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This study aims at examining the value relevance of tax-related information in Canada. Tax-related information in this study includes taxable income, tax aggressiveness, and tax risk (i.e., unsustainable tax planning).

This study analyzes the Canadian listed firms covering the period of 2012–2021 using the Feltham–Ohlson valuation model.

The findings are: (1) taxable income provides incremental value relevance information; (2) tax risk reduces the value relevance of both taxable income and accounting income and (3) tax aggressiveness reduces the value relevance of accounting income but not of taxable income. Further tests show that the COVID-19 pandemic increases the value relevance of taxable income but decreases the value relevance of accounting income. An analysis of the association between stock price volatility and tax-related information documents that taxable income and accounting income are both informative. Tax risk reduces the informativeness of taxable income, but tax aggressiveness and the pandemic do not.

The sample in this study covers the period up to 2021. Future research could use more recent data. Additionally, this study examines the Canadian setting. The results may not be generalized to other countries that have different accounting and tax rules.

This study sheds light on whether tax aggressiveness and tax risk affect the value relevance of taxable income and accounting income separately. In addition, to our knowledge, this is the first study that examines whether tax-related information is informative about stock price volatility.

This study aims to revisit the empirical debate about the asymmetric relationship between oil prices, energy consumption, CO₂ emissions and economic growth in a panel of 184 countries from 1981 to 2020.

A relatively new research method, the PVAR system GMM, is applied.

The outcome of the PVAR system GMM model at the group level in the study suggests that oil prices exert a positive but statistically insignificant effect on economic growth. Energy consumption is inversely related to economic growth but statistically significant, and the correlation between CO₂ emissions and economic growth is negative but statistically insignificant. The Granger causality test indicates that oil prices, CO₂ emissions, oil rents, energy consumption and savings jointly Granger-cause economic growth. A unidirectional causality runs from energy consumption, savings and economic growth to oil prices. At countries’ income grouping levels, oil prices, oil rent, CO₂ emissions, energy consumption and savings jointly Granger-cause economic growth for the high-income and upper-middle-income countries groups only, while those variables did not jointly Granger-cause economic growth for the low-income and lower-middle-income countries groups. The modulus emanating from the eigenvalue stability condition with the roots of the companion matrix indicates that the model is stable. The results support the asymmetric impacts of oil prices on economic growth and aid policy formulation, particularly the cross-country disparities regarding the nexus between oil prices and growth.

From a methodological perspective, to the best of the author’s knowledge, the study is the first attempt to use the PVAR system GMM and such a large sample group of 184 economies in the post-COVID-19 era to examine the impacts of oil prices on countries’ growth while controlling for other crucial variables, which is noteworthy. Two, using the World Bank categorisation of countries according to income groups, the study adds another layer of contribution to the literature by decomposing the 184 sample economies into four income groups: high-income, low-income, upper-middle-income and lower-middle-income groups to investigate the potential for asymmetric effects of oil prices on growth, the first of its kind in the post-COVID-19 period.

The Covid-19 pandemic appears to have engendered heterogeneous effects on individuals’ labour market prospects. This paper focuses on two possible sources of a heterogeneous exposition to labour market risks associated with the pandemic outbreak: the routine task content of the job and the teleworkability. To evaluate whether these dimensions played a crucial role in amplifying employment and wage gaps among workers, we focus on the case of Italy, the first EU country hit by Covid-19.

Investigating the actual effect of the pandemic on workers employed in jobs with a different degree of teleworkability and routinization, using real microdata, is currently unfeasible. This is because longitudinal datasets collecting annual earnings and the detailed information about occupations needed to capture a job’s routine task content and teleworkability are not presently available. To simulate changes in the wage distribution for the year 2020, we have employed a static microsimulation model. This model is built on data from the Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (IT-SILC) survey, which has been enriched with administrative data and aligned with monthly observed labour market dynamics by industries and regions.

We measure the degree of job teleworkability and routinization with the teleworkability index (TWA) built by Sostero et al. (2020) and the routine-task-intensity index (RTI) developed by Cirillo et al. (2021), respectively. We find that RTI and TWA are negatively and positively associated with wages, respectively, and they are correlated with higher (respectively lower) risks of a large labour income drop due to the pandemic. Our evidence suggests that labour market risks related to the pandemic – and the associated new types of earnings inequality that may derive – are shaped by various factors (including TWA and RTI) instead of by a single dimension. However, differences in income drop risks for workers in jobs with varying degrees of teleworkability and routinization largely reduce when income support measures are considered, thus suggesting that the redistributive effect of the emergency measures implemented by the Italian government was rather effective.

