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The limitation of executive compensation has been a matter of public and policy debate for at least 20 years. We examine a regulatory action in Austria in 2014 where the tax deductibility of the total value of executive compensation is unavoidably limited. We find no average effects on the growth or composition of executives’ pay. However, the deductibility limit affects the managers of firms with low bargaining power and of firms with strong corporate governance, indicating that they are affected by the deductibility limit. Additionally, the contract durations for executives decrease after renegotiation. We further find that affected firms experience cuts in investment and research and development, suggesting that shareholders bear part of the economic burden. Our results indicate that the effectiveness of other reforms, such as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, in restricting executive pay is rather limited. JEL Classifications: H21; H22; M41.

We conduct a pre-registered field experiment with low-income grocery shoppers to study how behavioral interventions can improve the effectiveness of healthy food subsidies. Our unique design enables us to elicit choices and deliver subsidies both before and at the point of purchase. We examine the effects of two non-restrictive changes to the choice environment: giving shoppers a choice over the type of subsidy they receive and introducing a waiting period before the shopping trip to prompt deliberation about the food purchase decision. Combined, our interventions substantially improve the effectiveness of subsidies, increasing healthy purchases by 61% relative to a choice-less subsidy restricted to healthy food, and 199% relative to an un-subsidized control group. We discuss how these low-cost, scalable interventions can help mitigate nutritional inequality.

We examine how funding for public school facilities varies with school district property wealth and household income. Using data on school facility (i.e., capital) funding in California from fiscal years 1986–87 to 2015–16, we find that funding for school construction and modernization varies widely across districts. Disparities in funding are driven primarily by interdistrict differences in property wealth, with the highest property wealth districts raising considerably more funding for school facilities. Assessed value per pupil in California is also negatively correlated with the share of disadvantaged students and students of color. As a result, school facility funding tends to be substantially lower in districts with the highest concentrations of disadvantaged students and students of color.

As cities debate how to regulate Airbnb and other home-sharing services, we study the impacts of home sharing on local residential real estate markets. By accommodating transient travelers with short-term rental properties, home-sharing platforms have evolved as a major alternative channel that attracts the growing supply of residential properties. However, on the demand side of local residential markets, home-sharing platforms are not a viable option for residents. To demonstrate this dynamic between home sharing and local residential markets, we leverage a unique quasi-experiment on Airbnb—a platform policy that caps the number of properties a host can manage in a city—and find that the policy reduced rents (in the long-term rental markets) and home values (in the for-sale housing markets) by about 3% and did not affect the price-to-rent ratio. Consistent with the conjecture, we find that the policy impacts can be attributed to increased supply in local residential markets because of the policy. Quantitatively, our estimates suggest that, if the density of affected Airbnb properties is 1% higher in a market, the policy may further decrease rents and home values by about 0.03%–0.06%, which is similar across each policy-affected city. Our empirical findings add to the debate about the impacts of home sharing on local residential markets with a novel data set and a unique identification strategy. Practically speaking, our research is a timely response to the debate on regulating home sharing and has implications for various stakeholders of the residential real estate markets. This paper was accepted by Chris Forman, information systems. Funding: K. Xie thanks the University of Denver Faculty Research Fund 2017 for financial support. Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2022.4299 .

Inequitable access to healthy food has been associated with a variety of adverse health outcomes. In the United States, prior studies have suggested that low-income and racial minorities are more l...

Many developed countries rely, to varying degrees, on competition among private health plans to obtain affordable and high-quality health insurance for their residents. Incorporating beneficiary-level competitive bidding into these healthcare systems can better align the incentives of these health plans, increase their willingness to enroll, and serve the sickest and most vulnerable patients while keeping costs manageable. We identify two digitally enabled program designs that allow private insurance plans to competitively bid to enroll individual beneficiaries. Compared with those used in existing entitlement programs, these designs always make a larger share of the beneficiary population profitable to enroll, thereby increasing willingness of the plans to enroll the most costly beneficiaries and improving access to care. On simulating the conditions of existing real-word healthcare entitlement programs, we found that these new designs actually tend to lower the tax burden in up to 83% of simulations. The research findings suggest that these new designs hold great promise in achieving the dual aim of improved access and lower costs. We believe that findings from this research can guide policymakers implement policies that will enroll more beneficiaries and cost the taxpayers less.

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link Reconciling economic development with the provision of safe, affordable, accessible and environmentally sustainable urban transport networks is key to securing the future vitality of cities and the health and wellbeing of urban residents. Although increased automation and electrification may offer opportunities for decarbonising urban transport in the medium to longer term, more immediate and lower-cost policy interventions are also required to reduce reliance on private vehicles and fund sustainable public transport alternatives. One possibility exists as a result of enabling legislation to implement a Workplace Parking Levy (WPL) which imposes a charge on employers providing liable car parking places at the workplace. The legislation stipulates that the net WPL-derived revenue is hypothecated to fund local transport improvements. As of late 2020, only one English city (Nottingham), has introduced a WPL although a growing number of English local authorities are considering introducing one. The aim of this paper is to examine the potential social benefits of a WPL and offer recommendations for future policy and practice.

