with their gambling may represent a more practicable target for screening, intervention, and prevention and may reduce gambling-related financial crises, thereby warding off a potential gambling-related suicide attempt.

Employee Ownership or How to Anticipate Financial Crises Within a Company

The COVID-19 pandemic has turned the world of work upside down. It is having a dramatic effect on the employment, livelihoods, and well-being of workers and their families, as well as on businesses around the world, especially small and medium-sized enterprises. It started in China at the end of 2019, with that country's economy mainly the first to be affected. The global economy was then impacted as the virus spread. It is a bit early to estimate precisely the extent of the economic crisis on a company, but it is already certain that it is more brutal than before. Companies that have opened their capital to their employees are more likely to keep their employees than other companies that offer a significantly higher level of security to their employees (maintenance of working hours and compensation). What practical economic logic will be found in the company once employee ownership is applied? Would it be an effective way to overcome the various situations of discontent and anxiety among employees, where these feelings are already very strong?

Transformation of the Globalization Process

This chapter focuses on the analysis of the globalization process as a phenomenon of the recent decades. The chapter starts with an analysis of the roots of globalization, which are a combination of economic policies and labour-saving technologies. Then the most powerful actor, the transnational company, is introduced, followed by the analysis of their position in the world division of labour. Special attention is given to the changes brought by financial crises, especially the Great Recession. The changing nature of globalization is demonstrated also via the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. At the end, the author presents possible future scenarios, applying them on the Czech Republic, as a country strongly connected with the world economy and placed in the position of a dependent economy.

How Do Financial Constraints and Financial Crises Matter in Cash Management?

This chapter investigates how financial constraints and financial crises affect the cash policy of firms. Using a sample of 157,505 firm-years from 26 developing Asian economies from 1991 to 2016, firm fixed effects are employed to mitigate unobserved heterogeneity. Empirical findings show that financially constrained firms have higher cash than financially unconstrained firms, which is in line with the precautionary motive and transaction motive of cash. The picture changes with the rise of financial crises. While financially constrained firms have lower cash before the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis, they increase their cash level more after the 2008-2009 global financial crisis. Overall, managers need to consider the exogenous shocks to enhance their liquidity management. Also, investors should consider the financial crises, firm size, firm constraint, and dividend payment status when determining when and where to invest.

Sustainable Development and Climate Change

The concept of sustainable development can be best interpreted as an approach to development that looks to balance different, and often competing, needs against an awareness of the environmental, social, and economic limitations we face as a society. Most of the present development activities are being conceived and implemented without fully considering the wider or future impacts. A manifestation of such kind of development approach is quite evident in the form of large-scale financial crises caused by irresponsible banking, changes in the global climate resulting from our dependence on fossil fuel-based energy sources. The longer we pursue unsustainable development, the more frequent and severe its consequences are likely to become, which is why we need to take action now. This chapter explores sustainable development and climate change.