The Blossoming of Economic Epidemiology

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
David McAdams
Keyword(s):  
Social Contact ◽  
Annual Review ◽  
Publication Date ◽  
Policy Debate ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Health Authorities ◽  
The Social ◽  
Public Health Authorities ◽  
Economic Epidemiology ◽  
Viral Outbreak

Infectious diseases, ideas, new products, and other infectants spread in epidemic fashion through social contact. The COVID-19 pandemic, the proliferation of fake news, and the rise of antimicrobial resistance have thrust economic epidemiology into the forefront of public policy debate and reinvigorated the field. Focusing for concreteness on disease-causing pathogens, this review provides a taxonomy of economic-epidemic models, emphasizing both the biology/immunology of the disease and the economics of the social context. An economic epidemic is one whose diffusion through the agent population is generated by agents’ endogenous behavior. I highlight properties of the equilibrium epidemic trajectory and discuss ways in which public health authorities can change the game for the better by ( a) imposing restrictions on agent activity to reduce the harm done during a viral outbreak and ( b) enabling diagnostic-informed interventions to slow or even reverse the rise of antibiotic resistance. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Economics, Volume 13 is August 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

Ethnography, Data Transparency, and the Information Age

2021 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra K. Murphy ◽  
Colin Jerolmack ◽  
DeAnna Smith
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Information Age ◽  
Annual Review ◽  
Publication Date ◽  
Ethical Implications ◽  
The Social ◽  
Share Data ◽  
Replication Crisis ◽  
Data Transparency

The conventions ethnographers follow to gather, write about, and store their data are increasingly out of sync with contemporary research expectations and social life. Despite technological advancements that allow ethnographers to observe their subjects digitally and record interactions, few follow subjects online and many still reconstruct quotes from memory. Amid calls for data transparency, ethnographers continue to conceal subjects’ identities and keep fieldnotes private. But things are changing. We review debates, dilemmas, and innovations in ethnography that have arisen over the past two decades in response to new technologies and calls for transparency. We focus on emerging conversations around how ethnographers record, collect, anonymize, verify, and share data. Considering the replication crisis in the social sciences, we ask how ethnographers can enable others to reanalyze their findings. We address ethical implications and offer suggestions for how ethnographers can develop standards for transparency that are consistent with their commitment to their subjects and interpretive scholarship. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Sociology, Volume 47 is July 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

Social Epidemiology: Past, Present, and Future

2022 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana V. Diez Roux
Keyword(s):  
Social Epidemiology ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Annual Review ◽  
Publication Date ◽  
Social Production ◽  
Systemic Racism ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
The Social ◽  
Critical Approaches ◽  
Social Causes

In a context where epidemiologic research has been heavily influenced by a biomedical and individualistic approach, the naming of “social epidemiology” allowed explicit emphasis on the social production of disease as a powerful explanatory paradigm and as critically important for interventions to improve population health. This review briefly highlights key substantive areas of focus in social epidemiology over the past 30 years, reflects on major advances and insights, and identifies challenges and possible future directions. Future opportunities for social epidemiology include grounding research in theoretically based and systemic conceptual models of the fundamental social drivers of health; implementing a scientifically rigorous yet realistic approach to drawing conclusions about social causes; using complementary methods to generate valid explanations and identify effective actions; leveraging the power of harmonization, replication, and big data; extending interdisciplinarity and diversity; advancing emerging critical approaches to understanding the health impacts of systemic racism and its policy implications; going global; and embracing a broad approach to generating socially useful research. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Public Health, Volume 43 is April 2022. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

The Role of the Medial Prefrontal Cortex in Moderating Neural Representations of Self and Other in Primates

2021 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Masaki Isoda
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Medial Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Annual Review ◽  
Publication Date ◽  
Self And Other ◽  
Neural Representations ◽  
The Social

As a frontal node in the primate social brain, the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) plays a critical role in coordinating one's own behavior with respect to that of others. Current literature demonstrates that single neurons in the MPFC encode behavior-related variables such as intentions, actions, and rewards, specifically for self and other, and that the MPFC comes into play when reflecting upon oneself and others. The social moderator account of MPFC function can explain maladaptive social cognition in people with autism spectrum disorder, which tips the balance in favor of self-centered perspectives rather than taking into consideration the perspective of others. Several strands of evidence suggest a hypothesis that the MPFC represents different other mental models, depending on the context at hand, to better predict others’ emotions and behaviors. This hypothesis also accounts for aberrant MPFC activity in autistic individuals while they are mentalizing others. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Neuroscience, Volume 44 is July 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

scholarly journals Social Inequality and the Future of US Life Expectancy

2021 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Iliya Gutin ◽  
Robert A. Hummer
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Life Expectancy ◽  
Social Inequality ◽  
Population Health ◽  
The United States ◽  
Annual Review ◽  
Publication Date ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Future ◽  
Extreme Longevity

