Journal of Public Affairs最新文献

This study examines the impact of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), 2016 on dividend policy using a panel of Indian firms from 2010 to 2019 sourced from the Prowess IQ database. We find a significant decline in both the intensity and propensity of dividend payments post-IBC, consistent with the notion that firms reduce payouts to retain internal funds and reduce reliance on debt. However, this negative effect is less pronounced for business group-affiliated firms, especially those linked to India's Top 50 diversified business groups, suggesting more efficient internal capital markets and higher dividend capacity. Sub-sample analysis reveals that unlevered firms do not exhibit changes in dividend policy post-IBC, while levered firms do, confirming internal financing as a key mechanism. Further, we document a post-IBC decline in firm leverage, supporting a deleveraging trend. Our results remain robust to alternate dividend definitions and instrumental variable regressions addressing endogeneity concerns using the GMM framework.

Addressing climate mitigation goals at a national level is crucial for their overall success. This paper builds upon existing literature that identifies the national institutional setting, such as democratic polity, as a significant factor influencing a nation's commitment to, and the effectiveness of, carbon emissions reduction. However, we argue that democracy is a more complex concept than the oversimplified notion of “level of democracy.” Therefore, this paper investigates the role of various features of democratic institutions—including equal elections, citizen participation, and deliberative democracy—in sustainable development. Furthermore, the political will of a state must be effectively translated and implemented through its national administrative system. This paper underscores the importance of national administrative capacity, with a particular focus on the level of corruption, in achieving carbon emissions reduction. Using panel data for 163 countries from 1990 to 2016, this study shows that at the country level, equal elections, citizen participation, and deliberative democracy are negatively correlated with carbon emissions. Corruption is always associated with an increase in carbon emissions. Furthermore, as levels of corruption rise, the positive impact of various democratic institutions on carbon reduction decreases. Our research suggests that in the process of reducing carbon emissions, countries should maintain the positive aspects of democratic institutions; in addition, governments should also focus on improving administrative capacity, particularly the ability to control corruption, in order to translate institutional advantages into better performance in reducing carbon emissions.

This study examines public opinion regarding government surveillance in the United States, focusing on three types of government surveillance policy: video surveillance in public areas, monitoring of emails and other information exchanged on the Internet, and mass information collection on the population without consent. The study employs a multilevel approach: First, opposition to each surveillance activity is compared among 34 OECD member countries to provide context for discussing public opinion in the United States. Then the analysis focuses solely on a nationally representative sample to examine whether attitudes vary by online and offline political activism, trust in government, perceived corruption, perceived terrorism threat, and a preference for security over freedom. While trust and perceived corruption and threat are found to have consistent and significant effects in all domains, the influence of political activity varied by domain of surveillance rights, as well as type of political activity. Notably, only online political activity was a significant predictor of opposition to the government's right to monitor exchanges on the Internet, while both online and offline political activity contributed to the disapproval of mass information collection. Practical and theoretical implications for research and policy are discussed.

Climate change and its associated health impacts represent the most pressing global challenges confronting policymakers and governments. These issues demand urgent attention and coordinated action, as they threaten public health, environmental stability and socioeconomic well-being. One of the crucial goals of Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG-7) is to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all. Despite the notable economic growth in emerging nations, the shift from traditional to clean cooking energies has been sluggish, particularly, when examining the rural–urban divide. Conventional energy sources continue to pose severe threats to human health and environmental quality, making the transition to clean energy essential. While numerous studies have analyzed economic factors driving clean energy adoption in emerging nations, there has been limited attention to the role of institutions and democracy. This research utilizes secondary data from 20 emerging nations from 2000 to 2021 to address this gap. The study employs panel cointegration and fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) models to investigate the impact of institutional quality and levels of democracy on the energy transition. The findings reveal that institutions and democracy play a significant role in adopting clean cooking energy. In all four empirical models, the coefficients for democracy and institutions are found to be 0.30, 0.35, 0.19, 0.30, and 1.89, 3.68, 3.92, and 7.98, respectively, indicating that stronger institutions and democracy increase the adoption of clean cooking energies. Moreover, macroeconomic factors such as foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows, financial development, and economic growth contribute to improving clean energy supply and adoption; however, their positive effects are contingent on strong institutions. The study concludes that the success of macroeconomic strategies in promoting clean energy is intertwined with the quality of institutions and democratic governance. Based on these insights, the paper offers several policy recommendations to enhance the transition to clean cooking energy in emerging nations.