This paper examines the impact of Airbnb on the local rental housing market. Airbnb provides landlords an alternative opportunity to rent to short-term tourists, potentially leading some landlords to switch from long-term rentals and thereby, affecting rental housing supply and affordability. Despite recent government regulations to address this concern, it remains unclear how many and what types of properties are switching. Combining Airbnb and American Housing Survey data, we estimate a structural model of property owners’ decisions and conduct counterfactual analyses to evaluate various regulations. We find that Airbnb mildly cannibalizes the long-term rental supply. Cities where Airbnb is more popular experience a larger rental supply reduction, but they do not necessarily have a larger percentage of switchers. Affordable units are the major sources of both the negative and positive impacts of Airbnb. They cause a larger rental supply reduction, which harms local renters; they also create a larger market expansion effect, which benefits local hosts who own affordable units and may be less economically advantaged. Policy makers need to strike a balance between local renters’ affordable housing concerns and local hosts’ income source needs. We also find that imposing a linear tax is more desirable than limiting the number of days a property can be listed. We propose a new convex tax that imposes a higher tax on expensive units and show that it can outperform existing policies in terms of reducing cannibalization and alleviating social inequality. Finally, Airbnb and rent control can exacerbate each other’s negative impacts. This paper was accepted by Matt Shum, marketing. Supplemental Material: The data files and online appendix are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2021.4288 .

Governments around the globe have taken different measures to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic. The city of Santiago, Chile, followed a dynamic lockdown strategy in which its municipalities were temporarily restricted depending on the degree of advance of the pandemic. We use this variation over time to study the effect of lockdowns on public transport demand, by analysing a 2019-2020 database of smartcard data of trips. These data allow us to identify public transport trips at a bus stop level,accounting for the variation of municipalities that were under lockdown in a given day. Metro and buses are analysed as individual modes and combined, allowing to estimate mode-specific factors. Using an empirical strategy that controls for timely variations, we find that dynamic lockdowns reduced public transport demand for all the public transport modes, but the average effect was larger for buses, which may be explained in part by fare evasion for this mode of transport and/or socioeconomic differences on mode usage. We also find that this effect varies over time. After the fifth week of the application of the lockdowns, its effect starts slowly vanishing, which suggests short-term effectiveness of such policy to reduce transport mobility in this case. Regarding sociodemographic effects, we find that lockdowns have a stronger impact in reducing public transport demand in municipalities with a larger proportion of elderly populationand high-income households.

Drawing on the stewardship and dominion theories, this paper empirically investigates the association between local religious diversity within which firms are headquartered and corporate environmental initiatives. Using a large U.S. sample, we document that firms headquartered in high religiously diverse counties are more involved in corporate environmental initiatives. This positive association remains robust after using a variety of robustness checks. The findings support the hypothesis that local religious diversity is significantly associated with firms’ decisions concerning the environment. This paper contributes to the literature by examining the extent to which the characteristics of society shape firms’ environmental initiatives.

Policy makers in many developing countries use maximum price or markup policies to control pharmaceutical costs, which represent 20%–60% of their overall healthcare expenditure. We study the price effect of price ceiling policies by exploiting a major policy shift in China: the elimination of longstanding ceilings on retail drug prices. We collect weekly price and characteristics data on more than 4,500 drug stock keeping units (SKUs) from a leading pharmacy chain. By comparing the rate of discontinuous price jumps across drugs with and without price ceilings during the years before and after the policy change, we find that while price ceilings are effective in containing the prices of some drugs, they can lead to higher prices for others, particularly if the ceilings are set at the national level irrespective of local economic conditions. About 5% of nationally controlled drugs (or more than 125 drugs) had inflated prices because of price ceilings, with an average price inflation of 10%. We attribute this perverse price effect to focal point pricing and asymmetric information about production costs. Further supporting this view, we find the perverse price effect most prominent in lower-income regions where the centrally set price ceilings are arbitrarily high considering their poorer economic conditions. Moreover, drugs with highly concentrated production and less elastic demand face heightened risks of inflated prices under price ceilings. Finally, based on a sample of drugs with available price ceiling data, we find that drugs with manufacturer-specific ceilings are 100% more likely to be priced at or near their ceilings and 70% more likely to experience price drops once the ceilings are removed compared with other drugs with regular ceilings. Overall, this paper documents the unintended perverse effect of price ceilings in pharmaceutical markets and sheds lights on the ongoing debate of drug price regulation. This paper was accepted by Stefan Scholtes, healthcare management.

In The Curse of Cash, Kenneth Rogoff lists reductions in criminal activity and tax evasion among the primary benefits of eliminating cash. We maintain that, to the extent that individuals are interested in purchasing illicit goods and services or evading taxes, eliminating cash will encourage them to switch to close substitutes. Hence, governments intent on realizing the benefits cited by Rogoff would not merely need to eliminate cash. They would also need to ban alternatives. This is especially relevant given the proliferation of cryptocurrencies, which provide a fair degree of anonymity for users.

In many cities, incentives and regulations lead developers to integrate low-income housing into market-rate buildings. How cost-effective are these policies? I study take-up of a tax incentive in New York City using a model in which developers trade off between tax savings and pre-tax income. Estimating the model using policy variation and microdata on development from 2003 to 2015, I find a citywide marginal fiscal cost of $1.6 million per low-income unit. Differences in neighborhoods, not developer incidence, explain the cost premium over other housing programs. Weighing costs against estimates of neighborhood effects, I conclude middle-class neighborhoods offer “opportunity bargains.”

