Papers

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SocArXiv papers

• The Effects of Time-Averaging on Archaeological Networks
  It is well recognized that time-averaging of archaeological deposits results in significant biases in interpretations of the archaeological record. In this study, we investigate the biases introduced by time-averaging in the study of social and economic networks from the archaeological record. Using three different archaeological network datasets, we combine network slices from multiple time periods to mimic the effects of time-averaging to understand how the palimpsest nature of the archaeological record affects our interpretations of the network. The results of our analysis indicate that time-averaging reduces the fidelity of network interpretations compared to the non-time-averaged networks when analyzing network or node properties. Our results also showed that the effects of time-averaging are highly dependent on initial network structures. This makes it difficult to establish general rules for how to interpret time-averaged networks in archaeology. However, our study shows that it is of paramount importance that archaeologists are aware of these biases and evaluate the reliability of their data accordingly.
• Decentralization, Ethnic Fractionalization, and Public Services: Evidence from Kenyan Healthcare
  This paper examines how use of public services changed following a major constitutional reform in Kenya. Following an important period of inter-ethnic conflict, responsibility for local health services was decentralized to 47 newly created county governments. Using an event-study design, we find that use of public clinics for births increased significantly after the reform, but only in counties that were relatively ethnically homogeneous. We also find a significant increase in the correlation between county ethnic fractionalization and a range of other measures of public health service use. Results suggest that services in these counties are less likely to require payments after devolution. Additionally, using within-county variation, we find an increase in public service use among individuals that are of the same ethnicity as the members of the county government executive.
• Causal Mediation in Panel Data - Estimation Based on Difference in Differences
  We propose a novel way of estimating direct and indirect causal effects for panel data. Our method applies when the treatment and the mediator can be coded as binary variables. We exploit pre-treatment and pre-mediator differences in outcomes between the mediated and non-mediated groups within the treated units. Our method is applicable when the mediator is realized both before and after treatment or when it is only a consequence of the treatment. We apply our method to the New Jersey minimum wage policy data and show that a minimal effect on overall employment is mediated through part-time employment.
• Marx's Primitive Accumulation as a perspective on Nature, Race and Gender
  This text systematizes Marx's approach of primitive accumulation and Rosa Luxemburg's approach of imperialism as a tool to re-understand nature, race and gender as a relation between capital, the state and its boundaries. It analyses how the capitalist mode of production is reflected in the Modern relation between Nature and Labour, and how Race and Gender are produced as Nature. We focus on primitive accumulation of Nature in Marx and its influence on Rosa Luxemburg's theory of imperialism. It then seeks to apply Luxemburg's approach to analyze the relation between state, frontiers, nature and politics in the context of Capitalism - and applies the framework of primitive accumulation/accumulation by dispossession of Nature to understand Race and Gender. This paper seeks to understand different forms of exploitation and discrimination through value theory and thus a form of understanding of capitalism that facilitates unified forms of anti-capitalist struggle and solidarity.
• They Can't All Be Stars: The Matthew Effect, Cumulative Status Bias, and Status Persistence in NBA All-Star Elections
  This study investigates the extent to and mechanisms through which Matthew effects create persistent status hierarchies. We propose a model that highlights the role of cumulative status bias in the feedback loop that leads from initial status allocation to status confirmation. We investigate the formalized process of repeated status allocation in annual elections to the National Basketball Association (NBA) All-Star game. Using detailed records on player performances allows us to isolate the Matthew effect from actual productivity differences to show that a previous All-Star nomination improves the chances to be re-nominated. We demonstrate that this Matthew effect is partly explained by improved productivity after an All-Star nomination, but voters' evaluations are also directly biased by a player's prior status. Multiple previous nominations further improve a player's chances, confirming the importance of cumulative status bias. The resulting status-biased persistence of achieved status implies ever greater decoupling of productivity and status, undermining the meritocratic allocation of status and resources even more than the existing literature acknowledges.
