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The aim of the chapter is to develop some approaches to turn education, predetermining the quality of human capital, into the most important factor of national inclusive development. This problem is titled by the World Bank Report (2018) as “Learning: to realize education’s promise.” There has been revealed a fundamental contradiction between the two processes: the training technology is improved, the treasury of knowledge is enriched, the scientific progress accelerates, on one side, but on the other side, according to the international Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) study (2015), about 28% of the Russian 15-year-olds, for example, did not master the minimum necessary skills in at least one area of the three (natural science, mathematics, and communication in their native language). Meanwhile the correlation between educational and economic “failures” is high. Reduction in school failure in half (up to 15%) corresponds to the growth of the country’s GDP by 2% at the perspective of 10 years, by 5–6% – in 20 years, and by over 10% – in 30 years. The authors identify and substantiate the most important factor of the low basic knowledge of schoolchildren: it deals with the phenomenon of stable psychological and cognitive barriers in their minds. As a result of this theory, a model of educational consciousness has been developed, which makes it possible to overcome educational failure and to form algorithms for successful learning.

The World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) is the first treaty negotiated under the auspices of the WHO. This study aims to describe progress toward the framework’s goals, setbacks and strategies to update its articles to optimize outcomes.

A review of relevant literature, including papers in this special issue, forms the basis for identifying steps necessary to amplify the impact of the FCTC.

The WHO suggests that there are 1.3 billion users of tobacco globally. The expected deaths associated with tobacco use could be dramatically reduced by hundreds of millions between now and 2060 through measures that improve cessation and harm reduction support among adults. Additional steps needed to achieve the goals of the FCTC include developing new initiatives to address areas of profound neglect (for example, women); investing in global research and innovation; addressing the needs of vulnerable populations; and establishing a mechanism to fund priority actions required by low- and middle-income countries, including support for alternative livelihoods for smallholder farmers.

In November 2020, the WHO FCTC Parties will host their next Conference of the Parties (COP9) in the Netherlands. This paper aims to contribute to the needed policy decisions related to this meeting. Since acceptance of this article, the WHO FCTC team announced that doe to the COVID-19 pandemic COP9 has been rescheduled till November 2021.

There exists a need to prioritize the goals of tobacco control and offer clear strategies for its execution. This paper fills this niche via a thorough and up-to-date analysis of how to amend and enforce the FCTC.

Financial repression refers to any of measures that government employs to prevent the financial intermediaries of an economy from functioning at their full capacity. On the contrary, financial deepening refers to the increased provision of financial services with a wider choice of services geared to all levels of society, which is the process of relieving financial constraint. With the theory of financial repression and financial deepening, the purpose of this paper is to focus on the performance of the financial repression in China and its influences on the financing of the small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

The work procedure is as follows: first, the monetization rate and financial interrelations ratio (FIR) are defined to measure the degree of financial repression; next, the classical GM(1,1) model and the metabolic GM(1,1) model are established, respectively, comparison is given out to show which model owns better adaptability. Finally, with metabolic GM(1,1) model, this paper predicts the monetization ratio and FIR in the next few years properly.

Unlike other theories which ascribe the financing difficulty of the SMEs to various factors, the paper argues that the financial repression in China should be responsible for the financing difficulty of the SMEs based on the theory of financial repression and financial deepening.

This paper points out that measures should be taken to accelerate the progress of the reform of interest rates and promote the efficiency of the financial market system as well as establish the multi-level capital market system for the SMEs to overcome the difficulty.

The purpose of this paper is to set the stage for the proceeding articles with background of the impressive yet incomplete progress made in eliminating hunger and malnutrition in China and India.

The paper provides background of the progress and challenges to achieving food security and nutrition in China and India. It then highlights the lessons learned from this special issue, and concludes with remaining knowledge gaps.

The paper summarizes findings from each article in the special issue.

Comparing the experiences of these two countries is essential to share knowledge and accelerate progress in eliminating poverty, hunger, and malnutrition both within these countries and globally.

The study deals with key questions of Serbia’s economic development, including the regularities of transforming self-managed socialism to a standard capitalist system. It is based on the concept of endogenous growth and the general theory of market transition. In the empirical part of investigation, the main directions of economic development and transition in Serbia are analysed. Crucial issues of economic policy are also considered with a particular emphasis on the latest phase of transition. Concerning the problems of economic efficiency, an attempt is made to quantify the various types of technical progress and determine their contribution to its overall rate. The macroeconomic role of external factors is quantitatively shown through a globalisation effect related to inflows of FDI. The author believes that the Serbian economy, despite all its problems and difficulties, in principle has the potential necessary for finding adequate answers to the challenges of ‘neo-transition’. Of these challenges, he regards as most serious Serbia’s ability to comply with the standards of accession to the European Union, which, among others, requires closer regional cooperation.

The world of management and technology has become accustomed to the notion of “2.0” advancements and transformative innovations. Is the field of Change Management/Organizational Development itself in this story? Not enough! We re-examine the field’s foundational beliefs, practices, focus, research directions, and value add. We conclude that there is strong evidence from the front line and from an IBM Case Study that the field must “reboot” – to rethink our methods and frameworks; the role and skills of change leadership for the future; change practitioner capabilities for the future; the metrics needed to evaluate progress; and the knowledge exchange between Academe and practitioners.