Committee seats endow holders with both policy influence and labor obligation. These benefits and costs present the organizational majority with an interesting choice: how many seats should it allocate to the opposition? We present a theoretical framework for understanding the allocation of committee seats by the majority coalition that incorporates both procedural and electoral concerns in the decision calculus and predict that when the majority is strong, the minority will be overrepresented on committees, but when the majority is weak, the minority will be underrepresented. Mechanistic, institutional, and contextual moderators to this choice framework are also discussed. We test our predictions by examining original data on the composition of over 2,000 committees across 98 American state and federal legislative chambers. The analysis yields strong support for our central predictions while suggesting interesting and intuitive contextual constraints on the majority’s tendency to exploit its position.

Theories of retrospective accountability assume that voters punish poor governance and reward improvements, yet empirical evidence remains mixed. We extend this research to a new context, assessing the impact of audits on electoral outcomes in South African municipalities. Our novel identification strategy focuses on by-elections triggered by deaths in office of local councilors and compares those taking place before and after audit results are announced each year. We find that timely audit information affects the vote share of the responsible party, with voters rewarding improvements and punishing poor audits by about 5 percentage points. Additional individual-level survey evidence confirms the underpinning behavioral response more generally. Our study is the first to demonstrate electoral accountability effects of audit information at full scale, involving universal spatial and temporal coverage as well as public and organic dissemination.

The uneven distribution of welfare not only hinders social fairness but also affects the optimal allocation of resources for rural residential land. Recourse to traditional welfare theory or Amartya Sen's function and ability welfare theory is inappropriate in this situation as neither is focused on the influence of welfare differences. Therefore, this study aims to provide a new focus for welfare economics in integrating the concept of the internal group welfare gap into overall welfare evaluation. Fuzzy mathematics is applied to calculate welfare and the concept of the Gini coefficient is used to evaluate the welfare gap. The resulting model is applied to the cities of Guangzhou, Chongqing, and Wuxi before and after rural residential land circulation (RRLC) to determine their resulting changes in welfare and welfare gap. From this, it is found that, after RRLC, the farmers' overall welfare increased by 17.5%, 15.1%, and 23.5% respectively, while the welfare gap of Guangzhou and Wuxi was improved, and Chongqing was decreased. This means the welfare gap widened in Guangzhou and Wuxi, while narrowed in Chongqing. Concluding remarks call for increased government attention to the fair distribution of welfare between different groups of farmers by increased social security and a more detailed consideration of the groups involved.

BAKGROUND The middle ear (tympanic cavity and mastoid process) is a closed cavity. It is filled with a special gas mixture and at the same pressure as atmospheric air, the composition of the gas is similar to the surrounding tissues. Its change in pressure is compensated by the occasional opening of the Eustachian tube. If the tube does not open, a persistently high negative pressure develops in the middle ear, the clinical consequences of which are well known. The negative pressure is eliminated by a tympanostomy tube implanted in the tympanic membrane. Inserting the tube instead of one abnormal condition (permanently closed middle ear) creates another abnormal condition (permanently open middle ear). Prolonged insertion of the tube may cause irreversible damage. / eardrum atrophy, tympanosclerosis, permanent perforation, auditory bone damage, cholesteatoma /. AIM We are looking for a solution that is similar to the original, i.e. the middle ear should be closed and open from time to time. METHOD We studied middle ear ventilation based on literature data, our own research, and our computer model. RESULTS We concluded that the original function can be restored with the valve tube. In our case, the opening and closing of the valve is controlled by a change in volume caused /diethyl ether/ by a change in body temperature. CONCLUSION A more advanced solution would be a nanotechnology valve controlled by a change in total pressure, a partial pressure change in oxygen or carbon dioxide. However, a valve that can be opened at different intervals or even individually adjusted is conceivable.

The corporate social responsibility concentrates on corporate goals to “give back to the society” or be converted into “agents of positive social change”. Therefore it is important to understand the people’s perception for corporate social responsibility and their investment preference in companies contributing to CSR. To know people’s perception of CSR the descriptive research design has been used and the data has been collected from 285 individuals of Ahmedabad city through structured questionnaire using random sampling method in the month of January and February 2021. The collected data has been tabulated and analyzed using frequency count, percentage, chi-square test, and multiple-regression. This study found that eighty five percent of the respondents are aware of CSR. The respondents believe that CCCSR are responsible companies and therefor people spread positive word-of-mouth for these companies but people are not ready to pay higher price for the products and services offered by these companies. Therefor companies should invest in CSR and this investment gives handsome financial and non-financial returns in the form of improved company reputation, customer satisfaction, trustworthiness, customer loyalty, investors’ confidence etc.

Prior research on voluntary disclosures has long debated whether managers tend to withhold bad news. However, these studies have been conducted in settings in which, ex-ante, the trade-off between the potential benefits and the potential costs of withholding information is obscure. In this paper, we study voluntary disclosure choices using a context-rich setting of distressed firms in which potential benefits from withholding news (particularly bad news) are seemingly high, whereas the potential costs are seemingly low. Specifically, we focus on the question of how ‘going concern’ uncertainty affects management earnings forecasts in financially distressed firms. Our results suggest that as financial distress intensifies, there is a lower likelihood and frequency of management earnings forecasts, indicating that managers may be withholding news, particularly bad news, in distressed firm-years. For comparative purposes, we also present results for ‘safe’ firm-years and find that managers have a tendency to disclose bad news as the financial health of the firm worsens.

