When Do Voters Respond to Campaign Finance Disclosure? Evidence from Multiple Election Types

In recent American elections political candidates have actively emphasized features of their fundraising profiles when campaigning. Yet, surprisingly, we know comparatively little about how financial information affects vote choice specifically, whether effects differ across types of election, and how robust any effects are to other relevant political signals. Using a series of conjoint experiment designs, I compare the effects of campaigns’ financial profiles on vote choice across direct democratic and representative elections, randomizing subjects’ exposure to additional political cues. I find that while the financial profile of candidates can affect vote choice, these effects are drowned out by non-financial signals. In ballot initiative races, the explicit policy focus of the election appears to swamp any effect of financial information. This paper is the first to explore the comparative effects of financial disclosure across election type, contributing to our understanding of how different heuristics interact across electoral contexts.

Economic Aspects of Modernization of Vessels Operating on the Northern Sea Route

Aim. The presented study aims to develop methodological tools for assessing the economic aspects of the modernization of vessels operating on the Northern Sea Route.Tasks. The authors address the problem of economic justification for the modernization and improvement of efficiency of mixed river-sea cargo transport vessels operating on the Northern Sea Route; develop an algorithm and methodology for assessing the economic aspects of the modernization of vessels operating on the Northern Sea Route; determine the economic effect of upgrading the register class of modernized river vessels. Methods. This study proposes an algorithm for the economic assessment of the modernization of river and sea vessels, which includes the constructed mathematical models for upgrading the class of the vessel and forecasting net income.Results. The authors assess the economic viability of upgrading the register class of modernized vessels of the Omskiy and Sibirskiy type, which could become more competitive in the future and continue to operate on the Northern Sea Route with high economic efficiency, ensuring the supply of goods to northern Russian territories; form the financial profile of investment projects for the modernization of the considered types of vessels.Conclusions. Modernizing and upgrading the register class of river vessels and mixed river-sea vessels is a promising direction for adding modern cargo ships to the Russian fleet operating on the Northern Sea Route, particularly in the context of deliveries of goods to northern Russian territories. The performed economic assessment of the modernization of a Sibirskiy-type vessel according to the developed algorithm confirms the economic viability of modernizing mixed river-sea vessels.

Is it Important for Elementary School Students to Learn the Basics of Finance?

Financial education is very important at all levels of education, even at the level of basic education. The purpose of this study was to determine the importance of elementary school students mastering the basic knowledge of finance. This study was conducted from May to October 2019 at SDN 1 Gandusari, Blitar Regency, East Java Province, Indonesia, and used a qualitative case study research method. This study used primary data in the form of interviews, focus group discussions (FGD) and documentation. The findings revealed the financial profile of SDN 1 Gandusari students as well as the financial behavior of students in daily life. Based on the results, it is important for policymakers, academics and practitioners in the field of basic education to include their own curriculum for financial education for elementary school students. Keywords: elementary school student, learn, basics of finance

Epidemiological and financial profile of congenital syphilis in northeast brazil / Perfil epidemiológico e financeiro da sífilis congênita no nordeste brasileiro

Objetivo: descrever o perfil epidemiológico e econômico da sífilis congênita no nordeste brasileiro, entre 2013 e 2017. Métodos: estudo quantitativo, descritivo e ecológico construído com dados secundários indexados no Sistema de Informações Hospitalares. Selecionou-se as variáveis internações, óbitos, sexo, cor/raça, e os valores dos serviços hospitalares. Adotou-se análise estatística descritiva simples e os resultados foram expressos por meio de frequências absolutas e relativas. Resultados: houve 19.539 internações e 62 óbitos por sífilis congênita no nordeste brasileiro. Não obstante, a doença gerou um impacto financeiro superior a R$ 9,1 milhões de reais aos cofres públicos. Conclusão: a sífilis congênita apresentou comportamento crescente nas internações, favorecendo maior oneração aos serviços de saúde. Destaca-se, ainda, a imprescindibilidade de fortalecimento da precocidade diagnóstica e terapêutica nos programas de pré-natal, especialmente em Pernambuco, por evidenciar maior prevalência em todas as variáveis estudadas.

