scholarly journals An Instrumental Variable Probit Modeling of COVID-19 Vaccination Compliance in Malawi

Author(s):  
Abayomi Samuel Oyekale ◽  
Thonaeng Charity Maselwa

COVID-19 remains a pressing development concern in Malawi. The third wave of viral infection upsurge raised significant concerns on people’s compliance with preventive methods already introduced by the government, among which vaccination is notable. This study analysed the factors influencing COVID-19 vaccination compliance in Malawi. The data were the ninth round of the telephone-based survey that was conducted by Malawi National Statistical Office (NSO) in 2021. The data were analysed with Instrumental Variable Probit model. The results showed that awareness of COVID-19 vaccines arrival was very high (98.19%). Additionally, 11.59% and 60.71% were already vaccinated and planning to be vaccinated, respectively. The Probit regression results showed that age of household heads, need of medical services, being worried of contracting COVID-19 and wearing of masks increased the probability of vaccination compliance, while stress indicators, being employed and not worried at all of contracting COVID-19 reduced it. It was concluded that drastic behaviour change would be needed to address corona virus pandemic in Malawi. There is the need to ensure equity across different age groups in access to vaccines. Further, interventions to ensure proper assessment of an individual’s COVID-19 risk and address psychological and emotional stress that are associated with ongoing pandemic would enhance vaccination compliance.

Author(s):  
Abayomi Samuel Oyekale

This paper analyzed the factors influencing the willingness of Ethiopia’s population to take COVID-19 vaccines. The data included the COVID-19 High Frequency Phone Survey of Households in Ethiopia that were collected in 2021. This paper relied on the 10th round of the survey, which was comprised of 2178 households. The Instrumental Variable Probit regression model was used to analyze the data. The results showed that majority of the respondents (92.33%) would receiveCOVID-19 vaccines, while 6.61% and 1.06% were, respectively, unwilling and unsure. Across the regions of Ethiopia, Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples’ Region (SNNPR) (99.30%), Oromia (97.54%), Tigray (97.04%) and Gambela (95.42%) had the highest proportions of respondents willing to have the vaccine. Vaccine safety concern was the topmost reason for those unwilling to receive the vaccine. The results of the Instrumental Variable Probit regression showed that currently working, age, engagement with non-farm businesses and region of residence significantly influenced the population’s willingness to take the vaccine (p < 0.05). It was concluded that although the willingness be vaccinated was impressive, without everyone being receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, infection risk can still be high; this is due to the persistent mutation of the viral strains. Thus, there is a need to intensify efforts toward addressing the safety issues of COVID-19 vaccines, while efforts to enhance acceptability should focus on the youth population and those who are unemployed.


Author(s):  
Maria Luz Laham ◽  
Robert B. Noland

An analysis of factors associated with nonwork trips was conducted. The key variable of interest was proximity to transit-oriented development areas around train stations in New Jersey. The data were derived from a questionnaire of households around eight train stations and stratified by distance from a station. The focus was on the mode used for trips to restaurants–coffee shops and grocery–food stores, two of the most common and frequent nonwork trips. The analysis focused on the choice of walking versus driving for these trips by using an instrumental variable probit model aimed at controlling for the endogeneity associated with self-selection bias (i.e., people who prefer not to drive choose more walkable neighborhoods). Results showed strong associations between proximity to transit-oriented development areas and walking trips, and these results hold when endogeneity is controlled for. Local street density and per capita vehicle ownership also had the expected effects on walking trips.


2014 ◽  
Vol 40 (9) ◽  
pp. 846-863
Author(s):  
Qian Sun ◽  
Kenneth Yung ◽  
Hamid Rahman

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to try to identify the motivation of firms that announce share repurchase but do not follow it up with the actual purchase. The authors conjecture that the long-term earnings quality of such firms is low, which makes them poor candidates for actual stock repurchase. Their intention is to mimic actual repurchasers and their motivation appears to be just to get a bounce in their stock price normally associated with such announcements. Design/methodology/approach – The authors use probit analysis to ascertain whether earnings quality can predict the subsequent repurchase behavior of firms that announce share repurchase. As Gong et al. point out, the relationship between earnings management and the percentage of shares repurchased may be endogenous. In order to mitigate the potential endogeneity bias, the authors use a two-stage instrumental variable probit model adapted for this study from Lee and Masulis (2009). Findings – The results show that non-carry-through firms have lower earnings quality than carry-through firms in the pre-announcement period in all of the metrics the authors use to measure earnings quality. In the post-announcement period, the earnings quality of the non-carry-through firms declines still further and the difference in the quality becomes more pronounced. The results of probit regression show that lower earnings quality increases the likelihood of becoming a non-carry-through company. Research limitations/implications – The finding has interesting implications for investment management as investors can differentiate non-carry-through firms from carry-through repurchasers by examining the firm's earnings quality. Originality/value – The analysis shows that poor long-term earnings quality increases the chance of not carrying through on the repurchase announcement. The authors also find that the poor earnings quality of non-carry-through firms limits their ability to manage earnings downward prior to the repurchase announcement.


