Who Bought All the Toilet Paper? Conspiracy Theorists Are More Likely to Stockpile During the COVID-19 Pandemic

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hui Bai

The current COVID-19 pandemic has changed many people’s lives. Some people have responded to the rising of the pandemic by engaging in panic buying behaviors, a phenomenon that has not been well-understood in the past. People who believe in these conspiracies may experience a heightened sense of powerlessness and vulnerability. As a result, they may be particularly susceptible to palliatively and compensatorily engage in the panic buying behaviors (i.e., stockpiling). Supporting this idea, two studies using data from the U.K. (cross-sectional) and the U.S. (longitudinal) show that people who endorse COVID-19 conspiracy theories are more likely to engage in stockpiling behaviors in the past as well as in the future.

Author(s):  
TAKAAKI OHNISHI ◽  
TAKAYUKI MIZUNO ◽  
CHIHIRO SHIMIZU ◽  
TSUTOMU WATANABE

How can we detect real estate bubbles? In this paper, we propose making use of information on the cross-sectional dispersion of real estate prices. During bubble periods, prices tend to go up considerably for some properties, but less so for others, so that price inequality across properties increases. In other words, a key characteristic of real estate bubbles is not the rapid price hike itself but a rise in price dispersion. Given this, the purpose of this paper is to examine whether developments in the dispersion in real estate prices can be used to detect bubbles in property markets as they arise, using data from Japan and the U.S. First, we show that the land price distribution in Tokyo had a power-law tail during the bubble period in the late 1980s, while it was very close to a lognormal before and after the bubble period. Second, in the U.S. data we find that the tail of the house price distribution tends to be heavier in those states which experienced a housing bubble. We also provide evidence suggesting that the power-law tail observed during bubble periods arises due to the lack of price arbitrage across regions.


Author(s):  
Shawn Malley

Well-known in popular culture for tomb-raiding and mummy-wrangling, the archaeologist is also a rich though often unacknowledged figure for constructing ‘strange new worlds’ from ‘strange old worlds’ in science fiction. But more than a well-spring for scenarios, SF’s archaeological imaginary is also a hermeneutic tool for excavating the ideological motivations of digging up the past buried in the future. A cultural study of an array of popular though critically neglected North American SF film and television texts–spanning the gamut of telefilms, pseudo-documentaries, teen serial drama and Hollywood blockbusters–Excavating the Future treats archaeology as a trope for exploring the popular archaeological imagination and the uses to which it is being put by the U.S. state and its adversaries. By treating SF texts as documents of archaeological experience circulating within and between scientific and popular culture communities and media, Excavating the Future develops critical strategies for analyzing SF film and television’s critical and adaptive responses to contemporary geopolitical concerns about the war on terror, homeland security, the invasion and reconstruction of Iraq, and the ongoing fight against ISIS.


2019 ◽  
Vol 76 (1) ◽  
pp. 195-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aishwarya Shukla ◽  
Thomas K M Cudjoe ◽  
Frank R Lin ◽  
Nicholas S Reed

Abstract Objectives Hearing loss is common in older adults and limits communication. We investigated the independent association between functional hearing loss and social engagement in a nationally representative sample of older adults. Methods Using data from the 2015 Medicare Current Beneficiaries Survey, we modeled the cross-sectional association between self-reported hearing ability and limitation in social activity over the past month using multivariable logistic regression. Results The majority of the study population was female (54.8%) and non-Hispanic white (74.3%). Participants (40.4%) reported “a little trouble” hearing and 7.4% reported “a lot of trouble” hearing. Those who reported any trouble hearing had higher odds of limited social engagement in the past month. After adjustment for demographic, clinical, and functional covariates, those who reported “a lot of trouble” hearing had 37% higher odds of limited social activity in the past month compared to those with normal hearing. Discussion These results suggest that hearing loss may be an important risk factor for limited social engagement and downstream negative health consequences, independent of other disability and health conditions.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. e0249466
Author(s):  
Shuchi Anand ◽  
Maria E. Montez-Rath ◽  
Jialin Han ◽  
Pablo Garcia ◽  
Julie Bozeman ◽  
...  

Patients on dialysis are at high risk for death due to COVID-19, yet a significant proportion do survive as evidenced by presence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in 8% of patients in the U.S. in July 2020. It is unclear whether patients with seropositivity represent the subgroup with robust health status, who would be more likely to mount a durable antibody response. Using data from a July 2020 sample of 28,503 patients receiving dialysis, we evaluated the cross-sectional association of SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity with laboratory surrogates of patient health. In separate logistic regression models, we assessed the association of SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity with seven laboratory-based covariates (albumin, creatinine, hemoglobin, sodium, potassium, phosphate, and parathyroid hormone), across the entire range of the laboratory and in comparison to a referent value. Models accounted for age, sex, region, race and ethnicity, and county-level COVID-19 deaths per 100,000. Odds of seropositivity for albumin 3 and 3.5 g/dL were 2.1 (95% CI 1.9–2.3) and 1.3 (1.2–1.4) respectively, compared with 4 g/dL. Odds of seropositivity for serum creatinine 5 and 8 mg/dL were 1.8 (1.6–2.0) and 1.3 (1.2–1.4) respectively, compared with 12.5 mg/dL. Lower values of hemoglobin, sodium, potassium, phosphate, and parathyroid hormone were associated with higher odds of seropositivity. Laboratory values associated with poorer health status and higher risk for mortality were also associated with higher likelihood of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in patients receiving dialysis.