An explanatory model of stock prices in the Brazilian transport sector

The aim of this study is to establish an explanatory model of the variation of the prices of shares from the transport sector listed in B3. Methodology: Daily stock prices were collected from companies in the transport sector listed on B3 since its IPO until December 31, 2019. Companies that were not on the floor on this date were discarded. As an analysis tool, simple and multiple linear regressions were used. The dependent variable (annual variation in the share price of the transport sector) was subjected to variables such as exchange rate variation, economic activity, as well as important inputs such as wages and fuel, and the Ibovespa variation. Results and conclusions: a model with less variables (Ibovespa variation and inflation variation) was adopted, where a determination coefficient of 0.5131 was obtained (linear coefficient of 0.716). The model, therefore, is closely linked to the stock index and the variation in the inflation index, giving a much more financial profile to these assets.

An Exploration of Ethical Decision Making with Intelligence Augmentation

In recent years, the use of Artificial Intelligence agents to augment and enhance the operational decision making of human agents has increased. This has delivered real benefits in terms of improved service quality, delivery of more personalised services, reduction in processing time, and more efficient allocation of resources, amongst others. However, it has also raised issues which have real-world ethical implications such as recommending different credit outcomes for individuals who have an identical financial profile but different characteristics (e.g., gender, race). The popular press has highlighted several high-profile cases of algorithmic discrimination and the issue has gained traction. While both the fields of ethical decision making and Explainable AI (XAI) have been extensively researched, as yet we are not aware of any studies which have examined the process of ethical decision making with Intelligence augmentation (IA). We aim to address that gap with this study. We amalgamate the literature in both fields of research and propose, but not attempt to validate empirically, propositions and belief statements based on the synthesis of the existing literature, observation, logic, and empirical analogy. We aim to test these propositions in future studies.

Attitude and knowledge towards prescription of generic drugs: online study across Telangana

Background: Generic drugs are similar in terms of strength, safety and therapeutic benefit as compared to innovator counterparts. Generics have a favourable financial profile and a positive effect on medication adherence. Palpable change was not observed with the use of generics. This study has been designed to gauge the knowledge and attitude concerning generic drugs among medical students in their 5th semester of MBBS course and interns in the final six months of their compulsory rotatory residential internship (CRRI) program in the state of Telangana.Methods: It was a cross sectional, online-questionnaire based study across medical colleges in Telangana. The questions were designed with the help of Google forms and the website links were circulated to the participants through students and interns’ whatsapp groups.Results: 95.1% of interns and 92.7% of students had knowledge of generic drugs. Significant number of students had a notion that brand drugs are for serious illnesses. Majority in both the groups maintained a neutral opinion when it came to mandatory prescribing of generics.Conclusions: Our study revealed a similar knowledge level about generic in both the groups and 40.9% of interns and 41.4% of students had a knowledge score of more than or equal to 80. Interns didn’t agree with incentivisation of brand drugs. 37.9% of interns and 32.3% of students had an attitude score of more than or equal to 80. Therefore implementation of certain practices like stocking of more generics at medical college pharmacies, more research and incentivisation of generic use can translate into a rise of generic usage.

A firm-level analysis of development banks in Europe

Summary: We perform a cross-country firm-level analysis of all development banks headquartered in Europe. The goal is to investigate their financial profile and efficiency characteristics and to shed light on some crucial issues, which may underline their capacity to raise external sources of finance in addition to capital contributions from shareholder governments (e. g. their capital generation and cost efficiency, the quality of their loan portfolio, the composition of their sources of finance). A financial statement analysis of their accounting features is cogent in the light of the relevance attributed by European policy makers to the economic and financial sustainability of development banks, given the key role they have been called to play in the European economy since the 2008 crises. Indeed, although development banks have goals that go beyond profitability, they need to combine their socio-economic goals with conditions of efficiency and profitability, in order to “stand on their own feet” and secure a reasonable level of financial strength and stability. We first map all development banks headquartered in Europe. We then collect financial information within the reference period 2008 – 2018 for the whole population of development banks. We also split the sample according to size, in order to assess their dimensional heterogeneity. This study provides policymakers with quantitative information on the economic and financial profile of contemporary promotional financial institutions, which may be valuable in the current debate on their role and relevance in Europe.