Local revenue of local government is a right that is recognized as an addition to net asset value during a given period. For that all goods and services as a result of economic activities that operate in the domestic territory, regardless of whether the factors of production derived from or owned by a resident of the area, is the Gross Domestic Product. Local revenue is the revenue from the tax sector, retribution, the results of companies belonging to the region, the results of the wealth management separated areas, and other areas of legitimate revenue. In Law No. 33 of 2004 on Financial Balance between Central and Local Government, it is stated that the local revenue sources consist of regional revenue, Tax Revenue and Non-Tax. Under Law No. 34 of 2000 on the amendment of Law No. 18 of 1997 on local taxes and levies, what is meant by local taxes are compulsory contributions made by individuals and entities to the area without a direct reward balance, which can be imposed by legislation in force, which is used to finance the implementation of local government and regional development. Whereas levies are payment for certain services or granting special permits provided by the local government or for the benefit of private persons or entities. Local taxes and levies are one source of revenue (PAD). Local Revenue is one source of local revenue. The increased local taxes and levies are expected to increase revenue of an area, and the increased revenue is expected to increase in local revenue. Keywords ; Pajak Daerah, Retribusi, Pendapatan Asli Daerah dan Pajak Daerah

This study examines the determinants of the relationship between terrorism and tourism, by testing different proxies to assess both the frequency and the severity of terrorist activity. The methodological approach includes implementing principal component analysis into four different sets of possible proxies for terrorism in order to examine their relationship with international tourism arrivals over the period 1998–2018. The dataset includes world tourist flows and terrorist incidents anywhere in the world in order to avoid regional effects. The empirical results show that all candidate proxies exhibit a long-run, negative relationship with tourism, while there is also an impact of tourism on terrorism, with conflicting directions between the short run and the long run. The findings suggest that increased terrorist activity may cause destination substitution in the short run but will have adverse effects in the long run. In addition, authorities should be prepared for a rise in terrorist incidents during periods with increased tourist flows. Finally, research on terrorism should take into account the qualitative characteristics of terrorist activities.

Data on population movements can be helpful in designing targeted policy responses to curb epidemic spread. However, it is not clear how to exactly leverage such data and how valuable they might be for the control of epidemics. To explore these questions, we study a spatial epidemic model that explicitly accounts for population movements and propose an optimization framework for obtaining targeted policies that restrict economic activity in different neighborhoods of a city at different levels. We focus on COVID-19 and calibrate our model using the mobile phone data that capture individuals’ movements within New York City (NYC). We use these data to illustrate that targeting can allow for substantially higher employment levels than uniform (city-wide) policies when applied to reduce infections across a region of focus. In our NYC example (which focuses on the control of the disease in April 2020), our main model illustrates that appropriate targeting achieves a reduction in infections in all neighborhoods while resuming 23.1%–42.4% of the baseline nonteleworkable employment level. By contrast, uniform restriction policies that achieve the same policy goal permit 3.92–6.25 times less nonteleworkable employment. Our optimization framework demonstrates the potential of targeting to limit the economic costs of unemployment while curbing the spread of an epidemic. This paper was accepted by Carri Chan, healthcare management.

Snake ownership is popular; however, housing and care may not always satisfy the animal's welfare needs. For example, snakes are often kept in environmental conditions that restrict their ability to stretch out fully or move around, using rectilinear locomotion. To date, little empirical data exist on the housing and husbandry of captive snakes and how these impact welfare. This study analyses survey responses from 744 snake owners worldwide and explores potential welfare concerns for snakes kept within private homes. It documents the most common housing and husbandry methods and compares the three most common families (Pythonids, Boids and Colubrids). Owner-reported data were used to derive scores for two potential welfare indicators: number of clinical signs of ill health and the number of reported negative (abnormal) behaviours. Using these indicators, associations were tested with snake-keeping variables, such as enclosure size, level of enrichment, temperature and humidity. Owners reported that 90.7% (n = 675) of snakes adopted rectilinear (straight-line or near straight-line) positions or movements. Snakes kept in enclosures > 1 snake length tended to have more enrichment types and were reported with fewer clinical signs of ill health. Some snakes were housed at unknown temperature (7.7%) or humidity (48.1%) ranges or in environmental conditions not in keeping with current recommended guidelines. Corn snakes (Pantherophis guttatus) were the most likely species to be kept at a humidity which did not match recommendations which may present a welfare concern. This study's results can be used to target husbandry guidance for future recommendations and care manuals.

Pharmaceutical firms typically enjoy market exclusivity for new drugs from concurrent protection of the underlying invention (through patents) and the clinical trials data submitted for market approval (through data exclusivity). Patent invalidation during drug development renders data exclusivity the sole source of protection and shifts the period of market exclusivity at the project level. Patent invalidation therefore constitutes a natural experiment that allows us to causally identify how the duration of market exclusivity affects firms' incentives to innovate. In instrumental variables regressions we quantify the effect of a one-year reduction in expected market exclusivity on the likelihood of drug commercialization. We provide first estimates of the responsiveness of R&D investments to market exclusivity expectations and hereby inform the ongoing policy debate on the regulation of intellectual property rights in the pharmaceutical industry.

Summary An increasing number of governments worldwide have introduced a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) for public health. However, the adoption of such a policy is still debated in many other countries, such as in the Netherlands. We investigated Dutch stakeholder views on taxation of SSB and perceived barriers and facilitators to its adoption in the Netherlands. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in 2019 with 27 stakeholders from health and consumer organizations, health professional associations, trade associations, academia, advisory bodies, ministries and parliamentary parties. Data were analysed using a thematic content approach. The findings reveal that, between and within sectors, stakeholders expressed contradictory views on the effectiveness, appropriateness and (socio)economic effects of an SSB tax. Perceived barriers to the adoption of an SSB tax in the Netherlands included an unfavourable political context, limited advocacy for an SSB tax, a strong lobby against an SSB tax, perceived public opposition, administrative load and difficulties in defining SSB. Perceived facilitators to its adoption included an increasing prevalence of overweight, disappointing results from voluntary industry actions, a change of government, state budget deficits, a shift in public opinion, international recommendations and a solid legal basis. In conclusion, this study shows that several challenges remain to be overcome for the adoption of an SSB tax in the Netherlands. Similar research on stakeholder views in other countries may further inform SSB tax policy processes.

