Inequality is a charged topic. Measures of income inequality rose in the USA in the 1990s to levels not seen since 1929 and gave rise to a suspicion, not for the first time, of a link between radical ...inequality and financial instability with a resulting crisis under capitalism. Professional macroeconomists have generally taken little interest in inequality because, within the parameters of traditional economic theory, the economy will stabilize itself at full employment. In addition, enlightened economists could enact stabilizing measures to manage any imbalances. The dominant voices among academic economists were unable to interpret the causal forces at work during both the Great Depression and the recent global financial crisis. In Inequality and Instability, James K. Galbraith argues that since there has been no serious work done on the macroeconomic effects of inequality, new sources of evidence are required. Galbraith offers for the first time a vast expansion of the capacity to calculate measures of inequality both at lower and higher levels of aggregation. Instead of measuring inequality as traditionally done, by country, Galbraith insists that to understand real differences that have real effects, inequality must be examined through both smaller and larger administrative units, like sub-national levels within and between states and provinces, multinational continental economies, and the world. He points out that inequality could be captured by measures across administrative boundaries to capture data on more specific groups to which people belong. For example, in China, economic inequality reflects the difference in average income levels between city and countryside, or between coastal regions and the interior, and a simple ratio averages would be an indicator of trends in inequality over the country as a whole. In a comprehensive presentation of this new method of using data, Inequality and Instability offers an unequaled look at the US economy and various global economies that was not accessible to us before. This provides a more sophisticated and a more accurate picture of inequality around the world, and how inequality is one of the most basic sources of economic instability.
This editorial illuminates the evidence of how human and social rights and diversity gains at work are under attack in the aftermath of the global economic crisis and in times of austerity. We ...provide a brief overview of the six articles in this issue, which draw upon a wide range of theories and engage with different, but in many ways connected, issues pertinent to human and social right, diversity and equality in the light of the economic crisis and austerity. The editorial concludes discussing a number of dilemmas and problematic issues that remain despite the increased scholarly attention to the threat to human and social rights and diversity gains at work in current times. Lastly, we offer recommendations to how diversity advocates can develop new approaches and strategies in order to resist the current threat to the diversity agenda internationally.
This paper explores the genesis and growth of the current Chinese wireless network infrastructures by pulling together the historical threads of two telecommunications infrastructures: first, the ...development of the first-tier inter-provincial optical backbone, the “Eight Vertical and Eight Horizontal Fibre-optic Grid,” in the late 1980s and 1990s; and second, the deployment of two broadband-access cellular networks, the third-generation (3G) cellular networks in 2008 and the fourth-generation (4G) networks from 2013 to now, which constitute the wireless network's edges. I insert the development of Chinese wireless networks since the 1980s into the interconnected global technological environment, contextualizing the infrastructure deployment in the history of Sino-American technological cooperation and competition, traversing the final decade of the Cold War era (the 1980s), the dual global expansion of economic neoliberalism and informational technology since the 1990s and the crisis of global capitalism since 2008. This historical inquiry reconciles two historical (meta-)narratives that are not always compatible with each other – the Chinese narratives grounded on the overarching concept of Chinese post-socialism, and the narratives in Western discourses that often evoke Cold War/post-Cold War dialectics. This paper examines the global distribution of wireless network infrastructures on the basis of commercialization, technology transfers and trades of techno-commodities across borders, challenging the reduced depiction of the Chinese wireless network as an extension, or an exception, to the West-centred techno-capitalist system.
We examine the impact of the global financial crisis (GFC) on auditor behaviour in Australia. Using a sample of listed companies, we examine whether the GFC impacted the propensity of auditors to ...issue going concern modifications and increased audit effort as reflected in audit fees and audit reporting lag. Controlling for client characteristics, we find an increase in the propensity to issue going concern opinions during the period 2008–2009 compared with the period 2005–2007 and that Big N auditors responded to the GFC earlier than non‐Big N auditors. In relation to audit effort, we find evidence of increased audit fees during the period 2008–2009 compared with the period 2005–2007. There is, however, no evidence of increased audit reporting lags during the GFC.
Research background:
The global economy has gone through two major crises since the beginning of the millennium. The first broke out in 2008. The cause was the crisis in the financial markets in the ...United States. This crisis eventually spread around the world, causing many economies to decline. It remained not only in the financial markets, but also spilled over into other sectors of the affected economies. We are experiencing the second major crisis these days (2020). However, this crisis has a completely different origin. It is a crisis caused by a new type of viral disease.
