scholarly journals When the US far-right sneezes, the European far-right catches a cold. Quasi-experimental of electoral contagion from Spain

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stuart James Turnbull-Dugarte ◽  
José Rama
Keyword(s):  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Spillover Effect ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Electoral Success ◽  
Percentage Points ◽  
The Us ◽  
Electoral Defeat ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
Electoral Behaviour

Does the electoral defeat of a far-right party abroad influence support for far-right parties at home? By exploiting the quasi-experimental setting provided by the coincidental timing of Donald Trump’s 2020 electoral defeat with the Spanish Sociological Study’s monthly barometer data collection, we provide robust causal evidence to show that far-right’s electoral loss in the US had a negative contagious spillover effect on support for the Spanish far-right. Empirically we estimate treatment effects based on the as good as random exposure to the electoral results, as well as regression discontinuity models to isolate the causal impact of Donald Trump’s electoral defeat on support for Spain’s new far-right party, VOX. Our results - which are robust to various modelling approaches including covariate adjustment, regional fixed effects, placebo issues and nearest-neighbour matching - demonstrate that Trump’s defeat to Joe Biden had a sizeable negative effect on support for VOX. The contagion effect is substantive: equal to 3-5 percentage-points among the general population and 8-11 percentage-points among right-wing voters. Our findings make an important contribution to the broader literature on electoral behaviour as they indicate that the electoral success of ideologically symmetrical parties abroad plays a role in understanding a party's domestic success.

scholarly journals Happiness in Hard Times: Does Religion Buffer the Negative Effect of Unemployment on Happiness?

Social Forces ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 99 (2) ◽  
pp. 447-473
Author(s):  
Orestes P Hastings ◽  
Kassandra K Roeser
Keyword(s):  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Religious Affiliation ◽  
Secondary Analysis ◽  
Religious Service Attendance ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Social Surveys ◽  
Life After Death ◽  
The Us ◽  
Hard Times ◽  
Negative Effect

Abstract Two well-known findings are that the religious are happier than the non-religious, and people are less happy when they lose their job. We investigate a link between these by asking whether religion buffers against the negative effect of unemployment on happiness. Although theorized or implicitly assumed in many studies, empirical demonstrations of a causal, moderating effect of religion have been infrequent and often not strong methodologically. We conduct individual-level fixed effects models to test for the buffering effect in the US context using recent panel data from the 2006–2014 General Social Surveys. Religious service attendance, belief in life after death, and trying to carry one’s religious beliefs over into other dealings in life all substantially buffered the effect of unemployment on happiness. Praying daily, believing God exists, identifying as a religious person, and having a religious affiliation did not. We discuss these results in the context of prior work and existing theory. To further support a causal interpretation of these findings, we also conduct a secondary analysis showing that unemployment does not appear to increase or decrease religiousness. This paper makes an important sociological contribution to the growing field of happiness research and to our understanding of how religion matters to people during hard times.

Mortality Before and After Border Wall Construction Along the US–Mexico Border, 1990–2017

2021 ◽  
pp. e1-e9
Author(s):  
Joseph Dov Bruch ◽  
Ozlem Barin ◽  
Atheendar S. Venkataramani ◽  
Zirui Song
Keyword(s):  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Population Characteristics ◽  
Sensitivity Analyses ◽  
Percentage Point Increase ◽  
The Us ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
Mexico Border ◽  
Wall Construction ◽  
Us Mexico Border

Objectives. To evaluate changes in mortality in US counties along the US–Mexico border in which there was substantial new border wall construction after the Secure Fence Act of 2006 relative to border counties in which there was no such border wall construction. Methods. Using complete 1990 to 2017 mortality microdata and a quasi-experimental difference-in-differences design, we evaluated changes in overall (all-cause) mortality, mortality from drug overdose, and mortality from homicide in the 10 counties with substantial new border wall construction and 11 counties with no such construction. We fit a linear model, adjusting for population characteristics and county and year fixed effects, with Bonferroni adjustments for multiple comparisons. Sensitivity analyses included the addition of adjacent inland counties and modifications to the statistical model. Results. Relative to counties without substantial new border wall construction, counties in which a substantial amount of new border wall was constructed exhibited a nonsignificant 0.02-percentage-point increase (95% confidence interval [CI] = −0.06, 0.10; P > .99) in overall mortality after construction. Border wall construction was not associated with changes in either deaths from overdose or deaths from homicide. Conclusions. Wall construction along the US–Mexico border after the Secure Fence Act of 2006 was not associated with discernible changes in mortality. (Am J Public Health. Published online ahead of print June 29, 2021: e1–e4. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2021.306329 )

scholarly journals Class Size and Learning: Has India Spent Too Much on Reducing Class Size?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandip Datta ◽  
Geeta Kingdon
Keyword(s):  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Class Size ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Learning Gain ◽  
A Value ◽  
The Us ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Pupil Learning

