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While the evidence is clear that 2020 voters shifted away from Election Day voting in favor of vote-by-mail and early voting, we know very little about how health risk versus party polarization around risk assessment influenced how and when to vote. We rely on individual-level observational data in the form of high-quality official voter administrative records from the State of New Mexico to ask how pandemic-related risk factors, especially voter age along with partisanship influenced voter decision-making. To identify causal factors, we use a difference-in-differences design and hazard model that compare 2020 general election and primary voter behavior to 2018 and 2016. We find that age and party were large factors in vote mode decisions in 2020, but not in 2016 or 2018. We consider the implications of our findings on how health risk and partisanship interact to influence decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2005, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita caused widespread destruction and displacement in parts of Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi. This research evaluates determinants of displacement and, conditional on being displaced, the duration of displacement for households living in areas affected by these hurricanes. Hurdle Models, which assume that different processes govern zero outcomes (i.e., no displacement) and positive outcomes (i.e., amount of time displaced), are used to model the likelihood of household displacement and its duration as a function of socioeconomic characteristics, hurricane-caused property and neighborhood damage, social support, and financial assistance. Results show that mobile home residence, marital status, educational attainment, the presence of children, and property and neighborhood damage affect the likelihood and expected length of displacement among sample respondents. Financial assistance and social support are also correlated with displacement and its duration, but endogeneity concerns complicate the interpretation of these results. The findings highlight the diversity of factors that slow households' return following displacement and underscore the need for additional research on the role of social capital in determining hazard-related outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this research is to determine whether the Supreme Court's landmark 2010 Citizens United ruling changed the contribution strategies of employees of major corporations. Using an original dataset of campaign contributions by employees of Fortune 500 companies, we analyze the contribution strategies of these individuals in the 2008 and 2012 presidential election cycles. Overall, our results suggest three important conclusions. First, Citizens United did not alter Fortune 500 employees' contribution patterns to traditional political committees. However, the emergence of Super political action committees (PAC) in 2012 may have pulled employees' contributions from 527 groups, at least in the short term. Second, we find large differences in contributions across resources, and the differences become even more dramatic after Citizens United when CEOs contributed millions to Super PACs. Finally, Fortune 500 employee contributions to traditional political committees still outweigh Super PAC contributions in both numbers and amount. And, importantly, employees of the world's largest corporations were not the driving force behind the increase in spending after Citizens United. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives. Despite recent progress in biomarker discovery for RA diagnostics, still over one-third of RA patients--and even more in early disease--present without RF or ACPA. The aim of this study was to confirm the presence of previously identified autoantibodies to novel Hasselt University (UH) peptides in early and seronegative RA. Methods. Screening for antibodies against novel UH peptides UH-RA., UH-RA.9, UH-RA.14 and UH-RA.2, was performed in two large independent cohorts. Peptide ELISAs were developed to screen for the presence of antibodies to UH-RA peptides. First, 292 RA patients (including 39 early patients), 90 rheumatic and 97 healthy controls from UH were studied. Antibody reactivity to two peptides (UH-RA.1 and UH-RA.21) was also evaluated in 600 RA patients, 309 patients with undifferentiated arthritis and 157 rheumatic controls from the Leiden Early Arthritis Clinic cohort. Results. In both cohorts, 38% of RA patients were seronegative for RF and ACPA. Testing for autoantibodies to UH-RA.1 and UH-RA.21 reduced the serological gap from 38% to 29% in the UH cohort (P = 0.03) and from 38% to 32% in the Leiden Early Arthritis Clinic cohort (P = 0.01). Furthermore, 19-33% of early RA patients carried antibodies to these peptides. Specificities in rheumatic controls ranged from 82 to 96%. Whereas antibodies against UH-RA.1 were related to remission, anti-UHRA. 21 antibodies were associated with inflammation, joint erosion and higher tender and swollen joint counts. Conclusion. This study validates the presence of antibody reactivity to novel UH-RA peptides in seronegative and early RA. This might reinforce current diagnostics and improve early diagnosis and intervention in RA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2012 presidential election saw a 594% increase in independent expenditures from the 2008 election ($144 million in 2008 to $1 billion in 2012), leaving little doubt that the Supreme Court’s landmark 2010 Citizens United decision opened the campaign spending floodgates. To what extent are corporations, the main subject of the ruling, the source of the increase? We argue that while Citizens alters the ability of corporations to spend on campaigns, it may not alter their substantial risk in doing so. Utilizing an original dataset of political activity and campaign contributions by Fortune 500 companies, we explore whether Citizens United affected corporations’ overall contribution strategies. We find that major corporations were not a source of the dramatic increase in independent spending in the 2012 election and that their spending behavior more generally did not change as a result of the Citizens United ruling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bullying has become a new-found crusade. Due to recent events involving safety in public schools, the nation is taking a closer look at how to handle aggressive behavior. Many parents worry about the safety of their children. However, the school does not necessarily have the duty to protect that one would expect. Courts have held there is no duty to protect students from third-party actions. This is because there is no "special relationship." A "special relationship" is an exception for when the state has an affirmative duty to protect. However, courts have yet to define the reasoning behind the exception of a "special relationship and therefore, the jurisprudence is murky and unclear. It is important for courts to consider the likelihood of bullying incidents arising again. Creating a clearcut, well-defined test, would allow for easier decisions in the future without the risk of inequitable results. Furthermore, courts should consider a child's right to education and the effect of excluding a child from school. The School-to-Prison pipeline is a phenomenon within the United States where children are criminalized for misconduct in the classroom. This results in earlier prison time, future delinquent behavior, and most importantly, lack of opportunity to further the child's education. The objective of every public school is to educate. Rather than simply brushing the problem aside, schools should attempt to teach children when disciplinary issues arise. Creating a duty to protect against bullies, widens the discretion given to administrators and places a child's education, and further opportunities in life, in peril. Courts should consider this in their analysis when determining a school's duty to protect students from third-party actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