Home-price subsidies are common in low- and middle-income countries. How do they affect an important input into local governance, namely citizens’ propensity to make everyday demands or claims? I study the effects of a program in Mumbai, India through an original survey of winners and non-winners of program lotteries. Winning increases participants’ reported claims to improve services, knowledge about municipal government, and changes policy preferences, even among those who rent out the homes. Transfers can thus generate active citizenship through many channels including in- creased political capacity, improved perceptions of self-efficacy, expanded expectations of government, and changed motivations of recipients. They also create interest groups at the local level, where their actions can have both positive and negative externalities. The findings are among the first causally identified effects of policy on claim-making, and add a new context and dependent variable to the literature on housing policy.

The phenomenon of brain drain, that is the emigration of highly skilled people, has many undesirable effects, particularly for developing countries. In this study, an agent-based model is developed to understand the dynamics of such emigration. We hypothesise that skilled people's emigration decisions are based on several factors including the overall economic and social difference between the home and host countries, people's ability and capacity to obtain good jobs and start a life abroad, and the barriers of moving abroad. Furthermore, the social network of individuals also plays a significant role. The model is validated using qualitative and quantitative pattern matching with real-world observations. Sensitivity and uncertainty analyses are performed in addition to several scenario analyses. Linear and random forest response surface models are created to provide quick predictions on the number of emigrants as well as to understand the effect sizes of individual parameters. Overall, the study provides an abstract model where brain drain dynamics can be explored. Findings from the simulation outputs show that future socioeconomic state of the country is more important than the current state, lack of barriers results in a large number of emigrants, and network effects ensue compounding effects on emigration. Upon further development and customisation, future versions can assist in the decision-making of social policymakers regarding brain drain., Comment: Changes: minor language improvements, copyright notice

Background The food system is a social determinant of health and leverage point for reducing diet-related racial inequities. Yet, food system interventions have not resulted in sustained improvement in dietary outcomes for underrepresented minorities living in neighborhoods with a history of disinvestment. Research is needed to illuminate the dynamics structuring food systems in racialized neighborhoods to inform intervention development. Objective Conduct participatory research examining the complexity and inequity of food systems in historically redlined neighborhoods to identify feedback mechanisms to leverage in efforts to transform system outcomes for racial equity. Methods We conducted a mixed-methods study in Cleveland, Ohio, USA from 2018-21 using participatory system dynamic modeling with 30 academic and community partners, in-depth qualitative interviews with 22 key stakeholders, and public convenings with 250 local food policy council affiliates. Data were synthesized into causal loop diagrams depicting feedback mechanisms reinforcing or balancing neighborhood-level food system dynamics. Results We identified 10 feedback mechanisms structuring nutrition equity, which was identified as a meta-goal for food systems in racialized neighborhoods. Feedback mechanisms were organized in three domains: 1. meeting basic food needs with dignity (i.e., side hustle, government benefits, emergency food assistance, stigma and stereotypes), 2. local food supply and demand dynamics (i.e., healthy food retail, job security, food culture and norms), and 3. community empowerment and food sovereignty (i.e., community power, urban agriculture, risk of gentrification). Five exogenous factors moderate feedback dynamics: neighborhood crisis, neighborhood investments, household costs, government benefit funding, and voter participation. Conclusions We identified nutrition equity as an overarching goal for local food systems, which reflects a state of having freedom, agency, and dignity in food traditions resulting in people and communities healthy in body, mind, and spirit. It is a transformative goal designed to spur system-level interventions that further racial equity through improved local food system dynamics.

We explain how a firm’s relational strategies impact conflict risk in the broader network of societal relations. To make this contribution, we highlight how managerial decisions are evaluated, and ...

By tackling shared problems through concerted policies, the European Union (EU) is thought to have a superior output legitimacy. However, EU policies change as they are being ���customised��� during the implementation process. How do such patterns of ���differentiated implementation��� affect EU governance in practice? While some studies highlight the danger of ���watering down��� the objectives of EU law, others emphasise the role of decentralised problem-solving. We analyse how customisation affects states��� practical compliance with EU anti-discrimination, environmental, and justice and home affairs directives in 27 member states (excluding Croatia) between 2007 and 2013. The findings show that customised density (higher number of rules than prescribed by the EU directives) reduces practical compliance. Conversely, customised restrictiveness (stricter requirements than the EU directives) improves practical compliance. In contrast to earlier implementation research, we conclude that literal implementation is not the best form to ensure practical implementation.

It is well-known that men and women differ in their views regarding the severity of climate change, but do they also differ in their support for climate policy and in undertaking climate action? Previous evidence on this question is inconsistent, but unique survey data from the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency enable us to answer it in the affirmative. Swedish women worry more about climate change and perceive it to be a bigger threat than men do. Furthermore, women report a greater support than men for policies to mitigate climate change through political interventions, and also undertake more voluntary actions to achieve this goal. More generally, the results suggest that women and men differ in their willingness to alter behavior and support policy to help mitigate other large scale crises, such as global pandemics.