Despite decades of progress, the future of life expectancy in the United States is uncertain due to widening socioeconomic disparities in mortality, continued disparities in mortality across racial/ethnic groups, and an increase in extrinsic causes of death. These trends prompt us to scrutinize life expectancy in a high-income but enormously unequal society like the United States, where social factors determine who is most able to maximize their biological lifespan. After reviewing evidence for biodemographic perspectives on life expectancy, the uneven diffusion of health-enhancing innovations throughout the population, and the changing nature of threats to population health, we argue that sociology is optimally positioned to lead discourse on the future of life expectancy. Given recent trends, sociologists should emphasize the importance of the social determinants of life expectancy, redirecting research focus away from extending extreme longevity and toward research on social inequality with the goal of improving population health for all. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Sociology, Volume 47 is July 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

scholarly journals Geospatial Analysis and Mapping Strategies for Fine Grained and Detailed COVID-19 Data With Geographic Information Systems

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
ÁNGEL MIRAMONTES CARBALLADA ◽  
JOSE BALSA-BARREIRO
Keyword(s):  
Geographic Location ◽  
Social Contact ◽  
Temporal Behaviour ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Health Authorities ◽  
Public Health Authorities ◽  
Spatio Temporal ◽  
Media Reports ◽  
Predictive Risk ◽  
The Impact

Abstract The CoVID-19 pandemic is showing a dramatic impact across the world. To the tragedy of the loss of human lives, we must add the great uncertainty that the new coronavirus is causing to our lives. Governments and public health authorities must be able to respond this emergency by taking the appropriate decisions for minimizing the impact of the virus. In the absence of an immediate solution, governments have concentrated their efforts on adopting non-pharmaceutical interventions for restricting the mobility of people and reducing the social contact. Health authorities are publishing most of data for supporting their interventions and policies. The geographic location of the cases is a vital information with exceptional value for analysing the spatio-temporal behaviour of the virus, doing feasible to anticipate potential outbreaks and to elaborate predictive risk mapping. In fact, a great number of media reports, research papers, and web-browsers have presented the COVID-19 disease spreading by using maps. However, processing and visualization of this sort of data presents some aspects that must be carefully reviewed. Based on our experience with fine-grained and detailed data related to COVID-19 in a Spanish region, we present a bunch of mapping strategies and good practices using geospatial tools. The ultimate goal is create appropriate maps at any spatial scale while avoiding conflicts with data such as those related to patients’ privacy.

The Psychology of Pandemics

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Factors ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Annual Review ◽  
Publication Date ◽  
Prolonged Grief ◽  
Psychological Phenomena ◽  
Current State ◽  
Health Authorities ◽  
Important Field ◽  
Mitigation Methods

This article reviews the current state of knowledge and promising new directions concerning the psychology of pandemics. Pandemics are disease outbreaks that spread globally. Historically, psychological factors have been neglected by researchers and health authorities despite evidence that pandemics are, to a large extent, psychological phenomena whereby beliefs and behaviors influence the spreading versus containment of infection. Psychological factors are important in determining ( a) adherence to pandemic mitigation methods (e.g., adherence to social distancing), ( b) pandemic-related social disruption (e.g., panic buying, racism, antilockdown protests), and ( c) pandemic-related distress and related problems (e.g., anxiety, depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, prolonged grief disorder). The psychology of pandemics has emerged as an important field of research and practice during the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. As a scholarly discipline, the psychology of pandemics is fragmented and diverse, encompassing various psychological subspecialties and allied disciplines, but is vital for shaping clinical practice and public health guidelines for COVID-19 and future pandemics. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, Volume 18 is May 2022. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

scholarly journals A Critical Review of the Social and Behavioral Contributions to the Overdose Epidemic

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Magdalena Cerdá ◽  
Noa Krawczyk ◽  
Leah Hamilton ◽  
Kara E. Rudolph ◽  
Samuel R. Friedman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Public Health Problem ◽  
The United States ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Prescription Opioid ◽  
Annual Review ◽  
Publication Date ◽  
Opioid Overdose ◽  
The Social ◽  
Critical Public Health

