scholarly journals When Autocrats Threaten Citizens with Violence: Evidence from China

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
Erin Baggott Carter ◽  
Brett L. Carter
Keyword(s):  
Collective Action ◽  
Instrumental Variables ◽  
Experimental Psychology ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
Separatist Movements ◽  
Using Data

Abstract When do autocrats employ propaganda to threaten citizens with repression? Do threats of repression condition citizen behavior? This article develops a theory of propaganda-based threats in autocracies that builds on insights from experimental psychology. It argues that even credible threats of repression are costly, and so are reserved for moments when collective action is most likely. Since threats of repression are employed sparingly, the authors also expect them to be effective. The theory is tested using data from China, the world's most populous autocracy. The study analyzes all 164,707 articles published between 2009 and 2016 in the Workers' Daily, a state-run newspaper that focuses on domestic issues and targets a non-elite audience. It finds that the Chinese government employs propaganda-based threats of repression primarily around the anniversaries of ethnic separatist movements in Tibet and Xinjiang regions. Using an instrumental variables strategy, the study shows that these threats decrease protest rates by a substantively meaningful margin.

How Collective-Action Failure Shapes Group Heterogeneity and Engagement in Conventional and Radical Action Over Time

2021 ◽  
pp. 095679762097056
Author(s):  
Morgana Lizzio-Wilson ◽  
Emma F. Thomas ◽  
Winnifred R. Louis ◽  
Brittany Wilcockson ◽  
Catherine E. Amiot ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
Latent Profile Analysis ◽  
Profile Analysis ◽  
Social Identification ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Group Efficacy ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Over Time

Extensive research has identified factors influencing collective-action participation. However, less is known about how collective-action outcomes (i.e., success and failure) shape engagement in social movements over time. Using data collected before and after the 2017 marriage-equality debate in Australia, we conducted a latent profile analysis that indicated that success unified supporters of change ( n = 420), whereas failure created subgroups among opponents ( n = 419), reflecting four divergent responses: disengagement (resigned acceptors), moderate disengagement and continued investment (moderates), and renewed commitment to the cause using similar strategies (stay-the-course opponents) or new strategies (innovators). Resigned acceptors were least inclined to act following failure, whereas innovators were generally more likely to engage in conventional action and justify using radical action relative to the other profiles. These divergent reactions were predicted by differing baseline levels of social identification, group efficacy, and anger. Collective-action outcomes dynamically shape participation in social movements; this is an important direction for future research.

By Popular Demand: The Effect of Public Opinion on Income Inequality

2005 ◽  
Vol 4 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 261-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Andersen ◽  
Anthony Heath ◽  
David Weakliem
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Income Inequality ◽  
Instrumental Variables ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Reciprocal Causation ◽  
Low Incomes ◽  
The World ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Distribution Of Income

AbstractThis paper examines the relationship between public support for wage differentials and actual income inequality using data from the World Values Surveys. The distribution of income is more equal in nations where public opinion is more egalitarian. There is some evidence that the opinions of people with higher incomes are more influential than those of people with low incomes. Although the estimated relationship is stronger in democracies, it is present even under non-democratic governments, and the hypothesis that effects are equal cannot be rejected. We consider the possibility of reciprocal causation by means of an instrumental variables analysis, which yields no evidence that income distribution affects opinion.

scholarly journals The impact of the reduction of consumption subsidies on the industrial chain of new energy vehicles

2021 ◽  
Vol 235 ◽  
pp. 01002
Author(s):  
Xiaohua Mao
Keyword(s):  
Chinese Government ◽  
Industry Chain ◽  
Industrial Chain ◽  
New Energy ◽  
New Energy Vehicle ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Impact ◽  
D Investment ◽  
Vehicle Market ◽  
New Energy Vehicles

In recent years, in order to promote the independent development of the new energy vehicle industry, Chinese government has decided to reduce the consumption subsidies for new energy vehicles until the subsidies are completely withdrawn. The reduction of consumption subsidy has a great impact on the production and sales of new energy vehicles in the whole vehicle market. However, does the reduction of this subsidy also have an impact on other enterprises in the new energy vehicles industry chain? This paper tests this problem using data from 2016 to 2018, and finds, through empirical analysis, that during the period of subsidy decline, the profitability of component enterprises is significantly positively correlated with this subsidies, while the r&d investment of enterprises is significantly negatively correlated with this subsidies. The results show that in terms of profitability, the reduction of consumer subsidies not only has an impact on the whole vehicle industry of new energy vehicles, but also has an adverse impact on the core component companies in the industrial chain. However, in terms of r&d, the reduction of subsidies has more negatively strengthened the input and attention of R&D in component companies.

