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Does relation between energy and economic growth hold for all Indian states? Empirical analysis using Hurlin-Venet process
No full textElectricity consumption is often regarded as a precondition for economic growth and any bottleneck in its production can severely hurt the growth prospects of an economy more specifically a developing one. Representing a strong case of its value, the causal relationship between energy consumption and economic growth is addressed by extending the Granger causality framework in a heterogeneous panel setup. Exclusively four different causal behaviours are examined: Homogeneous Non-Causality (HNC), Homogeneous Causality (HC), Heterogeneous Non-Causality (HENC), and Heterogeneous Causality (HEC). Both HNC and HC hypotheses are rejected in the causality direction from Economic growth to energy consumption thereby suggesting that the panel of Indian states is not homogeneous. Following this heterogeneous causality tests (HENC and HEC) are conducted for each Indian state to check the hypothesis of causality from economic growth to energy. For 8 out of 17 Indian states strong unidirectional causality is found while for 6 other states, there is no evidence of any causality in the stated direction. The remaining 3 states show weak evidence of causality. Thus, the results are suggestive of the fact that the central government cannot dictate policies at the state level rather state needs to frame regional policies in line with the situation that suits
Autismo e deficiência: A avaliação biopsicossocial é necessária?
No full textIn Brazil, Law no 12.764/2012 recognized Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) as a disability for all legal purposes. This recognition, coupled with the significant increase in diagnoses, directly impacts the formulation and implementation of public policies. The growth of the population considered to have disabilities puts pressure on the review of access criteria for benefits, especially non-contributory ones, such as the Continuous Cash Benefit (BPC), requiring a delicate balance between expanding coverage and maintaining fiscal sustainability. In this context, Theme 376 of the National Uniformization Panel (TNU) addresses a crucial issue: is the diagnosis of ASD alone sufficient to characterize the disability, thereby dispensing with the biopsychosocial evaluation? The TNU's decision has implications that go beyond access to the BPC, as it could redefine the legal interpretation of disability in the country and influence future regulations. An international comparative analysis reveals that in countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Chile, Argentina, and Spain, the diagnosis of ASD alone does not automatically guarantee access to benefits. In these countries, a detailed evaluation is required to demonstrate the functional impact on the individual's daily life. Dispensing with the biopsychosocial evaluation based solely on the diagnosis - whether of ASD or other conditions - could undermine the interactional model of disability adopted by Brazil and international treaties. This approach may create inequalities between different groups of people with disabilities, negatively impacting inclusion and equitable access to rights and benefits
Analyzing the impact of irrigation on dietary diversity: a comparison between farmer-led and public irrigation in Kenya
No full textIrrigation is often celebrated as a means of intensifying agricultural production and improving food and nutrition security. In the context of semi-subsistence smallholder agriculture irrigation can have a positive impact on dietary diversity through various pathways. However, studies on the linkages between irrigation and rural household nutrition show mixed results. This study argues that irrigation is not a simple agricultural input factor but is embedded in socio-technical conditions. It compares two different irrigation arrangements to understand how irrigation can contribute to transforming local food systems through different pathways. The impact of irrigation on dietary diversity and the potential impact pathways (agricultural income, production diversity and women’s empowerment) are analyzed using a propensity score matching (PSM) approach. The analysis is repeated for subsets of farmer-led and public irrigation to explore how different irrigation arrangements lead to different outcomes. The results show that both farmer-led and public irrigation have a positive impact on agricultural income and dietary diversity. The positive effect on dietary diversity was stronger in farmer-led irrigation while the income effect was stronger in public irrigation arrangement. However, the positive impact on dietary diversity appears to be dampened by a reduction in production diversity, particularly in the case of public irrigation. This study highlights that irrigation development may lead to a more diverse diet, strengthen the income pathway but weaken the production diversity pathway with the extent of this effect depending on the irrigation arrangement. Therefore, policy makers should be aware of this trade-off and seek to support irrigation that allows increased production for urban markets without compromising the dietary intake of rural households
Firms' Investment and Capacity Utilisation: The Role of Financial Constraints and Uncertainty
