Economies, Vol. 11, Pages 159: Challenges in Assessing the Behaviour of Nodal Electricity Prices in Insular Electricity Markets: The Case of New Zealand Economies doi: 10.3390/economies11060159 Authors: Daniela Pereira Macedo António Cardoso Marques Olivier Damette In this new era of energy transition, access to reliable and correctly functioning electricity markets is a huge concern for all economies. The restructuring path taken by most electricity markets involves the movement towards green generation structures and the increasing integration of wind and solar photovoltaic energy sources. F ..read more

Economies, Vol. 11, Pages 158: Assessing and Forecasting the Long-Term Impact of the Global Financial Crisis on Manufacturing Sales in South Africa Economies doi: 10.3390/economies11060158 Authors: Tendai Makoni Delson Chikobvu Sales forecasting is a crucial aspect of any successful manufacturing organisation as it provides the foundation for investment, employment development, and innovation. The Global Financial Crisis (GFC) had a negative impact on the manufacturing sector in South Africa (SA) and the rest of the world. The objective of this paper is to analyse the trend of manufacturing sa ..read more

Economies, Vol. 11, Pages 157: Interaction and Main Effects of Finance Support and Other Business Support Services on the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem: A Case Study of the Mpumalanga Province, South Africa Economies doi: 10.3390/economies11060157 Authors: Kanayo K. Ogujiuba Maria Eggink Ebenezer Olamide Finance support and other forms of business support have been recognized as key factors in the entrepreneurial ecosystem in theoretical and empirical investigations. There is currently a knowledge gap regarding the combined impact of these two variables on the entrepreneurial ecosystem, even thoug ..read more

Economies, Vol. 11, Pages 156: Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises’ Readiness for Digital Transformation in Indonesia Economies doi: 10.3390/economies11060156 Authors: Lina Anatan Nur The Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR4) and the COVID-19 pandemic have become triggers for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to conduct digital transformation even though there are many problems that need to be resolved, particularly those related to the readiness of MSMEs in facing digitalization. This study aims to investigate Indonesian MSMEs and identify problems and types of knowledge tr ..read more

Economies, Vol. 11, Pages 154: The Effects of Inequality on the Substitution of Essential Goods for Tobacco Smoking in South Africa Economies doi: 10.3390/economies11060154 Authors: Nomusa Yolanda Nkomo Mduduzi Biyase Beatrice D. Simo-Kengne Tobacco consumption contributes to a substantial amount of household expenditures, which might lead to decreased spending on other essentials. This study examines household head tobacco expenditures in various inequality settings. In this study, we investigated the impact of gender, race, and educational inequality and the substitution effect of tobacco ex ..read more

Economies, Vol. 11, Pages 155: The Impact of the Stock Market on Liquidity and Economic Growth: Evidence of Volatile Market Economies doi: 10.3390/economies11060155 Authors: Collin Chikwira Jahed Iqbal Mohammed Stock markets serve as a conduit for money and liquidity, which are necessary for economic growth and stability. This study aimed to determine whether stock market impacts are communicated in an economically unstable environment, characterised by volatility, high inflation rates, and political instability. The research used a time series Vector Autoregressive model (VAR) with quarterly ..read more

Economies, Vol. 11, Pages 153: Refund of Consumption Tax to Low-Income People: Impact Assessment Using Difference-in-Differences Economies doi: 10.3390/economies11060153 Authors: Jorge Luis Tonetto Adelar Fochezatto Giovanni Padilha da Silva One way to reduce inequality and poverty is to promote tax justice. In 2021, the government of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, implemented a program (the Devolve-ICMS Program) that refunds consumption tax to low-income citizens (cashback). This study aims to evaluate the impacts of this Program using a differences-in-differences model and having, a ..read more

Economies, Vol. 11, Pages 152: Threshold of the CAPB That Can Be Attributed to Fiscal Consolidation Episodes in South Africa Economies doi: 10.3390/economies11060152 Authors: Eugene Msizi Buthelezi Phocenah Nyatanga This paper investigates the threshold of the cyclical adjusted primary balance (CAPB) that can be attributed to fiscal consolidation in South Africa. The CAPB framework is used in the threshold autoregressive regime (TAR) from 1979 to 2022. The contribution of the paper is the estimation of the CAPB in the context of South Africa to find fiscal consolidation episodes. Moreover, we ..read more

Economies, Vol. 11, Pages 151: Economic Recovery Strategy of Sectoral Industries Post-COVID-19: Input–Output Model Simulations Economies doi: 10.3390/economies11050151 Authors: Firmansyah Firmansyah Andrian Budi Prasetyo Shanty Oktavilia Siti Hilmiati Azyzia Dita Wahyu Puspita Albi Boykhair Fadel Nugraha The global COVID-19 pandemic has suppressed the economy and people’s welfare, including in Indonesia and Central Java Province, as indicated by the weakening of the national economy by −2.06 percent and locally by −2.65 percent in 2020. Altho ..read more

Economies, Vol. 11, Pages 150: Policy Drivers of Inter-Regional Investment in China Economies doi: 10.3390/economies11050150 Authors: Ruicong Sang W. Robert J. Alexander Sajid Anwar We examine how the policies of Chinese regional governments affect the investment location decisions of firms. Using a dataset compiled from the reports on the investment decisions of 498 listed Chinese companies headquartered in the provinces of Guangdong, Jiangsu, Shanghai, and Zhejiang, we estimate discrete choice models of the investment decisions of these firms. The variables of interest relate to government p ..read more