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The macroeconomic factors and political environment: Analysis of balance of payments, foreign exchange reserves and economic growth
(The University of Waikato, 2026-05) Iqbal, Ayesha; Bai, Martin; Mukherjee, Abhishek
This is a global study comprising three analyses of macroeconomic dynamics in world economies, focusing on key areas that influence the macroeconomic cycle and financial stability, taking into account institutional and governance factors. The first study examines the policy impact of tariffs, interest rates, and political stability on the balance of payments among three income groups classified by the World Bank. The global panel data, sourced from the World Bank, covers the period from 2002 to 2022 and is divided into three groups based on per capita income: High Income, Upper Middle Income, and Lower Middle-Income countries. This study investigates how these variables influence the balance of payments across different economic conditions and whether their effects vary. The analysis employs Panel Least Squares, Fixed Effects Regression, GMM, and Dumitrescu panel Granger causality tests. The findings confirm that these variables exert different impacts in the selected groups, highlighting that the importance of tariffs and interest rates as policy tools cannot be overlooked. This research contributes to a deeper understanding of the complex relationship between macroeconomic variables within each income group and underscores the significance of political stability for economic outlook. The second study investigates the influence of various macroeconomic variables and governance quality on foreign exchange reserve accumulation across high-income, upper middle-income, and lower middle-income countries from 2002 to 2023. A governance quality index is created using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) from six governance indicators from the World Governance Indicators. The data is divided into different sub-periods to explore effects during various economic phases such as the global financial crisis (2002-2008), the recovery period (2009-2019), and the COVID-19 pandemic (2020-2023). Panel data regression models (POLS, fixed effects, and random effects) and a Panel Vector Auto-Regression (PVAR) model are employed to examine the effects of these variables and analyse shocks in the reserves. The findings reveal diverse results across income groups and time periods. For high-income countries (HICs), governance quality and institutional stability emerge as key drivers of economic resilience, especially following crises. Upper middle-income countries (UMICs) show a strong link between governance quality, inflation stabilisation, and monetary credit effectiveness, whereas lower middle-income countries (LMICs) are more vulnerable to external shocks, particularly through exchange rate volatility and external debt burdens. The overall analysis also highlights the significance of the digitisation era as a major contributor to reserve accumulation across all income groups and opens numerous avenues for future research. The PVAR analysis further supports these conclusions, indicating that governance quality has a substantial impact on macroeconomic variables across all income groups. The third study analyses top remittance-receiving lower middle-income countries, divided into two groups based on their level of democracy. The aim is to examine the differential impact of remittance, the democracy index, their interaction, and the militarisation index on economic growth. The study employs Panel Regression (POLS), Fixed Effects (FE), and Random Effects (RE). To ensure the robustness of the results, an additional analysis using Two Stage Least Squares (2SLS) is also conducted. The results reveal a negative relationship between both democracy and remittances with growth in countries with stable democracies, whereas a positive relationship is observed in countries with less democratic institutions. The study also introduces a novel variable, the Gross Militarisation Index (GMI), and applies slope homogeneity and cointegration tests, which also yield favourable results. These outcomes highlight the importance of political context in modelling the economic impact of remittances and democratic institutions. The research recommends that tailored policy frameworks be implemented in each nation’s institutional structure, focusing on effectiveness to promote inclusive and sustainable development.
Understanding nurses’ perspectives on Māori health equity: A systematic scoping review
(Taylor & Francis, 2026) Hughes, Seamus; Grout, Emily; Hiakita, John; Aporosa, S. 'Apo'; Egli, Victoria
Background Nurses have professional, ethical and legal obligations to address health inequities for Māori. Objective To investigate and synthesise the literature available on nurses’ views of health equity for Māori to inform future research, policy and practice. Design Informed by kaupapa Māori methodology, the systematic scoping review was conducted with the JBI approach and reported with the PRISMA Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMAScR). Database searches included the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), Scopus, EMBASE, Psychinfo, Ovid MEDLINE and Google Scholar with 634 articles screeded. Methods Data were extracted and charted by author SH and reviewed by VE and EG. The JBI framework was used to guide data charting, followed by thematic analysis. Results Three key themes were identified in the literature. For Māori nurses, health equity for Māori was seen as an obligation; non-Māori nurses often viewed health equity for Māori as optional. Barriers to achieving health equity for Māori were identified by both Māori and non-Māori nurses. Three subthemes were identified for Māori nurses: te ao Māori and tikanga Māori, dual clinical–cultural role and lived experiences of racism. For non-Māori nurses, two subthemes were identified: non-Māori nurses demonstrating both an understanding and a lack of understanding of health equity. Conclusion Due to culture, Māori nurses had a greater commitment to addressing health equity. Conversely, non-Māori nurses appear to show greater ambivalence over whether to address health inequities. This study was limited by a small sample of non-Māori participants in the literature. Future research could focus on barriers and enablers for non-Māori nurses’ commitment to health equity, valuing Māori nurses’ cultural contribution and monitoring, education and action of NCNZ, nursing education institutions and professional leadership in addressing health equity.