2021 ◽  
pp. 245513332110316
Author(s):  
Tiken Das ◽  
Pradyut Guha ◽  
Diganta Das

This study made an attempt to answer the question: Do the heterogeneous determinants of repayment affect the borrowers of diverse credit sources differently? The study is based on data collected from 240 households from three districts in the lower Brahmaputra valley of Assam through a carefully designed primary survey. Besides, the study uses the double hurdle approach and the instrumental variable probit model to reduce possible selection bias. It observes better repayment performance among formal borrowers, followed by semiformal borrowers, while occupation wise it is prominent among organised employees. It has been found that in general, the household characteristics, loan characteristics and location-specific characteristics significantly affect repayment performance of borrowers. However, the nature of impact of the factors influencing repayment performance is remarkably different across credit sources. It ignores the role of traditional community-based organisations in rural Assam while analysing the determinants of repayment performance. The study also recommends for ensuring productive opportunities and efficient market linkages in rural areas of Assam. The study is based on an original data set that has specially been collected to examine question that—do the heterogeneous determinants of repayment affect the borrowers of diverse credit sources differently in the lower Brahmaputra valley of Assam—which has not been studied before.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 7905
Author(s):  
Moh. Shadiqur Rahman ◽  
Hery Toiba ◽  
Wen-Chi Huang

The impacts of climate change on marine capture fisheries have been observed in several studies. It is likely to have a substantial effect on fishers’ income and food security. This study aims to estimate the impact of adaptation strategies on fishers’ income and their household’s food security. Data were collected from small-scale fishers’ households, which own a fishing boat smaller or equal to five gross tonnages (GT). The study sites were the two coastal regions of Malang and Probolinggo in East Java, Indonesia, due to the meager socioeconomic resources caused by climate change. A probit regression model was used to determine the factors influencing the fishers’ adaptation. Propensity score matching (PSM) was applied to evaluate the impact of the adaptation strategies on income and food security. Food security was measured by food consumption score (FCS). The findings indicated that participation in the fishers’ group affected adaptation strategies significantly, and so did the access to credit and climate information. Also, PSM showed that the adaptation strategies had a positive and significant impact on fishers’ income and food security. Those who applied the adaptation strategies had a higher income and FCS than those who did not. This finding implies that the fishery sector’s adaptation strategies can have significant expansion outcome and reduce exposure to risks posed by climate change. Therefore, the arrangement of more climate change adaptation strategies should be promoted by the government for small-scale fishers in Indonesia.


2014 ◽  
Vol 205 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chi-Fa Hung ◽  
Margarita Rivera ◽  
Nick Craddock ◽  
Michael J. Owen ◽  
Michael Gill ◽  
...  

BackgroundObesity has been shown to be associated with depression and it has been suggested that higher body mass index (BMI) increases the risk of depression and other common mental disorders. However, the causal relationship remains unclear and Mendelian randomisation, a form of instrumental variable analysis, has recently been employed to attempt to resolve this issue.AimsTo investigate whether higher BMI increases the risk of major depression.MethodTwo instrumental variable analyses were conducted to test the causal relationship between obesity and major depression in RADIANT, a large case–control study of major depression. We used a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in FTO and a genetic risk score (GRS) based on 32 SNPs with well-established associations with BMI.ResultsLinear regression analysis, as expected, showed that individuals carrying more risk alleles of FTO or having higher score of GRS had a higher BMI. Probit regression suggested that higher BMI is associated with increased risk of major depression. However, our two instrumental variable analyses did not support a causal relationship between higher BMI and major depression (FTO genotype: coefficient −0.03, 95% CI −0.18 to 0.13, P = 0.73; GRS: coefficient −0.02, 95% CI −0.11 to 0.07, P = 0.62).ConclusionsOur instrumental variable analyses did not support a causal relationship between higher BMI and major depression. The positive associations of higher BMI with major depression in probit regression analyses might be explained by reverse causality and/or residual confounding.


SAGE Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 215824402110299
Author(s):  
Sri Irianti ◽  
Puguh Prasetyoputra

One of the targets in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which is Target 6.2, aims to achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation. The Government of Indonesia targets universal access to improved sanitation in 2019. However, almost two out of five households in Indonesia are without access to improved sanitation. Moreover, access to improved sanitation is lower in rural areas than that in urban areas. Studies examining the drivers of the disparity in Indonesia are also limited. Therefore, this study was aimed at assessing the characteristics associated with the rural–urban disparity in access to improved sanitation facilities among households in Indonesia. We employed data from the 2016 Indonesian National Socio-Economic Survey (SUSENAS) comprising 290,848 households. The analysis was twofold. First, we fitted multivariate probit regression models using average marginal effects as the measure of association. We then conducted a detailed non-linear decomposition of the rural–urban disparity attributable to all the explanatory variables. The multivariate regression analysis suggested that households living in rural areas were 11.35% (95% confidence interval = [10.97, 11.72]) less likely to have access to improved sanitation facilities than those residing in urban areas. The decomposition analysis suggested that 48.78% are attributable to spatial, demographic, housing, and socio-economic factors, which meant that almost half of the inequalities could be reduced by equalizing these factors. The results provide a decomposition of factors amenable to curtail urban–rural inequalities. Hence, equity-oriented approaches to increasing access to improved sanitation should be prioritized to achieve universal access in 2030 in line with SDG Target 6.2.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zeyu Lyu ◽  
Hiroki Takikawa