: This study presents a novel approach to aid in diagnosis of urinary tract infections (UTIs). A real-time PCR assay was used to screen for culture-positive urinary specimens and to identify the causative uropathogen. Semi-quantitative breakpoints were used to screen for significant bacteriuria (presence of ≥105 CFU/ml of uropathogens) or low-level bacteriuria (containing between 103 and 104 CFU/ml of uropathogens). The 16S rDNA-based assay could identify the most prevalent uropathogens using probes for Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas species, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus species, Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus species and Streptococcus species. 330 urinary specimens were analysed and results were compared with conventional urine culture. Using a PCR Ct value of 25 as semi-quantitative breakpoint for significant bacteriuria resulted in a sensitivity and specificity of 97% and 80%, respectively. In 78% of the samples with monomicrobial infections the assay contained probes to detect the bacteria present in the urine specimens and 99% of these uropathogens was correctly identified. Concluding, this proof-of-concept approach demonstrates that the assay can distinguish bacteriuria from no bacteriuria as well as detect the involved uropathogen within 4 hours after sampling, allowing adequate therapy decisions within the same day as well as drastically reduce consequent urine culturing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In analyzing peace processes in postconflict societies, scholars have primarily focused on the impact of prosecutions, truth-telling efforts, and reconciliation strategies, while overlooking the importance of individual demands for reparations. The authors argue that normative explanations of why reparations are granted in the aftermath of regime change are useful in understanding a need for reconciliation, but inadequate for explaining victim demands for compensation. The authors extend this research to study civil war settlement. In the aftermath of civil war, when some form of reparation is offered giving individuals the opportunity to seek redress of grievances, what types of loss and political and socioeconomic characteristics are likely to lead some individuals to apply for reparations but not others? Using primary data, collected through a public opinion survey in Nepal, the authors investigate individual-level demand for reparations. The findings suggest that understanding loss and risk factors may be important to civil war settlement and reconciliation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Group theorists led by Olson have observed that common interests do not produce collective action, except under conditions that overcome the free-rider incentive. While collective action theories have captured the imagination of the discipline, there has been surprisingly little examination of the relationship between business collective action and patterns of market structures. Research has instead focused more on firm-level political activity. Accordingly, this research addresses the original theoretical propositions by examining industry associations' political activity nationally. Some forty years after the formulation of the theoretical argument, we find evidence supporting the logic of collective action. More concentrated industries are likelier to have politically active associations than more competitive industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While there is a strong theoretical foundation for the relationship between business sectors' political spending and the policy benefits that they receive, the empirical support for it is mixed. We use the logic of this exchange to examine a policy area that directly and significantly affects all businesses, and is thus a most likely case, taxation. Using principally firm-level tax rates of a large random sample of U.S. corporations for the 1998-2005 time period, we determine whether lobbying has measurable effects on firm-level tax rates. Contrary perhaps to popular belief, or at least anecdotal illustration, we find after controlling for firm size and industry-level tax rates, among other controls, that there is no discernible effect of political spending on firm-level taxation: firms that spend more in an effort to affect policy generally or tax policy specifically are no more likely to benefit from lower tax rates. We also examine the possibility that firms in the same industry coordinate efforts to affect tax rates. While we find limited evidence that firms occasionally coordinate within industries - or at least lobby simultaneously - to affect tax rates, perhaps more importantly, we determine that free-riding by smaller firms at the expense of the largest firms is rampant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the study of corporate political activity in the United States, scholars have consistently relied on samples comprised entirely or principally of large firms. While scholars have raised the issue of bias in these samples, there have been no systematic examinations of the consequences for causal inference. We address this issue directly by comparing the results of comprehensive models that examine corporate lobbying using both large-firm and randomly-generated samples. We find that while there are some notable differences, they are certainly not so large as to lead us to question fundamentally the results of decades of scholarship. In short, the results generated using a random sample lead to causal inferences largely consistent with those in the theoretical and empirical literature. In particular, firms' resources and interactions with government condition both their decisions to lobby and the level of their activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to highlight and discuss recent developments in the worldwide use of anti-dumping (AD) policy as a possible strategic counterpoint to trade liberalisation. First, we review briefly the original intended purpose of