Joanna Lane, R. T. Edwards, Balázs Babarczy
et al.
Background The prevalence of preventable non-communicable disease (NCD) underpins the need for a life-course and cross-sectoral approach to population health that is grounded in health promotion and disease prevention. European Union (EU) countries typically spend 6 to 13% of gross domestic product (GDP) on health care, yet less than 3% of this is dedicated to prevention. The extent to which spending in other sectors prevents avoidable ill-health is largely unknown. The lack of fiscal space post-COVID-19 means shifting from models of care built around treatment to those with greater emphasis on prevention will require innovative, evidence-based investment within and between sectors. The term “smart capacitating investment” (SCI) has previously been used to understand how to best boost social infrastructure investment in education, health, transport and housing across the EU. Here we take that idea further by exploring the applicability of SCI to public health financing to improve population health and well-being. Aim To explore and develop innovative SCI models and tools that enable collaboration and investment across health ecosystems for enhanced health promotion and disease prevention, test them in diverse real-world settings, and create a roadmap for large-scale implementation. Methods The Invest4Health (I4H) project brings together transdisciplinary expertise in epidemiology, public health, health economics, population science, business management, finance, implementation and social sciences, digital health innovation, and regional health systems. The project consists of eight work packages which span the exploration and conceptualisation of SCI in public health; the characterisation of SCI-compatible business and finance models; piloting and evaluation of these models in four European testbeds (Sweden, Germany, Spain and Wales UK); and exploring the opportunities for sustainable replication and scaling of SCI and future research. Discussion We present an introduction to the I4H project, the concept of SCI applied to public health, plus key points for discussion internationally.
This paper explores the evolution, concepts, and transformations within the field of Economic Geography, beginning with an overview of its origins, nature, and scope. It establishes the discipline’s foundational ties to economics and introduces the classification of economic activities into primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary sectors. Emphasis is placed on the growth of the secondary or industrial sector, particularly during the Industrial Revolution in the United States, which marked a turning point in global production and economic structures. The study then examines Fordism, tracing its origin to Henry Ford, whose innovative philosophy of mass production through the assembly line revolutionized industrial labour. The principles and levels of Fordism are analysed, highlighting its focus on standardization, productivity, and labour segmentation. In contrast, the paper investigates Taylorism, or scientific management, identifying its core principles and delineating its differences from Fordism, especially in terms of managerial control and work organization. The discussion transitions to the challenges and limitations of Fordism, including worker dissatisfaction and reduced adaptability, which catalysed the emergence of Post-Fordism. The study examines the transition process, key characteristics of Post-Fordism such as flexibility, decentralization, and technological integration, and its spatial dimension, notably through the example of the Third Italy, where regional production systems flourished under new economic paradigms. Finally, the paper questions the contemporary relevance of Fordism, considering whether its legacy still persists in modern production models. Through this comprehensive exploration, the paper underscores the dynamic relationship between economic systems, labour organization, technological innovation, and geographic space
The European Union (EU) aims to increase the adoption of organic farming as part of its Farm to Fork Strategy. However, farmers face uncertain adoption outcomes linked with crop yields, production costs, labour requirements and ultimately farm income. Yet, comprehensive large-scale empirical evidence on the economics of organic crop farming in the EU is currently lacking. Therefore, this study assesses the economic implications of organic farming adoption in the EU using methods for treatment effect estimation in combination with a large-scale cross-country dataset. It consists of 151,560 non-organic and 10,531 organic farms from the European Farm Accountancy Data Network, covering seven different crop production farm types, 16 EU countries and 7 years. Our analysis specifically focuses on input costs (crop protection, fertiliser, total crop specific costs), as well as labour input (including contract work costs, and total and family labour inputs) and gross farm income on a per hectare basis. We find that organic farming is associated with significantly lower crop protection and fertiliser expenditures as well as total crop specific costs across all farming types, while contract work costs vary across farming types. We find only minor differences in farm-level labour inputs between organic and non-organic farms. Farm income is smaller for organic farms without subsidies but higher when accounting for subsidies. However, effects are highly heterogeneous across farm types and across space. Our study contributes to a better understanding of the economic implications of organic farming expansion within the EU. These insights can inform both practitioners and policy-makers, facilitating the achievement of regional organic farming targets.
