scholarly journals Adapting neuroeconomics for environmental and energy policy

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
NIK SAWE
Keyword(s):  
Decision Process ◽  
Residential Energy ◽  
Environmental Behaviors ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Environmental Decision Making ◽  
Policy Interventions ◽  
Economics Experiments ◽  
Change Beliefs ◽  
The Individual

AbstractNeuroimaging methods provide insight into the neural mechanisms underlying the decision process, characterizing choice at the individual level and, in a growing number of contexts, predicting national- and market-level behavior. This dual capacity to examine heterogeneity while forecasting aggregate choice is particularly beneficial to those studying environmental decision-making. To effectively reduce residential energy usage and foster other pro-environmental behaviors, policy-makers must understand the effects of information frames and behavioral nudges across individuals who hold a diverse array of attitudes toward the environment and face a broad range of barriers to action. This paper articulates the potential of neuroeconomic methods to aid environmental policy-makers interested in behavior change, especially those interested in closing the energy efficiency gap. Investigation into the roles of affect, eco-labeling and social norms will be discussed, as well as personal identity and climate change beliefs. Combining neuroimaging with behavioral economics experiments can inform the development of effective messaging, characterize the influence of individual differences on the decision process and aid in forecasting the efficacy of policy interventions at scale.

Assessing the Potential Extent of Carsharing

2005 ◽  
Vol 1927 (1) ◽  
pp. 174-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas D. Schuster ◽  
John Byrne ◽  
James Corbett ◽  
Yda Schreuder
Keyword(s):  
Travel Behavior ◽  
Geographic Area ◽  
Social Consequences ◽  
Sensitivity Analyses ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Policy Tool ◽  
Interest Policy ◽  
Sound Policy ◽  
The Individual

Members of carsharing organizations reduce both the number of vehicles owned and vehicle miles traveled (VMT). Given these benefits at the individual level, carsharing may interest policy makers as another tool to address the negative environmental, economic, and social consequences of automobile dependence. However, the aggregate effects of carsharing must be estimated before sound policy decisions can be made. This paper describes a Monte Carlo simulation of the economic decision to own or share a vehicle on the basis of major cost components and past vehicle use. The simulation estimates the percentage of vehicles that would be cheaper to share than own. In Baltimore, Maryland, this result ranged from 4.2% under a traditional neighborhood carsharing model to 14.8% in a commuter-based carsharing model. Sensitivity analyses identified travel time and VMT as the most important economic factors, which likely incorporate other factors such as transit access and environmental attitudes. Because travel behavior, not ownership cost, drives the economic carsharing decision, the model hypothesizes that there will be increasing marginal societal benefits from policies that promote carsharing. The model can be applied to any geographic area and can be used to assess carsharing impacts of various policies that change the economics of owning or driving an auto. These results indicate that carsharing can become prevalent enough to be considered an important policy tool.

Learning Preferences in a Spatial Multiple Criteria Decision Approach: An Application in Public Security Planning

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (04) ◽  
pp. 1403-1432 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ciro Figueiredo ◽  
Caroline Mota
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Effort ◽  
Learning Preferences ◽  
Public Security ◽  
Small Subset ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Policy Interventions ◽  
New Information ◽  
Public Areas ◽  
Security Planning ◽  
The Individual

This study presents a model to identify and classify vulnerable places regarding violence in public areas. The model considers multiple objectives and multiple viewpoints by using a graphical visualization for exploring vulnerability. The methodology is supported by a Dominance-based rough set approach in conjunction with preference learning and Geographic Information Systems, and requires the use of decision-makers’ (DMs’) previous knowledge for holistic assessment to get individual results. We considered an original approach for aggregating those individual results to obtain a recommendation from the final output. The preferences are assessed interactively to decrease the cognitive effort of each DM, starting from a small subset of holistic evaluations and expanding the process by incrementing new information in each stage of the model. We also assigned indicators to identify the quality of the results, participation in the individual preferences, and to avoid inconsistencies. We used the model to identify areas that merit more resources to combat crime and employed several criteria that assess types and levels of violence. These results may help policy-makers and planners to draw up and refine public policy interventions in the public security context.

