Did weekly economic index and volatility index impact US food sales during the first year of the pandemic?

We explore the impacts of economic and financial dislocations caused by COVID-19 pandemic shocks on food sales in the United States from January 2020 to January 2021.We use the US weekly economic index(WEI)to measure economic dislocations and the Chicago Board Options Exchange volatility index(VIX)to capture the broader stock market dislocations.We validate the NARDL model by testing a battery of models using the autoregressive distributed lags(ARDL)methodology(ARDL,NARDL,and QARDL specifications).Our study postulates that an increase in WEI has a significant negative long-term effect on food sales,whereas a decrease in WEI has no statistically significant(long-run)effect.Thus,policy responses that ignore asymmetric effects and hidden cointegration may fail to promote food security during pandemics.

Role of circular economy,energy transition,environmental policy stringency,and supply chain pressure on CO_(2)emissions in emerging economies

This paper investigates the effect of the circular economy on CO_(2)emissions growth by considering the role of energy transition,climate policy stringency,industrialization,and supply chain pressure from 1997 to 2020 using panel quantile Autoregressive Distributed Lags(QARDL)and the panel PMG.We employ cointegration association in the long run among the variables,and the results of the two models confirm this.Findings reveal that circular economy and climate policy stringency significantly negatively impact carbon emissions.On the other hand,the energy transition,industrialization,and supply chain pressures are crucial to determining CO_(2)emissions in the short and long run.The finding further explores that municipal waste generation recycling is considerable at the mean and upper 90th quantiles than the lower quantile.Therefore,the empirical results of the current study provide acumens for policymakers of advanced economies and emerging markets to maintain the balance among circular economy,energy transition,environmental policy stringency,and supply chain pressure for reducing CO_(2)emissions without halting economic growth and sustainable development.Furthermore,practical implications are reported through the lens of carbon neutrality and structural changes.