Recently, the middle-income trap (MIT) has gained considerable attention – besides European countries, several African, Asian, and Latin-American developing countries are also affected. Many countries have remained in the middle-income bracket for decades, whilst only a few have advanced to high-income status. Felipe et al. in 2012 showed that an annual growth rate of at least 3.5 and 4.7% sustained for a period of 14 and 28 years is required respectively for upper-middle-income and lower-middle-income countries to escape the MIT. Economic growth is influenced by several factors including foreign aid received. Thus, in this study, we aim to answer the question of how aid affects economic growth in middle-income countries and whether aid may contribute to escaping the MIT. Focusing on the countries that have remained in the middle-income group between 1990 and 2017, our analysis confirms that aid contributes to economic growth; however, the impact is positive in the upper-middle-income countries and negative in the lower-middle-income countries. Aid is therefore, likely to be more effective in helping the upper-middle income countries to escape the MIT but not the lower-middle income countries.
Ending of all forms of inequality both within and across nations is a central objective in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by world leaders in 2005. The aim of SDG 5 is achieved gender equality and empower all women and girls by 2030. Whereas SDG 10.2 has the aim to empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all, irrespective sex or other demographic characteristics. After a century of impressive progress in women's political and economic empowerment at the global level, overall economic opportunities for women still lag behind men. Empirical evidence indicates that women are more disadvantaged than men in labour markets across the world in terms of unemployment rates, labour force participation, employment vulnerability as well as segregation in jobs and economic sectors. The objective of this study was to investigate whether the COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted men and women in the labour market different using Hungary as a case study. Based on a gender analysis of monthly labour market data before and during the first year of the pandemic (2015)(2016)(2017)(2018)(2019)(2020), the study finds that females were more adversely affected in terms of labour market outcomes such as employment rates and unemployment rates. For instance, in all age brackets males had higher employment rates than males. Also, the employment rates for females during the first year of the pandemic was lower than the previous year.
The advent of the 4th Industrial Revolution has made it inevitable for firms worldwide to modify their business models to integrate ICTs into their operations. The lockdown measures to contain the COVID-19 pandemic appear to have accelerated this process as many businesses, particularly in the hospitality industry, had to shut down their operations. Others also had to resort to conducting their businesses solely online. Thus, it has been argued that e-commerce has thrived during the lockdown period. Concentrating on the current 27 European Union (EU) member countries, this paper seeks to answer the following question: To what extent the COVID-19 impacted e-commerce has? Trend analyses and a paired samples t-test are used to compare the mean percentage of enterprises with e-commerce sales before the pandemic and the first year. The study finds a significant increase in the percentage of enterprises that made e-commerce sales during the first year of the pandemic compared to the previous year (t=-2.06; df=25). Except for the western EU member countries, all other regions increased the percentage of enterprises that made e-commerce sales, with the southern EU countries witnessing the highest increase. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on all sectors of the global and local economies. It has been widely reported that the food industry has been one of most affected sectors of the economy. However, empirical studies are yet to quantify the extent of the impact of the industry and also how the various sub-sectors of the industry have been affected. Focusing on Hungary as a case study, this paper seeks to empirically quantify the extent of the pandemic’s impact on the food industry by answering the following question: How has the COVID-19 pandemic impacted businesses in the food industry? To answer this question the study employs descriptive statistics, correlation analysis and paired samples t-test to analyse quarterly turnover data of 27 businesses sectors of the food industry for the period 2016 to 2020. The study finds no significant difference in the mean quarterly turnover of businesses during the first year of the pandemic and the previous year (t= -0.0344; df=107; p=0.731). However, a trend analysis revealed that over the past 5 years, it was only during the first year of the COVID-19 that businesses in the food industry recorded quarter-on-quarter reductions in turnover. The worse affected businesses in the food industry were enterprises involved in the retail sale of beverages in specialized stores, event catering, restaurants and mobile food service activities. Our findings suggest that while the pandemic adversely affected some enterprises in the food industry, others flourished during the first year of the pandemic.
Közepes jövedelmi csapda az, amikor a fejlődő országok nem tudnak a magas jövedelmű országok csoportjába kerülni. E csapda okai és megoldásai nem egységesek a kutatók között, az azonban általánosan elfogadott, hogy a fenntartható gazdasági növekedésnek kiemelt jelentősége van a csapdából való kikerülésben. A gazdasági növekedés egyik motorja a nemzetközi kereskedelemben való részvétel, és a 2006- ban elindított Aid for Trade (AfT, segély a kereskedelemért) nemzetközi kezdeményezés igyekszik támogatni a fejlődő országokat, hogy ők is tudjanak ebből profitálni. E folyamatok összekötésével jelen tanulmány arra keresi a választ, hogy az Aid for Trade hogyan járul hozzá ahhoz, hogy a közepes jövedelmi csapdában ragadt országok kikerüljenek onnan. Az elemzés során 76 közepes jövedelmű ország 2008 és 2018 közötti exportteljesítményét vizsgáltuk panelkvantilis regressziós modell segítségével. Eredményeink szerint az AfT eltérő hatást gyakorol az alsó és a felső közepes jövedelmű országokban, és a gazdasági infrastruktúra kiépítésére vonatkozó támogatásnak van a legnagyobb hatása a közepes jövedelmű országok csapdájából való menekülésre.
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