No studies have so far investigated the effect of the pandemic on workers employed in jobs with a different degree of routinization and teleworkability in Italy. We thus investigate whether income drop risks in Italy in 2020 – before and after income support measures – differed among workers whose jobs are characterized by a different degree of RTI and TWA.

This study aims to identify research trends and technological evolution in the polymer three-dimensional (3D) printing process that can effectively identify the direction of technological advancement and progress of acceptance in both society and key manufacturing industries.

The Scopus database was used to collect data on polymer 3D printing papers. This study uses bibliometric approach along with network analytic techniques to identify and discuss the most important countries and their scientific collaboration, compares income groups and analyses keyword trends.

It was found that top research production results from heavy investments in research and development. The USA has the highest number of papers among the high-income countries. However, scientific production in the other two income groups is strongly dominated by China and India. Keyword analysis shows that countries with lower incomes in certain areas, such as composite and bioprinting, have fallen behind other groups over time. International collaborations were suggested as mechanisms for those countries to catch up with the current research trends. The evolution of the research field, which started with a focus on 3D printing processes and shifted to printed part designs and their applications, was discussed. The advancement of the research topic suggests that translational research on polymer 3D printing has been led mainly by research production from higher-income countries and countries with large research and development investments.

Previous studies have conducted performance analysis, science mapping and network analysis in the field of 3D printing, but none have focused on global research trends classified by country income. This study has conducted a bibliometric analysis and compared the outputs according to various income levels according to the World Bank classification.

Financial inclusion and digital finance go side by side and help enhance agricultural activities; however, the magnitude of digital financial services varies across countries. In line with this argument, this study aims to examine whether financial inclusion enhances agricultural participation and decompose the significance of the difference in determinants of agricultural participation between financially included – not financially included households and digital finance – no digital finance households.

This study uses Pakistan’s household integrated economic survey 2018/19 to test hypotheses. The logit model is used to examine the effect of financial inclusion on agriculture participation. Moreover, this study employs a nonlinear Fairlie Oaxaca Blinder technique to investigate the difference in determinants of agricultural participation.

This study reports that financial inclusion positively influences agricultural participation, meaning households may have access to financial services and participate in agricultural activities. The results suggest that the likelihood of participating in agriculture in households with mobiles and smartphones is higher. Moreover, household size, income, age, gender, education, urban, remittances from abroad, fertilizer, pesticides, wheat, cotton, sugarcane, fruits and vegetables are the significant determinants of agricultural participation. To distinguish the financially included – not financially included households’ gap, this study employs a nonlinear Fairlie Oaxaca Blinder decomposition and finds that differences in fertilizer explain the substantial gap in agricultural participation. Likewise, this study tests the digital finance – no digital finance gap and finds that the difference in fertilizer is a significant contributor, describing a considerable gap in agricultural participation.

Empirically identified that various factors cause agricultural participation including financial inclusion and digital finance. Regarding the research limitation, this study only considers a developing country to analyze the findings. However, for future research, scholars may consider some other countries to compare the results and identify their differences.

The accessibility of fertilizer can reduce the agricultural participation gap. However, increased income level, education and cotton and sugar production can also overcome the differences in agriculture participation between digital finance and no digital finance households.

This is the first study to decompose the difference in determinants of agricultural participation between financially and not financially included households.

This paper aims to propose a new housing finance mechanism through gold price as an alternative to interest rate in Islamic home financing, especially on Bai’Bithaman Ajil (BBA) contract.

This study using simulation approach to calculate the monthly installments for home financing using gold price references. In simple terms, propose a financing formula in the BBA contract by converting the selling price of the house to the gold price, and then the monthly installments also follow the actual gold price. The authors provide an example by simulating this formula using historical data and cases of housing financing at Indonesian Islamic banks. The authors compare housing financing models based on gold prices and interest rates. Finally, The authors can compare the two housing financing models that are affordable for low-income people.

The results show that in the initial period, monthly installments of BBA based on gold price were lower than home financing based on interest rate. This result makes it possible for low-income people who cannot access financing based on interest rates to access financing based on gold price. However, the total installments of financing based on gold prices are higher than the financing model based on interest rates.

The paper confines one contract, namely, BBA, as it is claimed to be more Shariah-compliant than others.

These findings suggest an alternative model for Islamic banks and regulatory authorities in Indonesia to replace the interest rate reference with the gold price in BBA contract housing financing. This model can offer competitive advantages for Islamic banks, including lower initial installments and inflation-protected profits, serving as a means of differentiating them from conventional banks.

