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The article is concerned with the emotional effects of homelessness on women who are mothers. It develops a multi-disciplinary conceptualization of "haunting" to bring understanding to the ongoing grief and trauma associated with losing a home and children. It explores how women's embodied and affective experiences are not just responses to deeply distressing events, but inextricably intertwined with the unfurling of housing and child protection policies, sometimes long after a policy decision (eviction, child removal). Drawing on biographical research with 26 women, the article contributes new insights into both our limited understanding of women's homelessness but also scholarly work that recognizes the diffuse power of social policy and its harms. The article advances a novel understanding of women's lived experience of homelessness by conceptualizing and empirically investigating the emotional effects of policy decisions as hauntings that permeate past, present and anticipated futures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To examine the perceptual deterrent effect of an increase in police presence for a sample of previously adjudicated adolescents and address the limitations of existing perceptual deterrence research. Methods: This study exploits the timing of Operation Safe Streets, a hot spots policing intervention designed to increase officer presence, which occurred during an ongoing longitudinal survey of previously adjudicated adolescents (n = 700). The effect of this intervention is tested using first-difference models of perceptions of arrest risk within-person over time. Sensitivity analyses and falsification tests are also conducted to provide further confidence in the findings. Results: Results show that Operation Safe Streets is related to an increase in perceptions of arrest risk for one's self, as well as perceptions of other's arrest risk. This pattern holds for those who were and were not arrested. Furthermore, null findings for the effect of Operation Safe Streets on perceived social costs of punishment, as well as null findings from in-time placebo models, lend strong support that an increase in police officer presence did increase individuals' perceptions of arrest risk in the months following the intervention. Conclusions: This study is the first to test the perceptual deterrent effect of a police intervention aimed to reduce street crime. It is also one of the first to demonstrate that criminal justice policies impact perceptions of arrest risk. This study adds to our understanding of the success of hot spots policing by suggesting that one pathway for decreased crime is through changes in perceptions of arrest risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Febrile seizures (FS) are the most common neurological disorder in pediatric age. FS affect 2% to 12% of children and result from a complex interplay of genetic and environmental factors. Effective management and unambiguous recommendations are crucial for allocating health care resources efficiently and ensuring cost-effectiveness in treating FS. This systematic review compares existing guidelines to provide insights into FS management. Seven guidelines published between 1991 and 2021, from Japan, United Kingdom, United States, Mexico, India, and Italy, were included. Data extraction covered definitions, diagnostic criteria, hospital admission criteria, diagnostic tests, management, and prophylaxis recommendations. Hospital admission criteria varied but typically included age <18 months and complex FS. Neuroimaging and lumbar puncture recommendations varied, with most guidelines suggesting limited use. Pharmacologic prophylaxis was generally discouraged for simple FS but considered only for high-risk cases, due to the benign nature of FS and the potential side effects of antiseizure medications. Guidelines on FS exhibit similarities and differences, highlighting the need for standardized management and improved parental education to enhance clinical outcomes and reduce economic and social costs associated with FS. Future research should focus on creating updated international guidelines and ensuring their practical implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Households in the immediate vicinity of sand, stone and gravel river mining all receive negative externalities, but some of them also benefit from mining activities. Differences in the perceived effects between community groups affect their acceptance of negative externalities. This study decomposes the calculation of the mean willingness to accept (MWTA) negative externalities from river mining activities between two community groups in the Batang Anai River area in the Padang Pariaman Regency, Sumatra, Indonesia: (a) farmers and (b) individuals involved in mining activities. First, the logit model is used to determine the effect of household characteristics on the probability of the community declaring environmental degradation. Next, the dichotomous choice contingent valuation method (DC-CVM) is employed to estimate the residents' willingness to accept (WTA) the minimum value of compensation due to negative externalities from mining activities. We utilise four scenarios to prove the presence of bias if the decomposition is not taken into account in estimating the MWTA. According to estimation results, individuals who are engaged in mining have a 21% lower MWTA value than farmers. Meanwhile, indirectly affected communities who engage in mining have a MWTA value that is 32% lower than that of farmers. The implication of this study is that the decomposition of the MWTA by community groups is important to provide the real value of negative externalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Duoculture has been reported to increase growth rates of some fishes when reared in combination, due to "shading" effects between the species. Two experiments, one involving outdoor cage-rearing in a reservoir, and the other, indoor tank-rearing, were conducted within each of three temperatures ranges (means of ~18.0°C, ~22.0°C and ~26.5°C), to determine whether duoculture of bluegill (BG) Lepomis macrochirus and yellow perch (YP) Perca flavescens would lead to improved growth relative to when the two species were reared separately. Juvenile bluegill and yellow perch were reared in triplicated groups each involving monoculture sets of 100% BG and 100% YP, and a duoculture set of 50% BG + 50% YP. Experiments in cages (Exp. 1) ran for 150 days while those in tanks ran for 126 days (Exp. 2). In Experiment 1, bluegill exhibited significantly greater (P<0.05) mean weight (P<0.05) in duoculture than in monoculture, under the high summer-like range of temperature (~26.5°C) over most of the experiment, whereas yellow perch showed no significant difference in mean weight in duoculture versus monoculture. By the end of a 150-d experiment, bluegill in duoculture outweighed those in monoculture by 62.5%. In Experiment 2, yellow perch in duoculture grew significantly larger than in monoculture (P<0.05) under the warm thermal regime (mean of ~22°C), while no significant differences were detected in mean weight of bluegill in monoculture versus duoculture. Yellow perch in duoculture outweighed those in monoculture by 33.1% at the end of the experiment. Yellow perch performed better in duoculture than in monoculture under the low thermal regime (mean of ~18°C) in both experiments. A significantly greater reduction of CVwt was observed for both bluegill and yellow perch in duoculture than in monoculture in Experiment 1, while no differences in CVwt reduction were detected for bluegill in Experiment 2. Feed conversion ratios (FCR) of bluegill and yellow perch reared in duoculture were significantly lower than for both fishes reared in monoculture in Experiment 1, while there were no significant differences in FCR among the three groups