The article is based on primary research into the effects of non-tariff obstacles on Indian textile manufacturers doing business with certain RCEP countries.
Regional economics. Space in economics, Economics as a science
It is frequently impossible to draw a direct connection between the horrifying eighteenth-century transatlantic slave trade, in which millions of Africans were forcefully transported and sold into slavery in Latin America, and architecture or place-making, particularly when considering African contexts. However, the contribution to the socio-economic development and creation of a new building style known as Aguda, or Afro-Brazilian architecture, across the Bight of Benin region, where many of the formerly enslaved peoples who relocated back and settled after the abolition of slavery in Brazil, presents an interesting example of architectural heritage with rich meaning and value. This essay will critically examine the Bight of Benin region’s Aguda architecture design processes via the lenses of history, socioeconomics, the environment, with a focus on comprehending the characteristics of architectural buildings at the urban scale and the influence of Porto-Novo and Lagos as case studies. The typology of this architectural style, its relationship to collective memories, and the tangible components that enshrine social value and significance will be scrutinised via examination of both its African and Brazilian influences. Also the fast urbanisation of Porto-Novo shows that the material degradation of these buildings, lack of investment, effects of climate change induced weather events and other effects are putting these historic buildings in danger of disappearing. This essay is a part of an ongoing digital documentation and archiving of these buildings as a digital preservation effort using LIDAR scanning, ArcGIS tools and social participation of local stakeholders and building custodians.
Regional economics. Space in economics, Regional planning
Mojtaba Rostami Noroozabad, Ali Saeedi, Mohammad Mohebbi
In the capital market, investment decisions are influenced by various factors, each contributing distinctly to investors' decision-making processes. The primary objective of this research is to identify the impact of fundamental (at both macro and market levels), technical, and behavioral factors on trading decisions made by investors in the Tehran Stock Exchange based on monthly data from 2019 to 2023. For this purpose, a Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) methodology has been employed. The results of the cointegration test indicated that in the long term, the effects of behavioral factor (fear and greed index) and market fundamental factor (P/E ratio) on investor decisions were negative, while the impact of macroeconomic fundamental factor (exchange rate) was positive, and technical factor (RSI index) had no significant effect. Moreover, impulse response analysis demonstrated that shocks in behavioral, fundamental, and technical variables had a strong influence on investor decisions in the short term. Among these variables, the effect of market fundamentals was significantly greater than that of others. Variance decomposition tests also revealed that during initial periods (short term), behavioral factors have a more pronounced impact on fluctuations in investment decisions compared to other factors; however, as time progresses (long term), the influence of market fundamentals becomes more prominent. Additionally, both in short-term and long-term analyses, technical factors played a minimal role in explaining fluctuations in investors' decision-making processes.