No full textThis paper studies the role of capacity utilisation in explaining investment behaviour in Italian SMEs and large firms. We propose a framework in which firms with high capacity utilisation are more likely to invest in maintaining a buffer against future shocks. Using firm-level data from the Bank of Italy's Survey of Industrial and Service Firms (2002–2024), we empirically examine how deviations from a sector-specific target capacity utilisation influence investment decisions, accounting for the roles of uncertainty and financial constraints. Our findings reveal that Italian firms with high growth potential- those at the so-called "growth window" (Coad et al., 2021)- are more likely to invest. This result is primarily driven by large firms, while SMEs do not seem to respond strongly to the presence in such growth windows. Furthermore, we find that uncertainty does not deter investment among firms operating at high capacity, but instead stimulates investment in firms with low capacity utilisation. These insights have significant implications for industrial policy that targets support to firms at critical decision points in their growth trajectory
The End of Globalized Production? Supply-Chain Resilience, Technological Sovereignty, and Enduring Global Interdependencies in the Post-Pandemic Era
No full textThis article assesses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and geopolitics on geographies of production. Criticizing simplified perspectives on globalized versus intraregional production, we stress the multi-scalarity, the role of industrial policies and sector-specific path dependencies in shaping global production. Based on expert interviews and policy and industry documents, our analysis focuses on the automotive, clothing, and electronics industries. Although concerns for resilience increasingly shape lead firms’ strategies, increased regionalization of production through re- or near-shoring is only one of several strategies. Where it does occur, it has been driven by state policies that tackle certain strategically important products, not production networks as a whole. Hence, while recent events exposed the vulnerabilities of global production, we do not observe deglobalization in the sense of a comprehensive retreat from globalized in favor of intraregional production. Nonetheless, state interventions that are geopolitically motivated and affect firms’ investment decisions have intensified particularly in the United States and the European Union
Resilienz steigern, Krisen vorbeugen: Die Rolle der laufenden Raumbeobachtung in Grenzregionen
No full textDie letzten Jahre wurden von zahlreichen Krisen geprägt (Coronakrise, russischer Angriffskrieg und damit verbundene Gaskrise, Inflationskrise), die unterschiedliche räumliche Wirkungen hatten. Für Akteure der Stadt- und Regionalentwicklung stellt sich immer häufiger die Frage nach der territorialen Resilienz. Der Begriff der Resilienz bezeichnet die Anpassungsfähigkeit eines ökologischen oder sozialen Systems (IPCC 2023). Das Konzept der Resilienz wird mittlerweile im gesamten räumlichen Kontext angewandt. Dabei ist für Grenzregionen der Aufbau der Resilienz mit besonderen Schwierigkeiten verbunden, denn sie werden von der nationalen Politik noch oft als periphere Regionen innerhalb der nationalen Grenzen wahrgenommen und nicht als einzelne "Systeme" mit intensiven Verflechtungen. Doch diese grenzüberschreitenden Verflechtungssysteme zu identifizieren, ist eine Herausforderung. Wie können grenzüberschreitende Verflechtungsräume definiert werden? Welche Rolle kann Raumbeobachtung für die Stärkung der Resilienz in Grenzregionen spielen? Im Kontext des deutsch-französischen Grenzraums und am Beispiel der Verflechtungen des Arbeitsmarkts wird in diesem Beitrag die Bedeutung eines detaillierten Raumverständnisses für die Resilienz diskutiert und es werden Ansätze für eine Verbesserung der Datengrundlage geliefert.The last few years have been characterised by numerous crises (corona crisis, Russian war of aggression and the associated gas crisis, inflation crisis), which have had different spatial effects. For urban and regional development stakeholders, the question of territorial resilience is becoming increasingly important. The term resilience refers to the adaptability of an ecological or social system (IPCC 2023). The concept of resilience is now being applied to the entire spatial context. Building resilience is particularly difficult for border regions, as they are still often perceived by national policymakers as peripheral regions within national borders and not as individual "systems" with intensive interdependencies. However, identifying these cross-border interdependency systems is a challenge. How can cross-border living areas be defined? What role can spatial monitoring play in strengthening resilience in border regions? In the context of the Franco-German border region and using the example of labour market interdependencies, this article discusses the importance of a detailed spatial understanding for resilience and provides approaches for improving the data basis
From purchases to exit: central bank interventions in corporate debt markets
