News by Subject Business & Economics

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused "kinks" in the movement of goods and services around the globe, but how important a role do multinational companies play in local economies and supply chains?

Environmental hazards affect populations worldwide and can drive migration under specific conditions. Changes in temperature levels, increased rainfall variability, and rapid-onset disasters, such as tropical storms, are important factors as shown by a new study led by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). Environmental migration is most pronounced in middle-income and agricultural countries but weaker in low-income countries, where populations often lack resources needed for migration.

Many refugees in the United States move to a different state soon after arrival, according to a new dataset on nearly 450,000 people who were resettled between 2000 and 2014. And when they move, they are primarily looking for better job markets and helpful social networks of others from their home country -- not more generous welfare benefits. These findings counter the stereotype that refugees are destined to become a drain on state resources over the long run.

A survey of Central American migrants traveling through Mexico on their way to the United States found that 74 percent of them experienced a degree of food insecurity, ranging from having only one meal to no food at all for one day or longer. Factors associated with more severe food insecurity include more days in active transit, and the experience of illness by the migrant or their travel companion.

A new study in Review of Economic Studies suggests that a large increase in the stock of immigrants to the United States would have little impact on the wages of native US citizens. Allowing for more high-skill immigration could be detrimental to some highly skilled workers in the country, but disproportionately beneficial to low skilled workers.

With the reopening of flights during the summer holiday season in Europe, many countries have started to see an increase in COVID-19 infections. A new IIASA-led study sheds light on how COVID-19 spreads regionally and between countries, as well as on how effective governmental measures to curb the spread of the pandemic have been to date.

In April, more than 2 million jobholders were out sick from work, the highest number since at least 1976, and more than double the rate from mid-April 2019, according to a study published today in JAMA Internal Medicine. The surge in absences was largest for immigrant workers, whose absence rate rose almost five-fold from 12 months earlier, when their absenteeism rate had been 37% lower than that of U.S.- born jobholders.

An international team of researchers investigated the effects of trade on hunger in the world as a result of climate change. The conclusion is clear: international trade can compensate for regional food shortages and reduce hunger, particularly when protectionist measures and other barriers to trade are eliminated.