Evaluating the impact of energy and environment on economic growth in BRI countries

This study investigates the impact of renewable energy consumption (REC), nonrenewable energy consumption (NREC), and carbon emissions on economic growth in 133 Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) countries from 1996 to 2020. We divided our sample into four income groups. For empirical estimation, this study employs panel quantile regression (PQR), and fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) estimation techniques. The results confirm that REC have a positive impact on economic growth and NREC has a negative impact on economic growth. A 1% increase in REC and carbon emissions results in an increase in economic growth of 0.108% and 1.085%, respectively. A 1% increase in NREC reduces economic growth by 0.263% in the full sample countries. There are regional differences, although NREC has a positive impact on economic growth in all income groups in the long run. These novel empirical findings will help policymakers design energy policies to fulfill the target of economic growth in BRI countries.

Research on the Individual Income Tax-Deferred Commercial Endowment Insurance from the Perspective of Fairness

In order to alleviate the pressure of the basic endowment insurance system, China has implemented the policy of individual income tax-deferred commercial endowment insurance (IITDCEI) and actively explored the development path of individual supplementary endowment insurance. At present, the same tax rules are adopted for different income groups. Considering that people's income gap is large, different income groups enjoy different degrees of tax preference under this policy, which may cause social injustice and increase the gap between the rich and the poor. Based on this, we propose a new optimization scheme by adjusting the tax rate and the maximum premium limit of the insurance amount so as to coordinate the interests of low-, medium-, and high-income subjects and balance the degree of tax preference among the three subjects. At the same time, we also change the two parameters of the predetermined interest rate and retirement age, and compare the changes of the tax preference under the old and new schemes, and provide corresponding countermeasures for the implementation of the IITDCEI policy.

Impact of High-Speed Rail on Social Equity—Insights from a Stated Preference Survey in Vietnam

This study investigated the impact of high-speed rail (HSR) on social equity, utilizing information from a stated preference survey conducted in Vietnam. Social equity was examined across the population of four cities representing the northern, central, and southern areas of Vietnam. In general, the high price of HSR is one of the barriers to using HSR over inter-city buses and conventional trains. Low-income groups (less than VND 6 million per month) have 4.894 and 4.725 times the likelihoods, compared to higher income groups, of retaining the use of an inter-city bus or conventional train, respectively, after introducing HSR. Our findings reveal the fact that social inequity may occur, with the low-income group being especially vulnerable, due to the existence of HSR in the future. Furthermore, our results indicate that the interest of people towards inter-city buses and conventional trains varied among the four cities before and after the presence of HSR. More specifically, low-income groups in Vinh and Nha Trang were observed to have a higher feeling of staying away from HSR, as they prefer to use inter-city buses. The findings of this study suggest that planners and policymakers need to consider various components of HSR ticket planning, in order to achieve sustainable evolution of the passenger rail system.

An Empirical Analysis of Income Elasticity of Out-of-Pocket Healthcare Expenditure in Mauritius

A free universal healthcare provision exists in Mauritius. Yet the share of out-of-pocket healthcare expenditure out of total household expenditure has been growing over time. This study estimates income elasticity of out-of-pocket healthcare expenditure using Mauritian household data within an Engel curve framework. In the absence of longitudinal data on out-of-pocket healthcare expenditure patterns, the study proposes the application of the pseudo-panel approach using cross-sectional Household Budget Survey waves from 1996/97 to 2017. Income elasticity of out-of-pocket healthcare expenditure is estimated to be 0.938, which is just below unity. This implies that out-of-pocket healthcare demand is not considered to be a luxury, but a necessity in Mauritius. In order to see the differences in income elasticities by income groups, separate regressions are estimated for each income quartile over different years. The results indicate that income elasticities of out-of-pocket healthcare expenditure vary non-monotonically.

Automated Early Prediction of Anomalies Due to Diabetes Using Fundus Images

Diabetes is one of the common diseases in the world that cannot be permanently cured, but with proper medication one can lead a long and healthy life by curbing extreme complications. The skills and equipment required to identify the conditions take a longer time to provide an accurate result and are not an affordable means for all the income groups. In order to overcome this issue, an ML model is created and deployed in an application so it will be used by many in predicting the presence of the disease. The chapter focuses on detecting the presence of two major anomalies, namely diabetic retinopathy (DR) and glaucoma, which were caused due to diabetes. All the dataset used for the project is gathered from Kaggle and Messidor. Around six machine learning algorithms that fall under supervised learning techniques are executed. Among the many models, the random forest model has a high accuracy of 73% for DR prediction. Simultaneously, glaucoma detection is performed using different algorithms showing that Naive Bayes has the highest accuracy of 98%.

