This study aims to determine the effectiveness of Kazakhstan’s public policy during the pandemic related to healthcare, education, and the financial situation of the population by assessing the ...population’s quality of life (QoL). The study proceeded from the assumption that the effectiveness of state measures can be assessed through the manifestation of citizens’ reaction to the ongoing public policy, i.e., satisfaction with its results. The source base was the Bureau of National Statistics and the Adilet information and legal base covering 2020–2021. During the pandemic, the population’s satisfaction with their material provision, health, education, and living conditions decreased but not critically. The population’s QoL in Kazakhstan is satisfactory. Satisfaction among rural residents with their life (70.7%) and conditions (63.7%) is higher than among urban residents (56.1% and 49.8%, respectively). One-third of the population reported improved well-being and only 6.5% reported a deterioration. The high number of citizens satisfied with their QoL indicates the effectiveness of Kazakhstani public policy. It is the result not only of the implementation of temporary anti-crisis measures of government through program, organizational, and economic mechanisms during the pandemic but systematic work on modernization of the social, medical, and educational systems from 2019. The practical value of the study is the development of recommendations for the development of public policy in the field of improving QoL and the development of anti-crisis management in Kazakhstan.
AcknowledgmentsThis study is supported by the Science Committee of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan (targeted funding program BR10965247 “Study of factors, features and dynamics of demographic processes, migration, urbanization in Kazakhstan, development of digital maps and forecasts”).
When manufacturing firms venture into services, they often do so either in reaction to deteriorating performance or to further enhance their financial position. While extant literature argues that ...firms are most likely to succeed with strategic change processes out of a healthy position, the majority of manufacturers have started their service maneuver in reaction to deteriorating performance. To date, no empirical studies examine whether a healthy financial situation is a necessary requirement for successful service transition. Drawing on configuration theory and employing qualitative comparative analysis, the present study demonstrates that an increasing focus on services can lead to success for both types of firms. However, depending on their financial situation, firms should tap different resource and knowledge sources to implement the service transition: Whereas healthy companies should focus on customers as a knowledge source, companies in an inferior financial situation need strong links with suppliers to turn their services transition into financial success.
In this paper, we study the relationship between economic uncertainty, households’ credit situations, and educational outcomes. Using the System Generalized Methods of Moments (SYS-GMM) on ...educational and economic data from the World Bank and IMF, we find that economic uncertainty and households’ access to credit have positive impacts on higher education. Further analyses suggest that economic uncertainty and households’ access to credit have heterogeneous effects on educational outcomes at the tertiary level, by gender and development status. Specifically, we find that economic uncertainties expand enrollments in developed countries and contract them in developing economies. In addition, access to credit has a more pronounced positive impact on educational outcomes in developing nations compared to developed ones. Furthermore, our analysis indicates that household credit coupled with economic uncertainty decreases women’s educational outcomes in higher education, posing a serious threat to gender equality in higher education. Lastly, we find that monetary policy appears to play a role in these results. These findings remain robust to alternative proxies of economic uncertainty and approach such as the Instrumental Variable (IV) regression method, which uses a political database on government changes and ideological gaps between cabinets as instruments. In general, the findings emphasize the enduring influence of economic uncertainties, typically associated with business cycles, on long-term aspects such as education.
•The COVID-19 crisis created an unusual negative environment for companies, with a strong decrease of sales.•With a huge database, we analyze the companies’ financial situation after the first year ...of the pandemic, compared to previous years.•Italian government incentives helped to alleviate the effect of the crisis on companies’ employment, profitability, etc.•This support for the companies that took advantage of these benefits was not enough to maintain the same financial health as firms that did not need this support.•Small companies’ growth was that most affected by the COVID-19 crisis.
This paper aims to respond to this research question: “How effective have government incentives been in preserving firm profitability and growth during the COVID-19 crisis?”. We used a large, representative sample of Italian companies, which has produced a deeper study than the macro analyses provided by national statistics. Results shows that government policies alleviated the negative effects of the pandemic on troubled companies, but it was not enough to maintain the same financial health as firms that did not need this support. Small companies were the most adversely affected by the pandemic.
Purpose: The present teaching case intend to encourage the discussion of company valuation techniques and their contributions to choices regarding stock investment. Through the teaching case, ...students will be able to apply valuation techniques and discuss the assumptions that are fundamental to the applicability of valuation methods.
Methodology: The methodology of the aforementioned case is quantitative, since, based on valuation models, the students will assess and analyze the data of the company to apply the best assessment technique of Finance Theory. Through valuation, students will be able to find different results given the assumptions determined for the analysis of the company.
Results: Based on the data, it is possible to make inferences and financial projections of the analyzed company and discuss the use of the best technique, as well as the feasibility of investing (or not) in the company.
Contributions: It is expected that the aforementioned teaching case will be an instrument for the applicability of valuation techniques in other companies and complement teaching in graduate and postgraduate courses in related disciplines to Finance and capital markets.
Previous findings suggest that university students are at an elevated risk to experience financial hardship and to suffer from depressive symptoms. This vulnerability may have substantially increased ...during the coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) pandemic which might have affected students' socio-economic situation but possibly also their mental well-being. We examined whether the financial situation changed during the COVID-19 pandemic among German university students, and whether changes were associated with mental well-being.
We conducted a cross-sectional online survey in May and July 2020 at five German universities. Participants were asked, if they had sufficient financial resources to cover monthly expenses before and during the pandemic. The answer options were dichotomized into worsened and no change/better financial situation compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the CES-D 8 scale. For examining associations between sociodemographic, study-related, and financial factors and "worsened financial situation," we ran a generalized linear mixed model. To assess associations between depressive symptoms and worsened financial situation, we performed a linear mixed model.
We included 7,199 participants in the analyses (69% female, 30% male, 1% diverse, mean age: 24 years, standard deviation: 4.7). Overall, 25% of the participants reported to have a worsened financial situation at the time of the survey than in the time before COVID-19. Factors associated with a worsened financial situation were migration background, parents not being academics, not being able to borrow money, and payment of tuition fee by student and loan odds ratios (OR) ranging from 1.20 to 2.35. Factors associated with lower odds were: being single, living with others, studying a health-related field, being enrolled in a doctoral/Ph.D. or state exam program, and publicly funded tuition/tuition paid with a scholarship (OR ranging from 0.42 to 0.80). A worsened financial situation was associated with 1.02 points more on the CES-D 8 scale (95% CI: 0.80-1.24).
Our results suggest that the pandemic put a number of students under financial strain with detrimental consequences for their mental well-being. Renewed attention must be paid to this vulnerable group to prevent the potentially damaging effects on their mental health.
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