Gold price-based housing financing model in Islamic banks will increase the affordability of housing financing for low-income people.

This paper tries to solve two problems, namely, first, the problem of assuming that Islamic and conventional banks are the same, and second, the problem of housing finance affordability. This study needs to be explored.

This paper aims to examine whether China's grain price support policy has distorted the grain market price.

The time-varying differences-in-differences (DID) model is used to study the impact of support policies on grain prices, and it is combined with the event study method to explore the dynamic effects of price support policy. Panel data model is used to study the effect of the price support policy on price formation for national grain market prices. In addition, we apply the smooth transformation (STR) model to verify whether there is a distortion in the transmission of grain prices among different markets in China and from the international market to China’s market.

China’s grain price support policy plays a significant role in rising grain market prices, weakens the decisive role of the market mechanism in the formation of grain prices, hinders the spatial transmission of market price signals and decreases the effect of price transmission from the world market to China’s market.

In order to ensure both the stability of grain production as well as the market stability, and also to ensure that intervention policies do not distort the food market, the minimum purchase price of grain and market regulation policies should be adjusted as follows: (1) price support policy should be shifted to an income support policy and (2) reasonably determine the scale of reserves and implement a grain minimum purchase price policy in limited areas.

Our findings are relevant for understanding the effect of China's grain price support policies on the implementation regions and the price transmission effect, which provide reference experience for developing countries to implement food price policies.

COVID-19 has affected the economies adversely from all sides. The sudden halt in production has impacted both the supply and demand sides. It calls for analysis to quantify the impact of the reduction in economic activity on the economy-wide variables so that appropriate steps can be taken. This study aims to evaluate the sensitivity of various sectors of the Indian economy to this dual shock.

The eight-sector open economy general equilibrium Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) model has been simulated to evaluate the sector-specific effects of a fall in economic activity due to COVID-19. This model uses an economy-wide accounting framework to quantify the impact of a shock on the given equilibrium economy and report the post-simulation new equilibrium values.

The empirical results state that welfare for the Indian economy falls to the tune of 7.70% due to output shock. Because of demand–supply linkages, it also impacts the inter- and intra-industry flows, demand for factors of production and imports. There is a momentous fall in the demand for factor endowments from all sectors. Among those, the trade-hotel-transport and manufacturing sectors are in the first two positions from the top. The study recommends an immediate revival of the manufacturing and trade-hotel-transport sectors to get the Indian economy back on track.

The present study has modified the existing GTAP model accounting framework through unemployment and output closures to account for the impact of change in sectoral output due to COVID-19 on the level of employment and other macroeconomic variables.

The purpose of this study is to explore the effect and mechanism of the digital economy’s influence on the binary margin of agricultural exports.

Based on the theoretical analysis of the mechanism of the digital economy’s influence on the binary margin of agricultural exports, this study empirically examines the effect and mechanism of the digital economy’s influence on the binary margin of agricultural exports based on China’s customs export data from 2011 to 2016.

The relevant findings are threefold. (1) The digital economy significantly improves the binary margin of agricultural exports, and its effect on the intensive margin is stronger than that on the expansive margin. After the expansive margin is subdivided, the effects on the three sub-variables of the expansive margin are in the following order: old products exported to new markets > new products exported to old markets > new products exported to new markets. (2) The heterogeneity analysis reveals that the digital economy has a stronger role in promoting the binary margin of exports for enterprises in the eastern region, high-income countries as the destination of exports and state-owned enterprises. (3) Mechanism analysis shows that the digital economy promotes the binary margin of agricultural exports by reducing trade costs and intensifying market competition.

