Global economic resilience: Analyzing the diverse impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the US,Pakistan, and the world

The economic development of a state can be accurately characterized as the measurable changes in macroeconomic indicators that result in an increase in the overall production or output over a specific timeframe, in comparison to the previous period. Several key macroeconomic factors contribute to the advancement of economic growth. These factors include the industrial production, unemployment rate, business Confidence Index, government budget deficit, and the labor force participation rate. The study employed secondary data from January 2016 to August 2023, with a monthly frequency, to estimate the coefficients. The data encompassed the United States, Pakistan, and the rest of the world. The empirical findings indicate that there exists a negative relationship between equality and economic growth in the United States, Pakistan, and other countries worldwide. The findings demonstrate that the global pandemic has had a notable impact on the industrial production of the World, the United States, and Pakistan, with an initial increase followed by a gradual decline. The unemployment rates in the United States, Pakistan, and the rest of the world have experienced a substantial decline. Simultaneously, the rate of unemployment has witnessed a notable increase, resulting in significant and adverse effects on the respective economies. The decrease in the Business Confidence Index can be attributed to heightened levels of uncertainty, which in turn have had a detrimental impact on the gross domestic product of the United States, Pakistan, and other countries worldwide. The reduction in imports has resulted in a decrease in the government budget deficit, which has had a notable impact on the economy.     

Land tenurial dynamics and participatory forestry management in Bangladesh

Of late, participatory forestry management, more popularly known as ‘social forestry’ (SF), has acquired great significance in Bangladesh as a strategy for both forest resource management and rural development. However, research on the contextual factors such as social relations, institutional structures, forest policies and land tenurial arrangements which regulate SF's performance in the field has been limited. Land ownership and tenurial arrangement is one crucial factor which has remained virtually unexplored in the context of Bangladesh SF. This article examines the land use and tenure arrangements in selected SF projects in Bangladesh. It focuses on the perceptions and choice of the SF farmers regarding land ownership, tenure and use; implications of central land tenurial policy on farm productivity and farmers' motivation; and also on the difference between farmers' land use choice and the assumptions of the SF planners. It shows that land tenure is a complex issue for SF. Although tenurial security is a major motivating force for farmers, providing permanent land ownership alone has little impact on farm productivity or on the growth of collective effort among SF farmers. Farmers need institutional assurance and support (especially from the government) to fully utilize the potential rights and benefits associated with such ownership. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Risk factors for severe inter-sibling violence: a preliminary study of a youth forensic sample

The perpetration of severe inter-sibling violence (SISV) remains a largely unexplored area of family violence. This article describes an investigation of risk factors for intentional SISV perpetration. A sample of 111 young people under the care of the Scottish criminal justice or welfare systems was studied. A SISV perpetration interview schedule was developed to measure the influence of 43 potential predictor variables. The Buss and Perry Aggression Questionnaire and Levenson's Self-Report Psychopathy Scale were also employed in this exploratory analysis.     

Framework for teachers' acceptance of information and communication technology in Pakistan: Application of the extended UTAUT model

The motive of this research paper is to investigate the teachers' adoption of information and communication technology (ICT) in Pakistan and the application of extended UTAUT model in a new context. A number of factors can cause changes in intention towards the usage of ICT including social, behavioral, and psychological factors, but this study, using the UTAUT model, is limited to examining the behavioral determinants of teachers' acceptance of ICT. To achieve the objective, a quantitative approach was adopted where questionnaire‐based data were obtained for analysis. The analyses were conducted on 341 valid responses that were collected from the teachers of high secondary schools in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan. Getting the data analyzed through SPSS and AMOS, our results show that performance expectancy, efforts expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, and information technology capabilities play a significant role in shaping teachers' adoption of ICT. Moreover, behavioral intentions mediate the relationship between the predictors and ICT usage. Based on the findings of this paper, administrators and government are recommended to spend additional efforts and money by launching programs for their teachers to increase the usage of ICT in their teaching and schools. The study provides numerous insights for teachers, school administrators, and government ICT‐based smart teaching and learning institutions.     

Nexus between carbon emission,financial development,and access to electricity: Incorporating the role of natural resources and population growth

This study explores the nexus between financial development, access to electricity, and CO₂ emissions in Pakistan over the period from 1990 to 2015, incorporating the role of natural resources and population growth. We checked the stationarity of the data by using three different unit root tests (ADF, Phillip Pesaran, and DG‐FLS). Long‐ and short‐run elasticities have been determined through auto‐regressive distributive lag (ARDL) method. The empirical results confirmed that financial development and access to electricity increase CO₂ emissions and deteriorate the environmental quality. In addition, the population growth is responsible for growing CO₂ emissions in Pakistan, while natural resources have insignificant relation with CO₂ emissions. Furthermore, bidirectional causality exists between population growth and natural resources, whereas unidirectional causality is detected among financial development and CO₂ emissions, natural resources and population growth, and financial development and population growth. The newly developed findings suggest helpful policy implications to adequately address the issue of CO₂ emissions without compromising economic development.     

Tea culture and industry: Customer tea buying decision‐making power shaped by social capital in the presence of mutual trust

This study contributes to the literature on tea culture and industry by examining the impact of social capital on customer perception which controls the decision to buy the tea products. Prior research suggests that individual cognition is the most essential element to target to achieve the required tea purchasing decision power. Individuals who socially connect and share views via social media are more likely to share a buy recommendation that psychologically inspires the buying decisions of customers. For present study data were collected through a structured questionnaire from 300 universities students usually use social media to get required information, knowledge and ask from other friends regarding product recommendation which is more trustworthy and easily accessible. The findings of the present study provide new insights into the development of the tea industry and encourage the use of tea products.