This paper examines the efficacy of class-size reductions as a strategy to improve pupils’ learning outcomes in India. It uses a credible identification strategy to address the endogeneity of class-size, by relating the difference in a student’s achievement score across subjects to the difference in his/her class size across subjects. Pupil fixed effects estimation shows a relationship between class size and student achievement which is roughly flat or non-decreasing for a large range of class sizes from 27 to 51, with a negative effect on learning outcomes occurring only after class size increases beyond 51 pupils. The class-size effect varies by gender and by subject-stream. The fact that up to a class-size of roughly 40 in science subjects and roughly 50 in non-science subjects, there is no reduction in pupil learning as class size increases, implies that there is no learning gain from reducing class size below 40 in science and below 50 in non-science. This has important policy implications for pupil teacher ratios (PTRs) and thus for teacher appointments in India, based on considerations of cost-effectiveness. When generalised, our findings suggest that India experienced a value-subtraction from spending on reducing class-sizes, and that the US$3.6 billion it spent in 2017-18 on the salaries of 0.4 million new teachers appointed between 2010 and 2017 was wasteful spending rather than an investment in improving learning. We show that India could save US$ 19.4 billion (Rupees 1,45,000 crore in Indian currency) per annum by increasing PTR from its current 22.8 to 40, without any reduction in pupil learning.

scholarly journals Impact of the community eligibility provision program on school meal participation in Texas

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Kate R Schneider ◽  
Jennifer Oslund ◽  
Tiffany Liu
Keyword(s):  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Demographic Data ◽  
School Level ◽  
School Meal ◽  
Percentage Points ◽  
Texas Education ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
Education Authority ◽  
K 12 ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Objective: To estimate the impact of opting into the community eligibility provision (CEP) on school meal participation among students in Texas. Design: A quasi-experimental design using a two-way fixed effects panel difference-in-difference model and the variation in adoption timing to estimate the impact of opting into CEP on student breakfast and lunch participation in eligible, ever-adopting schools. Setting: All public and charter K-12 schools in Texas participating in national school meals (breakfast and/or lunch) from 2013 to 2019 who are eligible for the CEP program in at least 1 year and choose to opt into the program in at least 1 year (n 2797 unique schools and 16 103 school-years). Participants: School-level administrative data from the Texas Department of Agriculture on meal counts, enrollment and summary characteristics of students merged with district-level educational and socio-demographic data from the Texas Education Authority. Results: We find opting into CEP increased school breakfast participation by 4·59 percentage points (P < 0·001) and lunch participation by 4·32 percentage points (P < 0·001), on average. The effect is slightly larger (4·64 and 4·61, respectively) and still statistically significant when excluding summer months. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that opting into CEP modestly increases school meal participation in Texas, with a similar impact on breakfast and lunch.

Regionalism and the Rise of the Populist Far Right in India

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul D. Kenny
Keyword(s):  
National Level ◽  
Political Mobilization ◽  
Recent Experience ◽  
State Governments ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Electoral Success ◽  
Indian Politics ◽  
National Office ◽  
System P ◽  
Heads Of State

This chapter addresses India’s more recent experience of populism at the national level. While India has avoided a return to authoritarianism since the Emergency, populism has been a recurrent feature of Indian politics. The persistence of divided party rule between the national and subnational levels has meant an uneasy tension between two different modes of political mobilization for national office. National–subnational coalitions based on the distribution of pork have undergirded several Congress party governments. However, such coalitions remain inherently unstable given the autonomy of India’s subnational unit, and they are vulnerable to outflanking by populist appeals over the heads of state governments. The electoral success of the BJP under Modi in 2014 illustrates the appeal of populist mobilization in a vertically fragmented patronage-based system.

Insulin Glargine and Risk of Cancer: A Meta-Analysis

2012 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 241-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xinli Du ◽  
Rihua Zhang ◽  
Yi Xue ◽  
Dong Li ◽  
Jinmei Cai ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Insulin Glargine ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Open Label ◽  
Cancer Occurrence ◽  
Pubmed Database ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
The Us ◽  
Risk Of Cancer

Aims Recently, more and more attention has been drawn on the long-term effects of insulin glargine. Here we strived to estimate the association of cancer occurrence with the use of insulin glargine. Methods We searched all the publications regarding the association between cancer occurrence and the use of insulin glargine using the US National Library of Medicine's PubMed database. Data were independently extracted and analyzed using random or fixed effects meta-analysis depending upon the degree of heterogeneity. Results Seven cohort studies were included in the meta-analysis. Cancer occurrence had no significant difference in glargine-treated patients compared to patients treated with other insulins (RR=0.86, 95% CI=0.69–1.07, p=0.17, Pheterogeneity <0.00001). In our subgroup analysis, glargine, compared to other insulins, did not increase the risk of breast cancer (RR=1.14, 95% CI=0.65–2.02, p=0.65, Pheterogeneity=0.002), prostate cancer (RR=1.00, 95% CI=0.79–1.26, p=0.99, Pheterogeneity=0.78), pancreatic cancer (RR=0.57, 95% CI=0.14–2.35, p=0.44, Pheterogeneity=0.0002) and gastrointestinal cancer (RR=0.80, heterogeneity 95% CI=0.62–1.02, p=0.07, Pheterogeneity=0.86). Conclusions This meta-analysis of open-label studies does not support an increased cancer risk in patients treated with insulin glargine. The result provides confidence for the development of insulin glargine, but needs confirmation by further clinical studies.

