Rocha, A. B., Figueiredo, H., Sá, C., & Portela, M. (2025). Mismatch matters: education and productivity in laggard and frontier firms. Journal of Productivity Analysis. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11123-025-00772-4

This article examines the impact of educational mismatch—both overeducation and undereducation—on firm-level labor productivity in Portugal between 2010 and 2019, using matched employer-employee data. Results show that undereducation consistently harms productivity, while overeducation contributes positively but modestly. The productivity benefits of overeducation rise along the productivity distribution: from 0.7% at the bottom decile (P10) to 2.2% at the top 1% (P99), suggesting that frontier firms are better equipped to utilize excess qualifications. Conversely, undereducation exerts a negative and stable effect across all productivity levels. Frontier firms display higher education levels and less undereducation, whereas laggard firms suffer from rising mismatch rates over time. Fixed-effects estimates reveal that fully aligning workers’ education with job requirements could increase firm productivity by 1.4%, primarily through reducing undereducation (≈1%), while reassigning overeducated workers would add ≈0.4%. The findings emphasize that matching education to job needs is key to enhancing firm performance.

Ferreira, S., Pereira, O., & Simões, C. (2025). Determinants of consumers’ intention to visit green hotels: Combining psychological and contextual factors. Journal of Vacation Marketing, 31(3), 535–548. https://doi.org/10.1177/13567667231217755

This article investigates consumers’ intention to visit green hotels by integrating psychological and contextual factors within an extended Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) model that includes biospheric value and green trust. Based on a quantitative survey of Portuguese consumers, the study finds high intentions to visit green hotels. The results show that attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control significantly and positively affect behavioral intention, explaining 42.6% of its variance. Among these, attitude is the strongest predictor, followed by perceived control and biospheric value. While green trust does not directly influence intention, it indirectly affects it through positive impacts on the three TPB variables. Managerial implications highlight the need for hotel managers to strengthen positive attitudes via clear communication of green initiatives, enhance perceived control by reducing barriers such as cost or comfort concerns, and build credibility to avoid greenwashing, ensuring authentic and transparent sustainability efforts.

Camões, P., Ó. Erlingsson, G., & Tavares, A. (2025). Crowding in local lists: local branches of national parties and the supply and success of local lists. Comparative European Politics. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41295-025-00428-5

This article examines whether the uneven presence of national party branches influences the emergence and success of local lists (genuinely local candidates) in Portuguese municipal elections between 2001 and 2021. Rooted in the “localist turn” observed in many democracies, the study argues that declining performance of national parties creates local political opportunities exploited by local lists — a crowding-in effect on the supply side. Using logistic and Poisson regressions, the results support two hypotheses: (1) local lists are more likely to emerge where national parties (PS and PSD) are electorally weaker, and (2) their vote shares rise as support for these parties declines. Moreover, higher voter turnout correlates positively with local list performance, suggesting their role in mobilizing dissatisfied citizens. However, the rise of the far-right CHEGA party in 2021 reduced local list votes, indicating competition for disillusioned voters. Overall, the study highlights local lists as substitutes and mobilizers within Portugal’s evolving party system.

Jana, R. K., Ghosh, I., Jawadi, F., Uddin, G. S., & Sousa, R. M. (2025). COVID-19 news and the US equity market interactions: An inspection through econometric and machine learning lens. Annals of Operations Research, 345(2), 575–596. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10479-022-04744-x

This article investigates the interactions between COVID-19-related news and the U.S. equity market during the first pandemic wave (January–March 2020), using econometric and machine learning techniques. It examines how global and local COVID-19 fears, measured through daily infection data, influenced 20 U.S. sectoral stock indices. The study divides the sample into two periods: TH-I (January), when infections were mostly global, and TH-II (February–March), when local infections surged. Using Johansen co-integration, DCCA, and nonlinear Granger causality, alongside Gradient Boosting and Random Forest models, the authors find that COVID-19 fears affected sectors differently across time. In TH-I, global fears had limited and mixed effects, while in TH-II, both global and local fears negatively influenced all sectors—particularly automotive, retail, and technology. Predictive accuracy improved in TH-II, reflecting stronger market sensitivity. Overall, the study concludes that local fears became dominant drivers of market volatility as the pandemic escalated.

Guezgouz, N., Ghrieb, L., Ghanem, M., Pinho, J., de Marco, A., & Moustafa, A. A. (2025). Assessment of groundwater vulnerability to point and non-point sources of pollution and mitigation measures for boreholes in the Guelma Plain, Northeastern Algeria. International Journal of Energy and Water Resources. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42108-025-00406-3

This article assesses groundwater vulnerability to both point and non-point pollution sources in the Guelma Plain, northeastern Algeria, and proposes protection perimeters for five water extraction boreholes. Groundwater in this region faces severe degradation due to industrial discharges, intensive agriculture, and urban expansion. Despite Algeria’s Water Law No. 05-12 mandating protective zones, enforcement remains inconsistent. Using a GIS-based methodology, the study delineates two types of zones: Close Protection Zones (CPP) and Remote Protection Zones (RPP). Hydrodynamic methods—Sichardt, Kusakin, and Cylinder—were applied for CPPs, with Kusakin yielding the most conservative and realistic estimates (radii from 33.0 m to 428.1 m). For RPPs, Infiltration and 3A2E methods produced consistent results (radii from 818.1 m to 1293.5 m). The findings align with GOD vulnerability mapping, confirming the robustness of the approach. Recommended mitigation measures include strict bans on hazardous activities, controlled agricultural practices, and protection of recharge areas, ensuring long-term groundwater sustainability.