Rule of law, political stability, anti-corruption measures, and regulatory quality by the government all play a critical role in analyzing economic growth in many countries. Thus, the study empirically examines the links connecting governance and economic growth in 15 emerging and developed nations. This research applies the dynamic panel data of the GMM estimator to look into the function of governance in predicting the growth performance of the economies of ASEAN and five selected economies. According to the findings, corruption control, government effectiveness, and regulatory variables can be used as a proxy for economic growth. Therefore, other governance proxies had no effect on GDP growth during the studied time frame. A separate test was also conducted using the GMM estimator to examine the influence of governance in both emerging and developed country contexts. The results show that government effectiveness in developed economies is the only governance proxy that has a sizeable positive influence on economic growth. This result emphasizes the notion that there is a significant discrepancy between the government's effectiveness in developed and emerging countries. Considering global governance efforts, we propose that public institutions and government agencies reevaluate their approaches and rededicate their efforts to develop strategic governance promoting inclusive and long-term growth. The main contribution of this work is underscored by highlighting the significance of integrating governance with economic development. The importance of linking governance with economic growth is highlighted, which is one of the work's main contributions.

This study provides evidence for the causal relationship between democracy, happiness, and income distribution. Using data on income distribution from 35 developed and 26 developing countries, we employ a panel vector autoregressive (PVAR) model and analyze annual panel data from 2006 to 2022. The key finding is that democracy, happiness, and income distribution share a long-term, co-integrated relationship. In both developed and developing countries, democracy and happiness exhibit a two-way Granger causality, with positive impulse responses observed through panel VEC Granger causality analysis. For developing countries, democracy and income distribution equality also show a positive causal relationship. However, in developed countries, no significant Granger causality exists between democracy and the Gini index, which measures income inequality. Additionally, we find that happiness and the Gini index are linked in a two-way causal relationship, experiencing negative shocks in both developed and developing countries. These findings have significant policy implications, especially for leaders in developing countries who should promote democracy to enhance happiness and income distribution equality. Policymakers should consider that equitable income distribution can contribute to societal happiness. Creating an environment that supports both happiness and income equality is essential to foster demand for democracy, particularly in developing nations.

The recent surge in research studies has emphasized the significance of corporate sustainability performance, depicted by ESG scores, and its bearing on various facets of firms. Companies have also tried to attract substantial investments by implementing sustainability initiatives, including reducing environmental impact, contributing positively to society, and establishing robust governance structures. This study employs static panel data regression models to investigate the impact of firms' sustainable performance on stock returns and dividend payouts. The analysis covers 253 listed firms on the Indian National Stock Exchange (NSE). The findings demonstrate that environmental and governance scores substantially enhance stock returns and dividend payouts, underscoring the critical impact of exemplary environmental stewardship and robust governance practices. Conversely, social scores exhibit a negative but insignificant relationship with stock returns, indicating that social initiatives are crucial for long-term sustainability and corporate reputation but may not immediately influence short-term financial gains. The study highlights that firms excelling across all ESG dimensions are better equipped to manage risks and secure financial stability. These insights are vital for executives, investors, and policymakers, underscoring the value of integrating ESG factors to drive sustainable growth and boost shareholder value.

This study examines the impact of legal deterrence and socioeconomic factors on total crime and different types of violent and economic crimes across 23 Indian states from 2001 to 2021. Conviction rate and police strength are used as legal deterrence factors controlling for various other socioeconomic factors. Employing a dynamic panel data model, our findings suggest that a higher conviction rate lowers the incidence of attempted murder, death by negligence, kidnapping and abduction, counterfeiting, cheating, and criminal breach of trust. Although police strength has a nonlinear relationship with different types of crime, it varies between concave and convex relationships depending on the type of crime. Using a novel proxy indicator for economic inequality at the state level in India, nighttime light inequality, our study finds it to be positively related to attempted murder and cheating offences. We also control for inflation at the state level and find it to be positively related to total crime. Further, although economic opportunities for the literate population reduce violent crimes, they also increase economic crimes like criminal breach of trust. The findings highlight the importance of a multipronged strategy such as improving the conviction rate and other socioeconomic factors to combat crime effectively at the state level in India.