Middle Eastern (ME) mangroves, spatially restricted and fragmented at the arid limit of the biome, underpin shoreline protection, fisheries, and blue-carbon initiatives along rapidly urbanizing coasts. However, global generalisations tend to overestimate their functional capacity, risking context mismatched restoration and overestimated offset potential. We conducted a comprehensive multi-method review across the Red Sea, Arabian/Persian Gulf, and adjoining shores. From peer-reviewed and agency sources, the literature was synthesized across four domains: eco-biophysical dynamics, socio-economics, climate-risk pathways, and governance. The review demonstrated that four primary controls govern distribution and function: freshwater inputs, hypersalinity, heat, and sheltering geomorphology. Avicennia marina dominates as dwarf, slow-growing stands of ~2–4 m, allocating resources below ground on carbonate and nutrient-poor substrates. Vertical accretion is modest ~1–3 mm yr - ¹, organic carbon burial is low ~10–15 g C m - ² yr - ¹, and soil stocks are small ~43 ± 5 Mg C ha - ¹ relative to the humid tropics. A wave-energy threshold and micro- to mesotidal ranges constrain the flushing. Sea-level rise (SLR) of 2.92 mm yr - ¹, with a projected increase of 39.1 cm by 2100, combined with thermal and salinity extremes, dust burial, and oiling, raises the risk. However, undisturbed soils confer high carbon permanence. Socio-economic benefits, such as nursery support, shoreline defense, and cultural amenities, are large, but enforcement, monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV), and co-management remain uneven. A region-specific framework is most essential. Priorities are to safeguard groundwater-fed refugia, secure retreat corridors, reduce local stressors, and implement stress-matched restoration that replicates resilient features, such as space, sediment, seepage, and shelter, while grounding mitigation in arid-zone MRV and avoided-loss accounting. This study provides a resilience–threat typology and integrated governance framework linking legal protection, climate-linked restoration, regional coordination, and inclusive co-management.
Problem Statement and Purpose. The article examines and analyses the human-geographical aspects of research into investment activity in the region. Research into the spatial aspects of investment activity is closely linked to concepts such as socio-economic attractiveness and territorial competitiveness, and helps to explain and predict the general trend of regional socio-geographical development. For Ukraine, which is currently facing difficult geopolitical and economic conditions, maintaining and developing investment activity is an urgent task. At the same time, it is necessary to develop and plan approaches that will allow for the consideration and effective application of all factors of investment attractiveness of each individual region, based on its natural, historical, demographic, economic, cultural, environmental, and other characteristics. The purpose of this article is to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the socio-geographical aspects of investment activity in the region, in particular the factors that influence investment attractiveness, the investment climate, and the investment potential of the region, as well as to determine the structure and basic approaches for assessing the investment potential of the region. Data and Methods. The following research methods were used in writing this article: a systematic approach, analysis, synthesis, comparative analysis, classification, and typification. Using the analytical method, theoretical approaches to understanding the essence of the concepts of investment attractiveness and investment potential were generalized, and key factors and basic structural components of the formation of the region’s investment potential were identified. Scientific works on geography, economics, regional economics, and spatial analysis were used in the study. Results. In geographical literature, investment attractiveness is considered a multidimensional characteristic of a territory that combines the influence of geographical, economic, social and institutional factors. The socio-geographical aspects of investment activity emphasize the role of the territorial organization of the economy, the geo-economic position of the region and the level of its regional integration. Socio-geographical research into the investment potential of a region is based on studying the main components of regional development, both natural-geographical and socio-economic, which contribute to or hinder the development of investment activity. Such studies aim to conduct spatial analysis and identify territorial differences in the current distribution of investments and capital investments, as well as the prerequisites and potential centers for the development of investment activity. In our opinion, the investment potential of a region can be defined as the ability of the regional territorial system to attract and implement investments. The main internal components of the investment potential of a region are natural resources, socio-demographic, economic, service, innovation, infrastructure, and management potential. External components include the political and economic situation in the country, the existing regulatory and legal framework, the directions and priorities of state regional policy, and the main forms and vectors of international cooperation. Further development and use of socio-geographical methods for assessing and analyzing the investment potential of regions will make it possible to develop recommendations within the framework of national regional and investment policy to level out territorial imbalances in regional and intra-regional development, stimulate depressed areas and integrate them into a single investment space system.
Carina Veil, Miroslav Krstic, I. Karafyllis
et al.
