Rukhsana Kalim

The world's most vulnerable countries are at a high risk of the inverse impact of climate change, and at the same time, these countries have limited resources and strategies to cope with the effects of climate change. Developing countries are the consumers of climate change and more vulnerable to climate change. The current study will highlight the importance of institutions in reducing the impact of natural disasters. A sample of 40 highly vulnerable countries is used as a study sample based on the ND-GAINS ranking for 1995-2020. This sample is comprised of low-income and developing countries. Panel Quantile Regression is used as an econometric technique to find the results of this study. Results indicate that the high quality of institutions and the use of renewable energy resources in a mixture of energies have the potential to reduce the risk associated with climate change. Moreover, natural disasters and weak institutions in developing countries can potentially worsen the inverse impact of climate change and trap these countries in a vicious cycle. Policymakers and governments in these countries should focus on institutional reforms of institutions directly responsible for mitigating climate change. This is the only way these countries can break the vicious cycle and decrease their vulnerability to climate change.

Oil prices (OP) may play a significant role in determining inflation in any oil-importing economy and could have an asymmetrical effect as well. Thus, this paper aims to explore the asymmetric influence of OP, broad money supply (BMS), and domestic debt (DD) on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in the oil-importing economy of Pakistan using the nonlinear autoregressive distributive lag (NARDL) methodology on an annual sample from 1980 to 2021. The long-run results show that increasing OP and BMS have a positive effect on CPI. Similarly, decreasing OP and BMS have a positive effect on CPI. So, increasing OP and BMS is raising price levels, and decreasing OP and BMS is reducing price levels. OP has a positive and symmetrical effect on CPI. However, the BMS has a positive but asymmetrical effect on CPI. Furthermore, the effect of decreasing BMS is found greater than increasing BMS. Moreover, the effect of DD on CPI is also found asymmetrical. The increasing DD has a positive effect, and decreasing DD has a negative effect on CPI. The most of short-run results follow the long-run results. However, energy usage shows a negative effect on CPI in the short run, which is insignificant in the long-run results. This study recommends controlling the money supply and oil prices to reduce consumer prices.

The magnitude of the economic activities is immense in very high–Human Development Index (HDI) countries, leading to environmental degradation, a crucial problem. This study is aimed at testing aggregate demand’s role in the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) perspective and explores the role of four pillars of the knowledge economy, viz., technology, innovations, education, and institutions, as proposed by World Bank, in maintaining sustainable development of environmental quality in these countries. The analysis covers the period ranging from 1995 to 2022. The departure of normality of the variables provides a solid base for panel quantile regression (PQR). Unlike ordinary least squares (OLS) regression, which estimates the conditional mean of the dependent variable, PQR estimates the conditional quantiles. The estimated results using PQR confirm both U and inverted U-shaped aggregate demand–based EKC. In fact, these knowledge pillars in the model determine the shape of EKC. Results also reveal that two knowledge pillars, i.e., technology and innovations, are responsible for significantly reducing carbon emissions. In comparison, education and institutions are responsible for expanding carbon emissions. As a moderator, all knowledge pillars except institutions are shifting the EKC downward. The key lessons from these findings are that technology and innovation can reduce carbon emissions, while education and institutions may have a mixed impact. The relationship between knowledge pillars and emissions may be moderated by other factors, underscoring the need for further research. Moreover, urbanization, energy intensity, financial development, and trade openness significantly contribute to environmental deterioration.

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Purpose: Despite an extensive history of research into workplace bullying and the psychosomatic harm associated with it in western contexts, research into the occurrence and manifestation of bullying behavior in the academic workplaces of non-western countries is sparse. In response to this gap, the purpose of this paper is to start a research conversation by reporting an empirical enquiry into the occurrence, forms and perceptions of workplace bullying among academics in Pakistan. Design/methodology/approach: This study was conducted with a representative sample of academics in a large Pakistani province through a cross-sectional survey. Findings: This study reveals that workplace bullying is prevalent among academics in the Pakistani context, with up to half of them regularly exposed to practices such as excessive work monitoring, undermining of professional competence, lack of recognition of work contributions and obstruction of important work-related matters. Research limitations/implications: The findings underscore the need for developing broader institutional actions, clear policies and grievance procedures to discourage bullying at work in Pakistan. Higher educational managers will find the results useful for development of anti-bullying policies and codes of conduct. Originality/value: This is the first study to examine the perceptions, occurrence and demographic risk factors associated with workplace bullying among academics in the Pakistani context.