throughout most of Experiment 2. Findings indicate that duoculture of yellow perch and bluegill holds good potential to improve growth and FCR, and to reduce size variation by diminishing social interaction costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, satellite data from the Clouds and Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instruments are analyzed to determine how the global absorbed sunlight and global entropy production rates have changed from 2002 to 2023. The data is used to test hypotheses derived from the Maximum Power Principle (MPP) and Maximum Entropy Production Principle (MEP) about the evolution of Earth's surface and atmosphere. The results indicate that both the rate of absorbed sunlight and global entropy production have increased over the last 20 years, which is consistent with the predictions of both hypotheses. Given the acceptance of the MPP or MEP, some peripheral extensions and nuances are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spectrum of schizophrenia disorders (SSD) is a severe mental disorder. It is one of the main medical causes of disability that generates high health and social costs. Objective: To analyze the factors associated with clinical recovery (CR) (symptomatic remission-SR and functional recovery-FR) and personal recovery (PR) in people diagnosed with SSD. 14 meta-analyses focused on recovery were reviewed following the PRISMA model statements. 95 % of CI was established. Shorter Duration of Untreated Psychosis (Zr = 0.24, [0.17, 0.30]) and total Duration of Untreated Illness (Zr = 0.34, [0.20, 0.48]) were related to greater SR and general functioning, respectively. Resilience was the variable with the greatest effect on FR (Zr = 0.67, [0.63, 0.71]). Premorbid adjustment (Zr = 0.34, [0.18, 0.49]) and physical intervention (Zr = 0.71, [0.55, 0.86]) had the greatest effect on occupational and social functioning, respectively. Less severe affective symptoms were related to greater PR (Zr = 0.46, [0.42, 0.50]). There are differences between affective SR and the other types of SR (Zr (SR-A - SR−) = 0.13, Qb = 6.51, p = 0.011), (Zr (SR-A - SR+) = 0.20, Qb = 8.52, p = 0.004), (Zr (SR-A – SR) = 0.18, Qb = 19.29, p = 0.0001). In all, resilience was associated with greater recovery (Zr = 0.67, [0.53, 0.80]), with the global effect being greater on PR than on CR (Zr (PR-CR) = 0.07, Qb = 3.45, p = 0.05). Resilience was the variable most strongly associated with recovery. Symptomatic or functional improvement obtained less statistical weight. • Recovery is the sum of symptomatic remission, functional recovery and personal perception of recovery. • Mental health recovery transcends symptoms. • Resilience is the most important factor associated to recovery. • Personal, clinical, functional and cognitive factors have an impact on recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human-wildlife interactions can affect human wellbeing and wildlife population persistence. This paper addresses the perceived impacts of wildlife on agropastoral food production in the Tarangire ecosystem of northern Tanzania. It is based on sixteen months of collaborative ethnographic fieldwork with agropastoral Maasai communities (2019–2020; 2022; 2023), 240 semi-structured interviews, and a household survey (n = 1076). People felt that caterpillars, elephants, and zebras had the most significant effects on crop production, while hyenas were responsible for the bulk of livestock depredation by carnivores. These social costs of wildlife merit further attention from conservation policy makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how CEOs educational background affects the agglomeration economies–firm performance relationship based on the upper echelons theory. With a sample of Chinese software and information technology services public listed firms, it is found that CEO educational specialization helps firms to reap the benefits of agglomeration. Specifically, firms led by CEOs with science or engineering degrees benefit more from specialization externalities, while firms led by CEOs with business, economics or legal degrees enjoy more diversity externalities. This paper contributes to the specialization versus diversity debate by stating the importance of individual CEOs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: By building and examining an integral model, the principal objectives of this research are to systematically explore how indirect and direct network externalities lead to user loyalty toward WeChat through the mediating effect of perceived gratifications. Design/methodology/approach: The data were collected through an online survey of 688 young people in Mainland China. To empirically assess the conceptual model, zero-order correlation analyses and structural equation modeling were carried out utilizing web-based data. Findings: Path analysis results demonstrate that indirect network externalities and direct network externalities exert a significant impact on users' hedonic gratifications and utilitarian gratifications. Moreover, the study discovers the significant mediating influences of utilitarian gratifications on the association between indirect network externalities and user loyalty. Research limitations/implications: Theoretically, this article may extend the scope of diverse studies on the association between network externalities and perceived gratifications and offer fresh insights into how mobile social media could actually improve user loyalty through enhancing perceived values among younger generation. Practically, this research assists mobile social media practitioners in retaining users and gaining competitive advantages over rival applications. Originality/value: Although the extraordinary growth of WeChat has successfully become the dominant media by which individuals develop interpersonal network and contact with others, the roles of perceived gratifications between network externalities and user loyalty toward WeChat have not yet been investigated in depth. These obtained outcomes not only enrich the existing literature regarding the relationship between network externalities and affective response, but also offer fresh insights to mobile social media designers, marketers and users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on young people with eating disorders (EDs) and their families was profound, with surging rates of hospitalizations and referrals reported internationally. This paper provides an account of the additional health and social costs of ED care for young people living in Canada incurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, drawing attention to the available data to inform these estimates while noting gaps in data capacities to account for a full view of the ED system of care. Methods: Three methodologies were used to capture costs: (1) provincial administrative data holdings available at the Canadian Institute of Health Information (CIHI) were used by Deloitte Access Economics to conduct analyses on costs related to hospitalizations, emergency room visits, outpatient visits with physicians and loss of well-being from being on a waitlist. These were examined across three fiscal years (April 1 to March 31, 2019–2022) to compare costs from one year before to two years after the onset of the pandemic, (2) data collected on support-based community ED organizations and, (3) costs identified by young people, caregivers and health care professionals. Results: Estimates of additional health care costs and social costs arising from ED care waitlists were estimated to have increased by 21% across the two years after the onset of the pandemic and is likely to represent an underestimate of costs. Costs related to some standard ED care services (e.g. day treatment programs) and support-based community ED organizations that saw a 118% increase in services during this time, are some examples of costs not captured in