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COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the economies around the world and the economic fallout from preventive measures such as lockdown is enormous. It has massive repercussions for the sharing economy as well. This research paper empirically analyses the impact of lockdown restrictions on five major sectors of the sharing economy such as ride-hailing, accommodation, freelance work, entertainment and delivery services. To evaluate this impact, we employed the difference-in-difference estimation technique using the Google trends data for selected countries. Daily search data of 2019 and 2020 is reindexed to examine the change in search patterns that occurred after lockdown. The empirical results show that transportation and accommodation sectors are negatively impacted by COVID-19 related lockdown while the other sectors of the sharing economy such as freelance work, streaming services and online deliveries are seeing a surge in searches. The findings of this study provide vital insights into the economic disruptions caused by COVID-19 related lockdown. We have highlighted the sectors that are booming during pandemic thus the sharing economy platforms and government have opportunities to invest in these sectors to jump-start the economy. The recently unemployed gig workers can also be employed in these sectors to address the problem of unemployment.

This study investigates linkages among institutions, education and economic growth empirically and theoretically and is based on panel data between 1996 and 2017. For the panel data, two-stage least squares (2SLS) regression analysis was used to estimate the results in developing countries. Rule of law, control of corruption, absence of violence and political stability were used as proxies for institution. We found that economic growth exerted positive and significant effects on education, control of corruption, absence of violence and political stability. Rule of law, absence of violence, political stability and control of corruption have positive and significant effects on education, and education has a negative and significant effect on absence of violence and political stability but a positive and significant effect on rule of law and economic growth. Hence, results show that institutions positively affect economic growth through education and a difference in institutional quality is the key to differences in education among countries.

This research is the earliest attempt to understand the impact of inflation and the interest rate on output growth in the context of Pakistan using the wavelet transformation approach. For this study, we used monthly data on inflation, the interest rate, and industrial production from January 1991 to May 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected economies around the world, especially in view of the measures taken by governmental authorities regarding enforced lockdowns and social distancing. Traditional studies empirically explored the relationship between these important macroeconomic variables only for the short run and long run. Firstly, we employed the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) cointegration test and two causality tests (Granger causality and Toda-Yamamoto) to check the cointegration properties and causal relationship among these variables, respectively. After confirming the long-run causality from the ARDL bound test, we decomposed the time series of growth, inflation, and the interest rate into different time scales using wavelet analysis which allows us to study the relationship among variables for the very short run, medium run, long run, and very long run. The continuous wavelet transform (CWT), the cross-wavelet transform (XWT), cross-wavelet coherence (WTC), and multi-scale Granger causality tests were used to investigate the co-movement and nature of the causality between inflation and growth and the interest rate and growth. The results of the wavelet and multi-scale Granger causality tests show that the causal relationship between these variables is not the same across all time horizons; rather, it is unidirectional in the short-run and medium-run but bi-directional in the long-run. Therefore, this study suggests that the central bank should try to maintain inflation and the interest rate at a low level in the short run and medium run instead of putting too much pressure on these variables in the long-run.

If historical shocks influence educational outcomes, how long does the effect last, and does it differ among ethnic groups? This study answers these questions by exploiting the historical experiment of partition—that is the splitting of the British Raj into India and Pakistan—and by presenting a theoretical model that explains the trade-offs such a shock uncovers for different ethnic groups that have to decide between assimilation through education and maintaining their ethnic specificity. We use different rounds of Pakistan social and living standard measurement (PSLM) survey and analyze the educational outcomes of the grandchildren of partition (i.e., whose grandparents were born during the partition). We show that the scar from partition is long-lasting, as the present generation is still living under its influence. More importantly, our results reveal the different adaptation strategies of ethnic and cultural groups in the long run.

A correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11698-021-00233-6

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought rampant changes in skill needed in the labor market. It has accentuated technological disruption leaving millions in dire need of reskilling and upskilling. In this paper, we empirically analyze the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic related lockdown on the thrust of skills upgradation among people. By analyzing the Google trends data of 13 countries, we test the effect of the lockdown implementations on the urge to upgrade the skills through online searches for skills enhancement. Using difference-in-difference estimation approach, we found a substantial hike in the frequency of search terms related to skills upgradation. Our results suggest that people are utilizing the excess time, made available due to lockdowns, by exploring avenues to enhance their skills to accumulate human capital. The online educational platforms have been proven vital. The findings of this study establish the causal link between use of online education platforms and human capital development.

We analyze the persistence of the major determinants of distrust toward the European Union (EU) and pro-Brexit voting attitudes of citizens of the United Kingdom. Looking both backward and forward, our analysis confirms that Euroscepticism is deep-rooted, although the data reveal differences across different parts of the country. We observe no major transformation in the favor of the EU over the last two decades or in the post-referendum period. We also carry out an age-period-cohort analysis by interacting age and cohort effects with time to analyze the evolution of individual preferences. We find that an aging population will promote Eurosceptic assertiveness. We then implement a demographic forecasting analysis to predict whether the level of distrust of older cohorts can be offset by differing attitudes among younger cohorts in the future. On the contrary, we find that demographic trends will tend to strengthen distrust in the EU.

The present study investigates the impact of threshold inflation on economic growth of Pakistan using factors from growth theories. The empirical analysis is based on data from 1973 to 2023. The study used threshold regression to estimate the threshold level of inflation. The estimated threshold levels are 9.3 and 9.6 percent for inflation computed from consumer price index and wholesale price index respectively. The estimates revealed that after reaching the threshold inflation level, labour force growth and trade act as Keynesian theory suggests but the role of money supply contradicts from the Monetarists theory. This study is foremost in using regression trees in the analysis of threshold inflation and growth. The analysis of regression trees indicates that inflation and money supply are the major determinants of the growth of economy. The study concludes inflation above the threshold level of inflation corresponds to very low levels of growth in the country. The study suggests keeping inflation below threshold for the sustainable growth of the country.

This paper shows that the probability of replacing a central bank governor is positively related to the time already spent in office, to banking and currency crises, the occurrence of elections, central bank independence reforms, and inflation. Moreover, results are shown to depend on the change being a regular or irregular one, and whether it occurs before or after the legal term.

This study has attempted to investigate the consequences of CO2 emissions on infants’ health in Pakistan over the period of 1975 to 2013. Several economic factors have been employed in our analysis and the estimates show insignificant impact of CO2 emissions in affecting children mortality. Increasing health facilities lowers children mortality over a short period were also observed but the relationship inversed in the long-run. In short-run, urbanization appeared as a decreasing factor to children mortality. While income inequality remains inversely related with children mortality. Both poverty and fertility are found enhancing factors to children deaths. The poor sector of the economy seemed to observe higher children mortality due to inadequate health facilities and low standards of living. Overall, we have observed greater impact of economic factors in explaining children mortality than CO2 emissions in case of Pakistan. These issues have a significant impact on the representative industries in Pakistan, such as the cotton textile and traditional clothing industry (apparel manufacturing).