Fiscal Policy and Inclusive Growth in Advanced Countries: Their Experience and Implications for Asia

Advanced economies have a significantly longer history of using fiscal policy to tackle inequality and promote inclusive growth than those in developing Asia. Therefore, as developing Asia explores the more active use of fiscal policy for inclusive purposes, it can learn from the experiences of advanced countries. Those experiences clearly suggest that fiscal policy can have a significant effect on inequality which provides some cause for optimism about its equity-promoting potential. Nevertheless, that optimism should be tempered by the different circumstances of advanced versus developing economies along with the need for developing Asia to maintain fiscal sustainability and economic growth

A survey of inclusive growth policy

Background: Since the latter part of the 20th Century, countries have been particularly challenged by the trade-off that exists between delivering generous welfare provisions and strong economic growth. Such dynamics have stimulated a need to better understand the causes of income inequality so as to better formulate policies that foster inclusive growth and reduce growing concerns surrounding income inequality. Method: Given its ability to succinctly summarize, analyze, and synthesize an extant body of literature from a certain genre of scholastic endeavor, this study utilizes a literature review as its proposed methodological approach. Results: From our assessment of the literature, we identified four key areas that contribute significantly to income inequality in both advanced and developing economies, these include: (i) pursuing skill-biased technological change; (ii) enhancing education systems; (iii) consolidation of globalization; and (iv) reform of the labor market and its relevant institutions. Conclusion: There is no silver bullet to achieving inclusive growth. Any policy manifesto must seek to offer a coordinated policy platform that looks to deal directly with the causes of inequality. In order to do so, consideration should be given to a range of policy areas including fiscal, education, trade liberalization, and labor market reforms

Tracing the trends in sustainability and social media research using topic modeling

New ideas are often born from connecting the dots. What new ideas have emerged among the two highly trending research topics of sustainability and social media? In this study, we present an empirical analysis of 762 published works that included the terms “sustainability” and “social media” in their abstracts. The bibliographic data, including abstracts, were collected from the Scopus database. In order to conduct the analysis, we used the Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA), an unsupervised machine learning algorithm to extract the latent topics from the large quantity of research abstracts without any manual adjustment. The 10 main topics identified from our analysis revealed topographical maps of research in the field. By measuring the variation of topic distributions over time, we identified hot topics (research trends that are becoming increasingly popular over time) and cold topics. Sustainable consumer behavior, Sustainable community and Sustainable tourism were identified as being hot topics, while Education for sustainability was identified as the only cold topic. By identifying current trends in social media and sustainability research, our findings lay a platform from which further studies may abound

Digital transformation as a demographic and economic integrated policy for Southeast Asian developing countries

The age of Southeast Asian developing countries’ populations is still younger than that of other regions around the world. However, recent statistics show that the tide is now turning in this regard, with many of these populations beginning to age at rates much faster than many other countries. Such developments require immediate policy action in order to create a sustainable path towards economic growth before demographic changes become less benign in the medium term. In this study, we discuss the economic consequences of population aging, increases in the economic support ratio, and a declining potential growth rate. We argue that it is essential for Southeast Asian developing countries to raise total factor productivity (TFP) growth rates so as to achieve more sustainable economic outcomes. By conducting panel regressions using data from 82 countries across the 1996–2019 study period, our study shows that increasing research and development (R&D) spending and the facilitation of structural changes that transform the digital economy landscape are key policy options that promote TFP growt