Effect of R&D subsidies and tax credits on the innovative processes of Chilean firms

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (3/4) ◽  
pp. 517-534
Author(s):  
Cristian Mardones ◽  
Florencia Ávila
Keyword(s):  
Instrumental Variables ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Tax Credits ◽  
Lower Percentage ◽  
Crowding Out ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Pseudo Panel ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Positive Effect

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of research and development (R&D) subsidies and tax credits on the innovative processes of Chilean firms.Design/methodology/approachProbit and tobit models for pseudo-panel with instrumental variables are estimated using data from different versions of the Innovation Survey covering the period 2007–2016.FindingsThe results show that R&D subsidies and tax credits have a statistically significant and positive effect on the probability of performing internal and external R&D, but do not affect the intensity of R&D spending, reflecting a crowding-out effect on private funds of both instruments. On the other hand, firms that simultaneously receive R&D subsidies and tax credits have a lower percentage of innovative sales. Furthermore, there are not effects statistically significant of the R&D subsidies and/or tax credits on the number of intellectual property rights applications.Originality/valueIt is concluded that both instruments have not been effective to encourage innovative outputs in Chilean firms.

Bringing The Outsiders In: Opponents' Claims and The Construction of Animal Rights Activists' Identity

2002 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 253-268 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Einwohner
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
Identity Construction ◽  
Symbolic Interactionism ◽  
Animal Rights ◽  
Complete Picture ◽  
Movement Dynamics ◽  
Sense Of Identity ◽  
Using Data

Most research on the role of identity in social movements treats identity as something that is constructed solely by movement participants themselves. However, participants are not the only actors involved in this identity construction. This article uses basic insights from symbolic interactionism to argue that external claims, or claims made about movement participants by those outside the movement, also shape activists' sense of identity. Using data collected during three years of fieldwork with members of a non-violent animal rights organization, I show how the activists made use of their opponents' depictions of them—in particular, charges that the activists were "overly emotional" and "irrational"—when describing themselves. Specifically, I illustrate two processes by which these external claims left their mark on the activists' identity: identity disconfirmation and identity recasting. More broadly, I suggest that "bringing the outsiders in" to examinations of identity and collective action provides a more complete picture not simply of identity construction but of movement dynamics as a whole.

scholarly journals Knowing and Doing: The Perception of Subsidy Policy and Farmland Transfer

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 2393 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yali Zhang ◽  
Yihan Wang ◽  
Yunli Bai
Keyword(s):  
Positive Impact ◽  
Household Survey ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
Agricultural Labor ◽  
Subsidy Policy ◽  
Agricultural Income ◽  
The Government ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Moderate Scale

Farmland transfer is conducive to the rational allocation of farmland resources and scaling of agricultural production in China. The Chinese government launched a pilot program to subsidize moderate-scale farmland management in 2016, yet the perception of the program and its effects are rarely empirically tested using micro-level data. Using data on 523 households extracted from a rural household survey, the Probit and Tobit model results determined a significant positive impact of the perception of moderate-scale subsidies on both farmland transfer behavior and farmland transfer area. If the household knows about the moderate-scale subsidy policy, then it is 19.2% more likely to have moderate-scale land endowment, and the household has 17.626 ha more inflow land than that who do not know the policy. The results show that only 5% of the households know the moderate-scale subsidy policy, thus hindering the process of farmland transfer. Additionally, high levels of educational attainment and non-agricultural income promote farmers’ decisions to transfer farmland and to expand farmland areas for moderate-scale households. However, age, household size, the family dependency ratio, and non-agricultural labor are obstacles to farmland transfer. The findings imply that the government should adopt a more effective policy transmission mechanism to increase the proportion of knowing the subsidy policy for both small-scale and moderate-scale households.

scholarly journals Factorial Mendelian randomization: using genetic variants to assess interactions

2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 1147-1158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica M B Rees ◽  
Christopher N Foley ◽  
Stephen Burgess
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Instrumental Variables ◽  
Genetic Variants ◽  
Mendelian Randomization ◽  
Real Data ◽  
Uk Biobank ◽  
Pharmacological Interventions ◽  
Natural Break ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Randomization Analysis

