A Tale of Hidden Cities

Multidimensional poverty of rural migrant workers is becoming an important component of urban poverty of China, accompanied by large-scale rural-urban migration during past decades. However, less studies have been conducted to explore the poverty of rural-urban migrant workers. The study intends to fill the gaps by investigating multidimensional poverty of rural migrant workers based on a case study in Fuzhou City, Southeast China. The Alkire–Foster method and a logistic regression modeling are adopted to examine the magnitude and determinants of multidimensional poverty. Four dimensions and ten indicators are selected for measurements of multidimensional poverty. About seventy three percent of the sample households (n=319) are found to experience multidimensional poverty, which is remarkably higher than previous studies. Especially, the deprivation incidence of dwelling conditions and working conditions which were neglected in previous studies, was remarkable high. Spatial heterogeneity of multidimensional poverty has been highlighted in our study. The incidence of multidimensional poverty in 'village in the city' is the highest, following by suburban areas and town center (k=0.33). Results also reveal that income and living standards are the two most important contributors of overall poverty. The important determinants of multidimensional poverty are as follows: occupational skills, migration type, occupational type, social integration, and expenditure on social activities. The results confirmed that low skills, low social integration in cities, and poor social capital are key determinants of rural migrant workers’ poverty in urban areas of China. Finally, some policy implications for poverty alleviation of rural migrant workers are presented in the study.

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to present and empirically validate a conceptual framework that explores the links between the two service features (physical and interactive) and their impact on customer loyalty. It also introduces and investigates the potential intervening role of a single personality dimension (neuroticism) in the relationship between service features and customer loyalty. In addition, examining whether the customer’s switching barriers affect customer loyalty is also an aim of the present study.Design/methodology/approachA structured questionnaire was used to collect data from a sample of 224 customers in the banking industry in Greece. The respondents were picked using simple random sampling. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to validate the latent factors of the proposed conceptual framework, whereas their relationships were examined through linear regression analyses.FindingsThe empirical data verify that physical and interactive features of service quality have a significant impact on customer loyalty. The study also concludes that customer neuroticism has an intervening effect on the relationship between service features and customer loyalty. In addition, switching barriers such as confidence benefits, special treatment benefits, switching costs and availability and attentiveness of alternatives affect a bank’s customer loyalty.Practical implicationsThis perspective could improve managerial understanding of the service-quality/customer-loyalty relationship and lead to more focused decisions. During the period of economic Greek crisis, the customers’ learning and understanding, the immediate response to their needs and expectations, the provision of customer services in accordance with their personality type and the establishment a long and effective relationship with them may have an important impact not only on success but also mainly on bank survival.Originality/valuePrevious studies have shown the positive and significant relationship between customer satisfaction and loyalty in the banking industry, but this study extends the literature of consumer behavior theory by examining the distinct role that the physical and interactive service features play in the formation of customer loyalty. While it is known the role of personality in customer satisfaction has not been analyzed sufficiently the effect of neuroticism in the evolution of the above relationship. The present study tries to fill the bibliographic gap focusing on the Greek banking sector in the period of economic crisis.

This paper analyses multidimensional poverty and its determinant in Rwanda by using Rwanda's demographic health survey and integrated household living conditions survey. Analytical techniques used include the current multidimensional poverty index, descriptive statistics and ordered probit regression. The results revealed that multiple deprivations are found mostly in the rural settings compared to urban areas. The standard of living dimension is largest contributor to multidimensional poverty in both rural and urban areas of Rwanda. In order to improve from multidimensional poverty and its determinants, policies towards supporting the promotion of women especially by reinforcing female's education and intensifying women's employment opportunities, strengthening family planning program and reducing poverty in regions with special focus on poverty reduction in rural areas, mainly in the western and northern provinces will be effective. In addition, supporting farmers who do not possess farmland and increasing vocation program may be also helpful for poverty reduction in Rwanda.

This article analyzes the volatility and returns of cryptocurrencies compared to traditional investment assets such as gold and the S&P 500 index, aiming to provide insights into the risks and benefits of these investment options. The motivation for the study is the growing importance of cryptocurrencies in the global financial system and the need to understand their role during periods of economic crises. The gap in the literature lies in the limited research focused on the behavior of cryptocurrencies during different types of crises and their comparison with traditional safe-haven assets. The methodology involves correlation analysis, examining the relationships between Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, gold, and the S&P 500 index since 2008, along with volatility analysis during periods of crisis. A secondary objective of the study is to verify the scientific question of whether cryptocurrencies have exhibited different behavior during economic crises since 2013. The findings reveal a strong positive correlation between Bitcoin, Ethereum, and the S&P 500 index, indicating their sensitivity to macroeconomic factors. Cryptocurrencies also demonstrate significantly higher volatility compared to traditional assets, making them an important tool for investors seeking portfolio diversification. Bitcoin shows a moderate correlation with gold, suggesting it can partly function as a store of value, while Litecoin exhibits weaker ties to traditional assets. The research further confirms that cryptocurrencies, particularly Bitcoin, respond differently to economic crises—both in developed economies and during global downturns. During periods of uncertainty, Bitcoin often behaved more like a speculative investment rather than a stable safe-haven asset.

