An Empirical Examination of the Socio-Economic Consequences of Corona Virus Disease 2019 (Covid-19) Outbreak in US, UK, Germany and China: A Structural Equation Modelling Approach

This paper critically examines the socio-economic impact of the Corona virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), focusing on four developed nations of the world, including China, Germany, UK and US. Survey data was used to analyze the relationship between eight critical socio-economic variables, including economic stability, daily living, mental health, worry about COVID-19, satisfaction with the national government's response to the COVID-19, people's personal finances, satisfaction with fellow citizens' response to the COVID-19, and satisfaction with hospitals' response to the COVID-19. Considering the complexity of the interrelationship between the variables, a structural equation modelling approach was used to assess the impact of the COVID-19 on these variables.  Result shows that the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the daily lives of people. This is also having negative effect on their ability to contribute meaningfully to economic activities, which ultimately affects the economic stability of their nations as a whole. The result from this study also shows the importance of the health sector in nation-building. The health sector has critical roles to play beyond taking care of the sick that have contracted the COVID-19. The health sector is critical in inspiring confidence in the public and causing citizens to be mentally, psychologically and emotionally stable. Mental stability is needed for citizens to carry out their economic activities and contribute meaningfully to economic stability; therefore, the health sector has important role to play during and after the COVID-19 outbreak. The findings from this paper draws the attention of the government as a critical force in resuscitating the economy post COVID-19. The government would have to formulate and implement policies that will inspire confidence as at present, people are somewhat not satisfied with the national government's response to the COVID-19 / coronavirus pandemic, as the level of satisfaction is just average. Keywords: corona virus; COVID-19; disease; pandemic, economic stability; socio-economic; wellbeing, structural-equation. DOI: 10.7176/IAGS/68-04 Publication date:July 31st 202

Declining Budgetary Allocation to Higher Education in The United States: Causes and Consequences for Economic Development

In recent times, there has been a consistent decrease in the amount of state budgets for higher education in the United States of America. This calls for great concern as higher education must compete with several other state budget items for funding. Also, more individuals need to possess workforce credentials and college degrees for the country to remain competitive in today’s economy. In the light of the critical role of education in socio-economic development, this paper elaborates on the importance of prioritizing education and increasing state funding for higher education. The study revealed in the literature that higher education is a foundation for productivity improvement and economic growth, and that countries that invest heavily in education and skills, benefit economically and socially from that choice. As a result, the study calls on lawmakers and policy formulators to make provisions for high-quality, affordable and accessible higher education by increasing the funding to pursue college education. As the world continues to change and becomes increasingly interdependent, the United States of America cannot afford to rest on its historic record as the world’s leader in educational attainment. Keywords: Higher Education, Budget, State, Funding, Expenditure, Economics, Development DOI: 10.7176/JESD/11-10-12 Publication date:May 31st 202

A Review of the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (Chipra) and its Implementation in Louisiana, USA

The study reviews the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (CHIPRA) and its implementation in Louisiana, USA. The Act was enacted at the Federal level to assist the various States to provide health care coverage to the eligible children only, through either Medicaid or the CHIP programs. The CHIPRA through the CHIP was managed by states, according to the federal requirements, set rules and measures. At the same time, the CHIP program through the CHIPRA was both financed by the various states and the federal government to ensure a healthy growth among America’s children. The Act (CHIPRA) paid little or no consideration to the great number of the non-immigrant and immigrant children in the United States of America, thereby exposing the less disadvantaged immigrants’ and non-immigrant children at the school going age to high risk of infectious diseases whenever there is an outbreak. Meanwhile, from the policy review perspective the Act and its associated programs are likely to be failed in terms of recurrent cost of treating diseases and fighting eradication in the near future. Perhaps, this is true because it has been observed over the years that the entire non-immigrant and immigrant children of school-going-age population group mingled-up with the native American Children in classrooms, playing grounds and many other recreational centers for fun, which makes it impossible to eradicate any outbreak of infectious diseases. For the purposes of the review of the CHIPRA and CHIP program, the study adopted Chi-Square analytical techniques, and also utilizes primary sources of data to evaluate or review CHIPRA from the perception of the American residents. As a result the study found out that it is very difficult for CHIP to embark on disease eradication among all school going age children (or infants) when an outbreak occurred. Additionally, the study underscored that majority of the respondents were of the view that CHIP through the CHIPRA is seen as a high-cost intensive program-which is also likely to be inefficient in operation based on it purposes of establishment (i.e. disease eradication or controls outbreak among children). Therefore, this current study highly recommends that at the State-level, legislative-bodies, policymakers and governors should re-package the CHIP and also review the CHIPRA to cover all the school going age children at the state-level in order to protect the children from any outbreak of disease for eradication to be possible. KEYWORDS: Medicaid, Health Insurance, CHIPRA, Equality, CHIP, and Epidemiology DOI: 10.7176/PPAR/10-2-07 Publication date: February 29th 202

Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on Mental State, Personal Finance and the Economy: Evidence from the United States

This paper investigated the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the mental state of the US residents, as well as the impact of mental state on personal finance and the US economy. The objectives of the current study were to: (i) determine the factors affecting the psychological state of US residents following COVID-19 outbreak; (ii) evaluate the impact of mental state and personal life on economy and finance. By deploying quantitative research design, secondary survey data relating to the US were analysed using descriptive statistics and structural equation modelling. Result shows that a sizable proportion of people are worried about their mental health because of the COVID-19. Furthermore, the level of satisfaction with the national government's response to the COVID-19 / coronavirus pandemic in the United States is low, while people are generally not satisfied with fellow citizens' response to the COVID-19 / coronavirus pandemic in the United States. However, the level of Satisfaction with hospitals' response to the COVID-19 / coronavirus pandemic in the United States is generally high. The two factors affecting the psychological state of US residents are the impact of the COVID-19 / coronavirus pandemic on personal finances and the level of hospitals' response to the COVID-19 (research objective one). Worry and mental state both affect people's everyday life, however, the impact of worry is more pronounced on everyday life, as this may affect people’s productivity (research objective two). Considering that US residents/ citizens are generally satisfied with the measures taken by hospitals to tackle the spread of COVID-19 and treat COVID-19 pandemic, the study recommends that more public funds should be pledged to upscaling the quality and capacity of health infrastructure in the US. This becomes important considering that hospitals have a great impact on the psychological state of residents. Keywords: COVID-19, mental health, personal finance, US economy, social distancing DOI: 10.7176/JESD/12-6-09 Publication date:March 31st 202