2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 329-339
Author(s):  
Daniel Herda

Citizens’ tendency to overestimate the size of immigrant populations has been the subject of several studies over the past three decades. While we have learned a great deal about the extent, causes, and potential consequences of this population innumeracy, our understanding remains static. The current letter offers the first longitudinal consideration of immigrant population size misperceptions with an analysis across a nine-year span in the U.S. This study considers: 1) whether misperceptions have changed over time; 2) how these changes compare to the growth of the actual foreign-born population size; and 3) whether these changes are related to demographic and ideological factors. Results indicate that misperceptions have grown rapidly in the U.S, far outpacing the modest, actual increases across the period. Pooled cross-sectional analyses indicate that demographic factors do not explain the growth in misperceptions. However, the overestimates of politically conservative Americans have grown increasingly extreme over time.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Belete Girma ◽  
Hiwot Deneke ◽  
Yusuf Ahmed

Abstract Background: Blood donation is a unique act to save the lives of people who face serious surgical and medical conditions. Since the request for blood supply is too high, there is a shortage of blood which causes significant morbidity and mortality. To increase blood supply and maintain adequate quantity of blood, regular and volunteer blood donation practice is needed. Ethiopia is one of the lowest annual donation rates which is 0.8/1000 population. This study assesses factors affecting willingness to donate blood among Hawassa town southern Population.Objectives: To assess the factors affecting willingness to blood donation among Hawassa town population Southern, Ethiopia.Methods: Community based cross-sectional study was conducted in Hawassa town in November 2020. A multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select study population. At Stage one, three Kebele are selected from total 32 Kebele, at stage two using systematical sampling method used to draw the total sample size, proportional to the population of each kebele and each study units are selected randomly from Each household. Data was collected using structured interviewer questionnaire. Data entered and analyzed using SPSS version 20.Result: A total of 633 participants were included in the final analysis (response rate = 100%). Among which 212(33.5%) was Female and 421 (66.5%) were Male. The mean age was 30.95 ±2.0 years. Among the study participants, 490(77.4) are willing to donate blood in the future and 125(22.9%) of them had blood donation practices in the past. The most prominent factors that affect willingness of participant for blood donation was, Unfit to donate, fear of needle prick and Not approached to donate (45.2%,38.5% and 11.7%) respectively. Majority of the respondents 382 (60.3%) reported that voluntary donor is the best source of safe blood. Desire to help other and age of study Participant age greater 25 years are significantly associated factor for increased willingness to blood donation (AOR 2.146 (0.028, 0.753) and (AOR = 1.8 (95% CI 1.1, 3.0) respectively.Conclusion: Only minor proportion of the participants donate blood in the past, but Majority of the participant was willing to donate blood in the future. The major factors that participant not willing to donate blood are Unfit to donate, fear of needle prick and Not approached to donate. There is a need to improve awareness on who and when a person able to donate a blood and organizing campaign to increase awareness on important of blood donation for those who are willing to donate blood in the future, to create a pool of eligible blood donors.


2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geir Wæhler Gustavsen ◽  
Kyrre Rickertsen

AbstractThe Norwegian per capita sales of wine have more than doubled over the past 20 years, while the sales of sprits and beer have declined. These changes are likely to be the effect of changes in economic, demographic, and attitudinal factors as well as the availability of wine. We estimated age-period-cohort (APC) logit models using data from a large repeated cross-sectional survey over the period 1991–2015. The estimation results indicate substantial effects of the APC variables as well as income, availability, and attitudes. The model was used to simulate wine consumption over the life cycle in different birth cohorts. The simulation results indicate that wine consumption frequency increases by age, and younger cohorts are expected to increase their consumption frequencies more than older cohorts, which suggests an increased wine consumption over time. (JEL Classifications: D12, J10, Q13)


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean H. Wang

In September 2012, residents of Chino Hills, California—a wealthy suburb of Los Angeles—exposed a maternity hotel in their city. Subsequently, controversy erupted as protesting residents argued that Chinese birth tourism is an immigration loophole, where foreigners took advantage of jus soli birthright citizenship guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. This paper uses this controversy as a springboard to explore how temporalities—both the past and the future—come to shape politics in the present. Considering reproductive futurism in the contexts of citizenship and migrations, this paper argues that the figure of the fetal citizen emerges as the defining site of struggle between preserving, or exposing, the fantasy of a national future. Reports of panic over Chinese birth tourism, then, show how “backwards” racialized citizenship is continually brought to this present struggle, especially vis-a-vis discourses of the “worthy immigrant” and “anchor babies”, to determine who may give birth to citizens in the U.S.


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