Populations (in ecology, epidemics, biotechnology, economics, and social processes) not only interact over time but also age over time. It is therefore common to model them as “age-structured” partial differential equations (PDEs), where age is the “space variable.” Since the models also involve integrals over age, both in the birth process and in the interaction among species, they are in fact integro-partial differential equations (IPDEs) with positive states. To regulate the population densities to desired profiles, harvesting is used as input. However, nondiscriminating harvesting, where wanting to repress one (overpopulated) species will inevitably repress the other (near-extinct) species as well, the positivity restriction on the input (no insertion of population, only removal), and the multiplicative (nonlinear) nature of harvesting, makes control challenging even for ordinary differential equation (ODE) versions of such dynamics, let alone for their IPDE versions, on an infinite-dimensional nonnegative state space. With this article, we introduce a design for a benchmark version of such a problem: a two-population predator–prey setup. The model is equivalent to two coupled ODEs, actuated by harvesting, which must not drop below zero, and strongly (“exponentially”) disturbed by two autonomous but exponentially stable integral delay equations (IDEs). We develop two control designs. With a modified Volterra-like control Lyapunov function, we design a simple feedback that employs possibly negative harvesting for global stabilization of the ODE model while guaranteeing regional regulation with positive harvesting. With a more sophisticated, restrained controller, we achieve regulation for the ODE model globally, with positive harvesting. For the full IPDE model, with the IDE dynamics acting as large disturbances, for both the simple and saturated feedback laws, we provide explicit estimates of the regions of attraction. Simulations illustrate the nonlinear infinite-dimensional solutions under the two feedback. This article charts a new pathway for control designs for infinite-dimensional multispecies dynamics and for nonlinear positive systems with positive controls.
Urban agglomerations, such as the Yangtze River Delta, Yangtze River Middle Reaches, and Chengdu-Chongqing regions, play a crucial role in driving China’s regional economic development. While previous studies have focused on economic and social aspects, the fiscal dimension of urban agglomerations remains underexplored. This study addresses this gap by investigating the relationship between population size and fiscal efficiency in these three major urban agglomerations along the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB).We introduce the concept of fiscal efficiency based on revenue and expenditure and select relevant indices, such as efficient population size and fiscal self-reliance. Using statistical data from 2017 to 2019, we employ curve regression analysis in SPSS to estimate the efficient population sizes of these urban agglomerations and examine differences in financial efficiency over time and space. Our analysis reveals that cities with populations over 10 million hinder fiscal efficiency in the Yangtze River Delta, those with 3–5 and 5–10 million in the Yangtze River Middle Reaches, and those with 5–10 and 1–5 million in the Chengdu-Chongqing urban agglomerations. The maximum financially efficient population sizes are estimated at 648 million for the Yangtze River Delta, 308 million for the Yangtze River Middle Reaches, and 320 million for the Chengdu-Chongqing urban agglomerations. Considering various fiscal indicators, all three agglomerations demonstrate varying degrees of efficiency. The innovation of this study lies in the interdisciplinary approach, integrating finance, demography, urban planning, and regional economics. By analyzing population size from a fiscal perspective, we provide a novel theoretical framework and analytical tool for policymakers. This study highlights the importance of fiscal balance and population optimization in urban agglomerations, contributing to regional coordinated development and sustainable growth.
The article provides a brief overview of research in the field of spatial economics. Among the identified trends in the development of these studies is the expansion of the theoretical construction of economic space, which at different stages included more and more new elements; at the moment this trend has exhausted itself and produces destructive works without reference to specific problems. The second trend is associated with the movement towards the synchronization of all factors of spatial economy development due to the neutralization of individual influences from the established territorial environment. The third trend has led to the exhaustion of specific analytical tools of spatial economy and their unification, bringing to the forefront the thoughtfulness of the initial problem statement and the conjugation of the analytical results with the practice of state regulation. The result of many years of development of the spatial economy problematics was noticeable success in descriptive modeling against the background of almost complete failure in its normative part: we know a lot about what the development of territories depends on, but the parameters of the spatial economy are beyond the influence of federal and regional management systems. The most promising directions of research in this area are discussed. Two of them are highlighted: turning academic research into the first step of comprehensive design of territorial development and integrating it into the format of modern reform theory; intensifying the study of the issues of innovation diffusion between territories in order to reduce interregional gaps in development. A two-step mechanism of borrowing achievements between territories is proposed, based on the combination of the procedure of stimulating advanced regions with the subsequent transfer of their experience and technological results to lagging territories.