AD policy, and reflect on its secondary position on the agenda of current international trade negotiations. Second, we discuss the escalating – and perhaps strategic – use of AD policy, particularly in the developing world, and highlight the roles of both interest groups and the state in determining policy outcomes. Next, we review the state of affairs of AD policy with the world's most active user, the US. In particular, we introduce and discuss the latest important development, the implementation of the ‘Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act of 2000’, which incorporates monetary compensation for petitioners, potentially offering more opportunities for strategic policy behaviour by firms, industries and the state. We conclude the article with a short discussion of directions for future research and some general concerns about the use of AD policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since Mancur Olson's(1965), it is impossible for political scientists to conceive of political participation without reference to his powerful argument linking numbers of participants, public goods, and participatory outcomes. What is puzzling is the poor empirical support for this argument in the domain where it should work best, namely explaining business political activity. Olson thought his arguments principally applicable to economic groups, and for the empirical development of his arguments Olson drew heavily on business interests, the most active segment of the interest group community. We explore these arguments with business political activities data by examining the statistical performance of various measures of market structure in determining business political activity, and find little empirical support. We do offer an alternative basis for business behavior lodged in both private and collective goods that preserves business rationality and also helps explain not only the amount of business political participation but the modes of business participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the fact that domestic and foreign corporations, along with trade associations, are some of the most politically active groups in the United States, earlier research has identified a substantial number of firms that are politically inactive. Using fresh data collected from the 2000 election cycle for the Fortune 1000 and the Forbes top foreign investors, we examine business soft money, lobbying expenditures, as well as PAC contributions, in exploring economic, institutional, and political factors that might explain the choice of political activity or inactivity. This article goes beyond earlier research in several ways. Previous research has focused on PAC contributions rather than a fuller range of activities, and it has not included association political activity in the analysis of firm-level behavior. Also, the influence of other actors in the political system, notably environmental and citizen groups, has not been systematically examined. Theoretically, these data allow us to examine the countervailing power thesis, the institutionalists' arguments about the nature of foreign business behavior, and the unexplored collective action questions that business associational activity poses—are firm and associational activities complements or substitutes? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The issue of whether or not money influences policy-making has been widely debated in American politics. While a direct link between money and policy outcomes has proven difficult to make, bureaucratic decisions on trade protection provide an opportunity to link politically active firms and industries to policy outcomes. The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) and the U.S. Department of Commerce both play a major role in making trade policy by administering several important trade laws, including the U.S. antidumping law. Firms can petition the ITC and Commerce for protection from foreign firms that are alleged to engage in the unfair practice of dumping their goods on the U.S. market. Evidence suggests, however, that firms use this law as a means of seeking protection from foreign competition, even when that competition is fair. As the stakes are high for both domestic and foreign firms, there is the potential for political influence. Focusing on lobbying activities and campaign contributions, we analyze the influence of domestic and foreign monies on bureaucratic decision making on trade policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Does the cross-border strategic behavior of large firms reflect national differences? There is uncertainty about the ways in which expanding markets will influence the activities of large firms and national governments. Some theorists expect market forces to produce increasing pressure for uniform patterns of behavior, while others have argued that the national political economy is more resilient, and that corporate strategies remain identifiably national. Thus far the question, theoretically and empirically, has been posed in terms of economic behavior and consequences. We analyze the persistence of national practices in the political activities of large corporations using data on the Fortune 1000 industrial and service companies for 1988. To increase the sample of affiliates of foreign firms, we include firms in the Forbes ranking of largest U.S. affiliates of foreign firms. This source includes financial and service corporations as well as those in manufacturing industries. Overall, the findings suggest that, contrary to the national capitalism argument, firms adapt to the host political economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the influence of corporate political activity of domestic and foreign corporations in national politics in the United States. Comparison between the political contributions of domestic and foreign corporations; Examination of the political activities of the 500 firms by Fortune magazine; Determinants of political participation of business enterprises.

