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This paper aims to study the gender inequality in the health impacts of energy poverty. Using the Chinese Family Panel Studies (CFPS) 2018 data, we examine the gender heterogeneous effects of energy poverty on residents' health. The empirical results indicate that energy poverty would increase the ratio of respiratory disease, hospitalization as well as the healthcare expenditure. The effects are moderated by housework time. Moreover, we explore the gender inequality of the health impacts and find that women's health is more severely impaired and the effect of gender inequality is heterogeneous between urban and rural areas. We further investigate the historical origins of intra-household division of labor and reveal that the root of gender inequality in the health effects of energy poverty is status inequality. The government should give the first priority to energy poverty alleviation through modern energy network construction. Providing the energy-deprived families with ventilation equipment and medical insurance should be considered as the next step. Finally, it is imperative to eradicate urban-rural dual structure and legislate to ensure gender equality in the whole society.

Each year there are over 300 natural disasters globally with millions of victims that cost economic losses near USD$100 billion. In the context of climate change, an emerging literature linking extreme weather events to HIV infections suggests that efforts to control the HIV epidemic could be under threat. We used Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data collected during the 2015-2016 harsh drought that affected several areas of Malawi to provide new evidence on the effect of an unanticipated economic shock on sexual behaviours of young women and men. We find that amongst women employed in agriculture, a six-months drought doubles their likelihood of engaging in transactional sex compared to women who were not affected by the drought and increases their likelihood of having a sexually transmitted infections (STI) by 48% in the past twelve months. Amongst men employed outside of agriculture, drought increases by 50% the likelihood of having a relationship with a woman engaged in transactional sex. These results suggest that women in agriculture experiencing economic shocks as a result of drought use transactional sex with unaffected men, i.e. men employed outside agriculture, as a coping mechanism, exposing themselves to the risk of contracting HIV. The effect was especially observed among non-educated women. A single drought in the last five years increases HIV prevalence in Malawi by around 15% amongst men and women. Overall, the results confirm that weather shocks are important drivers of risky sexual behaviours of young women relying on agriculture in Africa. Further research is needed to investigate the most adequate formal shock-coping strategies to be implemented in order to limit the negative consequences of natural disasters on HIV acquisition and transmission.

This study aims to contribute to the long-standing debate on technology-push versus demand-pull mechanisms to support the creation and diffusion of innovations. We argue that in addition to the traditional push–pull dichotomy, technological change drivers must be differentiated by whether they are exogenous or endogenous to the economic system and must be assessed against their contribution to both the creation and the diffusion of innovation. We apply this perspective to study innovation in the renewable energy (RE) industry in 15 European Union countries. We find that public R&D investments, public policies, and per capita income positively affect either innovation creation or diffusion. However, impacts differ depending on the innovation dimension considered. Economic growth is relatively ineffective at stimulating innovation creation. In contrast, it is a strong driver of RE diffusion with a nonlinear, U-shaped impact that has both a direct cause and an indirect cause. Our findings highlight the importance of deploying diverse policy instruments simultaneously to enhance the effectiveness of clean energy policies.

Value-based banks strive to build a self-sustaining banking model with inclusive and transparent governance that is sustainable and resilient to external disturbances. Initiatives for value-based intermediation in Islamic finance started in Malaysia. The growth in VBIBs is accompanied by claims about its relative resilience to crisis and efficiency compared to VBBs and conventional banks. However, little empirical evidence is available to support such claims. This study aims to analyze the resilience and efficiency of VBIBs compared to the VBBs and GSIBs. It highlights the role of value-based strategy in developing a sound and resilient Islamic banking system to overcome future crises and further strengthen the impacts of Islamic banks. The study used quantitative and content analysis research methods, with data collected from the annual reports of 10 VBIBs from 2017 to 2020. The empirical results show that VBIBs have better risk-adjusted capital levels and asset quality, enabling them to be more resilient during crises. They provide more satisfactory returns compared to the VBBs and GSIBs. However, VBBs have a better asset structure and growth rate, which contributes to the real economy. The overall findings suggest that adopting value-based strategies in Islamic banking improve banks’ sustainability, resilience, and social impacts by concentrating resources on value-based activities that provide economic resiliency and enhance inclusive and sustainable economic growth. The study fills gaps in the current Islamic finance literature concerning empirical studies on value-based Islamic banking. It also helps practitioners to understand the relative efficiency, resilience, and social impact of VBIBs.

Contains fulltext : 250148.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) 11 maart 2022

Background: It is imperative to develop an efficient strategic approach to managing the push-pull factor in economic development, particularly as relates to climate change and energy interactions in the West African Region. This article demonstrates the use of System Dynamics Modelling (SDM) for that purpose; to manage the development of energy growth with reduced impact in regards to climate change. The complexities of energy planning in relation to climate change necessitates the need for the tool to examine low carbon economy mixed with traditional approaches of planning. Methods: Vensim DSS version 6.2 was used to develop the model. WAPP member country level data elicited from WAPP and ECOWAS Regional Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERERA) serves as the set of basic data used to develop and run the main model. These were complemented with other data elicited from various journal articles and internet sources. These include population and its average growth rate, GDP, per capita income, average per capita electricity demand, electricity generated, average electricity tariff, generation technology type, amongst others. Results: SDM demonstrates the capability to understand the theoretical frame for trade-offs between economic development and climate change, by handling the nonlinear relationship between generation adequacy and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction for better targeted strategic regional intervention on climate change. Conclusion: The primary goal of this paper was to demonstrate the use of SDM to aid in resource planning in an inexpensive way to examine low carbon pathway. With the SDM, the goal of low carbon pathway in the energy system was achieved without the cost of controlled trials.

Climate change policies in countries of the Middle East and Northern Africa (MENA) region are evolving from a top-down, government-led approach towards more pluralistic climate governance, which incorporates a local perspective and actors while strengthening the communities' resilience. Egypt, as a case study with high economic and natural vulnerability to climate change, and a significant number of vulnerable communities, is struggling to coordinate and effectively manage current sketchy climate policies. This paper examines the perception of climate change in four urban and rural communities, and their adaptation needs. Results show high local awareness and diverse ad-hoc adaptation strategies. Local communities are in need of site-specific policies and special funds that encourage capacity building and networking, as well as the making available of climate data and adaptation knowledge.