• Measuring Electoral Democracy with Observables
  Most crossnational indices of democracy rely centrally on coder judgments, which are susceptible to personal bias and error, and also require expensive and time-consuming coding by experts. The few measures based exclusively on observable indicators are either dichotomous or rely on a few rather crude proxies. This project lays out an approach to measurement based on observables that aims to preserve the nuanced quality of subjectively coded democracy indices. First, we gather data for a wide range of observable indicators, X', that capture different aspects of the democratic process. Next, we use supervised random forest machine learning to predict Z using factual indicators, X', creating an observable-to-subjective score mapping (OSM). The mapping that provides the best cross-validated fit to the outcome serves as an alternate index, Z', for that conceptualization of democracy. Information loss from Z to Z' is minimal for indices centered on an electoral conception of democracy and this loss may be advantageous for some purposes. It is free of idiosyncratic coder errors arising from misinformation, slack, or biases for or against a regime. It is also less susceptible to systematic bias that may arise from coders' inferences about a country's regime status, e.g., from the ideology of the current ruler. The data collection procedure and mode of analysis is fully transparent and replicable, and the procedure is cheap to produce, easy to update, and offers coverage for all polities with sovereign or semisovereign status, surpassing the sample of any existing index. We show that this expansive coverage makes a big difference to our understanding of some causal questions.
• A Case for `Killer Robots': Why in the Long Run Martial AI May Be Good for Peace
  Purpose: The remarkable increase of sophistication of artificial intelligence in recent years has already led to its widespread use in martial applications, the potential of so-called 'killer robots' ceasing to be a subject of fiction. Approach: Virtually without exception, this potential has generated fear, as evidenced by a mounting number of academic articles calling for the ban on the development and deployment of lethal autonomous robots (LARs). In the present paper I start with an analysis of the existing ethical objections to LARs. Findings: My analysis shows the contemporary thought to be deficient in philosophical rigour, these deficiencies leading to an alternative thesis. Value: I advance a thesis that LARs can in fact be a force for peace, leading to fewer and less deadly wars.
• The Making of a Discriminatory Ism
  Purpose: The millennia long struggles of various oppressed groups have over time illuminated widespread social injustices, organically leading to the recognition of yet further injustices captured by the umbrella of discriminatory isms, such as racism, sexism, classism, ableism, anti-Semitism, ageism, heterosexism, and many others. In recent years, the debate has become increasingly fierce, polarized, and even physically violent. Approach: One of the premises of the present work is that in part, the aforementioned unconstructive behaviours are a result of the different understandings of what constitutes an ism and the lack of a thoughtful consideration of this issue in the mainstream social debate as much as in the academic literature. Findings: I present evidence for this, and critique the dominant lines of thought in this realm showing them all to fall short of both the fundamental philosophical as well practical desiderata in how isms ought to be understood. Originality: I propose an alternative which does not suffer from the same weakness: one based on the denial of equivalence of sentience. I show how the adoption of this understanding leads to constructive ways of addressing isms effected injustice.
• Gendered parenthood-employment gaps in midlife: a demographic perspective across three different welfare systems
  Women's labor force participation has increased remarkably in western countries, but important gender gaps still remain, especially among parents. This paper uses a novel comparative perspective assessing women's and men's mid-life employment trajectories by parity and education. We provide new insight into the gendered parenthood penalty by analyzing the long-term implications, beyond the core childbearing ages by decomposing years lived between ages 40 to 74 into years in employment, inactivity, and retirement. We compare three countries with very different institutional settings and cultural norms: Finland, Italy, and the U.S. Our empirical approach uses the multistate incidence-based life table method. Our results document large cross-national variation, and the key role that education plays. In Finland years employed increase with parity for women and men and the gender gap is small; in the U.S. the relation between parity and years is relatively flat, whereas among those with two or more children a gender gap emerges; and in Italy, years employed decreases sharply with parity for women, and increases for men. Education elevates years employed similarly for all groups in Finland; but in the U.S and Italy, highly educated mothers experience only half of the gender gap compared to low-educated mothers. The employment trajectories of childless women and men differ greatly across countries.
