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1 – 10 of over 2000Ibrahim Sief Abdel Hameed Menshawy
This paper aims to explore the evolution of the notion of peremptory norms (Jus Cogens) in international law through the work of the International Law Commission on unilateral…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the evolution of the notion of peremptory norms (Jus Cogens) in international law through the work of the International Law Commission on unilateral acts.
Design/methodology/approach
The study depended on analyzing the work of the International Law Commission on two topics: Unilateral Acts 2006 and Reservations to treaties 2011 to reveal the relation between jus cogens and unilateral acts.
Findings
Jus cogens restrict unilateral acts like treaties due to the recognition of the importance and necessity of the concept of Jus cogens in protecting the fundamental interests of the international community.
Practical implications
States must be compatible with jus cogens when making any reservation on a treaty and also when taking any unilateral act.
Originality/value
This paper reveals the importance of jus cogens in promoting the values of the international community and the need of such notion to protect the common interest of that community.
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Arjun Pratap Upadhyay and Pankaj Kumar Baag
This paper reviews the literature on zombie firms to provide a holistic view by delineating their formation, impact, widespread nature, prevention and policy implications.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper reviews the literature on zombie firms to provide a holistic view by delineating their formation, impact, widespread nature, prevention and policy implications.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses a systematic literature review methodology, in which 76 papers published in journals ranked on the Australian Business Deans Council (ABDC) 2022 list were reviewed. The study period was from 2000 to 2022.
Findings
Among the main findings, the widespread problems of zombie firms were evident. The authors found that consistent support, either in the form of government grants or a weak financial framework, was responsible for their formation. The suboptimal performance of factors of production, depressed job creation, low innovation and overall negative impact on economic activity are the consequences of zombification. This can be controlled by ensuring better bankruptcy codes, focused on government assistance, technology use and better due diligence by banks.
Practical implications
This review serves as a reference point for future researchers as a cohesive and holistic study presenting a full picture of the problem, so that the proposed solutions are robust and tenable.
Originality/value
This review is among the initial attempts to comprehensively study published work on zombie firms in terms of analyzing their region-specific nature, with an emphasis on definition, causes, impact and prevention.
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Mario Arturo Ruiz Estrada and Evangelos Koutronas
The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept of pensionomics as a prospective tool for pension evaluation. This paper suggests a paradigm shift – a multi-disciplinary…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept of pensionomics as a prospective tool for pension evaluation. This paper suggests a paradigm shift – a multi-disciplinary synthesis of differing perspectives in evaluating pension’s overall performance based on past work on pension evaluation – incorporating non-economic variables with significant impact on economic growth and social development.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper suggests a new analytical tool called “Pensions Consistency (PC) Index” that identifies the level of consistency and the strengths and weaknesses within any pension system. The new conceptual framework focusses on building inter-sectoral and holistic policies able to respond to the new multi-dimensional dynamic environment.
Findings
The consideration of pensionomics concept as an evaluation tool for pension schemes provides insights that are helpful in explaining performance differentials. Taking definition, classification and evaluation as a guiding principle, the new conceptual framework can be a useful point of reference for the overall evaluation of pension schemes, revealing deficiencies that traditional evaluation methods cannot detect. The multi-disciplinary approach focusses on building inter-sectoral and holistic policies that are able to respond to the multi-dimensional uncertainties of the new dynamic environment.
Research limitations/implications
The heterogeneity and complexity in event dynamics are systemic in the sense that the impact is far from linear. The idiosyncratic nature of unexpected and unpredictable events is rather a result of multi-dimensionality based, among others, on magnitude, frequency, timing, intensity and impact. It is plausible to argue that crisis episodes can destabilize critical systems of economic activity, producing economic spillovers that can directly or indirectly affect the sustainability of pension schemes. If the calculation of direct economic impact is readily traceable, the estimation of indirect economic impact can be an onerous task.
Practical implications
Pensionomics places the concept of retirement in a multi-disciplinary context. Pensionomics overcomes theoretical and empirical limitations encountered by the path-dependency perspective, developing a new research agenda to study pension schemes under historical, cultural, social, political, economic, political and environmental prism. Integrating diversified data, techniques, perspectives and concepts, pensionomics’ objective is to connect natural and man-made events with social protection mechanisms for the development of a dynamic social protection framework where individual, community and society needs are met effectively and efficiently by implementing tailored policies, closely related to their specific context.