The impact of TBT and SPS measures on Japanese and Korean exports to China

(1) Background: As countries with troubled histories, China, Japan, and Korea have, in recent times, attempted to overcome political and economic differences in a bid to forge strong trade relationships. However, Non-Tariff Measures (NTMs) have emerged in recent times, which has the potential to complicate matters. (2) Method: Our study analyzes the impact that two forms of NTM, technical barriers to trade (TBT) and sanitary and phytosanitary measures (SPS), have on Japanese and Korean exports to China. In order to effectively measure their impact, we utilize a modified version of the Gravity model and the Poisson Pseudo Maximum Likelihood method (PPML). Using three measures (coverage ratio, frequency index, and the dummy variable) to determine their impact, our study displayed a range of findings. (3) Results: The key results from our study showed that from a coverage ratio perspective, our research clearly demonstrates that Chinese TBT measures, reduce Japan and Korea’s manufacturing and total exports as a whole, while Chinese SPS measures encourage Korean agricultural exports. Moreover, the frequency index results and dummy variable estimations in the main also supported the coverage ratio findings with SPS measures promoting Korean agricultural goods exports. (4) Conclusions: Our research highlights the important role the TBT measures have played to shelter China’s emerging industrial sector from the rigors of highly competitive Korean and Japanese exporters. In doing so, the Chinese government is able to actively pursue some of its key sustainable development strategies such as “Made in China 2025” and “Industrial 4.0”

SHOCK ATTENUATION MECHANISM AT THE BACKPACK WEIGHT CHANGE IN DROP LANDINGS

The purpose of this study was to investigate the shock attenuation mechanisms while varying the loads in a backpack during drop landing. Ten subjects (age: 22.8±3.6, height: 173.5±4.3, weight: 70.4±5.2) performed drop landing under five varying loads (0, 5kg, 10kg, 20kg, 30kg). By employing two cameras (Sony VX2100) the following kinematic variables (phase time, joint rotational angle and velocity of ankle, knee and hip) were calculated by applying 2D motion analysis. Additional data, i.e. max vertical ground force (VGRF) and acceleration, was acquired by using two AMTI Force plates and a Noraxon Inline Accelerometer Sensor. Through analysing the power spectrum density (PSD), drop landing patterns were classified into four groups and each group was discovered to have a different shock attenuation mechanism. The first pattern that appeared at landing was that the right leg absorbed most of the shock attenuation. The second pattern to appear was that subject quickly transferred the load from the right leg to the left leg as quickly as possible. Thus, this illustrated that two shock attenuation mechanisms occurred during drop landing under varying load conditions

Comparing the Effects of Distilled Rehmannia glutinosa, Wild Ginseng and Astragali Radix Pharmacopuncture With Heart Rate Variability (HRV): A Randomized, Sham-controlled and Double-blind Clinical Trial

AbstractThis study compared the effects of distilled Rehmannia glutinosa, Wild Ginseng and Astragali Radix pharmacopuncture on the autonomic nervous system and heart rate variability. The purpose of the trial was to observe the influence distilled Astragali Radix, Wild Ginseng and Rehmannia glutinosa pharmacopuncture have on the autonomic nervous system. 120 healthy male volunteers were divided into four groups, which consisted of three experimental groups and a control group. This study was a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind clinical trial. Volunteers in experimental groups were underwent pharmacopuncture at GB21 (Kyonjong), and volunteers in the control group were injected with normal saline at GB21 (Kyonjong). Heart rate variability was measured seven times: before and after injection, every 5 minutes for 30 minutes. The result was distilled Rehmannia glutinosa, Wild Ginseng and Astragali Radix pharmacopuncture in healthy adult males tended to activate the autonomic nervous system, particularly the sympathetic nervous system

Recent progress of coherent beam combining Kumgang Laser (0.4J@10kHz/10ns)

A coherent beam combining is the most promising technique to achieve a high output energy and a high repetition rate laser system with a good beam quality [1]. It has been demonstrated experimentally that the coherent beam combination using self-phase-controlled stimulated Brillouin scattering phase conjugate mirror (SC-SBS-PCM) is the simplest coherent beam combination method [2-3]. For an average output power of a kW range, the experimental verification of coherent beam combination is now underway by the Kumgang laser [4-5]..

Recent progress of coherent beam combining Kumgang Laser (0.4J@10kHz/10ns)

A coherent beam combining is the most promising technique to achieve a high output energy and a high repetition rate laser system with a good beam quality [1]. It has been demonstrated experimentally that the coherent beam combination using self-phase-controlled stimulated Brillouin scattering phase conjugate mirror (SC-SBS-PCM) is the simplest coherent beam combination method [2-3]. For an average output power of a kW range, the experimental verification of coherent beam combination is now underway by the Kumgang laser [4-5]..