Review of Family Financial Decision Making: Suggestions for Future Research and Implications for Financial Education

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 253-267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jinhee Kim ◽  
Michael S. Gutter ◽  
Taylor Spangler
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Decision Process ◽  
Family System ◽  
Financial Education ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Financial Decisions ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Financial Decision Making ◽  
Financial Decision ◽  
The Individual

This article reviews the theories and literature in intrahousehold financial decisions, spousal partners and financial decision making, family system and financial decision process, children, and financial decisions. The article draws conclusions from the literature review and discusses directions for future research and educational programs. Most financial education and counseling takes place at the individual level, whereas financial decisions take place at household and intrahousehold levels. Family members, spouses/partners, children, and others play a key role in individuals’ financial decisions. The article proposes the key programmatic implications for financial professionals and educators that need to be integrated into financial education and counseling. Understanding the unique dynamics of family financial decision making would help create effective educational and counseling strategies for the whole families.

scholarly journals Social Capital Changes After COVID-19 Lockdown Among Youths in China: COVID-19 Impact on Lifestyle Change Survey (COINLICS)

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bin Yu ◽  
Miyang Luo ◽  
Meijing Liu ◽  
Junmin Zhou ◽  
Shujuan Yang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Lifestyle Change ◽  
Convenience Sample ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Educational Levels ◽  
Chinese Youth ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Four Levels ◽  
The Individual

Introduction: Social capital, the effective functioning of social groups through networks of relationships, can affect mental health and may be affected by COVID-19. We aimed to examine the changes in social capital before and after the COVID-19 lockdown among the Chinese youth.Methods: A national convenience sample of 10,540 high school, undergraduate, and graduate students, from the COVID-19 Impact on Lifestyle Change Survey (COINLICS), reported their demographic and social capital information before and after the COVID-19 lockdown. Social capital was retrospectively measured at four levels: individual (ISC), family (FSC), community (CSC), and society (SSC). The changes of social capital were also compared across three educational levels.Results: Overall, ISC and CSC scores generally decreased after lockdown (15.1 to 14.8 and 13.4 to 13.1, respectively), while FSC and SSC scores increased significantly (12.7 to 13.0 and 7.1 to 7.2, respectively). At the individual level, most participants showed a constant perceived social capital; more of the remaining participants showed decreased than increased ISC (30.5% vs. 17.0%) and CSC scores (28.4% vs. 19.1%), while more participants showed increased than decreased FSC (21.7% vs. 9.2%) and SSC scores (10.3% vs. 3.9%). Heterogeneities in social capital changes existed across educational levels.Conclusions: Our findings would provide health professionals and policy-makers solid evidence on the changes in social capital of youths after lockdowns, and therefore help the design of future interventions to rebuild or improve their social capital after epidemics/disasters.

scholarly journals Planned Retirement Timing in Europe: Are Europeans Adapting to the Policy of Extending Working Lives

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moritz Hess ◽  
Laura Naegele ◽  
Lena Becker ◽  
Jana Mäcken ◽  
Wouter De Tavernier
Keyword(s):  
Older Workers ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Retirement Age ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Working Lives ◽  
Gender Education ◽  
Self Reported Health Status ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Country Specific

As populations are ageing concerns regarding the sustainability of European welfare states have come to the forefront. In reaction, policy makers have implemented measurements aimed at the prolongation of working lives. This study investigates weather older workers have adapted their planned retirement age, as a result of this new policy credo. Based on data from Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) the analysis shows an increase of the planned retirement age (1.36 years) across all ten European countries investigated, albeit with country-specific variations. Variations on the individual level can be detected in regard to gender, education and self-reported health status.

scholarly journals Means, Motives and Opportunity: determinants of community health worker performance

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (5) ◽  
pp. e001790 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aparna John ◽  
Thomas Newton-Lewis ◽  
Shuchi Srinivasan
Keyword(s):  
Community Health ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Worker Performance ◽  
Performance Problem ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Job Role

The performance of community health workers (CHWs) typically depends on the interaction between their motivation (their intent to achieve personal and organisational goals) and the constraints that they face in doing so. These constraints can be both at the individual level, for example, whether the worker has the skills and knowledge required to deliver on their job role, and the organisational level, for example, whether the worker is provided with the resources required to perform. Designing interventions to improve the performance of CHWs requires identifying the constraints to performance in a particular context. Existing frameworks on CHW performance tend to be derived empirically, identifying a broad range of intervention design and contextual factors that have been shown to influence CHW performance. These may not always be able to guide policy makers to identify the precise cause of a specific performance problem in a particular context and develop an appropriate policy response. This article presents a framework to help practitioners and researchers diagnose the constraints to performance of CHWs and guide programmatic and policy responses. The Means, Motives and Opportunity (MMO) framework has been adapted from the SaniFOAM framework used to identify the determinants of sanitation behaviours. It is based on three interdependent and interacting domains: means (whether an individual is capable of performing), motives (whether an individual wants to perform) and opportunity (whether the individual has the chance to perform). A wide range of data sources are expected to be used when applying the MMO framework, especially qualitative research that captures the perspectives and lived realities of CHWs and their communities. In this article, we demonstrate how the MMO framework can be applied to identify the constraints to CHW performance using the case study of Anganwadi Workers (village nutrition workers) in Bihar, India.

