Suchergebnisse

Facing unsustainable economies, why are some regimes successful in recovering by instituting drastic reform of the economic system, while others fail? If a country's leaders implement some reforms, why do they later reverse them? Why do some governments that come to power on mandates to reverse reform not fulfill their promises? Some scholars argue that government leaders' ideologies strongly influence their economic policy decisions. Others argue that ideology does not matter in developing countries because ideologically defined parties do not follow their ideologically framed preference after they come to power. For example, the first group of scholars would consider President Menem's drastic economic reform a major deviation from his party but identify as an outlier. On the contrary, the latter group would identify the occasion as an example of how ideology does not matter in developing democracies. This dissertation asks an empirical question: does ideology really influence economic policies in developing countries? My view is that during economic crisis, partisanship does not impact governments' efforts to correct the failing economic situations. This in turn leads to another empirical question: what systematic factors make ideology irrelevant in economically dismal times? When testing the impact of partisanship on economic policy, the literature usually treats government as one entity and scholars use the percentage of left or right in legislature as a proxy for ideological orientation of government. However, I suggest disaggregating government into at least two entities: executive and legislative and looking at agenda setting executives' and government parties' ideologies separately. History has shown that in some presidential systems executives often times deviate from their own party agenda. I argue that it is not because ideology does not matter in developing democracies that governments tighten their budget and adopt structural adjustments, but rather it is because the calculation of costs and benefits change due to external pressure and failing economy. Economic crisis renders the status quo unsustainable and beneficial to nobody so that coalitions of interests and veto players, which blocked or wished for reversal, will no longer exert their oppositions, and we see less of ideological influence on economic policies. To test the validity of my arguments, I conduct statistical analyses on the panel data of developing countries. I use several measures of ideology: executive party's ideology regarding economic policy, the usual percentage of left in legislature, the existence of left-wing veto player in legislature, and the categorized percentage of left in legislature. I use the measures of inflation, external debt as % GDP, and official development aid as % GDP to define economic unsustainability. I test how ideology and economic unsustainability affect the executives' efforts to reform, which I indexed by investigating the executives' proposals and statements and Economist Intelligence Unit's reports. Then, I test how ideology, economic unsustainability, and the executives' reform efforts affect the level of budget balance. Lastly, I disaggregate budgets to study whether partisanship affects social spending as government's way to compensate the group that lose most from reform. I find that at the end, both left-wing and right-wing increase social security and welfare spending when government initiate reform during economically difficult times.

With a growing interest in using drug testing as part of standard survey procedures for drug use prevalence estimation, we undertook an examination of national surveys of attitudes towards and experience with employment-related drug testing. After identifying 102 questions from 20 different surveys administered from the mid 1980s to the late 1990s, we found a trend suggesting that the population has become increasingly favorable toward drug testing. Although drug-testing policies are highly prevalent, personal experience with drug testing is not normative. Personal experience also varies with race, gender, age, and occupational group. Implications for epidemiological research incorporating testing are addressed.

AbstractThe effects of competition within alternative food networks (AFNs) remain largely unexplored. Using a study of farms that operate Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programmes in California, the state in the USA with the most CSAs, we empirically examine the effects of competition within alternative food networks. We conducted a statewide survey of CSA farmers in California, which collected data from 111 CSAs. For this analysis we construct a perceived competition index composed of variables that measure farmers' perceptions of competition with numerous market outlets and their being constrained in raising their prices due to competitive pressures. Our analysis shows that perceived competition is negatively correlated with CSA farms' profitability, farmers' satisfaction on a number of fronts, various indicators of the social embeddedness of CSA, and two community food security strategies. We conclude that competition is a real, although differential, phenomenon experienced by many CSA farmers in California, and that this competition impacts CSA in ways that undermine some of its commonly held values, especially fair farmer compensation and strong member‐farmer relationships.

Direct-to-consumer sales (DTC) through farmers markets, CSAs, and urban farm stands is an important venue for bringing fresh, nutritious, and regional food to urban consumers and creating economic and social linkages between urban and peri-urban farms. However, many urban consumers who use government food programs have limited access to DTC markets. Farmers Market LIFE (Local Incentives for Food and Economy) seeks to expand the customer base of farmers market shoppers in Sonoma County, California, through the acceptance of SNAP (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) and Market Match, a dollar-for-dollar nutrition incentive program that makes farmers markets more economically accessible to low-income shoppers while also increasing overall sales for farmers' market vendors. We explore the use of "environmental scans" an innovative research instrument used at farmers' markets to identify social, cultural, linguistic, behavioral and economic obstacles and opportunities for low-income consumers and people of color to shop at farmers' markets. Community partners co-designed and gathered data about selected farmers markets using environmental scans in fall 2019. This methodology has proved effective in providing insight into farmers' market dynamics including potential barriers and solutions to make farmers' markets more accessible and inviting to SNAP customers and people of color. We share results of this tool as a method that others interested in community-engaged research may want to use to investigate their own unique farmers' market settings and to illustrate the nature of findings from our application of the tool in Sonoma County, California, in 2019.

Introduction: Racial minority groups have been disproportionately affected by the 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Vaccine hesitancy may be a major barrier to achieving equitable herd immunity and must be addressed to reduce the excess morbidity and mortality of COVID-19 in disproportionately affected communities. This study aimed to determine if COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, and its factors vaccine complacency and confidence, are more prominent among disproportionately affected racial minority groups. Methods:We collected data from participants aged 18 years or older from the four most populous U.S. states, including New York, California, Florida, and Texas, and Canada. Data were collected using a web-based survey platform. Data are available at http://www.covid19-database.com. Results:Data from 4,434 participants were included [mean (SD) age = 48.7 (17.2) and 50.4% women]. Vaccine hesitancy was higher in Black, Indigenous (Native American and Indigenous People of Canada, including First Nations, Inuit and Métis), and Latinx compared to White participants, while no difference was found between East Asian and White participants. The group differences in vaccine hesitancy for Indigenous and Black compared to White participants remained after controlling for sociodemographic factors. Determinants of vaccine complacency were equivalent between disproportionately affected racial groups and white participants. Vaccine confidence (i.e., trust in vaccine benefit) was generally lower in all racial groups compared to White participants. Differences in vaccine mistrust comparing Black and East Asian to White participants remained after controlling for sociodemographic factors. Discussion:Disproportionately affected racial minorities may have higher vaccine hesitancy and lower confidence in COVID-19 vaccines. Public health and other relevant government services should address vaccine hesitancy among racial minorities using a culturally sensitive, community-centered approach to attain equitable herd immunity.

Towards Sustainable Well-Being examines existing efforts and emerging possibilities to improve upon gross domestic product as the dominant indicator of economic and social performance. Contributions from leading international and Canadian researchers in the field of beyond-GDP measurement offer a rich range of perspectives on alternative ways to measure well-being and sustainability, along with lessons from around the world on how to bring those metrics into the policy process. Key topics include the policy and political impacts of major beyond-GDP measurement initiatives; the most promising possibilities and policy applications for beyond-GDP measurement; key barriers to introducing beyond-GDP metrics; and complementary measures to ensure new measurements are not merely calculated but taken into account in policymaking. The book highlights a distinction between a reformist beyond-GDP vision, which seeks to improve policymaking and quality of life within existing political and economic institutions, and a transformative vision aiming for more fundamental change including a move beyond economic growth. Illustrating the many advances that have occurred in Canada and internationally, Towards Sustainable Well-Being proposes next steps for both the reformist and transformative visions, as well as possible common ground between them in the pursuit of sustainable well-being