Regenerative internationalization: Designing learning for a thriving future
(Nova Science Publishers, Inc., 2026) O'Brien, Ray; Levy, Benjamin; Cliff, Craig; Byker, Erik Jon; Medina, Adriana L
While internationalization of higher education can help develop global competencies, there are significant risks that increased international mobility will undermine the credibility of universities to address wicked problems like climate change. The social license for institutional strategies that emphasize the growth of internationalization, is now under scrutiny. In this chapter, the design of internationalized learning experiences for inbound international students are viewed through the lens of regenerative practice. This chapter proposes a transition towards regenerative internationalization. A set of reflective questions have been developed to allow those designing the next generation of international learning experiences to fully consider the extent to which the experiences will have regenerative impacts so that Universities realize the significant benefits of internationalization in a manner that will withstand their own critique. In doing so, this framework positions the designers of these experiences as leaders of change, actively contributing to a thriving future of internationalization.
An E-Talanoa of the comparative and international education research field: Relational Vā–decoloniality in Oceania
(Emerald, 2026) Wright, Tepora; Fa'avae, David Taufui Mikato; Levy, Benjamin; Packham, Emma; Virtue, Katie ; Watkins-Matavalea, Dassia
We align with Tuhiwai Smith’s (2012) critique of research as “one of the ways in which the underlying code of imperialism and colonialism is both regulated and realized” (p. 8). As emerging comparative and international education (CIE) researchers within Oceania, we recognize “the critical role that uneven power plays in the constitution of comparative knowledge” (Takayama et al., 2017, p. s3). In deliberately disrupting conventional academic formats, we adopted a dialogic and relational talanoa structure that foregrounds Indigenous Moana Oceania epistemologies and ontologies. This choice unsettles Western-centric norms of linearity, objectivity, and authorial detachment typically valorized in scholarly writing (Mignolo & Walsh, 2018; Smith, 2012). Rather than presenting knowledge as static and decontextualized, we adopt a flowing, reflexive structure that is responsive to contexts and centered around vā – the relational space – as an epistemic principle and a decolonial imperative (Johansson-Fua, 2016; Suaalii-Sauni et al., forthcoming). This format resists the dominance and privileging of Western academic structures and unfolds through sequences of e-talanoa, grounded in our distinct positionalities and experiences across Moana Oceania.
Indigeneity and indigenous peoples around the world: Expanding the intersections of business and society
(SAGE, 2026) Doshi, Vijayta; Paredo, Ana Maria; Bapuji, Hari; Spiller, Chellie
There is increasing acknowledgment of the distinct position of Indigenous Peoples in today’s world. The United Nations has declared August 9th as the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples to promote and protect the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which is crucial for attaining the sustainable development goals (SDGs). Historically, however, Indigenous Peoples and Indigenous knowledges have been largely dismissed and silenced in societies as well as business and management scholarship (Kamble & Kumar, 2025; Karlsson & Kikon, 2017; Peredo & McLean, 2013; Price et al., 2021; Walker et al., 2025; Xaxa, 2018). More broadly, scholars have documented patterns of systemic and institutionalized discrimination against Indigenous Peoples (Bastein et al., 2023; Colbourne et al., 2024; Turkina, 2026). Although the body of business and management literature concerning Indigenous Peoples has grown over the last two decades (Bastein et al., 2023; Cutcher & Dale, 2022; Peredo, 2023; Salmon et al., 2022; Walker et al., 2025), the intersection of business and society remains under-explored in this literature. Furthermore, business and management literature has paid limited attention to the Indigenous Peoples in the Global South,1 many of whom are not recognized as Indigenous Peoples (Doshi, 2026; Kamble & Kumar, 2025). We, therefore, launched this special issue to give further momentum to the growing body of Indigenous research and to expand the research to hitherto understudied contexts and peoples. Our call for papers for this special issue set out a series of questions that signaled the wide-ranging possibilities for research that recognizes the distinctiveness of Indigenous worlds and reimagines the role of business and society in advancing sustainable futures. Specifically, we asked: how organizations, governments, and communities can work toward the SDGs with Indigenous Peoples; how Indigeneity is understood, represented, and mobilized across varied colonial and cultural contexts; how Indigenous Peoples navigate and transform organizations, entrepreneurship, and leadership; how global disparities, intersecting identities, and regional specificities shape Indigenous experiences; and how appropriate, respectful, and innovative methods can deepen the quality of Indigenous scholarship. In this essay, we first discuss the conceptual foundations of Indigeneity by reflecting on the meaning of Indigeneity, focusing on its global framings as well as the misrecognition and misuse of the term Indigenous. Next, we introduce the papers in this special issue. To build robust Indigenous scholarship to further advance the aims of this special issue, we discuss what an Indigenous perspective means for business and management; identify future research opportunities; and provide guidance on writing, reviewing, and editing Indigenous research. We conclude with reflections on our experience in editing this special issue to further underscore that Indigenous values of care, collaboration, and community building are integral to building robust Indigenous scholarship.