Shadow Economies and the Success of Economic Sanctions: Explaining Why Democratic Targets Are Disadvantaged

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 353-372
Author(s):  
Bryan R Early ◽  
Dursun Peksen
Keyword(s):  
Success Rate ◽  
Economic Effects ◽  
National Data ◽  
Shadow Economies ◽  
Democratic Regimes ◽  
Budgetary Resource ◽  
Induced Changes ◽  
Democracy Theory ◽  
Robust Evidence ◽  
Cross National

Abstract The sanctions literature has identified numerous mechanisms by which the adverse economic effects of sanctions impact their success rate. This body of work, however, has mostly focused on targets’ formal economies and has thus overlooked whether sanctions-induced changes in shadow (also known as informal) economic activity influence sanctions’ effectiveness. In this article, we develop two rival arguments that can potentially explain how shadow sector growth affects sanctions’ outcomes. Our grievance mitigation theory argues that increased shadow sector activity decreases the political pressure on leaders to capitulate to sanctions, while our disadvantaged democracy theory asserts that shadow economies create budgetary resource demands and deficits that disproportionately hamper democratic targets’ ability to resist sanctions. We assess the empirical merits of the two theories using time-series cross-national data for 1950–2005. We find robust evidence that the growth of shadow economies increases the likelihood of sanctions’ success in democratic targets while not significantly affecting the success rate of sanctions against non-democratic regimes. Our findings shed new light on the processes by which the economic disruptions and hardships created by sanctions translate into pressure on targeted regimes to concede to sanctions.

scholarly journals Determinants of Business Exits in Australia

2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yongqiang Li ◽  
Anona Armstrong ◽  
Andrew Clarke
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Tests ◽  
Local Region ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Data Modelling ◽  
National Data ◽  
Research Directions ◽  
Modelling Techniques ◽  
Future Research Directions ◽  
Robust Evidence ◽  
Cross National

The annually increasing firm exits have significant financial, legal and social impacts on productivity, employment and economic growth in Australia. However, evidence of the impacts of firm exits is sparse. This paper undertakes a first-ever study that empirically investigates the determinants and their impacts on firm churn. This paper is innovative to the literature in four aspects: (1) Local Region Areas (LGAs) data, rarely available in other countries, has been used for the analysis; (2) using LGAs as the basic analytical unit is able to eliminate the heterogeneity problems encountered by other studies which are based on national and cross-national data; (3) panel data modelling techniques identify robust evidence; (4) systematic statistical tests guarantees the robustness of the results. The dataset, provided by Australia Bureau of Statistics, include 3462 observations of 577 Local Government Areas (LGAs) during 2004-2009. The research identifies variables positively and negatively affecting the exits and finds that size matters in determining business exits. The last section concludes with a discussion of limitations and future research directions.

scholarly journals Assessing Short-Term Fertility Intentions and Their Realisation Using the Generations and Gender Survey: Pitfalls and Challenges

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zuzanna Brzozowska ◽  
Eva Beaujouan
Keyword(s):  
Fertility Intentions ◽  
Fertility Intention ◽  
National Data ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Degree Of Certainty ◽  
Cross Country ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Questionnaire Adaptation ◽  
Cross National

AbstractThe use of fertility intention questions to study individual childbearing behaviour has developed rapidly in recent decades. In Europe, the Generations and Gender Surveys are the main sources of cross-national data on fertility intentions and their realisation. This study investigates how an inconsistent implementation of a question about wanting a child now affects the cross-country comparability of intentions to have a child within the next three years and their realisation. We conduct our analysis separately for women and men at prime and late reproductive ages in Austria, France, Italy and Poland. The results show that the overall share of respondents intending to have a child at some point in their life is similar in all four analysed countries. However, once the time horizon and the degree of certainty of fertility intentions are included, substantial cross-country differences appear, particularly in terms of proceptive behaviour and, consequently, the realisation of fertility intentions. We conclude that the inconsistent questionnaire adaptation makes it very difficult to assess the role of country context in the realisation of childbearing intentions.

Cross-National Data on Victims of Bullying: What is Really Being Measured?

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 9-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter K. Smith ◽  
Susanne Robinson ◽  
Barbara Marchi
Keyword(s):  
National Data ◽  
Victims Of Bullying ◽  
Cross National

scholarly journals Lockdown Lives: A longitudinal study of inter-relationships amongst feelings of loneliness, social contacts and solidarity during the COVID-19 lockdown in early 2020.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jolien van Breen ◽  
Maja Kutlaca ◽  
Yasin Koc ◽  
Bertus F. Jeronimus ◽  
Anne Margit Reitsema ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Public Debate ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
National Data ◽  
Social Contacts ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
The Public ◽  
Time Points ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Cross National

In this work, we study how social contacts and feelings of solidarity shape experiences of loneliness during the COVID-19 lockdown in early 2020. We draw on cross-national data, collected across four time points between mid-March until early May 2020. We situate our work within the public debate on these issues and discuss to what extent the public understanding of the impact of lockdown is borne out in the data. Results show, first, that although online contacts are beneficial in combating feelings of loneliness, people who feel more lonely are less likely to make use of this strategy. Second, online contacts do not function as a substitute to face-to-face contacts - in fact, more frequent online contacts in earlier weeks predicted an increase in face-to-face contacts in later weeks. Finally, solidarity played only a small role in shaping people’s feelings of loneliness during lockdown. In sum, our findings suggest that we must look beyond the current focus on online contact and solidarity, if we want to help people address their feelings of loneliness. We hope that this work will be instrumental not only in understanding the impact of the lockdown in early 2020, but also in preparing for possible future lockdown periods.