Understanding Gender, Income and Travel Behavior in Casablanca City – Morocco

Objective: The purpose of this paper is to extend the research on gendered differences in travel behavior in developing countries by analyzing travel behavior variability within as well as across gender and income groups in the case of Casablanca city. Methods: Data from the 2018 Casablanca Travel Survey show that overall, women are less mobile than men, make fewer work-related trips and more household maintenance trips, but these differences are heterogeneously distributed across income groups. With the increase in income, women tend to carry out more trips than men; the inverse is observed for the middle- and low-income categories. Results: While for the lowest income groups, walking is the most predominant mode for both men and women, we notice that the private car has the highest modal share within the highest income groups as with the increase in household income, both genders avoid non-motorized transport modes. The particular status of women in some households as breadwinners and reproducers as well as the socio-cultural context of the city shape their mobility and the choice of their activities. Conclusion: Hence, these findings suggest, from a policy perspective, that the public transit system along with spatial planning strategies need to be improved to help overcome women's mobility constraints, especially when they belong to low-income households so they can fully access the city amenities and opportunities. On the other hand, transport policies need to be not only gender-sensitive but also “vulnerable groups” sensitive as mobility impediments are similarly experienced by males and females in some contexts.

A Study on the Longitudinal Relation Between Maternal Parenting Stress, Warmth Parenting, and Children’s Aggressive Behavior Using Autoregressive Cross-Lagged Modeling : a Multigroup Analysis Across Income Levels

Objectives: This study aimed to analyze the longitudinal relationship between maternal parenting stress (MPS), warmth parenting (WP), and children’s aggressive behavior (CAB) in early childhood across income levels.Methods: An autoregressive cross-lagged model was used to assess the mothers and children of 723 families from the Panel Study on Korean Children across the sixth (age 5), seventh (age 6), and eighth (age 7) waves, and bootstrapping was conducted to examine the mediation effects. Further, a multigroup analysis was performed to assess the model’s hypothesized relationships for the low-income and middle-income groups. IBM AMOS 23.0 and SPSS Statistics 26 were used to analyze the data.Results: The results are summarized as follows: First, MPS, WP, and CABs remained unchanged over time. Second, MPS had a significantly negative impact on later WP, and WP negatively affected later MPS. Third, prior WP had a significantly negative impact on CAB. Furthermore, the relationship between MPS and CAB was mediated by WP. Lastly, during the study period, the multi-group analysis found no significant differences in the autoregressive cross-lagged model between the two income groups (the low-income and middle-income groups).Conclusion: The findings revealed that MPS reduced WP, which exacerbated CAB. By illustrating the link between MPS, WP, and CAB, it was highlighted that educational interventions for mothers to minimize parenting stress are likely to have a positive influence on children’s aggressive behavior. More implications are also discussed as a result of these findings.

How the Income Elasticity of Meat Consumption differs between social groups? A case of the UK and the Czech Republic

The purpose of the article is to show different consumer behaviour between ten different income levels (deciles) and different countries and to examine the elasticity distance between income deciles in the UK (a high-income country) and the Czech Republic (a low-income country) within the context of meat consumption. The official statistic services provided data in the Czech Republic (Czech Statistical Office, 2020) and the UK (Office for National Statistics, 2020). Data on the Czech Republic come from the household budget surveys (HBS). In contrast, corresponding data on UK consumers was drawn from the Living Costs and Food survey, which succeeded the National food survey and household expenditure survey. Both sets of data were set according to households’ structure from the EU-SILC Survey (national module of the European Union – Statistics on Income and Living Conditions). To estimate the income elasticity of meat in the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom in different consumer income groups, a time series cointegration analysis was applied to analyse the annual data for 2000-2017. The Törnquist equation and the difference between income elasticity in monetary and natural expression show saturation and preference of high quality meat in the higher-income consumers in the UK than the same groups in the Czech Republic and overall increasing demand for quality in other income groups. The results support the theory of nutrition transitions. The value of the research is that it would enable the exploration of the potential impact and nature of fiscal interventions for improving diets whilst enabling food producers to forecast meat consumption within the different customer segments.

Financial globalization and income inequality nexus: panel quantile regression approach

PurposeThe general purpose of the paper is to examine the effect of financial globalization on income inequality. The specific purposes are: 1) To examine the effect of overall financial globalization on income inequality. 2) To analyze whether de facto and de jure financial globalization have differential effects on income inequality. 3) To scrutinize whether the effect of financial globalization on income inequality varies across countries of different income groups and quantiles of income inequality.Design/methodology/approachThe authors employed panel quantile regression using 73 countries over 2000–2016 to examine the effect of financial globalization on income inequality. The authors employed fixed effect and panel quantile regressions and classified the countries into income groups to compare differential effects of financial globalization across different income groups. Further, the authors unbundled financial globalization into de facto and de jure financial globalizations to investigate whether their effects on income inequality vary.FindingsOverall financial globalization raises income inequality more at lower quantiles of inequality. De jure financial globalization reduces income inequality in high-income countries. In high-income countries, de jure financial globalization has more favorable income distribution at lower quantiles of inequality. In contrast, de facto financial globalization raises inequality regardless of income classification of the countries.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, the authors for the first time employed panel quantile regression to analyze whether financial globalization affects income inequality across different quantiles. In addition to de facto globalization, the authors used the newly developed de jure financial globalization index to examine its impact on income inequality. The de jure dimension is largely neglected in the literature. The authors provide empirical evidence on how the different dimensions of financial globalization, de facto and de jure, impact inequality in high-income, middle-income and low-income countries.