First, in terms of research perspective, although there are some studies on the impact of the digital economy on export trade in existing literature, the research objects mainly focus on manufacturing enterprises. In fact, agricultural trade is susceptible to natural conditions and seasonal factors, and countries may impose more SPS measures and TBT measures on agricultural trade due to risk considerations. The relationship between the digital economy and agricultural trade also has its own characteristics, but there are few research studies in this area. At present, only Liu and Gao (2022), based on the data of total imports and exports of different agricultural products from 2004 to 2018, have established a vector auto-regressive model to empirically analyse the heterogeneous dynamic impact of the digital economy on the trade volume of agricultural products. In addition, Ma and Guo (2023) conducted an empirical test on the total effect, regional heterogeneity and threshold effect of the digital economy on agricultural export trade based on China’s provincial panel data from 2011 to 2020. Therefore, under the new circumstances of continuous integration of digital technology and agriculture, this study interprets the impact effect and mechanism of the digital economy on the binary margin of agricultural exports from the perspective of the digital economy, providing new research perspectives and approaches for promoting the growth of agricultural exports. Second, in terms of theoretical analysis, the above studies have not been fully analysed in terms of the specific mechanism of the impact of the digital economy on agricultural exports. Based on the positive and negative characteristics of agricultural trade, this study introduces two kinds of roles into the theoretical analysis framework to comprehensively determine the trade impact effect of the digital economy. Third, in terms of research design, this study empirically examines the impact of the digital economy on the binary margin of agricultural products, passing a series of robustness tests and investigating the mediating roles of trade cost and market competition effects, producing an empirical basis for China to leverage the digital economy to promote the binary margin of agricultural exports.

This study aims to evaluate the impact of the proposed CARICOM Octagon “High In” Warning Label (OWL), against four alternative Front-of-Package Nutrition Labels (FOPNLs): US “Facts Up Front” (FUF), UK Multi-Traffic Light (MTL), Mexican OWL and the Brazilian Magnifying Glass “High In” Warning Label, on respondents’ purchase intentions, perception of healthiness and understanding of nutritional information across and within food products.

In an online randomized control experiment, adults from eight CARICOM countries (n = 948) were randomly assigned to a control and four treatment FOPNL groups. Respondents were tasked to choose between four categories of mock products with three variations in healthfulness across and within products.

No statistically significant difference (p > 0.05) was found across FOPNL groups compared to the OWL on outcomes of purchase intentions and perception of healthfulness. Regarding the understanding of nutritional information, FUF performed the best, as participants were 1.76 times (p = 0.03) and 3.23 times (p = 0.00) more likely to correctly identify the products with the highest and lowest amount of sugar, respectively. Results were similar for products with the lowest sodium (odds ratio [OR] = 2.25, p = 0.00) and highest saturated fats (OR = 2.11, p = 0.00).

Some limitations of this study include the use of an online platform to conduct the experiment. Though this was the most cost-effective method of execution and presented many benefits, there were limitations to using this approach. Firstly, this approach may not entirely replicate the real world in store purchasing settings. Although online grocery shopping is becoming increasingly popular, in the Caribbean, most grocery purchases are made in stores. Furthermore, online surveys are more likely to lead to samples with higher educational and income levels than the average population (Bethlehem, 2010). The skewedness observed was not unique to this study and was common with similar published studies (Franco-Arellano et al., 2020; Packer et al., 2021; Talati et al., 2018). Nevertheless, all respondents were randomly assigned to groups, and it was confirmed that there were no systematic differences in the education and income levels of participants across the FOPNL groups.

Some CARICOM policy makers advocate for the use of “High In” warning labels to limit the intake of nutrients of concern (NOCs) and to encourage healthier eating habits among consumers. However, regional private sector stakeholders have expressed concern about the lack of sufficient research undertaken at a regional level, to inform the effectiveness of this model within CARICOM, and some have also expressed a preference for the use of other interpretative and reductive FOPNLs, already in use in the Region. The results of this study reveal that while interpretative FOPNLs like the Draft CARICOM Regional Standard, DCRS5 (OWL) can assist consumers in making healthier purchase decisions, it was outperformed by the MTL on perception of healthiness and by the FUF on the understanding of nutrient information. It was also noted that the DCRS5 (OWL) was more effective when choosing across products with distinct nutritional differences but performed poorly in assisting respondents with making healthy purchasing decisions when all the products contained NOCs above the relevant thresholds. This study’s findings highlight that the existing FOPNL schemes can be further enhanced for improved outcomes. This can be achieved by using a hybrid approach which includes both reductive and interpretative elements to allow for comparison across and within food products. The literature also suggests the use of colour and combining positive as well as negative elements to encourage ease of interpretation, improved understanding and healthier food choices.

A properly designed FOPNL can support consumers in making healthier food choices; however, it must be accompanied by measures to raise consumer awareness and increase the health literacy of the population to cause shifts in preferences and behavioural patterns over time. This must also be coupled with policies to make healthy food choices more affordable to the general population.

The results of this study revealed that FUF and MTL performed the best in assisting participants to correctly identify between products with the highest or lowest NOCs at the 5% significant level, and that the OWL performed poorly in assisting participants with making healthy purchasing decisions when all the products contained NOCs above the relevant thresholds.