A multilevel analysis of change in hatred of academic work during high school: focusing on the sociocultural background of Korea

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 166-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Minyoung Lee ◽  
Soohyun Cho ◽  
Sang Min Lee
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
High School Students ◽  
Test Anxiety ◽  
Autonomy Support ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
School Students ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Policy Interventions ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Multilevel Growth Model

AbstractDevelopment of academic hatred was examined at four time points across 7 months among 1,015 South Korean high school students. A multilevel growth model showed that the baseline of, and change in, academic hatred varied across individuals and classrooms. At the individual level, gender, parents’ academic pressure, depression, and test anxiety were related to the initial level of academic hatred; gender and test anxiety were associated with a decrease in academic hatred over time. At the class level, lower socio-economic status and higher teachers’ autonomy support were associated with a lower baseline of academic hatred, and higher teachers’ autonomy support decreased academic hatred. Influence mechanisms of protective and risk factors on students’ academic hatred can be considered for strategic and policy interventions.

scholarly journals Methodological Issues in Studies of Cultural Legacies in Post-Socialist Russia’s Civil Society

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-165
Author(s):  
Anna Leskinen
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
The State ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Theoretical Assumptions ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Cultural Legacies ◽  
The Individual

AbstractThe state of civil society in post-socialist Russia and other former socialist countries is of great interest to social scientists, policy makers, and development-oriented practitioners. Numerous theoretical assumptions and methodological approaches have been used by researchers to describe, analyze, and assess the state of civil society in Russia, for example. One of the key issues addressed has been the influences on citizens’ civic and social activities and the historical conditions and cultural environments that have generated – and continue to generate – these activities. This critique focuses on the concept of “communist legacies” which has been applied at the individual level to explain people’s preferences, attitudes, and forms of behavior in Russia and other post-socialist countries. The concept is influential, in large part, because it has been supported by empirical research, especially the highly influential empirical research of Marc Howard. This paper takes a critical look at this research, including its theoretical frame and the methodology associated with the frame.

The Start of Team Start-Ups: Collective Dynamics of Initiation and Formation of Entrepreneurial Teams

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (01) ◽  
pp. 31-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heidi Forsström-Tuominen ◽  
Iiro Jussila ◽  
Sanjay Goel
Keyword(s):  
Team Building ◽  
New Venture ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Multiple Case ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Start Ups

This study aims to describe and understand the start of team start-ups through answering why and how team entrepreneurship (TE) is initiated, how teams form, and what kinds of criteria are used in team building. While the above topics have been examined by many scholars, we aim to elaborate new insights into understanding the very first steps of initiating a new venture by an entrepreneurs’ collective. We employ a qualitative multiple-case study approach and analyze individual and group interview data from four high-technology team start-ups through inductive thematic analysis. We find that TE starts with an impetus established by a collective desire, collective value orientation, collective demand, and collective encouragement to TE. The impetus concretizes in coming together of team members where one or some need to take initiative to form the team, and search for members with specific criteria for membership that include not only technical but social-psychological dimensions. The study suggests that emergence of entrepreneurial opportunities at the collective-level might be distinctive from the individual-level. It contributes to researchers, prospective entrepreneurs, investors, policy-makers, and educators’ understanding of TE as a versatile and dynamic phenomenon where individual and group levels of analysis and technical and social-psychological aspects intertwine.

scholarly journals Learning from COVID-19: Infectious Disease Vulnerability Promotes Pro-Environmental Behaviors

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (16) ◽  
pp. 8687
Author(s):  
Da Jiang ◽  
Mingxuan Li ◽  
Hanyang Wu ◽  
Shuang Liu
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Infectious Disease ◽  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
Environmental Concern ◽  
Environmental Behaviors ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Societal Level ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Relationship

Environmental problems, such as climate change, pollution, and environmental degradation, are important contributors to the spread of infectious diseases, such as COVID-19 and SARS. For instance, a greater concentration of ambient NO2 was associated with faster transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19. However, it remains unclear whether outbreaks of infectious diseases arouse individuals’ concern on the need to protect the environment and therefore promote more pro-environmental behaviors. To this end, we examined the relationship between infectious disease vulnerability and pro-environmental behaviors using data from a cross-societal survey (N = 53 societies) and an experiment (N = 214 individuals). At both the societal and the individual levels, infectious disease vulnerability increased pro-environmental behaviors. At the societal level, this relationship was mediated by citizens’ level of environmental concern. At the individual level, the relationship was mediated by empathy. The findings show that infectious disease vulnerability is conducive to pro-environmental behaviors.

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