More than 750,000 people in the United States died from an overdose between 1999 and 2018; two-thirds of those deaths involved an opioid. In this review, we present trends in opioid overdose rates during this period and discuss how the proliferation of opioid prescribing to treat chronic pain, changes in the heroin and illegally manufactured opioid synthetics markets, and social factors, including deindustrialization and concentrated poverty, contributed to the rise of the overdose epidemic. We also examine how current policies implemented to address the overdose epidemic may have contributed to reducing prescription opioid overdoses but increased overdoses involving illegal opioids. Finally, we identify new directions for research to understand the causes and solutions to this critical public health problem, including research on heterogeneous policy effects across social groups, effective approaches to reduce overdoses of illegal opioids, and the role of social contexts in shaping policy implementation and impact. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Public Health, Volume 42 is April 1, 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

Putting People Down and Pushing Them Out: Sexual Harassment in the Workplace

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lilia M. Cortina ◽  
Maira A. Areguin
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Harassment ◽  
Organizational Behavior ◽  
Organizational Context ◽  
Sexual Problem ◽  
Annual Review ◽  
Publication Date ◽  
Work Organizations ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Organizational ◽  
Common Manifestation

Sexual harassment was once conceptualized solely as a sexual problem: coercive sexual advances that spring from natural feelings of sexual desire or romance. Research has since shown that by far the most common manifestation of sexual harassment is gender harassment, which has contempt at its core; this conduct aims to put people down and push them out, not pull them into sexual activity. With findings such as these, we have made many strides in the scientific study of sexual harassment. That body of scholarship is the focus of this article, which is organized around the following questions: What is sexual harassment, both behaviorally and legally? How common is this conduct in work organizations, and what are its consequences? What features of the social/organizational context raise the risk for sexual harassment? What are some promising (and not-so-promising) solutions to this pervasive problem? And finally, what are important directions for this area of research moving forward? Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Organizational Pscyhology and Organizational Behavior, Volume 8 is January 21, 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

scholarly journals Impact of data accuracy on the evaluation of COVID-19 mitigation policies

Data & Policy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michele Starnini ◽  
Alberto Aleta ◽  
Michele Tizzoni ◽  
Yamir Moreno
Keyword(s):  
Epidemiological Data ◽  
Surveillance Data ◽  
Inaccurate Data ◽  
Health Authorities ◽  
The Social ◽  
Containment Measures ◽  
Public Health Authorities ◽  
Nonpharmaceutical Interventions ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Extreme Care

Abstract Evaluating the effectiveness of nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic is crucial to maximize the epidemic containment while minimizing the social and economic impact of these measures. However, this endeavor crucially relies on surveillance data publicly released by health authorities that can hide several limitations. In this article, we quantify the impact of inaccurate data on the estimation of the time-varying reproduction number $ R(t) $ , a pivotal quantity to gauge the variation of the transmissibility originated by the implementation of different NPIs. We focus on Italy and Spain, two European countries among the most severely hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. For these two countries, we highlight several biases of case-based surveillance data and temporal and spatial limitations in the data regarding the implementation of NPIs. We also demonstrate that a nonbiased estimation of $ R(t) $ could have had direct consequences on the decisions taken by the Spanish and Italian governments during the first wave of the pandemic. Our study shows that extreme care should be taken when evaluating intervention policies through publicly available epidemiological data and call for an improvement in the process of COVID-19 data collection, management, storage, and release. Better data policies will allow a more precise evaluation of the effects of containment measures, empowering public health authorities to take more informed decisions.

scholarly journals Covid-19-induced fear in infoveillance studies: a meta-analysis (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Styliani Geronikolou ◽  
George Chrousos
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
World Health ◽  
Forest Plot ◽  
Health Authorities ◽  
Prophylactic Measures ◽  
The Social ◽  
Public Health Authorities ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
The Impact

UNSTRUCTURED The World Health Organization named the phenomenon of misinformation spread through the social media “infodemics”, and recognized the need to curb it. Misinformation infodemics undermine not only population safety, but also compliance to the suggestions/prophylactic measures recommended in pandemics. The aim of this study was to review the impact of social media on general population fear in “infoveillance” studies during the COVID-19 pandemic. PRISMA protocol was followed and six out of twenty studies were retrieved, meta-analyzed, and had their findings presented in the form of a Forest plot. The summary random and significant event rate was 0.298, 95% CI respectively 0.213 and 0.400, suggesting that social media-circulated misinformation related to COVID-19 triggered public fear and other manifestations. These findings merit special attention by public health authorities. Thus, “infodemiology” and Infoveillance are valid tools in the hands of epidemiologists to help prevent dissemination of false information, with potentially damaging effects.

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