Conclusion: What academia can contribute to refugee policy

2018 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 146-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
Idean Salehyan

This conclusion to the special issue highlights the role of scholars in advancing the public discussion about forced migration. As countries around the world are adopting increasing restrictions on the entry of refugees, academic research can help to dispel some of the myths and apprehensions regarding the risks that forced migration entails. While refugees may be linked to conflict and violence in limited circumstances, the research generally demonstrates that robust international cooperation to manage refugee settlements, provide adequate humanitarian assistance, and integrate refugees into host communities, among other policies, can help to mitigate potential risks. Directions for future research and analysis are also discussed. Forced migration scholars should endeavor to collect more individual-level data; seek to understand factors that exacerbate or reduce security risks associated with cross-border militancy; conduct research on the long-term integration of refugees; and seek to understand the causes and consequences of resettlement and repatriation policies.

2016 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 255-275 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean Bédard ◽  
Paul Coram ◽  
Reza Espahbodi ◽  
Theodore J. Mock

SYNOPSIS The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB), and the U.K. Financial Reporting Council (FRC) have proposed or approved standards that significantly change the independent auditor's report. These initiatives require the auditor to make additional disclosures intended to close the information gap; that is, the gap between the information users desire and the information available through the audited financial statements, other corporate disclosures, and the auditor's report. They are also intended to improve the relevancy of the auditor's report. We augment prior academic research by providing standard setters with an updated synthesis of relevant research. More importantly, we provide an assessment of whether the changes are likely to close the information gap, which is important to financial market participants and other stakeholders in the audit reporting process. Also, we identify areas where there seems to be a lack of sufficient research. These results are of interest to all stakeholders in the audit reporting process, as the changes to the auditor's report are fundamental. Additionally, our summaries of research on the auditor's report highlight where there is limited research or inconsistent results, which will help academics identify important opportunities for future research.


2018 ◽  
Vol 104 (6) ◽  
pp. 559-563 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenny Retzler ◽  
Nick Hex ◽  
Chris Bartlett ◽  
Anne Webb ◽  
Sharon Wood ◽  
...  

ObjectiveCongenital cytomegalovirus (cCMV) is the most common infectious cause of congenital disability. It can disrupt neurodevelopment, causing lifelong impairments including sensorineural hearing loss and developmental delay. This study aimed, for the first time, to estimate the annual economic burden of managing cCMV and its sequelae in the UK.DesignThe study collated available secondary data to develop a static cost model.SettingThe model aimed to estimate costs of cCMV in the UK for the year 2016.PatientsIndividuals of all ages with cCMV.Main outcome measuresDirect (incurred by the public sector) and indirect (incurred personally or by society) costs associated with management of cCMV and its sequelae.ResultsThe model estimated that the total cost of cCMV to the UK in 2016 was £732 million (lower and upper estimates were between £495 and £942 million). Approximately 40% of the costs were directly incurred by the public sector, with the remaining 60% being indirect costs, including lost productivity. Long-term impairments caused by the virus had a higher financial burden than the acute management of cCMV.ConclusionsThe cost of cCMV is substantial, predominantly stemming from long-term impairments. Costs should be compared against investment in educational strategies and vaccine development programmes that aim to prevent virus transmission, as well as the value of introducing universal screening for cCMV to both increase detection of children who would benefit from treatment, and to build a more robust evidence base for future research.


Author(s):  
Shuai Li ◽  
Xinyang Hua

AbstractSeveral ecological studies of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have reported correlations between group-level aggregated exposures and COVID-19 outcomes. While some studies might be helpful in generating new hypotheses related to COVID-19, results of such type of studies should be interpreted with cautions. To illustrate how ecological studies and results could be biased, we conducted an ecological study of COVID-19 outcomes and the distance to Brussels using European country-level data. We found that, the distance was negatively correlated with COVID-19 outcomes; every 100 km away from Brussels was associated with approximately 6% to 17% reductions (all P<0.01) in COVID-19 cases and deaths in Europe. Without cautions, such results could be interpreted as the closer to the Europe Union headquarters, the higher risk of COVID-19 in Europe. However, these results are more likely to reflect the differences in the timing of and the responding to the outbreak, etc. between European countries, rather than the ‘effect’ of the distance to Brussels itself. Associations observed at the group level have limitations to reflect individual-level associations – the so-called ecological fallacy. Given the public concern over COVID-19, ecological studies should be conducted and interpreted with great cautions, in case the results would be mistakenly understood.


2017 ◽  
Vol 57 (6) ◽  
pp. 1150-1190 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saurav Pathak ◽  
Etayankara Muralidharan

This article explores the extent to which income inequality and income mobility—both considered indicators of economic inequality and conditions of formal regulatory institutions (government activism)—facilitate or constrain the emergence of social entrepreneurship. Using 77,983 individual-level responses obtained from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) survey of 26 countries, and supplementing with country-level data obtained from the Global Competitiveness Report of the World Economic Forum, our results from multilevel analyses demonstrate that country-level income inequality increases the likelihood of individual-level engagement in social entrepreneurship, while income mobility decreases this likelihood. Further, income mobility negatively moderates the influence of income inequality on social entrepreneurship, such that the condition of low income mobility and high income inequality is a stronger predictor of social entrepreneurship. We discuss implications and limitations of our study, and we suggest avenues for future research.


