scholarly journals The Impact of Mask Usage on COVID-19 Deaths: Evidence from US Counties Using a Quasi-Experimental Approach

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
David Welsch
Keyword(s):  
Large Set ◽  
Endogeneity Bias ◽  
Percentage Point Increase ◽  
Point Increase ◽  
2016 Election ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
Identification Approach ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Number Of Individuals ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract I examine the relationship between mask usage and COVID-19 deaths at the county level. When examining this relationship, even the direction caused by the potential endogeneity bias is unclear. In one direction, characteristics that are known to correlate with a larger amount of potential COVID-19 deaths, such as an older population, may make people more likely to wear masks. This will cause a bias that makes mask usage look less effective than it truly is. In the other direction, areas with higher risk tolerances may have less mask usage, but may at the same time be engaging in other behavior that puts them at higher risk for contracting COVID-19. This will cause a bias that makes mask usage look more effective than it truly is. The identification approach exploits a large set of controls and employs percentage of vote for Donald Trump in the 2016 election as an instrumental variable for mask usage. The main finding is that a one percentage point increase in the number of individuals who say they often or frequently wear a mask when within six feet of people will reduce COVID-19 deaths in a county by 10.5%, or six deaths in the average county.

scholarly journals Inflation Expectations and Readiness to Spend: Cross-Sectional Evidence

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rüdiger Bachmann ◽  
Tim O. Berg ◽  
Eric R. Sims
Keyword(s):  
Lower Bound ◽  
Inflation Expectations ◽  
Zero Lower Bound ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Percentage Point Increase ◽  
Expected Inflation ◽  
Percentage Points ◽  
Point Increase ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

There have been suggestions for monetary policy to engineer higher inflation expectations to stimulate spending. We examine the relationship between expected inflation and spending attitudes using the microdata from the Michigan Survey of Consumers. The impact of higher inflation expectations on the reported readiness to spend on durables is generally small, outside the zero lower bound, often statistically insignificant, and inside of it typically significantly negative. In our baseline specification, a one percentage point increase in expected inflation during the recent zero lower bound period reduces households' probability of having a positive attitude towards spending by about 0.5 percentage points. (JEL D12, D84, E21, E31, E52)

scholarly journals Has Gavi lived up to its promise? Quasi-experimental evidence on country immunisation rates and child mortality

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (6) ◽  
pp. e001789 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pascal Jaupart ◽  
Lizzie Dipple ◽  
Stefan Dercon
Keyword(s):  
Child Mortality ◽  
Immunisation Coverage ◽  
Substantial Impact ◽  
Percentage Point Increase ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Point Increase ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
Vaccines For Children ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Over Time

IntroductionGavi, the Vaccine Alliance, was set up in 2000 to improve access to vaccines for children living in the poorest countries. Funding has increased significantly over time, with Gavi disbursements reaching US $1.58 billion in 2015. We assess whether Gavi’s funding programmes have indeed increased immunisation coverage in 51 recipient countries for two key vaccines for 12–23 month olds: combined diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus (DPT) and measles. Additionally, we look at effects on infant and child mortality.MethodsTaking a difference-in-differences quasi-experimental approach to observational data, we estimate the impact of Gavi eligibility on immunisation coverage and mortality rates over time, using WHO/UNICEF figures covering 1995–2016. We control for economy size and population of each country as well as running a suite of robustness checks and sensitivity tests.ResultsWe find large and significant positive effects from Gavi’s funding programmes: on average a 12.02 percentage point increase in DPT immunisation coverage (95% CI 6.56 to 17.49) and an 8.81 percentage point increase in measles immunisation coverage (95% CI 3.58 to 14.04) over the period to 2016. Our estimates show Gavi support also induced 6.22 fewer infant deaths (95% CI −10.47 to −1.97) and 12.23 fewer under-five deaths (95% CI −19.66 to −4.79) per 1000 live births.ConclusionOur findings provide evidence that Gavi has had a substantial impact on the fight against communicable diseases for improved population and child health in lower-income countries. In this case, the health policy to verticalise aid—specifically development assistance for health—via a specialised global fund has had positive outcomes.

scholarly journals Stimulating the Vote: ARRA Road Spending and Vote Share

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 292-316 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emiliano Huet-Vaughn
Keyword(s):  
Voting Behavior ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
The United States ◽  
Vote Share ◽  
Percentage Point Increase ◽  
Point Increase ◽  
Multiplier Effect ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
Road Projects ◽  
The Impact

This paper estimates the impact of public good spending on voting behavior in the United States, using a quasi-experimental design and the distribution of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) road projects in New Jersey. I find an approximate 1.5 percentage point increase in Democratic Party presidential vote share in areas close to highway and bridge expenditures. I consider two alternative mechanisms: one, a salience mechanism whereby spending and associated “funded-by” signage affect political preferences; the other, a possible political multiplier effect whereby stimulus spending improves local economic outcomes, generating incumbent votes. Evidence is inconsistent with the later explanation. (JEL D72, H41, H54, H76, R42)