Examines perspectives of decision making in public policy by examining the behavior of the international trade administration (ITA) in granting administered protection to domestic industries. Role of ITA in antidumping and countervailing duty investigations; Influence of domestic political factors.

Presents a study on corporate political action committees (PACs). Modification of a model of corporate political activity employed by political scientists; Explanatory factors of political activity; Description of operationalization and measurement of variables; Definition of the dependent variables; Analysis of the results.

Investigates the role of specialized courts in the formation and implementation of public policy. Focus on the trade policy of the United States; Institutional relationships between specialized courts and their bureaucracies; Role of the expertise and responsibilities of specialized courts in structuring their decision-making.

I analyze the governmental regulation of internationally traded goods produced by U.S. industries. General theories of regulation—most notably "capture" theories and the theory of "congressional dominance"—are used to analyze the decision-making behavior of the U.S. International Trade Commission, which plays a major role in approving and providing tariffs, quotas, and various types of nontariff trade barriers sought by these industries. Unlike previous studies, this one simultaneously accounts for both the supply and demand sides of trade regulation. This work seeks to predict, on a basis of domestic politics, the factors that affect the demand for, and supply of, trade protection for U.S. industries. The methodology consists of applying a nested logit framework to capture the decision behavior of the International Trade Commission and industries simultaneously. The analysis shows that industries do appear to self-select themselves in applying for protection from the International Trade Commission. In light of these findings, it appears that trade protection is subject to domestic political forces similar to those affecting other regulatory policy areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Provides a framework for understanding the issues on anti-dumping and countervailing duty laws, jointly referred to as `Title VII.' Popularity of the Title VII action; Review of statutory requirements under the two types of laws; Comparison with escape clause protection.

Examines legislative decision making in relation to the trade policy of the United States (US). Indepth look at US trade policies and tariff; Application of the median voter model in study on this issue; Information on the changes made to the US trade policies.

Examines the protective effects of the United States Congress' amendment to the antidumping and countervailing duty laws, which mandated the International Trade Commission (ITC) to cumulate imports across countries. Enactment of the Trade and Tariff Act of 1984; Demonstration of the fact that the protective effect of cumulation increases as the number of countries increases.

Focuses on the antidumping and countervailing duty statutes by the US International Trade Commission (ITC). Use of industry, import and polical pressure data in the model of the ITC decision making; Significance of political and economic factors in predicting policy outcomes; Importance of oversight representation.