Social implications
The concept of retirement has evolved constantly, transforming societies and shaping both income and non-income dimensions of well-being. Pension entitlement turned gradually from a political discourse to a human right discourse. Pension schemes have extended the scope of insurance coverage beyond labour markets and the lifecycle, supporting the broader needs of entire population. Furthermore, pension schemes are widely acknowledged as drivers of economic growth: they enhance labour productivity; foster smooth consumption; and create a stable economic environment for investment and innovation. Current expectations require pension schemes to adopt proactive and reactive policies to examine options for mitigation or for modification of potential consequences in anticipation of exceptional events.
Originality/value
This paper suggests a paradigm shift, a multi-disciplinary approach called pensionomics, and this “multi-disciplinary” focus builds a new analytical framework to evaluate pension’s overall performance based on past work on pension evaluation, incorporating non-economic variables with significant impact on economic growth and social development. PC-Index introduces a comprehensive evaluation tool to study the coverage, performance, efficiency, effectiveness, current trends and future possibilities of pension schemes.
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Massimo Sargiacomo, Laura Corazza, Antonio D'Andreamatteo, John Dumay and James Guthrie
This paper shows the accounting, accountability and calculative practices associated with emergency food allocations by the City of Turin through a program to feed the vulnerable…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper shows the accounting, accountability and calculative practices associated with emergency food allocations by the City of Turin through a program to feed the vulnerable during COVID-19.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a single case study framed by Foucault's governmentality concept. The data was collected through interviews with key institutional actors and triangulated against decrees, circulars, ordinances and other publicly available documents.
Findings
The accounting tools of governmentality are always incomplete. Sometimes unique situations and crises help us to revise and improve the tools we have. Other times, they demand entirely new tools.
Research limitations/implications
Accounting needs both things to count and a context to count them. In the case of food assistance, what is counted is people. In Turin's case, many people had never been counted – either because there was no need or because they were unaccounted for by choice. Now, the government was accountable for the welfare of both. Thus, new classification systems emerged, as did organisational and accounting solutions.
Originality/value
Although the accounting-for-disasters literature is diverse, studies too often favour the macro social, economic and political issues surrounding crises, neglecting the micro issues associated with governmentality and calculative practices.
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This paper investigates the impact of governance on economic growth, considering the spatial dependence between countries.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper investigates the impact of governance on economic growth, considering the spatial dependence between countries.
Design/methodology/approach
The study employs spatial regression models to estimate the impact of governance on economic growth in a sample of 116 countries worldwide in 2017.
Findings
The findings imply that the influence of governance on economic growth is statistically significant. Moreover, if all other economic control variables are constant, 1% increase in governance raises the economic growth on average by 1% at 10%, 5% and 1% significance levels, respectively. Furthermore, each country's rise in economic growth favorably and substantially influences the economic growth of its bordering nations. The unobserved characteristics or similar unobserved environments in adjacent countries also affect its economic growth.
Originality/value
This study adds to the discussion and investigation of the influence of governance on economic growth by considering the spatial dependence between countries, which is lacking in the literature.
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Fabiola Sfodera, Lisa Nicole Cain and Alessio Di Leo
This study examines the role of technology as a driver of sustainable tourism perceptions among Generation Z.
Abstract
Purpose
This study examines the role of technology as a driver of sustainable tourism perceptions among Generation Z.
Design/methodology/approach
The work considers the perspective of locals in Pakistan and uses a multi-method, multiphase embedded research design approach.
Findings
The research findings demonstrated that technology has a positive correlation with the environmental, socio-cultural and economic dimensions of sustainable tourism perception among Generation Z. Therefore, technology could be considered a dimension of sustainable tourism perception for locals, but perceptions differ significantly depending on the size of the city of the participant. The results of the experimental design phase that utilized picture stimuli demonstrated a linear relationship between technology and sustainability and enhanced their definition and implementation for developing countries.