The Effect of Taxation and Corruption on Firm Growth: An Empirical Investigation for Vietnam

2016 ◽  
pp. 5-29
Author(s):  
Bich Le Thi Ngoc
Keyword(s):  
International Development ◽  
Firm Growth ◽  
Empirical Investigation ◽  
Manufacturing Firms ◽  
Economic Management ◽  
Tax Rate ◽  
Percentage Point Increase ◽  
Percentage Points ◽  
Point Increase ◽  
The Impact

The aim of this study is to analyze empirically the impact of taxation and corruption on the growth of manufacturing firms in Vietnam. The study employed pooled OLS estimation and then instrument variables with fixed effect for the panel data of 1377 firms in Vietnam from 2005 to 2011. These data were obtained from the survey of the Central Institute for Economic Management and the Danish International Development Agency. The results show that both taxation and corruption are negatively associated with firm growth measured by firm sales adjusted according to the GDP deflator. A one-percentage point increase in the bribery rate is linked with a reduction of 16,883 percentage points in firm revenue, over four and a half times bigger than the effect of a one-percentage point increase in the tax rate. From the findings of this research, the author recommends the Vietnam government to lessen taxation on firms and that there should be an urgent revolution in anti-corruption policies as well as bureaucratic improvement in Vietnam.

scholarly journals Planning prompts to promote uptake of HIV services among men: a randomised trial in rural Uganda

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (11) ◽  
pp. e003390
Author(s):  
Nolan M Kavanagh ◽  
Elisabeth M Schaffer ◽  
Alex Ndyabakira ◽  
Kara Marson ◽  
Diane V Havlir ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hiv Testing ◽  
Community Health ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Health Campaign ◽  
Percentage Point Increase ◽  
Percentage Points ◽  
Point Increase ◽  
Cost Planning ◽  
Testing Uptake ◽  
The Impact

IntroductionInterventions informed by behavioural economics, such as planning prompts, have the potential to increase HIV testing at minimal or no cost. Planning prompts have not been previously evaluated for HIV testing uptake. We conducted a randomised clinical trial to evaluate the effectiveness of low-cost planning prompts to promote HIV testing among men.MethodsWe randomised adult men in rural Ugandan parishes to receive a calendar planning prompt that gave them the opportunity to make a plan to get tested for HIV at health campaigns held in their communities. Participants received either a calendar showing the dates when the community health campaign would be held (control group) or a calendar showing the dates and prompting them to select a date and time when they planned to attend (planning prompt group). Participants were not required to select a date and time or to share their selection with study staff. The primary outcome was HIV testing uptake at the community health campaign.ResultsAmong 2362 participants, 1796 (76%) participants tested for HIV. Men who received a planning prompt were 2.2 percentage points more likely to test than the control group, although the difference was not statistically significant (77.1% vs 74.9%; 95% CI –1.2 to 5.7 percentage points, p=0.20). The planning prompt was more effective among men enrolled ≤40 days before the campaigns (3.6 percentage-point increase in testing; 95% CI –2.9 to 10.1, p=0.27) than among men enrolled >40 days before the campaigns (1.8 percentage-point increase; 95% CI –2.3 to 5.8, p=0.39), although the effects within the subgroups were not significant.ConclusionThese findings suggest that planning prompts may be an effective behavioural intervention to promote HIV testing at minimal or no cost. Large-scale studies should further assess the impact and cost-effectiveness of such interventions.

scholarly journals From Dependence to Independence

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Intan Azura Mokhtar ◽  
Shaheen Majid ◽  
Schubert Foo
Keyword(s):  
Control Group ◽  
Mediated Learning ◽  
Control Group Design ◽  
Student Responses ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
Information Skills ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
Library Skills ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

Although it is widely believed that information literacy (IL) competencies are useful in helping students perform better in their schoolwork and beyond, limited empirical evidence is available showing the relationship between IL competencies and IL education. While a lot of research has been done worldwide and most of the findings have proven that IL is a much-needed skill by students, little research has been conducted on IL teaching approaches or what is termed IL pedagogy. To date, studies on IL have mainly focused only on students’ information skills per se, on library skills or on ICT education. None of these studies has assessed the different approaches to IL education. This paper provides an overview of a research study that investigates the impact of an IL teaching approach in the form of personalised coaching, which is grounded in the pedagogy known as mediated learning, on students’ level and applicability of IL competencies. Through the application of a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest control-group design, as well as student responses in the post-experiment semi-structured group interviews, it was found that personalised coaching (or mediated learning) helps students perform better in the learning and application of IL competencies.