Author(s):  
Graham Dixon ◽  
Yanni Ma

Addressing climate change requires attention to a variety of communication contexts. While attention has been paid to top-down approaches aimed at individual-level behavior and the beliefs of the public at large, organizations in both the for-profit and nonprofit sectors are increasingly recognized as integral players in solving the climate change challenges that we face today. For instance, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) characterize the commercial sector as having the highest potential to reduce emissions by 2020, suggesting that meaningful actions aimed at climate change mitigation must come from within organizations. However, the diverse nature of organizational communication poses challenges toward effective climate change communication. On the one hand, climate change communication can occur within organizations, where members’ individual behaviors and beliefs can have a significant impact on an organization’s energy consumption. On the other hand, organizations can communicate environmental issues directly to stakeholders and the public at large—though communication can be complicated by the fact that some organizations benefit from instilling doubt in the science of climate change. The complex nature of organizational-based climate change communication allows members of the for-profit and nonprofit sectors to play an important role in cultivating divergent views of climate change. Future research can help promulgate climate change-related awareness and action within organizational contexts.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Hammarström ◽  
Pekka Virtanen

Background and aim: Referring to the ecosocial theory and utilising the ‘natural experiment’ setting provided by the global recession at the beginning of 1990s, the aim of our study was to analyse the short- and long-term associations between trade and mental health in young students followed until mid-adulthood. Method: The study was based on two prospective cohort studies, the older and the younger Northern Swedish Cohort which both consisted of all pupils in a middle-sized industrial town in Northern Sweden. At age 21, the younger cohort entered the labour market during the deep recession of the early 1990s, while the older cohort entered the labour market during the boom of the 1980s. Both cohorts were followed up with a high response rate in mid adulthood. For this study, all students were selected at age 21. Results: At age 21, those who studied during recession had more depressive and functional somatic symptoms than those who studied during boom. The cohort differences did not remain over age: by the follow-up in early middle age the differences between the cohorts were non-significant, most notably due to decreased depressive symptoms in the younger cohort and increase of functional somatic symptoms in the older cohort. Conclusions: The short-term mental health consequences of the business cycle seem to be more extensive than limited only to those who are unemployed, even though the possible long-term consequences seem to be more complex. Thus, the macrolevel had a great short-term impact on the individual level in relation to the microlevel setting of university/school. The chronosystem was also of major importance. Future research would benefit from taking the context into account.


2012 ◽  
Vol 32 (Supplement 1) ◽  
pp. 385-421 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Robert Knechel ◽  
Gopal V. Krishnan ◽  
Mikhail Pevzner ◽  
Lori B. Shefchik ◽  
Uma K. Velury

SUMMARY This study presents a review of academic research on audit quality. We begin with a review of existing definitions of audit quality and describe general frameworks for establishing audit quality. Next, we summarize research on indicators of audit quality such as inputs, process, and outcomes. Finally, we offer some suggestions for future research. The study should be useful to academics interested in audit quality as well as to the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) and other regulators.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ted Hsuan Yun Chen ◽  
Paul McLachlan ◽  
Christopher Fariss

The legitimacy of the state rests on individuals' perceptions of fairness when interacting with state institutions and state agents. The police as an institution and as individual agents have wide latitude to detain and use force against individuals. We argue that encounters with state bureaucracy and civil servants, specifically the police, can generate individual-level grievances against the state, and that these grievances make it more likely an individual participates in protest against the state. We study support for and the legitimacy of policing in the context of the anti-police protests in Baltimore, MD following the death of Freddie Gray in April, 2015. Using data from police records and social media, we show that individuals with higher exposure to discretionary arrests --- arrests that are potentially viewed as illegitimate or arbitrary --- are more likely to support protests against the police. In contrast, we demonstrate that exposure to arrests for major crimes such as murder does not follow the same pattern. Thus, support for the police as an institution varies systematically with exposure to arbitrary and capricious encounters with police agents. As these grievance generating encounters become more widespread, we expect to see increased protests against the police and further erosion in support of the police as an institution. Alternatively, shifting institutional resources to focus on major crimes and limiting the discretionary authority of police agents when interacting with the public may help to repair the legitimacy of policing institutions over the long term.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (24) ◽  
pp. 13713
Author(s):  
Xuesong Gao ◽  
Hui Wang ◽  
Lun Liu

People’s movement trace harvested from mobile phone signals has become an important new data source for studying human behavior and related socioeconomic topics in social science. With growing concern about privacy leakage of big data, mobile phone data holders now tend to provide aggregate-level mobility data instead of individual-level data. However, most algorithms for measuring mobility are based on individual-level data—how the existing mobility algorithms can be properly transformed to apply on aggregate-level data remains undiscussed. This paper explores the transformation of individual data-based mobility metrics to fit with grid-aggregate data. Fifteen candidate metrics measuring five indicators of mobility are proposed and the most suitable one for each indicator is selected. Future research about aggregate-level mobility data may refer to our analysis to assist in the selection of suitable mobility metrics.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huaiyu Tian ◽  
Yonghong Liu ◽  
Hongbin Song ◽  
Chieh-Hsi Wu ◽  
Bingying Li ◽  
...  

Introductory paragraphHigh risk of severe disease of COVID-19 has been associated with patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cardiovascular disease or hypertension1, and long-term exposure to PM2.5 has been associated with COVID-19 mortality 2. We collate individual level data of confirmed COVID-19 cases during the first wave of the epidemic in mainland China by March 6, 2020. We pair these data with a mobile phone dataset, covering human movements from Wuhan before the travel ban and inner-city movements during the time of emergency response from 324 cities in China. Adjusting for socio-economic factors, an increase of 10 μg/m3 in NO2 or PM2.5 was found to be associated with a 22.41% (95%CI: 7.28%-39.89%) or 15.35% (95%CI: 5.60%-25.98%) increase in the number of COVID-19 cases, and a 19.20% (95%CI: 4.03%-36.59%) or 9.61% (95%CI: 0.12%-20.01%) increase in severe infection, respectively. Our results highlight the importance of air quality improvements to health benefits.


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