Empirical evidence on the relation between happiness (life satisfaction) and corruption is barely perceptible in the literature. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to…
Abstract
Purpose
Empirical evidence on the relation between happiness (life satisfaction) and corruption is barely perceptible in the literature. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to closing this gap by presenting some estimates using a large cross-section of countries over the period 1996-2010.
Design/methodology/approach
The empirical model allows both corruption and per capita income to enter as arguments of a happiness “production function”. The correlation between happiness and corruption is presumed to be non-linear.
Findings
While the results do not support the existence of a Kuznets-type trajectory, the study finds that the level of per capita income determines whether happiness and corruption are related and in what way. The authors estimate cutoff income levels at which corruption has a discernible effect on happiness. The results show that corruption reduces happiness, but only for high-income countries – roughly the upper half of the income range in the sample.
Practical implications
Results nullify the oft-asserted statement that happiness is negatively linked to corruption in all countries. The nature of correlation is more complex.
Originality/value
The paper goes beyond simply testing whether happiness is related to corruption. It conjectures that the relationship between the two variables is non-monotonic. Thus, the analysis considers the notion that the association between happiness and probity is income dependent. A novel feature of the empirical model is that the estimated income cutoff levels are endogenously determined. That is, income thresholds are not pre-determined. The authors also test for the robustness of the results by addressing the issue of potential endogeneity of corruption.
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Studies on the determinants of remittances focus primarily on a single country or undertake cross‐country analyses using aggregate data. By comparison, there is a dearth of…
Abstract
Purpose
Studies on the determinants of remittances focus primarily on a single country or undertake cross‐country analyses using aggregate data. By comparison, there is a dearth of empirical evidence on the determinants of remittances from multiple host to multiple destination countries. To address this deficiency, the purpose of this paper is to use a novel dataset which captures these bilateral flows.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper concentrates on three sets of explanatory variables: those which characterize the pair relationship, those that pertain to migrants' host country, and those related to the migrants' home country.
Findings
Cultural and political factors play a fundamental role. Altruism is not key in migrant remittances; investment motives are more important. Bilateral aid inflows bear a direct relationship to remittances. The marginal effect of happiness (in migrants' host and home countries) on remittances is positive for a large percentage of countries in the sample.
Practical implications
Results nullify the oft‐asserted role of remittances in assisting with adverse economic conditions, such as inflation. They also identify a possible nexus between remittances and foreign aid – a link that heretofore has not been identified or discussed in the literature or recognized by policy‐makers.
Originality/value
The contribution of the paper is its use of bilateral data to present evidence on remittances capturing not only North‐South, but also South‐South flows. The paper also contributes to the literature by considering, for the first time, some additional variables as potential determinants of remittances, chief among them the level of happiness of migrants' host and home countries, as well as the level of aid disbursed to migrants' home country.
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Parviz Dabir-Alai, Mak Arvin and Rudra P. Pradhan
The authors investigate the role played by the political climate and other covariates on the prevalence of undernourishment for 34 low-income countries across a 21-year period.
Abstract
Purpose
The authors investigate the role played by the political climate and other covariates on the prevalence of undernourishment for 34 low-income countries across a 21-year period.
Design/methodology/approach
Political climate is measured in terms of political freedoms and civil liberties. The authors follow a Granger causality approach, which looks at predictive causality (i.e. causality in a temporal sense). For the socio-economic data, the authors rely on annual time series data from the World Bank.
Findings
Most of the findings are in keeping with our expectations: (1) Lowering women's fertility rate lowers undernourishment; (2) undernourishment converges to its long-run equilibrium path in response to changes in income, political climate, health expenditure, fertility rate and drinking water access; (3) the effect of an instantaneous shock from income, changes to the political climate, health expenditure, fertility rate and drinking water access on undernourishment are completely adjusted in the long run. One surprising result is that there is a positive and significant relationship between the prevalence of undernourishment and political freedom. The authors offer several possible explanations for this unexpected result.
Practical implications
Given our results, careful attention to the co-curation of policies is desirable. As an example, the authors would advocate a more proactive role by the richer countries in terms of their commitments to foreign aid in addressing the identified problems.
Originality/value
The authors use advanced panel data techniques, considering a long span of time. Unlike other studies which aim to establish correlations, the authors test for Granger causality.
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Freya Higgins-Desbiolles, Bobbie Chew Bigby and Adam Doering
This article considers the possibilities of and barriers to socialising tourism after the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Such an approach allows us to transform…
Abstract
Purpose
This article considers the possibilities of and barriers to socialising tourism after the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Such an approach allows us to transform tourism and thereby evolve it to be of wider benefit and less damaging to societies and ecologies than has been the case under the corporatised model of tourism.