Originality/value
This research diverges from most past research on these topics by focusing on Generation Z, for whom digital media and technology play a crucial role and for whom these technologies are positively correlated with sustainability and its overall perception. Implications for policies and practices for emerging country governments are provided.
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This study seeks to provide a robust piece of evidence of forest depletion in Ghana and its associated driver intensities to inform national policy decisions towards achieving…
Abstract
Purpose
This study seeks to provide a robust piece of evidence of forest depletion in Ghana and its associated driver intensities to inform national policy decisions towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 15 and beyond.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a representative sample size of 733 households, which was obtained with the aid of a structured questionnaire, a descriptive analysis is used to show the evidence of forest depletion. For robustness purposes, the geographic information system (GIS) is used to provide a piece of remote sensing evidence to substantiate the claim. In addition, an ordered probit regression model is estimated given the ranked nature of the responses to determine the drivers of forest depletion.
Findings
The results provide evidence that the urban forests in the Greater Accra Region (GAR) of Ghana have been depleted. Overall, 44% argued that the depletion of the forests is high, 30% indicated that the depletion is moderate, while 26% indicated that the depletion is low. Consistent with the literature, the ordered probit regression results show that human behaviour, climate change and institutional failure are the driver intensities of forest depletion in the Region. Besides, the authors find an increasing order effect for all three drivers. Using a descriptive analysis, majority of the respondents posited that human behaviour is the main driver intensity, followed by climate change and then institutional failure. This study recommends the need for education and advocacy, community participation, law enforcement, resource mobilization, modern adaptation strategies and internalization of externalities as a way of controlling the drivers of forest depletion.
Originality/value
The study uses remote sensing techniques to provide empirical evidence of protected forest depletion in the GAR, Ghana. In addition, an ordered probit regression is used to identify the driver intensities that explain the depleted protected forests in the region.
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Salvador Gil-Pareja, Rafael Llorca-Vivero and José Antonio Martínez-Serrano
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of corruption on trade.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of corruption on trade.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors estimate gravity equations with the last econometric advances on a wide sample of countries and years using three different measures of corruption. Two of them belong to the so-called perception-based indexes and the third is derived from a structural model that takes into account the causes and indicators of corruption across countries.
Findings
A negative effect of corruption on trade appears with perceptions, but it is not widespread. However, the authors find sensible evidence of the “grease the wheels” view with the structural index if low and middle income countries are implicated. Additionally, when using this measure, differences in corruption levels negatively impact trade. Both results are in line with expectations.
Originality/value
Moreover, membership in regional trade agreements does not seem to significantly alter these results.
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Mercy Afua Adutwumwaa Derkyi, Yaw Appau and Kwadwo Boakye Boadu
Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) offers a framework for open and participatory forest management for forest actors, particularly communities fringing forest reserves. This…
Abstract
Purpose
Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) offers a framework for open and participatory forest management for forest actors, particularly communities fringing forest reserves. This paper aimed to determine the factors influencing the participation of local communities in the implementation and monitoring of Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade-Voluntary Partnership Agreement (FLEGT-VPA) activities.
Design/methodology/approach
The study was conducted in three communities in Goaso Forest District in the Ahafo Region of Ghana. Based on a cross-sectional design, 105 (n = 105) community members were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire. Logistic regression analysis was performed to identify socio-demographic and cultural factors that influence people's participation in FLEGT-VPA activities. Friedman and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were conducted to analyse the influence of the environmental role of the forest and participation in FLEGT-VPA activities.
Findings
The study found a significant association between the leadership status of respondents' local customs/taboo days and participation in both implementation and monitoring activities. At the same time, a significant association was found between respondents' participation in previous training programs and FLEGT-VPA monitoring activities. The environmental role of the forest was also found to have a significant association with respondents' participation in FLEGT-VPA activities.
Originality/value
Studies on the factors that influence the participation of forest fringe communities in Ghana in implementing and monitoring FLEGT-VPA activities are non-existent or scarce. This study identified significant socio-demographic and environmental factors contributing to participatory forest conservation modules such as FLEGT-VPA which will guide future forest conservation initiatives that are inclusive of stakeholders’ interests/concerns.
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