No full textCentral banks increasingly act as market-makers-of-last-resort, yet the impact and exit of such interventions remain poorly understood. Using euro-area data, we analyze the cycle of market freeze, intervention, and exit in short-term debt markets. A run on money market funds (MMFs) triggered a collapse in these markets in March 2020. Firms replaced only 27% of lost funding through credit lines. The European Central Bank intervened, fully replacing MMFs for some firms and allowing them to issue more debt at lower rates and longer maturities. After the ECB's exit, more-exposed firms faced higher yields (+20.2 bps), reduced MMF investments, and fewer new relationships. Credit line take-up did not materially change post-exit
Growth and inequality linkages of the Mexican states in the new century: A panel data approach with spatially lagged variables
No full textThe direction of the relationship between economic growth and income (social) inequality remains an open area of research, with theoretical models suggesting the possibility of positive or negative covariations. This study contributes to the debate by examining the case of Mexico, a country characterized by significant income disparities. Our analysis introduces several innovations. First, we adopt a regional approach with data at the level of states, which provides a more suitable framework for comparison in regard to cross-country studies. Second, we employ three distinct measures of income inequality - the Palma ratio (P90/40), the P90/50 ratio, and the Gini index - offering a more comprehensive perspective in terms of income distribution deciles. Additionally, we incorporate a panel data approach that accounts for spatial neighborhood effects in inequality influencing growth. Our findings reveal a strong significant positive covariation between inequality and growth: periods of rising inequality coincide with accelerated economic growth, whereas periods of declining inequality align with growth slowdowns. Interestingly, the model is able to capture both positive and negative covariations for groups of states along the period of analysis, 2005-2019, highlighting the importance of considering regional heterogeneity when running national-level investigations. The effects of spatial inequality clusters on growth seem to be important too, affecting both northern and southern states. These results suggest that Mexico's growth model appears structurally unequal, which can help to explain the persistent inequality situation shown by the country in the last decades
Ranking our future: University students' prioritization of Sustainable Development Goals and their connection to nature
No full textUniversities are important places to promote the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), because today's students are tomorrow's professionals, who may make important decisions that will impact sustainable development. Given the need for future collaboration across disciplines to achieve the SDGs, we analyzed if there are differences between study programs in how important they perceive each SDG to be and, with a focus on environmental sustainability, how connected they are to nature. An online questionnaire was used to survey students from 18 different programs ( n = 1920). We found that: (1) there were significant differences in connection to nature between programs, as well as in how important they rated each SDG, except SDG2; (2) while individual SDGs were more important to some programs than others, there was a general consensus among university students in Germany about which goals are more important to them: SDG2 and SDG6 were perceived as particularly important, in contrast to SDG8, SDG9, SDG10, and SDG17; (3) SDG15 correlated with connection to nature, therefore strengthening students' connection to nature through environmental education could be an effective way to help achieve SDG15; (4) as students generally gave medium to high importance to the ideas of the SDGs, universities should be encouraged to use this as a gateway to increase education on sustainable development and integrate it into all programs
Der Einfluss unterschiedlicher Führungsstile auf die psychologische Sicherheit in Teams
No full textToday's professionals are impacted by rapidly changing conditions, making teamwork increasingly important. As a result, psychological safety in teams is becoming more relevant, as it leads to higher performance, successful collaboration, innovation, mutual support and appreciation. The behavior of a team's leader has an impact on the team and its individual members, on the professional environment and on satisfaction. They can create trust and security or weaken or even destroy these through their leadership behavior. The aim of this study is therefore to investigate the influence of transformational, transactional, laissez-faire and authoritarian leadership styles on psychological safety using a quantitative online survey and to find out which characteristics have a promoting or inhibiting effect. The results show that transformational and transactional leadership styles have positive effects, while laissez-faire and authoritarian leadership styles have negative effects. Support and individual encouragement show strong positive effects, but transparent communication and the involvement of team members are also essential. Managers, on the other hand, should reduce control and supervision as much as possible. If managers avoid responsibility and decision-making, this also has an inhibiting effect on psychological safety in teams. This results in a large number of actions like support and transparent communication being recommendations for managers