Rodrigues, M., Meza, O., & Navarro, C. (2025). Gerrymandering to survive: an explanation of the political conditions that shaped mayors’ decisions over an amalgamation process in Portugal. Local Government Studies, 51(5), 993–1015. https://doi.org/10.1080/03003930.2024.2404104

This article examines how Portuguese mayors strategically used gerrymandering during the 2013 territorial reform to secure their political positions. The reform, imposed by the central government under the troika’s austerity measures, required the merger of sub-municipal units (SMUs) but allowed mayors discretion in determining specific boundaries. Acting as rational political agents, mayors manipulated the process to reduce political vulnerability, employing tactics such as packing (concentrating opposition SMUs) and diluting (merging opposition areas with supportive ones). A decision matrix identified four political scenarios, with the “Appealing” one—mayoral majority in the municipal assembly but minority among SMUs—showing the strongest incentive for gerrymandering. Empirical evidence from multinomial logistic regression confirmed that politically vulnerable mayors were up to nine times more likely to favor SMUs aligned with them. The study concludes that the amalgamation process was politically instrumentalized, illustrating how local reforms can serve electoral survival rather than broader public goals.

Campos-Martins, S., & Amado, C. (2025). Modelling dynamic interdependence in nonstationary variances with an application to carbon markets. Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, 173. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jedc.2025.105062This paper introduces a new multivariate conditional correlation GARCH model, the Multiplicative Time-Varying Extended Conditional Correlation GARCH (MTV-ECC-GARCH), designed to capture dynamic interdependence among assets or markets under nonstationary variance. The model extends traditional CC-GARCH frameworks by incorporating two key features: a nonstationary long-term component that captures structural shifts in unconditional volatility, and a short-term dynamic component allowing cross-market volatility interactions. Ignoring nonstationarity, the study notes, can lead to spurious volatility transmission. Parameter estimation is conducted using a maximization by parts algorithm, which simplifies the computation by estimating each variance equation separately. A Lagrange Multiplier (LM) test is proposed to detect volatility interactions under nonstationary conditions. Applying the model to carbon futures (CEF) and a media-based climate concern index (CCM), results show significant dynamic interdependence—particularly from climate-related media concerns to carbon market volatility—when nonstationarity is properly modeled, highlighting the model’s robustness and practical relevance for financial volatility analysis.

Omran, W., Casais, B., & Ramos, R. F. (2025). Attributes of Virtual and Augmented Reality Tourism Mobile Applications Predicting Tourist Behavioral Engagement. International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction. https://doi.org/10.1080/10447318.2025.2470293

This article investigates how attributes of Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) tourism mobile applications influence Tourist Behavioral Engagement (TBE), mediated by app satisfaction. Using a multimethod quantitative design, the study analyzed 6,998 online reviews from Google Play through text mining and Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The conceptual model integrated the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Uses and Gratifications Theory (UGT) to explain tourists’ motivations and acceptance. Results confirmed all hypotheses, identifying four key app attributes that enhance satisfaction: utilitarian gratification (adventure and exploration), perceived usefulness (learning and educational value), ease of use (simplicity and usability), and immersive features (context awareness and telepresence). Satisfaction—both emotional and cognitive—was found to be a crucial mediator between app attributes and TBE, explaining 45% of its variance. The study contributes theoretically by extending TAM and UGT and practically by guiding developers to enhance usability, immersion, and functionality to strengthen tourist engagement.

Tsaturyan, M., & Duarte, P. A. B. (2025). Armenia’s Foreign Policy Options Within China’s Belt and Road Initiative: A Small State Perspective. Journal of Eurasian Studies. https://doi.org/10.1177/18793665251362864

This article analyzes Armenia’s complex engagement with China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) through the lens of small state theory. Armenia, constrained by limited territory, population, and economy, traditionally pursued a multi-vector foreign policy balancing relations with Russia, the EU, and the US. However, after the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war and declining trust in Russia, Armenia began reassessing this approach. Despite joining the BRI in 2015, it remains excluded from main corridors and has attracted minimal Chinese investment compared to neighbors like Georgia and Azerbaijan. Economic ties with China are growing but imbalanced, constrained by geography, regional instability, and tense relations with Türkiye. Armenia now seeks strategic relevance through initiatives such as the Crossroads of Peace, the North-South Road Corridor, and the Persian Gulf–Black Sea route. The article highlights Armenia’s dilemma between security and economic goals, showing how small states cautiously navigate great-power initiatives while defending sovereignty.

ElBelehy, C., & Crispim, J. (2025). Social sustainability in Egypt hospitality and tourism supply chains. Business and Society Review, 130(S1), 222–262. https://doi.org/10.1111/basr.12337

This article examines social sustainability (SS) practices in Egypt’s Hospitality and Tourism (H&T) supply chains (SCs), an area still underdeveloped in many developing countries. Drawing on Institutional Theory (IT) and Stakeholder Theory (ST), the study identifies existing SS practices, key influencing factors, and differences among SC members. Using a mixed-method approach—interviews with managers from major hotels (Hilton Heliopolis and Radisson Blu) and a survey of 187 industry practitioners—the research found that SS implementation is mostly limited to compliance and brand policies, lacking a strategic approach. Among eight categories, only “Health and Safety” was widely applied, while “Fair Labor,” “Equal Opportunity,” and “Human Rights” showed weak adoption. Institutional pressures (mimetic, normative, and coercive) were key enablers, whereas barriers included low awareness, limited cooperation, and insufficient government support. The study recommends stronger regulatory enforcement and education programs to enhance fair labor practices and employee participation across the Egyptian H&T sector.