The transport sector has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic disrupting travel behaviors and mobility patterns around the globe. The pandemic has also affected mode choice behavior. This research study modeled the mode choice behavior before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Pakistan. Data was collected through an online questionnaire survey consisting of questions about socio-economic characteristics, factors affecting mode choice, and mode chosen for shorter as well as longer distances for both before and during COVID-19 pandemic situations. The results indicated that public transport use declined, whereas walking and bicycling slightly increased during the pandemic. The respondents placed more priority on safety and security, comfort, cleanliness, infection concerns, personal social status, availability of hand-sanitizers, waiting, and paying more for less congested vehicles during the pandemic. Factor analysis was performed to explore the underlying factors affecting mode choice before and during the pandemic. Discrete choice models were developed to model the mode choice behavior. Monthly household income and pandemic-related underlying factor were significant predictors of mode choice for shorter distances (i.e., 5 km) during the pandemic. Understanding the modal shift during a pandemic will surely help urban and transport planners to prepare better for effective transport management in the future. Policy implications are also presented to help policymakers in developing policies for post-pandemic mobility needs, particularly in developing countries.

Bioeconomy is deemed to be an ambiguous term with multiple facets: new products from biomass, circular and cascading resource systems, developments of new and more resilient plants, or synthetic biology for molecular biotechnology, to name a few. Accordingly, the term is interpreted just as diversely by involved stakeholders and the broader public. To enable a clear and constructive dialog on bioeconomy strategies with and among society requires a profound understanding of these perceptions. Addressing this issue, a representative survey was conducted among the German population in order to scrutinize the general public's understanding of the term bioeconomy, citizens’ knowledge, fears, and expectations, as well as factors explaining their attitudes toward the bioeconomy. Our results indicate that, so far, German citizens are not very familiar with the concept. Its underlying ideas, however, are vastly appreciated. Support for a sustainable bioeconomy is thus strong and connected to high expectations in terms of environmental and economic benefits, which needs to be taken into account both in the implementation and communication of bioeconomy strategies. Support for the bioeconomy is furthermore connected to beliefs that reflect environmental concern and to pro-environmental behavior. While most measures and principles related to the bioeconomy (e.g., the use of biogas, biofuels, renewable materials for everyday products or buildings, or the cascading and circular use of resources) are strongly appreciated, the use of genetic engineering, for example, is opposed, mainly with regard to its applications in agriculture and industry, to a lesser extent in medicine.

Introduction The annual economic burden of chronic homelessness in the U.S. is estimated to be as high as $3.4 billion. The Permanent Supportive Housing with Housing First (Housing First) program, implemented to address the problem, has been shown to be effective. This paper examines the economic cost and benefit of Housing First Programs. Methods The search of peer-reviewed and gray literature from inception of databases through November 2019 yielded 20 evaluation studies of Housing First Programs, 17 from the U.S. and 3 from Canada. All analyses were conducted from March 2019 through July 2020. Monetary values are reported in 2019 U.S. dollars. Results Evidence from studies conducted in the U.S. was separated from those conducted in Canada. The median intervention cost per person per year for U.S. studies was $16,479, and for all studies, including those from Canada, it was $16,336. The median total benefit for the U.S. studies was $18,247 per person per year, and it was $17,751 for all studies, including those from Canada. The benefit-to-cost ratio for U.S. studies was 1.80:1, and for all studies, including those from Canada, it was 1.06:1. Discussion The evidence from this review shows that economic benefits exceed the cost of Housing First Programs in the U.S. There were too few studies to determine cost–benefit in the Canadian context.

Problem definition: Because of a prolonged decline in public transit ridership over the last decade, transit agencies across the United States are in financial crisis. To entice commuters to travel by public transit instead of driving personal vehicles, municipal governments must address the “last-mile” problem by providing convenient and affordable transportation between a commuter’s home and a transit station. This challenge raises an important question: Is there a cost-effective mechanism that can improve public transit adoption by solving the last-mile problem? Academic/practical relevance: In this paper, we present and analyze two incentive mechanisms for increasing commuter adoption of public transit. In a direct mechanism, the government provides a subsidy to commuters who adopt a “mixed mode,” which involves combining public transit with hailing rides to/from a transit station. The government funds the subsidy by imposing congestion fees on personal vehicles entering the city center. In an indirect mechanism, instead of levying congestion fees, the government secures funding for the subsidy from the private sector. We examine the implications of both mechanisms on relevant stakeholders. These two mechanisms are especially relevant because several jurisdictions in the United States have begun piloting incentive programs, in which commuters receive subsidies for ride-hailing trips that begin or end at a transit station. Methodology: We present a game-theoretic model to capture the strategic interactions among five self-interested stakeholders (commuters, public transit agency, ride-hailing platform, municipal government, and local private enterprises). Results: By examining equilibrium outcomes, we obtain three key findings. First, we characterize how the optimal interventions associated with the direct or the indirect mechanism depend on: (a) the coverage level of the public transit network; (b) the public transit adoption target; and (c) the relative strength of commuter preferences between driving and taking public transit. Second, we show that the direct mechanism cannot be budget-neutral without undermining commuter welfare. However, when the public transit adoption target is not too aggressive, we find that the indirect mechanism can increase both commuter welfare and sales to the private-sector partner while remaining budget-neutral. Finally, we show that, although the indirect mechanism restricts the scope of government intervention (by eliminating the congestion fee), it can dominate the direct mechanism by leaving all stakeholders better off, especially when the adoption target is modest. Managerial implications: Our findings offer cost-effective prescriptions for improving urban mobility and public transit ridership.