the current cost estimate. Conclusions: This paper provides a first account of the additional health and social ED care costs associated with the pandemic, which indicate at minimum, a 21% increase. The results invite discussion for more investments in ED services for young people in Canada, as it is unclear if needs are expected to remain elevated. We suggest a call for a national surveillance strategy to improve data holdings to aid in managing services and informing policy. A robust strategy could open the door for much-needed, data-informed, system transformation efforts that can improve ED care for youth, families and clinicians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digitally enabled higher education involves the in-depth use of new-generation digital technology, which has subverted and innovated the traditional teaching mode, driven the development of high-quality teaching and learning, and improved teachers' teaching experience, and increased efficiency. Based on ecosystem theory, this paper constructs a higher education ecosystem with the government, enterprises, and universities as the core participating subjects. It considers the participating subjects' effort level and the ecosystem's overall benefits under the three scenarios of noncooperative research and development (R&D), cost sharing, and cooperative R&D. The results show that (1) the service innovation effort level of the three parties increases with increasing human resource level and technology maturity, and the government's benefit decreases with increasing cost of fulfilling social responsibility. (2) The government's cost subsidies to universities and enterprises can enhance the service innovation level of both parties and increase the optimal returns of the three parties and the ecosystem as a whole. (3) In the cooperative R&D game scenario, the effort level of the three parties and the total ecosystem returns are greater than those in the noncollaborative R&D scenario, and after determining the subsidy coefficients of the government, Pareto optimality of the three parties and the ecosystem as a whole can be achieved. The conclusions of this study can aid in understanding the dynamic evolution mechanism of digitally enabled higher education and provide a realistic decision-making reference for higher education ecosystem managers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the siting scenarios for renewable energy installations (REI) in a mountainous region of Europe (Switzerland), incorporating the external costs of ecosystem services and, innovatively, social preferences. This approach challenges the prevalent techno-economic siting paradigm, which often overlooks these externalities. To minimize the external costs of the scenarios while maximizing energy yield, Marxan, an optimization software, was employed. The energy target for all scenarios is set at 25 TWh/a, stemming from the energy gap anticipated due to the phase-out of Swiss nuclear reactors by 2050. This target is met using renewable energy infrastructure such as wind, roof-mounted photovoltaic, and ground-mounted photovoltaic systems. By integrating social preferences into the optimization, this study showcases a promising implementation that transcends the software's intended applications. It complements techno-economic approaches and offers alternative decision-making avenues. The conventional "roof first" strategy proved ineffective in preventing extensive land use for the development of new renewable energy infrastructure. Strategies incorporating ground-mounted photovoltaic infrastructure were more spatially, ecologically, and socially efficient than those without. The strategy optimized for energy yield exhibited the highest spatial efficiency but incurred significant ecosystem service costs and, surprisingly, had low social costs. In contrast, the strategy prioritizing ecosystem services was the most efficient in terms of ecosystem service costs but had elevated social costs and was spatially less efficient than other strategies. The strategy optimized for social preferences incurred the lowest social costs and excelled in spatial efficiency and ecosystem service costs. Notably, this strategy employed a limited number of planning units linked to both high ecosystem service and social costs. The findings underscore that incorporating social preferences significantly enhances the evaluation of siting options. This inclusion allows for the social acceptance of investments to be factored into costs, facilitating more informed and inclusive decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We develop a theory of resistance and repression in which citizens face a coordination problem and participation in collective resistance must be large enough for a government to concede rather than repress citizens who participate. Repression is costly for both citizens (the punished) and the government (the punisher). Harsher punishments can sometimes raise participation via a strategic-feedback channel that follows from the credibility of implementing repression: a higher cost to the punisher makes a government less willing to repress larger resistance, and this can encourage citizens' coordinated participation. We identify three factors that determine whether this channel dominates: the shape of the response of the government's costs to the intensity and scale of repression, the presence of selective incentives, and the presence or absence of focal optimism. We examine a government's desired choice of repression technology and the response of the social cost of political instability to harsher punishments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes the conditions under which major infrastructural investments generate electoral returns. It addresses when and how the constraints imposed by myopic voters under democracy can be overcome. We argue that sustained policy spillovers are critical to broadening the pool of beneficiaries and yielding significant returns to the incumbent in the medium to long run. We make this case by analyzing Luz para Todos (LPT)—a large-scale rural electrification scheme implemented in Brazil by the Workers' Party (PT). Leveraging the LPT's quasi-experimental allocation, we document its positive and persistent impact on the PT's vote support several years after the program started running. We then illustrate the mechanism of policy spillovers by showing the impact of the LPT on the provision of education in targeted areas. Our findings suggest that infrastructure policies are more likely to generate electoral returns when the policy provision entails spillover effects through other policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Literature on technology transfer to Africa is dominated by studies on agribusiness, military technology, information and communication technology, energy, climate change, health, and manufacturing, while it is scanty on others like transport infrastructure. In this article, we reviewed literature and carried out key informant interviews to collect data on technology transfer for Chinese-built roads in Kenya. Our objective was to examine the extent of technology transfer from Chinese multinational corporations to Kenyan institutions and organizations. We established that there was little technology transfer mostly because of Kenya's internal obstacles such as inadequate absorptive capacity, weak competition culture, and weak legal and institutional frameworks on technology transfer. Multinational corporations transferred technology primarily to fulfil their commercial objectives and to meet the domestic labour training requirements. The technology transferred was not sufficient to simulate innovation and technology development in Kenya. We recommend reviewing Kenya's legal and institutional frameworks on international technology transfer in order to improve the participation in and enforcement of technology