scholarly journals Determinants of Firm Performance: Evidence from Romanian Listed Companies

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastian Lazăr
Keyword(s):  
Firm Performance ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Value Added ◽  
Listed Companies ◽  
Sales Growth ◽  
Fixed Effects Model ◽  
Resource Based View ◽  
Firm Profitability ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Positive Effect

AbstractThe paper investigates firm-specific determinants of firm profitability for Romanian listed companies over the 2000-2011 period within the framework of resource based view of the firm. The results show that tangibles, leverage, size and labour intensity have negative effect on firm performance, while sales growth and value added have a positive effect. The results prove robust when introducing two-way fixed effects model and industry year effects model (in order to simultaneously account for specific industry characteristics and time effects).

Asset recovery in corruption cases

2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Leasure
Keyword(s):  
Vice President ◽  
Comparative Case Study ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Case Study Analysis ◽  
Asset Recovery ◽  
The Us ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Republic

Purpose – Asset recovery proceedings increasingly target corrupt foreign officials who acquire lavish assets as a result of capital gained through criminal acts. One extremely difficult issue arising in asset recovery proceedings is whether the capital used to acquire the assets can be traced to a criminal act. The purpose of this paper is to critique US tracing procedure through comparative analysis. Design/methodology/approach – A prominent series of cases brought by the USA and France against assets owned by Teodoro “Teodorín” Nguema Obiang, second Vice President of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, produced mixed results on the tracing element. This paper utilizes a qualitative comparative case analysis to examine the US and French cases. Findings – The US results reflect serious weaknesses in the US law as compared to more effective French asset recovery procedure. Originality/value – Though this paper is certainly a comparative case study analysis, nearly identical facts and two different jurisdictions reaching separate conclusions bring us in the legal community as close as we can realistically come to quasi-experimental research. Comparative research in this area is severely lacking and sorely needed. The mechanisms identified in the French system clearly show flaws that are present in the US system.

The World Economy

2003 ◽  
Vol 185 ◽  
pp. 9-16
Keyword(s):  
Latin American ◽  
Euro Area ◽  
World Trade ◽  
World Economy ◽  
Oil Industry ◽  
Private Sector Investment ◽  
Percentage Points ◽  
The Us ◽  
The World ◽  
Dollar Depreciation

The outlook for world growth this year has deteriorated since April, due to a sharp contraction in world trade in the first quarter of the year and failure to sustain the revival in private sector investment seen in the fourth quarter of 2002. We have as a consequence revised our projections for world growth this year down by ¼ percentage point. This reflects sharp downward revisions of ½–¾ percentage points in the Euro Area and Canada, both of whose exchange rates have continued to appreciate in effective terms, while the outlook for the US and Japan is broadly unchanged. Growth in Japan and the Euro Area stagnated in the first half of 2003, with recessions in Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Austria appearing likely. The US and Canada, on the other hand, continued to expand, albeit more slowly than in the second half of 2002. Following two years of exceptional weakness, Latin American growth has started to revive, although Venezuela is still suffering from the 2 month stoppage in the oil industry earlier this year and Argentina has lost competitiveness due to a strong appreciation against the dollar. Growth has slowed in several Asian economies, notably South Korea, but China continues to expand rapidly, spurred by the competitiveness impact of the dollar depreciation and infrastructure preparations for the 2008 Olympics. This has helped sustain export growth from the rest of Asia despite the more widespread slowdown in world trade.

Controlling shareholders' stock pledges and strategic change: the moderating effects of corporate governance

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xi Zhong ◽  
He Wan ◽  
Qiuping Peng
Keyword(s):  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Strategic Change ◽  
Balance Of Power ◽  
Controlling Shareholder ◽  
Analyst Coverage ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Controlling Shareholders ◽  
Change Behavior ◽  
Negative Effect

PurposeThe authors analyze the effects of controlling shareholders' stock pledging on firms' strategic change behavior, and investigate how the balance of power between shareholders and analyst coverage moderates those effects.Design/methodology/approachEmploying fixed effects models, the authors test hypotheses based on Chinese listed company data from 2011 to 2017.FindingsControlling shareholders' stock pledges has a negative effect on strategic change. As the balance of power among shareholders and/or analyst coverage increases, it mitigates the effect of controlling shareholder stock pledges on strategic change. In particular, the balance of power between shareholders and analyst coverage weakened the relationship between controlling shareholder stock pledges and strategic change. Lastly, after distinguishing family from nonfamily firms, the authors discovered that these findings only held for family firms.Originality/valueThis study makes important contributions to strategic change, stock pledge and family firm literature, and also provides guidance on firms' strategic change practices.

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