The accurate accounting of where and for whom deprivations occur is fundamental to addressing poverty. In the United States, the official poverty measure considers only a person’s income, although poverty is increasingly understood internationally as a set of multiple, interlinked deprivations. This article introduces a decomposable multidimensional poverty (MDP) measure that addresses these shortcomings by using thirteen American Community Survey microdata indicators to identify education, health, housing, and economic security deprivations for individuals. In 2017, the national poverty rate was 13.7 percent when measured using MDP and 13.1 percent using official poverty. Although similar at the national scale, Hispanic, Asian, and older persons had higher poverty rates using the multidimensional measure, whereas Black and young persons had higher rates when using official poverty. MDP tended to be higher than official poverty in dense urban areas, whereas official poverty tended to be higher in rural areas. Further, MDP was a stronger correlate with COVID-19 death rates than official poverty through the first three waves of the pandemic. The design of MDP recognizes that individuals can experience poverty in different ways and provides a more holistic view of people and places.

The main features that characterize the Athens Metropolitan Area (AMA) are its geographical position in the Attic Peninsula, the complicated topography and the neighboring industrial zone, located to the west and separated from the AMA by a hilly area. The possibility of air pollutants transport from this area to Athens has been the subject of a number of theoretical and experimental works in the past. In this paper using the meteorological and dispersion modeling system EZM, the vertical distribution of air pollutants, released from a number of stacks of various types and characteristics, and transported over Athens, was simulated and discussed. It was found that the vertical distribution mainly depends on the physical height of the stacks.

The study aims a re-examination of the poverty situation in Ghana using the Alkire-Foster multidimensional poverty framework. Using cross-sectional data from the Ghana Living Standards Survey (GLSS7) collected on 14,009 households, the results revealed that multidimensional poverty was higher for the Northern belt followed by the Middle belt and then the Coastal belt. The results further indicated that different socioeconomic and supply-side factors significantly affect multidimensional poverty in different locations of the country. The heterogeneous effect of socio-economic variables on multidimensional poverty across belts implies that designing “best-fits” policy strategy may be more effective than “one size fits all” policy strategy.

In this paper, we try to identify the price determinants in the biggest real estate market of Greece, the metropolitan area of Athens. For that purpose, various spatial econometric models are used to explore their prediction ability and we are displaying the variations in property prices for the wider area of Athens. These models have been compared based on different criteria such as model fit, the Akaike information criterion and variance of the residuals. Our results indicate that, in our case, the spatial general model is the most appropriate simultaneous autoregressive model when dealing with spatially autocorrelated prices of housing properties data, in terms of our selection criteria.

Multidimensional deprivations in Pakistan: Regional variations and temporal shifts

We examine the impact of financial inclusion on multidimensional poverty in impoverished counties. The results show that (1) financial inclusion can directly alleviate the multidimensional poverty, but this effect is heterogeneous between different groups. (2) Agricultural industrialization is the realization mechanism of financial inclusion to alleviate multidimensional poverty. We recommend that financial inclusion not only need to solve the problem of credit exclusion faced by the poor but also need to improve the ability of the poor to convert credit funds into production capital and combine financial inclusion with agricultural industrialization in poverty areas.

Significance. Over the past two decades, Russia has experienced a series of economic crises during which many individuals faced financial stress caused by debt, declining income, and fear of job loss. During the same period, the country has tightened its tobacco control policies, which were expected to reduce the prevalence of smoking. However, the effect of stress associated with crises on tobacco consumption remains unclear. At the same time, monitoring the population addictive behaviors during crisis periods is essential for developing public health protection tools and minimizing the adverse consequences of tobacco use for both smokers and society as a whole. Purpose. To assess the impact of economic crises, financial stress, and tobacco control policies on the prevalence of smoking among employed Russians. Material and methods. This study uses data from the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey of the National Research University "Higher School of Economics", covering the period from 2000 to 2023. Statistical and econometric methods were employed, including binary choice models with fixed effects, to estimate the impact of different levels of financial stress and periods of economic crisis on smoking probability while controlling for individual-specific and temporal factors. Results. Cigarette consumption was found to be associated with financial stress, but this relationship varied depending on the level of stress, individual characteristics, and specific contextual factors such as the presence of crises and the stringency of tobacco control policies. Moderate and high levels of stress among men were associated with a reduction in smoking, whereas among women, a decrease in smoking was observed only under moderate stress. During the period of lenient tobacco control in 2008-2009, the number of cigarette consumers increased; the tightening of tobacco restrictions during the 2014-2015 crisis was accompanied by a significant decline in smoking prevalence; in 2020, despite the crisis, smoking prevalence remained stable under a moderate excise policy. Conclusion. The study confirms the need for an adaptive approach to tobacco control policy that considers the economic context and gender differences in the perception of financial stress. A reduction in smoking prevalence during economic crises is likely to be more effective when strict tobacco control measures are combined with social and psychological support for those who wish to quit smoking. It is recommended to develop gender-sensitive smoking cessation programs, expand educational and awareness campaigns, and integrate stress management and smoking cessation services. Scope of application. The results can be used to improve tobacco control policies during economic crises in order to decrease smoking prevalence among working men and women. Keywords: financial stress; economic crisis; anti-smoking policy; smoking prevalence; cigarette consumption.

