Are ‘more globalised’ countries suffering higher rates of coronavirus infection? A new cross-country analysis considers the spread of the virus, as well as fatality rates in the context of healthcare capacity.
Post-pandemic, will a strong Europe be the solution (rather than the problem) for the future of the continent? A new working paper sets out a visionary approach based on a strong commitment to sustainable development, improvements in the public sector, joint taxation and sound fiscal behaviour.
Does the migration of higher education students from North Africa to the UK lead to positive, negative or mixed results? A new working paper weighs up the respective impacts of brain drain vs. brain gain.
These are just three of the questions tackled by our researchers in April 2020 — in five working papers, one journal article, and one PhD defence, among many others. Click here for the full list of our most recent publications.
Working papers
‘Taking the challenge: A joint European policy response to the corona crisis to strengthen the public sector and restart a more sustainable and social Europe‘ calls for a visionary strategy to achieve sustainability after the coronavirus crisis and to further a social Europe with a stronger public sector. According to the paper, a strong Europe is a solution and not the problem for the future of the continent. EU cooperation implies joint Euro area monetary funding (ECB) and joint Euro area borrowing (ESM or otherwise), but only conditional on strong commitments for sustainable development, an improvement of the public sector, joint taxation as well as for sound fiscal behaviour. By Prof. Jo Ritzen, Prof. Klaus F. Zimmermann et al.
‘Inter-country distancing, globalisation and the coronavirus pandemic‘ investigates the impact of globalisation on the speed of initial transmission of the coronavirus to a country and on the size of initial infections in the context of other driving factors. The cross-country analysis provided in this paper finds that measures of globalisation are positively related to the spread of the virus, both in speed and size. However, the study also finds that globalised countries are better equipped to keep fatality rates low. The authors recommend not to reduce globalisation to avoid pandemics, but to better monitor the human factor at the outbreak and to mobilise collaboration forces to curtail diseases. By Prof. Klaus F. Zimmermann et al.
‘The economic impact of public R&D: an international perspective‘ estimates the economic impact of public investment in R&D in public research institutes such as universities and public research organisations. The study finds that for the period 1975-2014, investment in public R&D has had a clearly positive effect on total factor productivity (Total Factor Productivity) growth in the majority of the 17 OECD countries analysed. The authors observe a strong dynamic complementarity between the public and private (domestic) stocks of R&D for a number of countries. In countries where this complementarity is strong, the TFP effect of extra public R&D investments is also strong. By Prof. Luc Soete, Prof. Bart Verspagen and Dr. Thomas Ziesemer.
‘Migration of higher education students from the North Africa region to the United Kingdom‘ seeks to present a more comprehensive and recent analysis of the migration of higher education students from the North Africa region to the UK using UNESCO recent secondary data on international students mobility in tertiary education. The paper findings show among others that migrations of higher education students from North Africa to the UK lead to mixed positive and negative impacts (e.g. transfer of knowledge, brain gain and skill acquisition for returned migrant students, but the weak capacity to retain talents and brain drain for non-returned migrant students). The study also suggests that skills of migrant higher education students from the North Africa region can be better mobilised in their countries of origin by addressing the push-pull factors that determine the migration of skills from the North Africa region. By Prof. Samia Nour.
‘Overview of the Sudan Uprising‘ considers the events of December 2018-August 2019 and discusses the major causes of the uprising, factors that contributed to its success, as well as potential opportunities and major challenges that followed. The paper finds that the lack of peace, freedom, and justice motivated the mass street demonstrations calling for peace, freedom, and justice for all people in Sudan. It argues that it is important for policymakers in Sudan to adopt sound and coherent policies in order to carry out the comprehensive economic, social, political and institutional reforms needed to fulfil the objectives of the Sudan Uprising (peace, freedom, and justice) and to achieve inclusive growth and sustainable development in Sudan. By Prof. Samia Nour.
Journal articles
‘Cost–related unmet need for healthcare services in Kenya‘ examines to what extent financial barriers, associated determinants, and the influence of regional variations can be linked to the unmet need for healthcare services in Kenya. The article finds that cost-related barriers are the main cause of the unmet need for outpatient and inpatient services, with wide variations across the counties. The findings underscore the important role of cost in enabling access to healthcare services. The authors argue that scaling up of health financing mechanisms would fundamentally require a multi-layered approach with a focus on the relatively poor counties, so as to address the variations in access. They recommend further segmentation of the population for better targeting of health financing policies and for higher equity in access for the most vulnerable and marginalised populations. By Prof. Wim Groot et al.
PhD defences
‘Diaspora mobilisation in a conflict setting: The emergence and trajectories of Syrian Diaspora mobilisation in Germany‘ sheds light on the transnational embeddedness of diaspora mobilisation in conflict-settings. Based on 80 in-depth interviews with Syrian diasporic political entrepreneurs in Germany and participatory observation of selected diaspora activities, this doctoral thesis investigates how conflict dynamics in Syria, as well as factors in the destination country, influenced the process of transnational mobilisation of Syrian diaspora groups in Germany. The central argument of this dissertation is that diaspora mobilisation should be understood as a dynamic process in which structures and diaspora agents co-constitute each other. While structures do provide opportunities and constraints in the process of mobilisation, diaspora actors show considerable agency in shaping the transnational political reality, by individually and collectively negotiating the transnational political opportunity structures present in the mobilisation process. The dissertation, therefore, not only puts emphasis on the structural conditions of mobilisation but also highlights the diverse contributions of diaspora actors to the transformation of conflicts in different locations. By Dr. Nora Ragab.
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The opinions expressed here are the authors’ own; they do not necessarily reflect the views of UNU.
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