Abstract Background Factorial Mendelian randomization is the use of genetic variants to answer questions about interactions. Although the approach has been used in applied investigations, little methodological advice is available on how to design or perform a factorial Mendelian randomization analysis. Previous analyses have employed a 2 × 2 approach, using dichotomized genetic scores to divide the population into four subgroups as in a factorial randomized trial. Methods We describe two distinct contexts for factorial Mendelian randomization: investigating interactions between risk factors, and investigating interactions between pharmacological interventions on risk factors. We propose two-stage least squares methods using all available genetic variants and their interactions as instrumental variables, and using continuous genetic scores as instrumental variables rather than dichotomized scores. We illustrate our methods using data from UK Biobank to investigate the interaction between body mass index and alcohol consumption on systolic blood pressure. Results Simulated and real data show that efficiency is maximized using the full set of interactions between genetic variants as instruments. In the applied example, between 4- and 10-fold improvement in efficiency is demonstrated over the 2 × 2 approach. Analyses using continuous genetic scores are more efficient than those using dichotomized scores. Efficiency is improved by finding genetic variants that divide the population at a natural break in the distribution of the risk factor, or else divide the population into more equal-sized groups. Conclusions Previous factorial Mendelian randomization analyses may have been underpowered. Efficiency can be improved by using all genetic variants and their interactions as instrumental variables, rather than the 2 × 2 approach.

Instrumental Variable Methods for the Estimation of Test Score Reliability

1983 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 223-241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Russell Ecob ◽  
Harvey Goldstein
Keyword(s):  
Child Development ◽  
Instrumental Variables ◽  
Test Scores ◽  
Instrumental Variable ◽  
Test Score ◽  
Development Study ◽  
National Child Development Study ◽  
Mental Test ◽  
Instrumental Variable Method ◽  
Using Data

The method of Instrumental Variables is suggested as an alternative to traditional methods for estimating the reliability of mental test scores which avoids certain drawbacks of these methods. The consistency and efficiency of the instrumental variable method are examined empirically using data from the British National Child Development Study in an analysis of 16 year, 11 year and 7 year old scores on tests of mathematics and reading.

Evaluating Incidence and Impact Estimates of the Coronavirus Outbreak from Wuhan before Lockdown (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mai He ◽  
Li Li ◽  
Louis P. Dehner
Keyword(s):  
Epidemiological Data ◽  
Convincing Evidence ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
Delayed Response ◽  
Chinese Media ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Intervention Measures ◽  
Media Reports ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Key Events

BACKGROUND Wuhan, China was the original epicenter of COVID-19 pandemic. OBJECTIVE The goal of the current study is to understand the infection transmission dynamics before intervention measures were taken, such as issuing a lockdown for the city and other social distancing policies. METHODS Data and key events were searched through pubmed for medical literature and internet for Chinese government announcements and Chinese media reports. Epidemiological data including R0 and infection were calculated using data extracted from variety of data sources. RESULTS We established a timeline emphasizing evidence of human-to-human transmission. By January 1, 2020, Chinese authorities had been presented convincing evidence of human-to-human transmission; however, it was until January 20, 2020 that this information was shared with the public. Our study estimated that there would have been 10,989 total infected cases if interventions were taken on January 2, 2020, vs 239,875 cases when lockdown was put in place on January 23, 2020. CONCLUSIONS China’s withholding of key information about the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic and its delayed response ultimately led to the largest public health crisis of this century and could have been avoided with earlier countermeasures. CLINICALTRIAL Not applicable.

Charting the Course of Uyghur Unrest

2011 ◽  
Vol 208 ◽  
pp. 893-912 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin V. Hastings
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Government Policies ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
Asian Countries ◽  
Difficult Time ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
Central Asian Countries ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Difficult Terrain

AbstractWhat explains the course of Uyghur-related violence in Xinjiang and Central Asia since 1990? Using data derived from a variety of sources, I argue that the locations and types of violent incidents were influenced by a combination of Chinese government policies and the political geography of Xinjiang. Specifically, 1990 to 1996 were dominated by logistically complex incidents in a low-level violent campaign in Xinjiang. The Strike Hard campaign in 1996 brought about an increase in logistically simple incidents in Xinjiang and some violence in Central Asia as Uyghur separatists had trouble moving people, information and weapons across the well-guarded, difficult terrain of Xinjiang's borders. China's rapprochement with Central Asian countries in the late 1990s led after 2001 to a dramatic decrease in Uyghur-related violence in general, but also signalled the appearance of logistically creative attacks that required little planning or materials. My findings suggest that Uyghur rebels will have a difficult time mounting a large-scale violent campaign as long as China retains even minimal control of Xinjiang.

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