Background Following the worldwide economic crisis of 2008, studies have found an increased risk for self-harm and suicide attempts, many of which need hospital care. There is no research in Portugal on the matter. Therefore, our goal was to estimate the impact of the Portuguese economic crisis of 2009-2014 on the hospital admission rates by attempted suicide and self-harm in Portugal. Methods A retrospective ecological study, with an interrupted time series analysis of hospital admissions by suicide attempts (data from the national Hospital Mobility Database) in mainland Portugal, between 2003 and 2014, was performed. Resident population data over 15 years old was retrieved from the National Statistics Institute. Poisson regression models were used to compare rates and trends before (2003-2008) and during (2009-2014) the Portuguese economic crisis. All rates were adjusted for seasonality. Results A total of 35,077 hospital admission episodes by suicide attempt were retrieved. The mean admission rate was 2.947 per 100 000 inhabitants per month before the crisis, falling to 2.798 during the crisis period. Before the crisis, the total admission rate was decreasing 1% per year. After the crisis erupted, there was a level change, with a sudden increase of 7.9%. The suicide and self-harm admission rate, after 2008, was constant and approximately 38.8% higher than expected if the earlier trend had continued. Conclusions There was an increase in the total hospital admission rate by suicide attempts and self-harm during the economic crisis period in Portugal, when compared to the previous period. Key messages Economic crisis can pose considerable suicide risks. Urgent action is needed to prevent economic crisis leading to additional suicides.

The COVID-19 pandemic created a period of social and economic crisis that introduced two distinct problems for social media influencers. At the same time that the pandemic made their work economically precarious, it also made their work morally hazardous, as large-scale human suffering made influencers’ lifestyle promotions appear out of step with their audiences’ day-to-day experiences. How did influencers and the personnel they work with organize their labour to navigate uncertainty and avoid moral criticism? Drawing on 40 in-depth interviews with fashion influencers as well as the industry personnel they work with, I explain how influencers and those close to them respond to and combat issues of uncertainty and change during a period of crisis. I pair this interview data with a year-long online observation of influencers’ labour online. In a calibrated move from aspiration to authenticity, influencers stressed the ‘ordinary’ and ‘everyday’ qualities of their lives during the pandemic, evading moral sanctions against profit-making. Throughout, they leveraged their tentacular connections with audiences to refine content in step with shifting demand and desire online, maximizing their market reach and annual revenue.

The performance and the contribution of the Zimbabwean manufacturing sector to the Gross Domestic Product, employment and export revenues has declined significantly since 1996. However, some manufacturing firms are operating at more than 60% capacity utilisation and posting positive profit margins. This shows significant performance variation of firms operating in the same business environment which may be a result of variation the strategies used by firms. Knowledge of the most effective strategies in economic crisis will help several manufacturing firms that are currently struggling to survive in the economic crisis. The main goal was to determine the strategies used by manufacturing firms during the period of economic crisis in Zimbabwe. In addition the study also sought to establish the most effective strategies that improved the performance of manufacturing firms in period of an economic crisis.The study used the descriptive research design, which is also a type of the conclusive research design. A survey questionnaire was administered to 272 firms in the nine sub-sector of the manufacturing sector that are currently operational. Multiple regression analysis was used to determine the influence of the strategies on the profitability of firms of different sizes.The results of the study showed that there is a positive relationship between strategies with a greater emphasis on analysis and pro-activeness and performance. In addition results of the study indicated that there is a negative and significant relationship between strategies oriented towards aggressiveness and riskiness and performance. Keywords: management strategy, business performance, manufacturing, economic crises, Zimbabwe

The aim of the article is to identify the main tendencies in the dynamics of interregional disparities in the level of socio-economic development in Russia during periods of economic growth and crisis. These trends have been identified on the basis of an analysis of the regional coefficient of asymmetry of key per-capita indicators (GDP, investment in fixed capital etc.) as well as indicators of spatial concentration in Russia and deviations from the average (for GDP, per capita GDP and investments) at the federal district and regional levels. The main factors driving the dynamics of these disparities were the economic crisis, government anti-crisis measures and measures of social support. Comparison of the level of interregional disproportions in Russia and abroad indicated that the differences between levels of socio-economic development at the federal level are comparable with differences in EU countries, but at the level of regions - with countries of the world.