The study's main objective was assessing the practices and challenges of fiscal decentralization at Bedelle woreda, with particular reference to basic selected sectors (Education, Agriculture, Health, Water, and Road). According to the nature of this study, a descriptive research design with qualitative and quantitative methods was adopted. The population of the study was government employees working in selected sectors of Bedelle Woreda. The census sampling technique was used in this research because the study population was manageable. To this effect, 128 participants were selected using a census sampling size. Besides this, Woreda (District) Finance and Economic Development and Woreda Revenue Office Authority officials were purposely selected to conduct interviews. The data-gathering instruments were questionnaires, key informant interviews, and document analyses. Descriptive and inferential statistical techniques were used for data analysis. In descriptive using frequencies and percentages and inferential statistics, multiple linear regression was used to assess relationships between the independent variables (legal framework, revenue, expenditure, employee experience, employee training, management commitment, and fiscal transfers) and the dependent variable (fiscal decentralization). The findings show that internal revenue raising and utilization in the selected sectors was very low. Besides, lack of autonomy in expenditure decisions of sectors, insufficient capacity building, the extent of fiscal transfer, and financial resource were the major challenges in the study area. Overall, the regression analysis revealed that, Revenue raising (β = -0.164, p

This study examines how taxpayer level of goal congruence (the extent to which a taxpayer’s interests align with the interests of the tax collecting agency) can improve tax compliance. While there is ample evidence on the deterrent effect of audit probability on taxpayer noncompliance, there is no evidence related to the potential role that goal congruence may have on compliance behavior. Results of our study indicate that goal congruence influences taxpayer compliance decisions, in that those with higher goal congruence (i.e., greater support for how tax dollars are spent) report higher amounts of taxable income. In addition, we find that audit probability only influences taxpayer compliance decisions when there is support for the government’s use of tax dollars. When taxpayers do not support government programs, their compliance is lower regardless of the audit probability. This highlights the importance of gaining taxpayer support for government programs, and that attempts to align the goals of taxpayers with those of the government may increase voluntary compliance among taxpayers. We also examine the role that Machiavellianism, a measure of moral obligation, plays in taxpayers’ compliance decisions. We find that for certain individuals who are motivated more by self-interest (those with high Machiavellianism), a high audit rate as well as support for a program may be necessary to improve compliance behavior. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Even in the midst of an ecological crisis, population and income continue to increase and so too does the global appetite for meat. One response by scientists has been to work towards making in vitro meat (IVM) a commercial reality, which would allow meat to be produced on a large scale without the husbandry and slaughter of enormous numbers of animals, as under the current industrial meat production system. Proponents of IVM technology claim that it could cut hunger, offer public health benefits, mitigate the environmental effects of conventional industrial meat production, and improve animal welfare. However, taking a critical, ecofeminist perspective on IVM highlights the need to assess not only the technical attributes and possibilities of the technology but also its underlying worldview as well as the unintended social and environmental consequences that could result. Reflecting on the question of whether IVM is a pragmatic, problematic, or paradoxical solution to the ills associated with industrial meat production and increasing meat consumption, this article argues that optimistic claims trumpeting the promissory potential of IVM are over-simplistic and warrant closer scrutiny. The importance of careful deliberation on the implications of emerging technologies like IVM cannot be understated because how the ethical discourse unfolds in the early stages will be significant in influencing public perception and social acceptance as well as shaping policy and regulatory design.

The role that private actors play in accelerating or preventing progressive climate policy and true decarbonization is a core research interest of global environmental politics. Yet scholars have struggled to measure the political behavior of multinational firms due to lack of transparency about their activities and inconsistency in reporting requirements across jurisdictions. In this research note, we present a new data source—firms’ earnings calls—that scholars might use to better understand the political behavior of major multinational polluters. To illustrate the value of earnings calls as a data source, we construct an original data set of all earnings calls made between 2005 and 2019 by major oil and gas firms. We then code these transcripts, demonstrating that although firms can be classified as more or less pro-climate, there is little evidence of the industry’s public acceptance of decarbonization. These unique data could permit researchers to explore important questions about climate politics, the evolution of private governance, and the relationship between policy and firms’ political behavior. Moreover, we suggest extensions of our approach, including other multinational industries that are amenable to this type of analysis.

To enable a transition to a more sustainable food future, it is crucial policymakers consider and address livestock production and meat consumption holistically. The concept of ‘less and better’ meat and dairy offers an alternative approach to industrial livestock production. This study explores perspectives of UK stakeholders engaged in political advocacy and implementation on policy priorities and specific policy measures aimed at facilitating a transition to ‘less and better’ meat in the UK. 16 UK experts on food and farming from the research, civil society, business and farming sectors were interviewed. Thematic analysis was conducted to identify convergence and divergence on views related to policy priorities and the potential for impact, political feasibility and unintended consequences of specific policy measures aimed at increasing the sustainability of livestock production or reducing meat consumption. Experts agreed on policy priorities but held divergent views on the potential for impact of specific policy measures. Economic structures including incentives, disincentives and food prices were highlighted as having the greatest influence over meat production and consumption practices.

