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Sustainable and Measurable Well-Being and Economy in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Economic and Business Aspects of Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 February 2022) | Viewed by 13177

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Paola Cerchiello

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Guest Editor

Department of Economics and Management, University of Pavia, 27100 Pavia, Italy
Interests: financial risk assessment; textual data analysis; explainable artificial intelligence

Dr. Branka Hadji Misheva

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Guest Editor

School of Engineering, Zurich University of Applied Sciences, 8400 Winterthur, Switzerland
Interests: new financial technologies; cryptocurrencies; explainable artificial intelligence; deep learning

Dr. Shatha Qamhieh

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Guest Editor

Department of Finance, Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, An-Najah National University, Nablus, Palestine
Interests: new financial technologies; Islamic financial system

Special Issue Information

Dear colleagues,

The COVID-19 pandemic has been deeply affecting all the aspects of human life, forcing us to re-organize daily activities and short–medium-term plans.

This Special Issue is specifically devoted to the assessment of sustainability from a socio-economic perspective. Indeed, to measure sustainability, statistical indicators should incorporate economic, social, environmental and governance aspects, which can be subsumed under the general umbrella of SDGs and the related targets and indicators. A key link between well-being and sustainability is visible in existing frameworks, such as the Swedish EQOs, which are directly related to the SDGs.

Scientists are being asked to produce research able to combine different country-specific well-being and economic objective measurements, and their time dynamic profile, into sustainable development measures.

As example, we consider the “objective” frameworks of well-being that are being used, such as the one adopted in New Zealand (source: NZ Treasury), where the so-called “Four Capitals” (Natural Capital, Human Capital, Social Capital and Financial and Physical capital) are factored into the framework. This way, the focus on well-being ends up being conflated with a more long-term perspective on sustainability, which in turn prevents the most evident problem of well-being frameworks based on reported life satisfaction, i.e., the incorporation of short-term approaches, methodological individualism and behavioral biases into the overall measurement and evaluation framework.

The approach in the articles included in this Special Issue are also encouraged to be multidisciplinary and cross-sectoral, addressing how different disciplines and sectors can be brought together to develop inclusive sustainable well-being and economy in response to the pandemic.

Prof. Dr. Paola Cerchiello
Dr. Branka Hadji Misheva
Dr. Shatha Qamhieh
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

sustainable well-being
objective framework
summary indexes
SDG indicators

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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15 pages, 1809 KiB

Open AccessArticle

COVID-19 in US Economy: Structural Analysis and Policy Proposals

by Nikolaos Apostolopoulos, Panagiotis Liargovas, Nikolaos Rodousakis and George Soklis

Sustainability 2022, 14(13), 7925; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14137925 - 29 Jun 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1449

Abstract

Based on an input–output framework, this paper analyses the intersectoral structure of the US economy and estimates the COVID-19 multiplier effects on this economy. For this purpose we employ a model of matrix multipliers—which, except for the technical conditions of production, also considers imports, income distribution, savings, and consumption patterns—using data from the input–output table of the US economy for the year 2015, i.e., the latest available data at the time of this research (a few months after the US presidential election). Furthermore, we detect the key commodities that are considered appropriate for implementing economic policies in the short term, i.e., for boosting growth and job creation, as well as the commodities that are suitable for long-term, structural policies. Our findings suggest that short-term policies for a direct recovery after COVID-19 should be based on public consumption expenditures and investments as well as through exports. It is also shown that there is a great variety of short-term and long-term policies that can be adjusted according to the challenges of the US economy. Finally, for reasons of completeness, we estimate the impact of the main plans of the American president’s policy program, i.e., the “American Jobs Plan and the American Families Plan”, and we show that both plans would cumulatively increase the US output by about USD 6.07 trillion over the next ten years, not only helping the US economy recover from the COVID-19 shock but also ensuring macroeconomic stability and social cohesion. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable and Measurable Well-Being and Economy in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic)

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49 pages, 8568 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Implications of COVID-19 Mitigation Policies for National Well-Being: A Systems Perspective

by Nikita Strelkovskii, Elena Rovenskaya, Leena Ilmola-Sheppard, Robin Bartmann, Yonat Rein-Sapir and Eran Feitelson

Sustainability 2022, 14(1), 433; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14010433 - 31 Dec 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3882

Abstract

The ongoing COVID-19 crisis and measures aimed at curbing the pandemic have a widespread impact on various aspects of well-being, such as housing, social connections, and others. Moreover, COVID-19 does not affect all population groups equally. This study analyzes the impact of major COVID-19 non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) on a set of national well-being indicators from the most recent version of the OECD Well-Being Framework. Using causal loop diagrams (systems maps), we consider direct and indirect effects of these policies on various components of the national well-being system. Our results show that business closures directly and/or indirectly impact more national well-being components than any other policy. The most affected national well-being components by all policies are life satisfaction, perceived health, and prevalence of depressive symptoms. In addition, we specify how the impact of the anti-pandemic measures differs for various population strata, using the degree of income and employment loss as key stratifying variables. Our insights can be helpful to identify and promote measures that can alleviate the adverse effects of the COVID-19 crisis on the national well-being. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable and Measurable Well-Being and Economy in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic)

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Review

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26 pages, 2092 KiB

Open AccessReview

Sustainable Development Goals in the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Narrative Review

by Vicente Javier Clemente-Suárez, Stephanie Rodriguez-Besteiro, Juan José Cabello-Eras, Alvaro Bustamante-Sanchez, Eduardo Navarro-Jiménez, Macarena Donoso-Gonzalez, Ana Isabel Beltrán-Velasco and Jose Francisco Tornero-Aguilera

Sustainability 2022, 14(13), 7726; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14137726 - 24 Jun 2022

Cited by 34 | Viewed by 7134

Abstract

The present narrative review aimed to analyze the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the sustainable development goals (SDGS). This information would allow a better comprehension of the actual state of the SDGS and a more efficient programming in future interventions. To achieve the objective of the study, a consensual and critical review was carried out using both primary sources, such as scientific articles, and secondary sources, such as bibliographic indexes, web pages and databases. The Sustainable Development Goals are a global call to action to end poverty, close the gender gap, protect the planet, and improve the lives of people around the world. In 2015, the United Nations General Assembly adopted 17 goals as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which sets out a plan to achieve the goals in 15 years. However, the COVID-19 pandemic crisis has been a turning point in the achievement of these goals, due to all its consequences at the political, economic, and socio-cultural levels. This review can be used as a guide for future research and reviews in order to understand the status of each of the SDGs and what actions have been taken and proposed in the aftermath of the pandemic in recent years. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable and Measurable Well-Being and Economy in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic)

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