The purpose of the article:
Purpose is to compare the measures taken to mitigate the effects of the 2008 crisis with those used in 2020. The article is not just a simple list of individual measures, but a comparison of the time horizon in which it came and to whom it was targeted. The analyzed economy is the Czech Republic and its economic policy.
Methods:
The article uses the method of analysis and statistical analysis, which is based on data from the CNB, the Ministry of Finance of the CR and the Czech Statistical Office. Data from the CVVM Public Opinion Research Center were used to illustrate the situation.
Findings & Value added:
Monetary and fiscal policy have relatively limited options in terms of the number of instruments they can use to combat the crisis. However, a difference can be observed in the response of economic policy makers to the 2008 and 2020 crises.
Little is known about the impact of the 2008 global economic recession on childhood obesity in Portugal. Thus, this study's goals were to compare weight status of children during and after the ...economic crisis according to their neighbourhood environment features and to assess changes in specific dietary habits during the economic crisis.
Cross-sectional study.
Data including weight, height, residence address to allow its geocoding and dietary habits changes during the crisis from children living in Lisbon municipality were collected in 2009 (N = 929) and in 2016 (N = 1751). A multidimensional environment index, with data of both built and socioeconomic nature collected at the statistical section level (areas comprised 300 dwellers) in the 2011 census, was used to characterize neighbourhoods.
Overall, the proportion of children who are overweight or obese living in the socioeconomically vulnerable areas decreased in 2016. Families living in the latter areas stopped buying some food items, started to buy cheaper food items, cooked more meals at home and ate less in restaurants. In 2016, the risk for overweight and obesity increased in children who lived in the least advantageous areas. Living in areas with high socioeconomic status or most advantageous areas no longer represented a decreased risk of being overweight or obese in children in 2016 as it did in 2009.
This study suggests that the economic crisis enhanced the social inequalities regarding childhood obesity. These results aid the development of evidence-based strategies to lessen the social inequities in health outcomes created by the crisis.
The world is currently experiencing multiple economic crises due to the COVID-19 pandemic, war in Ukraine, and inflation surge, which disproportionately affect children, especially in low- and ...middle-income countries (LMICs). We evaluated if the expansion of Social Assistance, represented by Social Pensions (SP) and Conditional Cash Transfers (CCT), could reduce infant and child mortality, and mitigate excess deaths among children in Brazil, one of the LMICs most affected by these economic crises.
We conducted a retrospective impact evaluation in a cohort of Brazilian municipalities from 2004 to 2019 using multivariable fixed-effects negative binomial models, adjusted for relevant demographic, social, and economic factors, to estimate the effects of the SP and CCT on infant and child mortality. To verify the robustness of the results, we conducted several sensitivity and triangulation analyses, including difference-in-difference with propensity-score matching. These results were incorporated into dynamic microsimulation models to generate projections to 2030 of various economic crises and Social Assistance scenarios.
Consolidated coverage of SP was associated with significant reductions in infant and child mortality rates, with a rate ratio (RR) of 0·843 (95%CI:0·826-0·861) and 0·840 (95%CI:0·824-0·856), respectively. Similarly, CCT consolidated coverages showed RRs of 0·868 (95%CI:0·842-0·849) and 0·874 (95%CI:0·850-0·899) for infant and child mortality, respectively. The higher the degree of poverty in the municipalities, the stronger the impact of CCT on reducing child mortality. Given the current economic crisis, a mitigation strategy that will increase the coverage of SP and CCT could avert 148,736 (95%CI:127,148-170,706) child deaths up to 2030, compared with fiscal austerity measures.
Social Pensions and Conditional Cash Transfers programs could strongly reduce child mortality in LMICs, and their expansion should be considered as an effective strategy to mitigate the impact of the current multiple global economic crises.
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Grant Number:INV-027961. Medical Research Council (MRC-UKRI), Grant Number:MC_PC_MR/T023678/1.
Covid-19 has exposed and deepened global inequalities: rich countries spent aggressively to sustain their economies and secured early vaccine access while most of the developing world continues to ...endure a growing disease burden. It also underlined the extent of inter-dependence and weaknesses in some of our international institutions and rules, many of which were established in the now discredited era of neo-liberalism. There is a rich, complex, and difficult agenda going forward for international cooperation. This includes aiding developing countries in restructuring their debt obligations, and guaranteeing that multi-national corporations pay their fair share with a robust international tax regime, better trade and intellectual property regimes, and better global regulatory frameworks for competition and social media. The failures of the past rules have led to political opposition to globalization. The only sustainable and inclusive path out of this pandemic is through cooperation and a re-imagining of globalization.
PDF