Reappraising the Impact of Offending on Victimization: A Propensity Score Matching Approach

2017 ◽  
Vol 62 (8) ◽  
pp. 2374-2390
Author(s):  
Chad Posick
Keyword(s):  
Propensity Score ◽  
Propensity Score Matching ◽  
Property Crime ◽  
Experimental Methods ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Sample Data ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

Existing evidence clearly supports an empirical connection between offending and victimization. Often called the “victim–offender overlap,” this relationship holds for both sexes, across the life course, and across a wide range of countries and cultural environments. In addition, the relationship is sustained regardless of the study sample and statistical methods applied in the analyses of the sample data. However, there has yet to be a study that examines this relationship for violent and property crime using quasi-experimental methods accounting for a wide range of potential confounders including individual differences and cultural contexts. This study subjects the victim–offender relationship to testing through propensity score matching for both violent and property crimes using an international dataset. The results show that previous violent and theft offending increases the odds of victimization when matching on individual and contextual factors. This finding supports previous literature and suggests that delinquent behavior may act as a “switch” that exposes one to subsequent violent and theft victimization.

Savings Groups Reduce Vulnerability, but Have Mixed Effects on Financial Inclusion

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Verónica Frisancho ◽  
Martín Valdivia
Keyword(s):  
Financial Inclusion ◽  
Access To Credit ◽  
Administrative Records ◽  
Labor Allocation ◽  
Percentage Point Increase ◽  
Cluster Randomized Control Trial ◽  
Point Increase ◽  
Idiosyncratic Shocks ◽  
Cluster Randomized ◽  
The Impact

This paper evaluates the impact of the introduction of savings groups on poverty, vulnerability, and financial inclusion outcomes in rural Peru. Using a cluster randomized control trial and relying on both survey and administrative records, we investigate the impact of savings groups after more than two years of exposure. We find t hat savings groups channel expensive investments such as housing improvements and reduce households' vulnerability to idiosyncratic shocks, particularly among households in poorer districts. The treatment also induces changes in households labor allocation choices: access to savings groups increases female labor market participation and, in poorer areas, it fosters greater specialization in agricultural activities. Access to savings groups also leads to a four-percentage point increase in access to credit among women, mainly driven by access to the groups loans. However, the introduction of savings groups has no impact on the likelihood of using formal financial services.On the contrary, it discourages access to loans from formal financial institutions and microfinance lenders among the unbanked.

scholarly journals Renewable Energy and CO2 Emissions: Empirical Evidence from Major Energy-Consuming Countries

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (22) ◽  
pp. 7504
Author(s):  
Yongming Huang ◽  
Zebo Kuldasheva ◽  
Raufhon Salahodjaev
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Co2 Emissions ◽  
Generalized Method Of Moments ◽  
Renewable Energy Consumption ◽  
Ongoing Debate ◽  
Percentage Point Increase ◽  
Point Increase ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Energy Consuming ◽  
The Relationship

The goal of this study was to contribute to the ongoing debate on the relationship between renewable energy (RE) and CO2 emissions. In particular, we explored the link between RE and CO2 emissions in a sample of major renewable energy-consuming countries for the period 2000–2015. Therefore, the major contribution of this study was to answer the question of whether a substantial shift to renewable energy consumption will lead to lower CO2 emissions. Using the two-step generalized method of moments (GMM) estimator, our empirical results suggested that RE has a significant negative effect on CO2 emissions. For example, a one percentage point increase in RE leads to a 0.5% decrease in CO2 emissions.

scholarly journals Research on the Trade Effects of China’s Direct Investment in ASEAN

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. p175
Author(s):  
Shuang-lin LUO ◽  
Min ZHOU ◽  
Yu-feng Huang
Keyword(s):  
Direct Investment ◽  
Variable Parameter ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Mechanical Equipment ◽  
Percentage Point Increase ◽  
Point Increase ◽  
Import And Export ◽  
Asean Countries ◽  
Investment In China ◽  
The Impact

Based on the data of China’s direct investment and trade in ASEAN countries from 2004 to 2018, this paper established a variable parameter model, variable intercept model and constant coefficient model with panel data, and investigated the heterogeneous impact of China’s direct investment in ASEAN countries on their import and export trade and the impact mechanism. It is found that China’s direct investment in ASEAN will be deposited in the trade between China and 10 ASEAN countries, creating effects for trade, and the size of the effect varies with the host country. On average, when other factors remain unchanged, every 1 percentage point increase in China’s direct investment flows to ASEAN countries will increase exports to ASEAN countries by 0.54%, imports will increase by 0.44%. Further studies have found that our country to Brunei, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand’s export create effect is greater than the imported create effect, on the whole, China’s investment in the five countries promoted the net exports, mainly on its investment in China, led to many mechanical equipment and other related products exports, and imports mainly import countries have their comparative advantages of products, variety is less.

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