transfer by government institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present day, when centralized energy storage technology is becoming increasingly mature, the cooperative energy sharing framework between the combined cooling, heating, and power (CCHP) systems and a shared energy storage provider (SESP) can effectively promote the local consumption of renewable energy and reduce the social energy cost. In this study, the optimal operation models of CCHP and SESP are first developed by considering the electric energy trading of the CCHP and the SESP. Then the CCHP–SESP cooperative operation model is established based on Nash bargaining theory, followed by equating it into two subproblems of coalition social energy cost minimization and electric energy trading payment negotiation. The alternating direction method of multipliers approach is introduced to solve the energy‐sharing problems in a distributed way. Numerical simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed energy‐sharing framework. Simulation results show that the proposed bargaining‐based energy‐sharing framework can significantly reduce the social energy cost and improve the utilization rate of energy storage resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The majority of inguinal hernias are usually paucisymptomatic, so are restored electively. The main purpose of this study is to assess the trends in hernia repair surgery before and during the pandemic period, analyzing an Italian hospital series of 390 patients, in an attempt to quantify the negative impact regarding social costs derived from the Covid‐19 outbreak. Moreover, we want to focus on the concept of apparently minor pathology as hernioplasty which could represent a life‐threatening condition for patients. Methods: The study population consisted of all patients operated for inguinal hernia in a General Surgery Unit from 2019 to 2021, divided into a pre‐pandemic and a pandemic period. Results: The Covid‐19 pandemic increased urgent operations in a complicated setting. A statistically significant difference was found regarding the trend of hospitalization length as well as a strong positive correlation between the severity of hernia and the hospitalization length. Conclusions: During the pandemic, it has been registered a mishandling of inguinal hernias to the detriment of both the healthcare system and patients, due to multifactorial issues and, in particular, to the restrictions imposed by the regional government that erroneously declassed hernia pathology as a minor problem for public health. We do believe that patients, after diagnosis of inguinal hernia, should learn the Taxis maneuver for its feasibility and ease of execution, in order to reduce access to emergencies in many cases and likewise to better pain and discomfort perceived, even in the event of unexpected worldwide healthcare scenario. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efforts continue to determine how many differing forms of time connote reality. These numbers range from the many to the few. The most common integer is two. Here, one represents a property of externality and the other a property of internality, or more colloquially a characteristic of mind. Attempts to weld this dyad into a "grand unified theory of time" are legion. However, since the essentially unquestioned foundational premise, viz the reality of time, is false, all subsequent theorizing, however well-meaning, proves vacuous. The unacceptable alternative is to embrace the delusion of time. However, this assertion of zero-time theory is so repugnant to the deeply entrenched belief in time by living systems that this answer proves unpalatable at best and rejected forthwith in virtually all instances. Explanations of time predicated upon the premises of duality and reality prove intriguing but eventually fruitless paths to pursue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study cooperative games in which some of the coalitions are not viable and in addition, there are externalities among the feasible coalitions. These games are called here restricted partition function form games. For this class of games, two extensions of the Shapley value are proposed and characterized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines home price spillovers associated with the number of nearby current and former real estate owned (REO) properties. The effect of active REOs is decomposed into the contributions of properties owned by the government sponsored enterprises (GSEs), US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and private entities to assess impacts associated with differences in managing REO inventories. The impact of former REOs is decomposed into spillovers associated with investor and owner-occupied properties. This study draws on home sale price data in the Detroit tri-county area 2008–2013. Results indicate REOs owned by HUD and private entities are associated with substantial discounts, with the largest effects appearing after remaining in REO inventory for more than one year. Investor-owned properties are associated with sustained and growing negative price effects through more than three years of ownership. Policies ensuring adequate oversight of REOs and sales to owner-occupants and non-speculative investors are encouraged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study examines the assumptions, modeling structure, and results of DICE-2023, the revised Dynamic Integrated Model of Climate and the Economy (DICE), updated to 2023. The revision contains major changes in the treatment of risk, the carbon and climate modules, the treatment of nonindustrial greenhouse gases, discount rates, as well as updates on all the major components. Noteworthy changes are a significant reduction in the target for the optimal (cost-beneficial) temperature path, a lower cost of reaching the 2 °C target, an analysis of the impact of the Paris Accord, and a major increase in the estimated social cost of carbon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Renewable power generation is the key to decarbonizing the electricity system. Wind power is the fastest-growing renewable source of electricity in the United States. However, expanding wind capacity often faces local opposition, partly due to a perceived visual disamenity from large wind turbines. Here, we provide a US-wide assessment of the externality costs of wind power generation through the visibility impact on property values. To this end, we create a database on wind turbine visibility, combining information on the site and height of each utility-scale turbine having fed power into the U.S. grid, with a high-resolution elevation map to account for the underlying topography of the landscape. Building on hedonic valuation theory, we statistically estimate the impact of wind turbine visibility on home values, informed by data from the majority of home sales in the United States since 1997. We find that on average, wind turbine visibility negatively affects home values in an economically and statistically significant way in close proximity (<5 miles/8 km). However, the effect diminishes over time and in distance and is indistinguishable from zero for larger distances and toward the end of our sample. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dirty luxuries are items that are pleasant or nice to have, not necessities, that absolutely bludgeon the environment. From the merely affluent to the ultra-rich, consumers enjoying dirty luxuries, such as luxury clothing, private jets, superyachts, SUVs, and vacation cruises, drive one of the most polluting types of consumption on the planet. This Article explores the climate costs of dirty luxuries, considers the current and proposed international efforts to address the climate impact of these luxuries, and proposes structures by which these luxuries may be taxed to either reduce consumption or compensate for negative externalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many traditional, small-scale societies, death and other misfortunes are commonly explained as a result of others' malign occult agency. Here, we call this family of epistemic tendencies "the agential view of misfortune." After reviewing several ethnographic case studies that illustrate this view, we argue that its origins and stability are puzzling from an evolutionary perspective. Not only is the agential view of misfortune false; it imposes costs on individuals and social groups that seem to far outweigh whatever benefits the view might provide. We thus doubt that the agential view of misfortune is explainable in terms of adaptive effects. However, neither does it seem readily explainable as a consequence of belief formation strategies that are on the whole adaptive (as is plausibly the case for certain other of our false beliefs, including some that are costly). Accordingly, we contend that the commonness of the agential view of misfortune demands a special evolutionary explanation of some kind. We provide a partial explanation of this phenomenon by highlighting the adaptive benefits that often flow to occult specialists in environments where the agential view of misfortune is entrenched. What this does not explain, however, is the general lack of resistance we observe in response to occultists' exploitative behaviours over (cultural) evolutionary timescales. We conclude by canvassing a few possible explanations for this puzzling lack of resistance, and while we commit ourselves to none, we do find one option more promising than the others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research examines the potential social benefits of displaying curiosity during a negotiation. Past research has found women who ask directly in distributive agentic settings can suffer negative social consequences and obtain worse objective outcomes compared to men. In three experiments (N = 600) using different negotiation contexts, we found men and women who approach negotiations with curiosity reap the same economic benefits of asking directly but without incurring a social cost. We also found that perceived warmth partially accounts for the positive effects of curiosity (vs. asking directly) on negotiators' social outcomes. Finally, our results reveal women feel more comfortable conveying curiosity compared to using a direct approach in their negotiations. We discuss the implications of these findings in enhancing negotiation effectiveness for both women and men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interactions between people and large carnivores on shared landscapes can have harmful social and ecological consequences. Human–carnivore coexistence depends on an assemblage of sociological factors including effective management institutions that address the social costs of carnivore conservation and promote tolerance toward wildlife. In East Africa, large carnivores are particularly troublesome for herders who depend on livestock for subsistence and wellbeing. This paper provides an overview of human–hyena conflict in the Tarangire ecosystem of northern Tanzania. It presents descriptive results from a questionnaire survey (n = 1076) administered as part of an anthropological study (2019–2020; 2022; 2023) of human–wildlife interactions across twelve villages inhabited by Maasai agropastoralists. The survey instrument was designed through community-based participatory research methods to convey herder concerns about the impacts of spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) on the livestock economy. Based on the perceptions and local ecological knowledge of Maasai interlocutors, the paper provides an overview of the spatial and temporal patterns of human–hyena interactions. Perceived frequencies of hyena attacks on kraaled livestock were unevenly distributed geographically, with those homesteads surrounding Manyara Ranch most heavily affected. Based on herder-reported livestock losses, the costs of depredation by spotted hyenas across the study area were estimated at approximately USD 904.84 per household per year. Most homesteads lacked fortified bomas and would benefit from the provision of lights and fencing materials to improve kraal structures. The paper's central finding is that spotted hyenas represent a pressing, everyday concern for local pastoralists. Unsurprisingly, herders despise hyenas and are intolerant of sharing landscapes with them. For carnivore conservation outside protected areas to thrive in Tanzania, conservationists and policy makers must engage more meaningfully with the lived experiences of local herders who bear the brunt of conservation costs on their livelihoods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the plentitude of messages in the public arena that promote vaccination against different diseases or raise the possibility of vaccine mandates, we asked whether message effects in one disease domain might spill over into other domains. Our experiment exposed individuals (N = 1755) recruited from an opt-in online panel (Qualtrics) on influenza or COVID-19 pro-vaccination messages then measured intentions to vaccinate for each disease and intentions to support a vaccine mandate for each disease. Messages that targeted flu (vs. COVID-19) exhibited stronger effects on intentions to vaccinate for corresponding (vs. noncorresponding) disease. We observed positive spillover from intention to vaccinate against one disease to intention to vaccinate against the other disease, as well as from vaccination intention type to support for corresponding and noncorresponding vaccine mandates. Although pro-vaccination flu and COVID-19 messages have multiple effects, those effects are congenial. The results adjudicate differences in spillover theory and suggest synergistic effects between pro-vaccination campaigns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exposure to online learning platforms such as LinkedIn Learning, Coursera, and edX has been increasing, yet sustaining user engagement remains a significant barrier. We tested whether email reminders would increase engagement with LinkedIn Learning for unemployed youth not in school or training. All participants received without charge a license only (Group A), a license plus personalized onboarding (Group B), or a license plus personalized onboarding embedded in an intensive training program (Group C). In these three groups, participants were randomly assigned to either the treatment arm, who received reminder emails, or the control arm. A two-stage randomization design was implemented to account for potential peer spillover effects in the third group. We found no evidence of an effect of the email reminders on LinkedIn Learning use on aggregate. However, in the third group, which included ongoing training, high activation, and significant student interaction, we found some evidence of higher overall usage enhanced by spillover effects. These findings suggest that engagement with online learning tools may be enhanced with hands-on training, combined with online and in-person engagement and coaching on the use of online learning interfaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Type VI Secretion System (T6SS) is a widespread and highly effective mechanism of microbial warfare; it confers the ability to efficiently kill susceptible cells within close proximity. Due to its large physical size, complexity, and ballistic basis for intoxication, it has widely been assumed to incur significant growth costs in the absence of improved competitive outcomes. In this study, we precisely examine the fitness costs of constitutive T6SS firing in the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. We find that, contrary to expectations, constitutive expression of the T6SS has a negligible impact on growth, reducing growth fitness by 0.025 ± 0.5% (95% CI) relative