Aim. The article shows the increased productivity of heterodox approaches in the part of economics that studies the problems of the world economy, including regional integration.Methods. Illustrations of the apparent paradoxicity (for representatives of the economic mainstream) of geopolitical and world economic dynamics after 2022 are used to explain the importance of analyzing economic processes in the world economy, taking into account approaches of related social disciplines. The connection of some important scientific results of Russian scholars in the field of economics with the achievements of historians, orientalists and cultural scientists, representatives of economic and political geography and studies of international relations is shown.Results. The article describes the boundaries of the mathematization of the considered segment of heterodox analysis related to the unreliability of world economic statistics, with examples of the successful application of approximate (in a broad sense relative to mathematical terminology) calculations to assess shifts in foreign trade and foreign direct investment in contemporary Russia. The author demonstrates that the heterodox approach reveals the absence of contradiction between Russia’s intensification of Eurasian economic integration (including within the narrow limits of the EAEU) and our country’s efforts to build a more equitable polycentric world order, including strengthening the BRICS format. Greater interdisciplinary transparency for heterodox economists against the background of representatives of the mainstream, among other things, makes it possible to intensify fruitful cooperation between scientists and practical analysts representing analytical centers — think tanks of the post-Soviet space and neighboring countries in the interests of developing integration projects.Conclusions. The proposed methodological framework can enhance the effectiveness of the work of the analytical community of Russia and its friendly countries in obtaining new applied conclusions in the economic sphere, especially in terms of enhancing the effectiveness of integration efforts in Greater Eurasia. At the same time, heterodox economists are more receptive to cooperation with historians, political scientists and other analysts who have focused on Eurasian economic integration.
Digital economy promotes new industries and integrates with traditional industries, which has an impact on the level of human capital. This paper constructs the digital economy development indicators of the 13 cities in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei from the dimension of Internet development and digital financial development, Using the entropy value method to measure the development level of the digital economy, From a spatial perspective, Building a spatial Dubin model based on the geographic and economic distance nested weight matrix, Analyzing the impact of digital economy on the improvement of human capital level in 13 cities in The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region between 2012 and 2021, The study shows that the level of digital development and human capital of all cities in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region are gradually improving, However, there is an uneven spatial distribution; The improvement of the development level of digital economy has a significant positive space spillover effect on the improvement of human capital level; Uneven distribution of talents in the region, Talent is competitive in the regional space. Based on the research conclusion, this paper provides relevant policy suggestions from the aspects of formulating talent introduction policies, optimizing the layout of spatial industry and making full use of data elements.
Владимир Александрович Кунин, Станислав Игоревич Пешко, Анна Юрьевна Румянцева
При управлении финансовыми рисками компаний индустрии ритейла (ритейлеров) следует учитывать как внутренние, так и внешние факторы риска. Современные исследователи рассматривают преимущественно макроэкономические показатели без учета регионального аспекта, что может приводить к росту финансовых рисков при управлении мультирегиональной корпорацией. Цель исследования заключается в разработке методического подхода к оценке и прогнозированию влияния мезоэкономических факторов на финансовые риски ритейлеров. При этом особое внимание уделяется рискам снижения показателей прибыли и рентабельности и структурному риску. Указанный подход предусматривает реализацию авторской концепции, основанной на применении корреляционно-регрессионного анализа связи оборота розничной торговли ритейлеров с анализируемыми внешними факторами. Методология исследования определена применением методов математической статистики и эконометрического анализа. Оценка и прогнозирование проводились на основе официальных статистических данных, публикуемых в открытом доступе Росстатом, ЦБ РФ и ООН за период с 2005 г. по 2021 г. В статье представлен анализ показателей прибыли, рентабельности и комбинированного рычага (объединяющего влияние финансового и операционного рычагов) с позиции влияния на них внешних факторов. Разработана методика оценки влияния внешних рисков на финансовые показатели, применение которой позволило установить неоднородность влияния внешних факторов на оборот розничной торговли в зависимости от региона. На основе разработанной методики получены аналитические оценки комплексного рычага, отражающего изменения прибыли в зависимости от внешних факторов. Предложенная методика и полученные оценки могут быть использованы лицами, принимающими финансовые, инвестиционные и управленческие решения для выделения наиболее значимых внешних факторов, влияющих на финансовые риски компаний на мезоуровне. Теоретическое значение проведенного исследования заключается в развитии методического подхода к оценке и прогнозированию финансовых рисков с учетом регионального аспекта.