Design/methodology/approach
This conceptual analysis draws on the theorisation of “tourism as a social force” and the new concept of “socialising tourism”. Using critical tourism approaches, it seeks to identify the dynamics that are evident in order to assess the possibilities for socialising tourism for social and ecological justice. It employs an Indigenous perspective that the past, present and future are interconnected in its consideration of tourism futures.
Findings
COVID-19 has fundamentally disrupted tourism, travel and affiliated industries. In dealing with the crisis, borders have been shut, lockdowns imposed and international tourism curtailed. The pandemic foregrounded the renewal of social bonds and social capacities as governments acted to prevent economic and social devastation. This disruption of normality has inspired some to envision radical transformations in tourism to address the injustices and unsustainability of tourism. Others remain sceptical of the likelihood of transformation. Indeed, phenomena such as vaccine privilege and vaccine tourism are indicators that transformations must be enabled. The authors look to New Zealand examples as hopeful indications of the ways in which tourism might be transformed for social and ecological justice.
Practical implications
This conceptualisation could guide the industry to better stakeholder relations and sustainability.
Social implications
Socialising tourism offers a fruitful pathway to rethinking tourism through a reorientation of the social relations it fosters and thereby transforming its social impacts for the better.
Originality/value
This work engages with the novel concept of “socialising tourism”. In connecting this new theory to the older theory of “tourism as a social force”, this paper considers how COVID-19 has offered a possible transformative moment to enable more just and sustainable tourism futures.
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Viktoriia Y. Redko, Nataliya O. Krasnikova and Oleksandr P. Krupskyi
The classics will circulate wrote a public librarian several years ago. She found that new, attractive, prominently displayed editions of literary classics would indeed find a…
Abstract
The classics will circulate wrote a public librarian several years ago. She found that new, attractive, prominently displayed editions of literary classics would indeed find a substantial audience among public library patrons.
Full‐text CDROM is a powerful tool and publishers are finding ways to build more into their product. World Library has upgraded Library of the Future with a third edition (World…
Abstract
Full‐text CDROM is a powerful tool and publishers are finding ways to build more into their product. World Library has upgraded Library of the Future with a third edition (World Library Inc., 1991–1994, Library of the Future, 3rd Edition. Irvine, CA, USA). Library of the Future is a CDROM tool to access classic literature, some religious works and some important documents in full text. World Library has added Windows operation and new graphic effects to the product.
Jian-Ren Hou and Sarawut Kankham
When the spread of online health rumors on social media causes public concerns, the public is calling for action. However, little study has investigated how Facebook reaction…
Abstract
Purpose
When the spread of online health rumors on social media causes public concerns, the public is calling for action. However, little study has investigated how Facebook reaction icons (expressing feelings function) affect online users' behavioral intentions (intention to trust and share) toward online health rumor posts. The current study addresses this gap by focusing on the effect of Facebook reaction icons in two conditions: Facebook reaction icons' presence (versus absence), and Facebook reaction icons' emotional valence (positive versus negative versus neutral). Moreover, the authors also investigated the interaction between Facebook reaction icons' emotional valence and online health rumor posts' framing headlines (gain versus loss).
Design/methodology/approach
The authors used a 7 (Facebook reaction icons: Love, Like, Haha, Wow, Sad, Angry and no icon) × 2 (Facebook framing headlines: gain and loss) between-subjects design, analyzing 507 samples from online users with one-way ANOVA and MANOVA.
Findings
Results show that online health rumor posts without Facebook reaction icons are more likely to negatively change online users' behavioral intentions than the posts with Facebook reaction icons; negative reaction icons (Sad and Angry) lower online users' behavioral intentions than positive reaction icons (Love and Like). Further, the incongruency effect of interaction (i.e. positive reaction icons with a negative message) would have more negative effects on online users' behavioral intentions than the congruency effect (i.e. positive reaction icons with a positive message).
Originality/value
This study has rich contributions to theoretical and practical implications for the Facebook platform and Facebook users to apply Facebook reaction icons against online health rumor posts.
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CD‐ROM technology has reached the point where just a few discs can equal the holdings of a small print library. Reference works used by libraries in hard copy are available on…
Abstract
CD‐ROM technology has reached the point where just a few discs can equal the holdings of a small print library. Reference works used by libraries in hard copy are available on CD‐ROM; encyclopedias, news and periodicals are also in full text on disc. If the appropriate reference is found on disc, searchers need go no further than the CD‐ROM being examined. This article gives a brief overview of a number of CD‐ROMs which the author has bought to create his own personal library.