to a T6SS− control. Mathematical modeling of microbial populations demonstrates that, due to clonal interference, constitutive expression of the T6SS will often be neutral, with little impact on evolutionary outcomes. Our findings underscore the importance of precisely measuring the fitness costs of microbial social behaviors and help explain the prevalence of the T6SS across Gram‐negative bacteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I study a two-player continuous-time dynamic coordination game with observational learning. Each player has one opportunity to make a reversible investment with an uncertain return that is realized only when both players invest. Each player learns about the potential return by observing a private signal and the actions of the other player. In equilibrium, players' roles as leader and follower are endogenously determined. Information aggregates in a single burst initially, then gradually through delayed investment and disinvestment over time. More precise signals lead to faster coordination conditional on initial disagreement, but might also increase the probability of initial disagreement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A higher degree of network externalities enhances high-quality product market share, price, and profit while reducing those for low-quality products. • The crowding-out of high-quality products on low-quality products becomes more pronounced as network externalities increase. • A moderate reduction in the quality gap benefits social welfare while a marginal gap leads to a lose-lose situation for firms. This study examines the impact of network externalities on the market performance of vertically differentiated luxury products. Luxury consumption triggers vanity-driven utility, which decreases due to the snob effect as market share expands. By employing a duopoly model under price competition, we demonstrate that a higher degree of network externalities enhances high-quality product market share, price, and profit while reducing those for low-quality products. The crowding-out of high-quality products on low-quality products becomes more pronounced as network externalities increase. We analyze the effects of quality improvement on equilibrium outcomes, revealing that a moderate reduction in the quality gap benefits social welfare. In contrast, a marginal gap leads to a lose-lose situation for firms. Our study underscores the importance of retaining low-quality products and adopting quality promotion strategies for high-quality products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In most economic applications of cooperative games, externalities prevail: the worth of a coalition depends on how the other players are organized. We show that there is a unique natural way of extending the prenucleolus to games with coalitional externalities. This is in contrast to the Shapley value and the core for which many different extensions have been proposed. • The prenucleolus is generalized to cooperative games with externalities. • It is shown that it corresponds to the prenucleolus of the associated optimistic game. • It is characterized a la Sobolev by means of three properties. • It also satisfies consistency with respect to a reduced game with externalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper measures how much more households pay for less density in their immediate surroundings. Using transaction and administrative data and exploiting the introduction of a regulation that restricted the number of housing units for certain land lots, we find that households discount density: a 10% increase in within‐development density decreases the price per square meter by 5%. Further, the mean price per square meter of the average development increased by 1%–3% after the regulation was introduced, while the amount of built‐up space remained constant. The increase in total revenue suggests developers may underestimate the externality caused by density. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Homogeneous national policies can generate heterogeneous effects on the territory. This paper aims to verify the impact of the entry of single Italian municipalities into an inter‐municipal association on the unitary costs of the social services supplied to the local communities. Panel cost stochastic frontier model in the presence of endogeneity has been introduced based on two pillars: a counterfactual setting to verify the aggregation effects concerning a set of similar municipalities and the use of a cost efficiency estimation methodology which considers the endogeneity of output with respect to cost. The results of our analysis show that the effects of adopting associated forms of service delivery can be very multifaceted and diversified according to the typology and the degree of implementation of the Municipal Union itself. The analysis sheds light on the effects of municipalities' organisational choices, addressing the consolidation of small municipalities not in binary terms but also—and above all—suggesting that it is the type of union that impacts the possibility of convergence towards greater cost efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research followed a qualitative design to identify preschool teachers' mindsets about workload-related stress. Twenty in-service Chinese preschool teachers were invited to delineate their perceived workload-related stress consequences. Directed by a hybrid of inductive and conductive approaches, we conducted thematic content analyses on two rounds of in-depth teacher interviews. Findings suggested that workload-related stress was like a two-edged sword for preschool teachers. On the one hand, teachers regard workload-related stress as enhancing in the aspects of motivating them to shift working strategies, to refine professional learning, to issue teacher leadership, and to mobilize colleague teachers' teamwork. On the other hand, some teachers' mindsets focus on the downsides of their workload-related stress, emphasizing its deleterious influences on working efficiencies, emotional wellbeing, as well as its spillover effects on family life. Teachers' individual-, preschool- and sociocultural-level elements were discussed to explain the patterns of Chinese preschool teachers' workload-related stress mindset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite soaring social costs, opposed professional opinions, and divergent foreign experiences, China still persisted with its Zero-COVID policy. Preexisting theories of policy change are unable to explain the continuation of China's COVID policy. Corresponding to the three stages of policy making, implementation and adjustment, the authors propose a framework of three decision-making constraints: (1) decision urgency, (2) regime type, and (3) political opportunity structures, which are believed to jointly shape China's policy against Omicron and obstruct Chinese decision-makers from adjusting it. This intensive case study enriches understanding of China's COVID policy specifically and the policy process in China more generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Private military companies (PMC) can have considerable advantages for the customer on the one hand, but on the other hand can come with great dangers. Based on the theory of externalities, an attempt is made to illuminate this situation and to analyze the negative externalities associated with it. By using an instrumental case study method we can identify two potential negative technological externalities of hiring PMCs which should be internalized. These two are the violation of national law and international humanitarian law in the theater of operation, and the lack of control of the executive by the legislative branch in the exporting state. Based on this, we present and discuss options to eliminate these negative technological externalities. It can be shown that the