Liquid hydrogen (LH2) is playing a key role in decarbonization of the global energy landscape. Its large-scale continuous use in the space industry provides a foundation for transitioning state-of-the-art capabilities to other sectors. Key advancements in materials, cryogenics, and system optimization are being applied to reduce costs and increase performance for various mobile and stationary use cases. However, some unsettled topics remain to be addressed related to production, liquefaction, storage, distribution, safety, and economics. The optimal solutions to these unsettled topics will vary depending on the region, industry sector, and application.Decarbonizing Mobility with Liquid Hydrogen provides a brief and balanced assessment of the relevant technologies, established practices, system operations, emerging trends, strategic considerations, and economic drivers. Addressing these unsettled topics is tied to the evolving economic strategies of governmental policies, public and private investment, competitive structures, regional approaches, and innovative business models.Click here to access the full SAE EDGETM Research Report portfolio.
Abolfazl babajani, saeed jabarzadeh, jamal bahri sales
et al.
In recent years, companies have faced a series of bankruptcies that have raised concerns about the error in the enterprise risk management process.The quality of financial reporting and its impact on risk management is a topic that has recently been favored by researchers.By reviewing the financial data of 156 firms listed in stock exchange for the period of 11 years (2006 to 2016), the effect of enterprise risk management factors on the quality of financial reporting with the interactive role of corporate governance has been investigated.The results showed that the Sigma risk and firm size have a positive effect on financial transparency and a negative effect on the quality of accruals. Arbitrage and Opinion divergence risk do not affect transparency.Corporate governance has a positive effect on both the interaction between Sigma risk and financial transparency, as well as the interaction between firm size and financial information transparency.Also, corporate governance has a negative effect on the interaction between Sigma risk and the quality of accruals and a positive effect on the interaction between the firm size and the quality of accruals.
Tamara K. Rostovskaya, Oksana V. Kuchmaeva, Mehdi Afzali
et al.
Introduction. The relevance of the study of cross-cultural marriages in Russia and Iran is due to the fact that Russia and Iran are characterized by both attention to the observance of cultural needs and the desire for innovative development. These contradictory manifestations are also manifested in family and marriage relations. There is a shortage of empirical studies that reflect the range of opinions of various social strata in Russia and Iran, allowing a comparative analysis of attitudes towards cross-cultural marriages to determine the prospects for state policy to support the institution of marriage in a cross-cultural environment. The purpose of the public research is to analyze the relationship with cross-cultural marriages in Russia and Iran against the background of the proposed family model.
Materials and Methods. Sociological research is carried out by the method of a quantitative survey. 153 people were interviewed in total, urban residents of Russia and Iran aged 18 to 60 who are in cross-cultural marriages or an interethnic, interfaith environment. To analyze the results, descriptive statistics methods, frequency distributions, and a tabular data visualization method were used.
Results. The survey results have revealed the presence of different ideas about the desired model of family and marriage both in Iran and Russia (both traditional and modern). The study has revealed a friendly attitude towards interethnic marriages in both countries (primarily for urban residents). In many ways, the success of cross-cultural marriages is determined by the attitude of relatives and the local community towards them.
