Hanna Olasiuk

This study aims to explore the cross-country relationship between economic globalization and growth. It assesses the implications of globalization for the world economy and groups of countries with different income levels. The study employed panel data from the World Bank, the Fraser Institute, and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich for 122 countries from 1970 to 2018. Two-stage fixed effect model was used to assess the impact of globalization on growth. The reverse causality was estimated using the method of instrumental variables. The results showed that the world economy benefited from globalization. In turn, greater openness has reinforced economic growth. The study confirms that globalization benefits are distributed unequally. A significant positive impact of globalization on economic growth is confirmed for high and lower-middle-income economies with coefficients of 0.02 and 0.01, respectively. Economic growth of high-income countries is determined by financial globalization, while lower-middle-income countries rely on trade and financial openness. Negative implications of economic globalization took place in upper-middle-income countries with a coefficient of -0.02. In these countries, correlation between trade globalization and growth is -0.13. The effect of economic growth on globalization is found to be significantly positive for high-income (11.08) and upper-middle-income countries (9.62) and statistically insignificant for lower-middle-income economies.

This paper examines the influence of marketing expenses and total assets on the technical efficiency of big Ukrainian pharmaceutical producers during the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine. The data were collected from the nine leading pharmaceutical firms for six years, covering 2018–2023. Input-oriented data envelopment analysis was used, with revenue serving as the output and raw materials, sales, and general and administrative expenses as the inputs. The study found that the COVID-19 pandemic and the onset of the full-scale invasion of Russia in Ukraine caused a decline in efficiency, although not statistically significant. The analysis showed that around 70% of pharmaceutical firms need to increase the scale of operations to achieve efficiency. Additionally, smaller and older firms were found to have better efficiency. The research findings show that marketing productivity is positively associated with pure efficiency, while marketing expenses have the opposite impact with coefficients 0.064 and –0.05, respectively. Finally, a substantial increase in slacks during the COVID-19 pandemic propelled managers to find ways to cut sales and general and administrative costs. The results underscore the importance of cost optimization policies, along with asset and business-scale management in maintaining the efficiency of Ukrainian pharmaceutical firms.