preferable set of measures includes instruments to create transparency, and command-and-control regulations on the individual state's level. While the second effect can easily be solved with domestic instruments, a supranational organization is needed to solve the first effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Smart charging is gaining more attention with the popularity of electric vehicles (EVs). Smart charging which aims only at reducing electricity costs or reducing carbon dioxide (CO 2) emissions is efficient in achieving these objectives. However, the times of lower electricity costs and CO 2 emissions are not identical in power grids, putting the two objectives in conflict, which may lower the social benefits of EV smart charging. This study investigates the potential social benefit improvement of smart charging by balancing the economy and decarbonization objectives. Considering five regions located in the United States as examples, it is deduced that smart charging balancing economy and decarbonization objectives can reduce the total social costs of EV charging by 14.5%–35.1%. Furthermore, this study analyzes the impacts of three factors on the social benefits change of EV smart charging, namely charging behavior, charger power, and the social costs of CO 2. In the context of transport electrification, this study provides important guidance on how to adjust the charging mode of EVs in the future to improve social benefits. • EV smart charging that balances the economy and decarbonization is analyzed. • The analysis is conducted based on data from five regional power grids. • Dual-objective smart charging reduces the social costs of charging by 14.5%–35.1%. • The impacts of three factors on dual-objective smart charging are tested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Confronting, or calling out people for prejudiced remarks, reduces subsequent expressions of prejudice. However, people who confront others incur social costs: Confronters are disliked, derogated, and avoided relative to others who have not confronted. These social costs hurt the confronter and reduce the likelihood of future confrontation. The present studies (N = 1,019) integrate the close relationships and prejudice reduction literatures to examine whether people who are confronted assign fewer social costs when they trust the confronter. Study 1 provided correlational evidence that people who were confronted for making a sexist remark experienced less irritation and annoyance (i.e., negative other-directed affect) if they trusted the confronter, which, in turn, reduced social costs. Manipulation of trust in Study 2 with non-Black participants provided causal evidence that trust buffers against social costs. Being confronted predictably led to more negative other-directed affect and social costs, relative to not-confronted participants; however, these effects were mitigated among participants who underwent a trust-building exercise with the confronter. Study 3 used an ecologically valid context in which non-Black participants who made a stereotypic remark were confronted by an actual friend or stranger. They assigned fewer social costs when confronted by their friend (vs. stranger), and this effect was serially mediated by trust and negative other-directed affect. Importantly, confrontation reduced subsequent stereotyping in all studies. Practically, these studies reveal that when confronters establish trust, they experience fewer social costs. Theoretically, these studies provide a new direction for confrontation research that accounts for interpersonal dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use high frequency worker level productivity data from garment manufacturing units in India to study the effects of caste-based social networks on individual and group productivity when workers are complements in the production function. Using plausibly exogenous variation in the production lines' caste composition for almost 35,000 worker-days, we find that a 1 percentage point (pp) increase in the share of own caste workers in the line increases daily individual productivity by at least 0.09 pp. The least efficient worker's productivity, however, rises by almost 0.17 pp when the caste composition of the line becomes more homogeneous by 1 pp. These results are robust to unobservable heterogeneity in worker ability and line level trends. Production externalities, that induce greater effort through within-network peer effects, can potentially explain our findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

External effects can be triggered through trade and depend on the locations of buyers and sellers who are matched. Inspired by electricity markets, we experimentally investigate markets in which net trades between two locations induce social costs. Based on a modified double auction setting, we compare the performance of market platforms that are location-blind with those where information on the location of (potential) trading partners or the level of the externality is given. We demonstrate that locational information is sufficient to reduce the externality. Imposing the full external costs on individual trades leads to maximal price differentiation between locations and further reduces net trades, while welfare improvements are limited. Reasons for not achieving the typically high efficiency of double auctions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When externalities are present, is the inclusion of the affected stakeholders in the firm's decision process a better solution than the shareholder governance? This paper argues that the internalization of the externality hinges on the available information and the market strategy used by the firm rather than its governance structure. In the absence of income effects (i.e., if preferences are quasi-linear), a market for "customer rights" reveals all the necessary information about the surplus of a homogeneous consumer population. In that case, a Coase-type equivalence obtains: whether the firm uses the information in the interest of its shareholders or all its stakeholders, the outcome in each case is an efficient allocation. With income effects, the market for customer rights may fail. Still, if appropriate information can be obtained, efficiency can be achieved under both governance structures (or neither). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sharing negative gossip has been found to be pivotal for fostering cooperation in social groups. The positive function gossip serves for groups suggests that gossipers should be rewarded for sharing useful information. In contrast, gossip is commonly perceived negatively, meaning that gossipers incur more social costs than benefits. To solve this puzzle, we argue that whether receivers interpret gossip as stemming from pro‐social versus pro‐self motives shapes their reactions towards gossipers. We conducted a pre‐registered experimental vignette study (n = 1188) in which participants received negative gossip statements, which we manipulated to reflect either pro‐self or pro‐social motives. Supporting our predictions, receivers were more likely to mistakenly interpret negative pro‐social gossip as stemming from pro‐self motives than vice versa. Nevertheless, receivers with a higher ability to overcome intuition were better able to correctly interpret negative gossip as driven by pro‐self and pro‐social motives. Furthermore, results showed that when receivers interpreted negative gossip as pro‐socially (vs. pro‐selfishly) motivated, they trusted gossipers more and gossip targets less (for behavioral as well as attitudinal measures of trust). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the adoption patterns of clean energy is crucial for designing government subsidies that promote the use of these technologies. Existing work has examined a variety of adoption models to explain and predict how economic factors and other technology and demographic attributes influence adoption, helping to understand the cost-effectiveness of government policies. This study explores the impact of adoption modeling choices on optimal subsidy design within a single techno–economic framework for residential solar PV technology. We applied identical datasets to multiple adoption models and evaluated which model forms appear feasible and how using different choices affects policy decisions. We consider three existing functional forms for rooftop solar adoption: an error function, a mixed log-linear regression, and a logit demand function. The explanatory variables used are a combination of net present value (NPV), socio-demographic, and prior adoption. We compare how the choice of model form and explanatory variables affect optimal subsidy choices. Among the feasible model forms, there exist justified subsidies for residential solar, though the detailed schedule varies. Optimal subsidy schedules are highly dependent on the social cost of carbon and the learning rate. A learning rate of 10% and a social carbon cost of USD 50/ton suggest an optimal subsidy starting at USD 46/kW, while the initial subsidy is 10× higher (USD 540/kW) with a learning rate of 15% and social carbon cost of USD 70/ton. This work illustrates the importance of understanding the true drivers of adoption when developing clean energy policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Judaic law famously bans pigs. For millennia, scholars have wondered why. This paper uses the economics of property rights to resolve the puzzle. We argue that the Judaic pig ban was an instrument for internalizing swine externalities. Free ranging pigs in search of sustenance trespass on agricultural landowners' property, wreaking destruction. Activities that foster such pigs thus create negative externalities that can cripple agricultural economies. When the expected cost of swine externalities becomes large, internalization becomes worthwhile: lawmakers with a vested interest in the agricultural economy ban activities that foster free ranging pigs. That is what transpired in ancient Judah, where lawmakers were priests whose livelihoods depended on agriculture, where all swine ranged freely, and where the expected cost of swine externalities surged during the late Iron Age. Lawmakers invoked God to enjoin involvement with pigs because a supernatural injunction was cheaper to enforce than a natural one: in a land of faithful Hebrews, Yahweh's swine prohibition enforced itself. The Judaic pig ban's features are consistent with pig bans recently adopted by US states such as Montana, which everyone agrees are instruments for internalizing swine externalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

About 91% of India's workforce of 520 million is informal, lacking social insurance. However, this paper finds the Social Security Code 2020 wanting, but with potential for universalizing social insurance. The paper spells out the principles that should guide social insurance for informal workers; and presents the design and architecture for extending coverage. It shows how realistically, over the next 10–15 years, social insurance could cover the entire workforce, in accordance with ILO Conventions. It also estimates the fiscal cost of social insurance, for the first five years, and spells out the political economy, fiscal and administrative challenges to universalisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Separation often leads to worse economic consequences for women than for men. However, little is known about how economic consequences of separation play out for different groups of women. Women who are younger than their male partner are generally assumed to have lesser agency, but evidence mostly comes from contexts with low gender equality. Here, we examine women's benefit recipiency as a function of the partner age gap of their dissolved union. Using register data from Sweden, we examine whether women from man-older unions suffer greater economic disadvantage after separation, and whether patterns differ for ancestral Swedes and women with migrant background. Results from logistic regression models suggest that, post-separation, the uptake of social and housing benefits increases for nearly all groups of women. However, these data do not show any consistent disadvantages of women from man-older unions. Among ancestral Swedes, patterns differed by benefit type, and among women of African/Middle Eastern origin, benefit recipiency increases were inversely U-shaped to the age gap. Social norms do not appear to explain economic costs of separation, but may explain why the risk of separation itself differed between ancestral Swedish women and women with migrant background. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The prevalence of overweight and obesity in young children rose sharply during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here we estimate the potential future health and economic effects of these trends in England. Methods: Using publicly available annual Body Mass Index (BMI) data from 2006–2022, we calculated the increase in overweight/obesity prevalence (BMI ≥85th reference percentile) during the COVID-19 pandemic among children aged 4–5 and 10–11, and variation by deprivation and ethnicity. We projected the impact of child BMI trends on adult health measures to estimate added lifelong medical and social costs. Results: During 2020–2021 there were steep increases in overweight and obesity prevalence in children. By 2022, overweight and obesity prevalence in children aged 4–5 returned to expected levels based on pre-pandemic trends. However, overweight and obesity prevalence in children aged 10–11 persisted and was 4 percentage points (p<0.001) higher than expected, representing almost 56,000 additional children. The increase was twice as high in the most compared with the least deprived areas. The additional lifelong healthcare cost in this cohort will amount to £800 million with a cost to society of £8.7 billion. We did not find an increase in maternal obesity associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, however, prevalence grew faster in the post pandemic period. Discussion: The return of overweight and obesity prevalence to pre-pandemic trends in children aged 4–5 provides a clear policy target for effective intervention to tackle this growing and serious population health concern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid growth of on-demand ride service platforms has made it increasingly important for these platforms to efficiently match services by understanding driver characteristics and consumer preferences. This paper aims to investigate the pricing strategy by considering the impact of consumer preference heterogeneity and the different service types offered by drivers. The findings of this study reveal the need for the platform to strike a balance between service cost and the benefits of high-quality drivers, which can be referred to as the "cost-performance ratio". If the "cost-performance ratio" that attracts high-quality drivers is high, the platform will attract high-quality drivers or drivers of all types to participate while offering differentiated services. Otherwise, the platform will only provide services through low-quality drivers. Furthermore, the platform will also consider when to offer differentiated services based on network externalities and service quality. When the network externalities of the two types of services are similar, the platform will differentiate them based on service quality differences. Overall, considering consumer preference heterogeneity, drivers of service types, and network externalities, this paper provides guidance for platforms to make optimal decisions that enhance their service offerings and improve overall customer satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]