Discussion and Conclusion. The results obtained can be used to develop strategies for the development of socio-cultural interaction between Russia and Iran. It is essential to consider the study’s conclusions when supporting cross-cultural families in the process of adaptation and acquaintance with the norms, traditions, and customs of a new culture spouse. It is necessary to conduct a study on a more representative sample to assess the differentiation and determinants of people’s opinions in interethnic marriages living in Iran and Russia.
MARYAM SOHRABI, Seyed Mozaffar Seyed Mozaffar, Ebrahim Chirani
et al.
Predicting crises and price jumps in the stock market and based on different models has been growing over the last decade. Due to the presence of big data, this issue has led to the growth of developments in the field of machine learning and deep learning models. Due to the importance of this issue, This study examined the ability of different machine learning models to predict the jumps in the total index of the Tehran Stock Exchange during the period 2013 to 2020. For this purpose, first stock market jumps were extracted based on the ARJI-GARCH approach and then these jumps were predicted by considering the possible effective variables including global and domestic markets. The prediction results of 1-, 3-, and 6-day periods for the out-of-sample period show that the machine learning method based on the long short-term memory (LSTM) network, a recurrent neural network, has a better result than other models.
About two years ago, the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC) convened a meeting, featuring individual representatives from the most prominent independent arts and culture spaces operating in Cairo. It was an intimate gathering of around fifteen people at the Cairo Lab for Urban Studies, Training, and Environmental Research (CLUSTER) offices, downtown on 26th of July Street. Everybody in the room knew each other, their intimacy indicative of the dwindling nature of what was once a vibrant and populated independent cultural scene. Once everybody had gathered around the table, AFAC representatives announced the release of a new grant dedicated to funding running costs for midsize independent cultural institutions in the Middle East and North Africa region for a threeyear span. In the schema of funding networks after 2014, such a grant was unparalleled. Although this is a problem facing institutions regionally and worldwide, in Egypt specifically large-scale administrative grants are not as accessible as they once were, and most institutions struggle to squeeze overhead costs (salaries, rent, and utilities) into project-based grants. I believe the intended tone of the meeting was celebratory, although upon announcing the grant the AFAC representatives were met with a host of unsolicited reactions, as the individuals in the room took the opportunity to air out grievances. They expressed burnout from the toll of the emotional labor required to run such organizations, the difficulties of management, and the frustration of being dependent on grant-giving structures that circumscribed the possibility for growth and limited opportunities for sustainability. Individuals complained that their organizations (some of which were twenty years old) were not capable of handling a grant dedicated to running costs because they did not have solid accounting systems in place. Other individuals complained that they would have difficulty accessing the funds because they had not set up an account outside of Egypt that would allow them to receive funding, as foreign funding was legally banned in Egypt in 2017. One individual who worked in an art space that operated as a “vanity gallery” (meaning it charged artists to rent the space and exhibit work) got up halfway through the meeting and left, no longer interested in what grant-giving organizations had to offer. The predicament of independent arts spaces in Cairo is a story of civil society in Egypt at large. In September 2016, Representative ‘Abd al-Hadi al-Qasbi submitted the first draft of the Law Governing the Work of Associations and Other Foundations Working in the Field of Civil Work (referred to as the NGO law) to Egypt’s House of Representatives. The law, which was passed in May 2017, ensured that all non-state actors, including most of the independent art spaces operating outside of the Ministry of Culture, would be unable to access funding from foreign sources. According to the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy (TIMEP) brief, “Individuals from civil society organizations faced arrests, travel bans, and asset freezes both before and following the NGO Law’s ratification.” This law catalyzed what had been a gradual withdrawal process of various funding bodies and civil society organizations from Egypt that began after the January 2011 revolution. The withdrawal of organizations such as the Ford Foundation, which had been a bulwark of support for arts institutions (as well as civil society institutions) in Egypt, instigated a shift in an arts ecosystem that had been present since the 1990s. Arts spaces such as the Townhouse Gallery for Contemporary Art, where I worked as curator for four years, were founded and flourished thanks to aid structures that saw contemporary art as a conduit for