Despite the risks of COVID-19, some people ignore the COVID-19 precautionary measures, endangering public health. We aimed to investigate how and in what conditions trust in government and health authorities encourage individuals to comply with COVID-19 precautionary measures. Based on a sample of 664 respondents, we found that an increase in the level of trust in government is associated with higher compliance with COVID-19 precautionary measures. We also found that problem awareness mediates the effect of trust in government on compliance with COVID-19 precautionary measures. In addition, we examined whether individualistic orientation moderates the mediating effect of problem awareness. We found that individualistic orientation mitigates the mediating effect of problem awareness in the relationship between trust in government and compliance behavior. The findings of this study have the potential to inform policy and practice by addressing the ways in which compliance with COVID-19 precautionary measures can be improved.

Background: The nexus of agri-food and sustainability in economic development has recently attracted the interest of policymakers, as global challenges like climate change and food security are revisited and reassessed. The critical role of food production in economic development has been emphasized through targeted agricultural quality policies. Many developed countries worldwide, including EU member states, have introduced food quality policies that could support sustainability.Scope and approach: This paper combines knowledge obtained by several groups in a broad EU study and the reflections on policy-related results by EU-stakeholders, streamlined by a Delphi analysis.Current work presents research-based policy recommendations and statements on various quality schemes, introductory inferred from expert opinions throughout Europe, gauged through a modified policy Delphi framework.Key findings and conclusions: A roadmap of policy and practical proposals have been identified for all key stakeholders involved in these initiatives, implying the need to reshape the supply chain dynamics to continuously improve producers, processors, retailers, and consumers within the EU and definitively worldwide. Furthermore, implementing a holistic approach considering environmental and socio-economic features can improve the effectiveness of EU food quality policies.

Urban-rural integrated development has been widely conducted in China, and plenty of resource consumption and environmental problems have arisen during this process. Meanwhile, the importance of environmental governance has been emphasized in social collaborative governance. Although existing studies have focused on the governance policies on urban and rural development, the residents’ participation willingness toward collaborative governance should not be neglected, especially in environmental governance. Accordingly, this study identified the determinants influencing the participation intention toward the collaborative environmental governance of residents in the Yangtze River Delta Region by a combined theoretical model, which added three decisive predictors from the theory of planned behavior to the norm-activation model. We collected 312 valid questionnaires and employed structural equation modeling for analysis. Results implied that, in order of significance, personal norm, behavioral attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control presented positive influences on behavioral intention. Personal norm was significantly underlain by awareness of consequence and ascription of responsibility, and the significant influence of awareness of consequence on behavioral intention was not demonstrated. This study proposes related managerial implications to improve public participation willingness regarding collaborative environmental governance during urban-rural integrated development processes in the Yangtze River Delta Region.

Air pollution in urban areas is one of the most severe environmental problems facing developing and transition economies. In Chile, many cities exceed the World Health Organization's norms for ambient concentration of particulate matter. In this paper, we analyze the factors explaining individuals' perceptions on fuelwood as the main cause of air pollution in urban areas and their willingness to ban this fuel to counteract its negative effects. We also explore variation across these perceptions and preferences based on individuals' degree of familiarity with air pollution and the extent to which they are affected by the regulation in place. Using data from the fourth environmental survey in Chile, we estimate an ordered bivariate probit model to account for a potential link between these perceptions and preferences. Results reveal a disconnect between perception of the problem and preferences for regulation to the extent that individuals are more likely to be affected by the regulation (i.e., fuelwood users and regulated cities). We also find that lower-income individuals are less willing to accept a fuelwood ban, and that the level of air pollution matters in shaping individuals' perceptions on the causes of poor air quality and preferences for regulations, although this depends on the measures used. Finally, we find evidence that pro-environmental behavior in other domains negatively affects the perception prohibiting fuelwood use. Thus, from a policy design perspective, it is essential to consider individuals' perceptions on environmental issues and preferences for regulations, because they might be linked with feasibility of implementation and compliance.

We study the factors associated with compliance with social-distancing regulations using a unique dataset on the behaviour of Ontarians during the COVID-19 pandemic. To start, we build a simple theoretical model of social distancing in order to understand how some individual and community-level factors influence compliance. We test our model’s predictions by designing and conducting a survey on Ontarians in which we elicit their degree of compliance with current distancing regulations as well as proposed regulations that impose different fine levels on violators or grant wage subsidies to encourage staying at home. In line with the model’s predictions, we show that variables related to one’s risk of infection (e.g., health status, age, necessity of working outside the home, regional COVID-19 cases) are significant predictors of compliance as are gender, political beliefs, risk and time preferences. Furthermore, we demonstrate that fines and wage subsidies can be powerful policy tools for promoting full compliance with regulations.

Given the increasing importance of the global sharing economy, consumers face the decision of whether to choose an access-based option versus an owned option. However, understanding of how consumers’ global–local identity may influence their preference for access-based consumption is rather limited. The authors fill this knowledge gap by proposing that consumers high in global identity (“globals”) have a greater preference for access-based consumption than those high in local identity (“locals”). Such effects are mediated by consumers’ consumption openness. Consistent with the “consumption openness” account, the authors find that when the desire for openness is enhanced by a contextual cue, locals’ preference for access-based consumption is elevated, whereas globals’ preference for access-based consumption is unaffected. However, when the desire for openness is suppressed by a contextual cue, globals’ preference for access-based consumption is reduced, whereas locals’ preference for access-based consumption is unaffected. Similarly, consumers’ traveler–settler orientation sets a boundary for the relationship between global–local identity and preference for access-based consumption, given its close association with consumption openness. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.