BACKGROUND The availability of large-scale and fine-grained aggregated mobility data has allowed researchers to observe the dynamic of social distancing behaviors at high spatial and temporal resolutions. Despite the increasing attentions paid to this research agenda, limited studies have focused on the demographic factors related to mobility and the dynamics of social distancing behaviors has not been fully investigated. OBJECTIVE This study aims to assist in the design and implementation of public health policies by exploring the social distancing behaviors among various demographic groups over time. METHODS We combined several data sources, including mobile tracking data and geographical statistics, to estimate visiting population of entertainment venues across demographic groups, which can be considered as the proxy of social distancing behaviors. Then, we employed time series analyze methods to investigate how voluntary and policy-induced social distancing behaviors shift over time across demographic groups. RESULTS Our findings demonstrate distinct patterns of social distancing behaviors and their dynamics across age groups. The population in the entertainment venues comprised mainly of individuals aged 20–40 years, while according to the dynamics of the mobility index and the policy-induced behavior, among the age groups, the extent of reduction of the frequency of visiting entertainment venues during the pandemic was generally the highest among younger individuals. Also, our results indicate the importance of implementing the social distancing policy promptly to limit the spread of the COVID-19 infection. However, it should be noticed that although the policy intervention during the second wave in Japan appeared to increase the awareness of the severity of the pandemic and concerns regarding COVID-19, its direct impact has been largely decreased could only last for a short time. CONCLUSIONS At the time we wrote this paper, in Japan, the number of daily confirmed cases was continuously increasing. Thus, this study provides a timely reference for decision makers about the current situation of policy-induced compliance behaviors. On the one hand, age-dependent disparity requires target mitigation strategies to increase the intention of elderly individuals to adopt mobility restriction behaviors. On the other hand, considering the decreasing impact of self-restriction recommendations, the government should employ policy interventions that limit the resurgence of cases, especially by imposing stronger, stricter social distancing interventions, as they are necessary to promote social distancing behaviors and mitigate the transmission of COVID-19. CLINICALTRIAL None


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ho Wook Shin ◽  
Jinsil Kim ◽  
Seung-hyun Lee

PurposeIn fragile institutional environments, firms often have no choice but bribery as the means to access the services monopolized by the government. Corrupt government officials whose resources are valuable to many different firms can easily find other firms willing to offer bribes. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether and how this imbalanced interdependence exposes the bribing firm to the hazard of opportunism from the bribed officials.Design/methodology/approachThis study draws on World Business Environment Survey (WBES) data and the instrumental variable (IV) Probit estimator with Heckman correction for the potential selection bias.FindingsThe authors find that the more firms depend on bribery to acquire governmental resources, the severer the level of opportunism they encounter from the government officials. In addition, the authors find that although the presence of a legal alternative to bribery reduces the level of a corrupt government official's opportunism that a bribing firm experiences, the more firms depend on bribery despite the presence of a legal alternative, the higher the level of the corrupt official's opportunism that the firm will experience. Finally, the authors find that establishing a relational contract with government officials reduces the hazard of opportunism.Originality/valueThe study contributes to the resource dependence literature by finding that a greater imbalance in the interdependence between two parties in bribery exposes the more dependent party to a larger hazard of opportunism. The finding that an ineffective alternative to a current resource provider would not strengthen but weaken a resource seeker's bargaining power expands the literature. The authors also contribute to the corruption research by showing the significant strategic, not legal, risk to bribing firms of engaging in bribery, which to date has not been sufficiently discussed.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Si Ruishi ◽  
Lu Qian ◽  
Noshaba Aziz

Abstract Background: It is argued that wild animals are the culprit of transmission of COVID-19 and poor health of the people, though any evidence is not found, the government has widely publicized the risk allied with eating wild animals. Therefore, this study attempts to explore the effect of COVID-19 on residents’ willingness to consume wild animals (WCWA) and their amount of willingness to pay (AWP). Methods: Data were gathered online from 1250 household heads of both urban and rural residents of Hubei, Hunan, and Guangdong provinces during the period of 19th to 26th March 2020 and Probit and Tobit model is employed to meet the study objectives. Results: The results showed that around 39.20% of residents are willing to consume wild animals and their amount of willingness to pay was 34.65 USD/year. In the context of market control policy & home restriction policy, the mediating effect is 34.20% & 27.73% respectively. In contrast, in the context of ecological environment risk and food security risk perception, the mediating effects are 7.94% and 10.16% respectively. Conclusions: Although COVID-19 reduced the probability of residents’ WCWA, the effect on AWP was not significant. Moreover, COVID-19’s effects on residents’ WCWA through market control and home restriction policies were strong, but perceptions of the ecological environment and food safety risk were relatively weak. These results provide insights for policymakers in terms of raising public awareness of the negative consequences of consuming wild animals and increasing knowledge of the animals’ protection.


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