Six Sigma to distinguish patterns in COVID-19 approaches

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Willem Salentijn ◽  
Jiju Antony ◽  
Jacqueline Douglas
Keyword(s):  
Six Sigma ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Similar Data ◽  
National Data ◽  
Common Cause ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Data Registration ◽  
The Moment ◽  
Special Causes ◽  
Cross National

PurposeCOVID-19 has changed life as we know. Data are scarce and necessary for making decisions on fighting COVID-19. The purpose of this paper is to apply Six Sigma techniques on the current COVID-19 pandemic to distinguish between special cause and common cause variation. In the DMAIC structure, different approaches applied in three countries are compared.Design/methodology/approachFor three countries the mortality is compared to the population to distinguish between special cause variation and common cause variation. This variation and the patterns in it are assessed to the countries' different approaches to COVID-19.FindingsIn the DMAIC problem-solving approach, patterns in the data are distinguished. The special cause variation is assessed to the special causes and approaches. The moment on which measures were taken has been essential, as well as policies on testing and distancing.Research limitations/implicationsCross-national data comparisons are a challenge as countries have different moments on which they register data on their population. Furthermore, different intervals are taken, varying from registering weekly to registering yearly. For the research, three countries with similar data registration and different approaches in fighting COVID-19 were taken.Originality/valueThis is the first study with Master Black Belts from different countries on the application of Six Sigma techniques and the DMAIC from the viewpoint of special cause variation on COVID-19.

Women’s participation and challenges to the liberal script: A global perspective

2021 ◽  
pp. 026858092110609
Author(s):  
Julia C Lerch ◽  
Evan Schofer ◽  
David John Frank ◽  
Wesley Longhofer ◽  
Francisco O Ramirez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
International Organizations ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Global Perspective ◽  
National Data ◽  
The Public ◽  
Education Politics ◽  
Women's Participation ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Participation In Higher Education ◽  
Cross National

Existing scholarship documents large worldwide increases in women’s participation in the public sphere over recent decades, for example, in education, politics, and the labor force. Some scholars have argued that these changes follow broader trends in world society, especially its growing liberalism, which increasingly has reconfigured social life around the choices of empowered and rights-bearing individuals, regardless of gender. Very recently, however, a variety of populisms and nationalisms have emerged to present alternatives to liberalism, including in the international arena. We explore here their implications for women’s participation in public life. We use cross-national data to analyze changes in women’s participation in higher education, the polity, and the economy 1970–2017. We find that women’s participation on average continues to expand over this period, but there is evidence of a growing cross-national divergence. In most domains, women’s participation tends to be lower in countries linked to illiberal international organizations, especially in the recent-most period.

Between Mao and Gandhi

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ches Thurber
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Relational Theory ◽  
New Wave ◽  
National Data ◽  
Civil Resistance ◽  
The Social ◽  
Nonviolent Action ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
Ability And Willingness ◽  
Cross National

From Eastern Europe to South Africa to the Arab Spring, nonviolent action has proven capable of overthrowing autocratic regimes and bringing about revolutionary political change. How do dissidents come to embrace a nonviolent strategy in the first place? Why do others rule it out in favor of taking up arms? Despite a new wave of attention to the effectiveness and global impact of nonviolent movements, our understanding of their origins and trajectories remains limited. Drawing on cases from Nepal, Syria, India and South Africa, as well as global cross-national data, this book details the processes through which challenger organizations come to embrace or reject civil resistance as a means of capturing state power. It develops a relational theory, showing how the social ties that underpin challenger organizations shape their ability and willingness to attempt regime change using nonviolent means alone.

Editorial

2018 ◽  
pp. 1-4
Author(s):  
Daniele Checci ◽  
Janet Gornick
Keyword(s):  
Income Distribution ◽  
Data Center ◽  
Research Community ◽  
Final Outcome ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
National Data ◽  
Blind Review ◽  
The University ◽  
Selection Of ◽  
Cross National

The articles included in this special issue of the Journal of Income Distribution are a selection of papers originally presented at the first LIS-LWS Users Conference, hosted by LIS, the cross-national data center in Luxembourg. The conference took place at the University of Luxembourg in Belval, Luxembourg, on April 27- 28, 2017. The submitted papers underwent a process of blind review, and this collection of five articles is the final outcome. Taken as a whole, these articles constitute an interesting overview of the ways in which the research community uses the LIS-LWS Databases, which provide researchers access to microdata on income and wealth, respectively.

Introducing xSub: A new portal for cross-national data on subnational violence

2019 ◽  
Vol 56 (4) ◽  
pp. 604-614 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuri M Zhukov ◽  
Christian Davenport ◽  
Nadiya Kostyuk
Keyword(s):  
Grid Cell ◽  
Large Data ◽  
Political Conflict ◽  
Data Sources ◽  
National Data ◽  
Units Of Analysis ◽  
Disaggregated Data ◽  
Data Collections ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Cross National

Researchers today have access to an unprecedented amount of geo-referenced, disaggregated data on political conflict. Because these new data sources use disparate event typologies and units of analysis, findings are rarely comparable across studies. As a result, we are unable to answer basic questions like ‘what does conflict A tell us about conflict B?’ This article introduces xSub – a ‘database of databases’ for disaggregated research on political conflict ( www.x-sub.org ). xSub reduces barriers to comparative subnational research, by empowering researchers to quickly construct custom, analysis-ready datasets. xSub currently features subnational data on conflict in 156 countries, from 21 sources, including large data collections and data from individual scholars. To facilitate comparisons across countries and sources, xSub organizes these data into consistent event categories, actors, spatial units (country, province, district, grid cell, electoral constituency), and time units (year, month, week, and day). This article introduces xSub and illustrates its potential, by investigating the impact of repression on dissent across thousands of subnational datasets.

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