• Augmented reality as a Thirdspace: Simultaneous experience of the physical and virtual
  With the proliferation of devices that display augmented reality (AR), now is the time for scholars and practitioners to evaluate and engage critically with emerging applications of the medium. AR mediates the way users see their bodies, hear their environment and engage with places. Applied in various forms, including social media, e-commerce, gaming, enterprise and art, the medium facilitates a hybrid experience of physical and digital spaces. This article employs a model of real-and-imagined space from geographer Edward Soja to examine how the user of an AR app navigates the two inter-twined spaces of physical and digital, experiencing what Soja calls a 'Third-space'. The article illustrates the potential for headset-based AR to engender such a Thirdspace through the author's practice-led research project, the installation Through the Wardrobe. This installation demonstrates how AR has the potential to shift the way that users view and interact with their world with artistic applications providing an opportunity to question assumptions of social norms, identity and uses of physical space.
• The Reprieve Power: May the Uniform Code of Military Justice Limit Executive Clemency?
  Article 57 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice states the President "may commute, remit, or suspend the sentence, or any part thereof, as the President sees fit. That part of the sentence providing for death may not be suspended." This seemingly contradicts Article 2 of the United States Constitution, which states that the President "shall have the power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment." This Article looks at whether the power to "reprieve" offenses includes the power to suspend sentences, including military sentences, and concludes that it does. The historical definition of "reprieve," historical practice of presidents, state court interpretations of similar language, and legislative history of Article 57 all indicate that the President may suspend sentences and Congress may not stop him. For practical reasons, challenging Article 57 would be difficult, but a court would likely declare it unconstitutional if a challenge was ever brought.
• Going Rogue: Independent Grand Juries Throughout America
  Grand juries today do little more than passively approve (almost never disapprove) indictments proposed by prosecutors. But this stands in stark contrast to grand juries in the past. They investigated cases themselves and their purview went well beyond criminal matters. This Article looks in-depth at three historical cases where grand juries not only conducted major investigations but took on major additional roles. They ousted corrupt public officials, ran their cities in the interim, or booted prosecutors that failed to do their jobs. These examples demonstrate that grand juries in modern society could have a more robust role in the justice system.
• Grand Juries on the Grand River: A History of Citizen Grand Jury Investigations in Lansing
  Grand juries once played a major role in Michigan political life, and they were protected in Michigan's first constitution of 1835. But when the state revised its constitution in 1850, it removed grand juries from general use, reserving them for special occasions. Over the rest of the nineteenth century, grand juries were convened only three times in Ingham County, the seat of state government. Each time the grand jury was tasked to investigate an explosive case. This Article tells those stories. After recapping the early history and constitutional downfall of grand juries in Michigan, the Article proceeds in four parts. Part I looks at the lynching of John Taylor, a black Civil War veteran who was hanged by the mob after spurious evidence came out that he assaulted a white family--the only lynching to occur in central Michigan--and subsequent judicial process. Part II chronicles a grand jury investigation into an effort by state officials to rig an election to raise their own salaries. Part III explores the inquest that was called to investigate twin scandals involving Westlaw's parent company and the Michigan National Guard. Part IV concludes by looking at how grand juries dwindled in Michigan in the twentieth century, to the point of virtual extinction, ending with a call for greater citizen participation in political corruption cases.
• Bulwark of Equality: The Jury in America
  Many decry the state of societal inequality in modern America. Juries are not normally thought of as part of the solution, but history shows that they should be. It reveals that juries oftentimes advanced the interests of the poor and lowly when no one else would. It also reveals that powerful interests--government and corporate--have sought to disempower juries that rule in favor of marginalized groups. This Article examines four contexts throughout our history where juries have enhanced societal equality. (1) In early America, they resisted the British government and in the nascent republic were friends to debtors and farmers. (2) When Congress passed fugitive slave laws to enable slaveholders to haul accused runaways back into bondage, Northern juries effectively invalidated the laws. (3) During the Industrial Revolution and railroad boom, juries acted as a check on land seizures and compensated victims of grievous industrial injuries. And (4) throughout the labor movements of the last two centuries, juries tended to support workers agitating for better wages and conditions. Each time, those in power fought back by trying to eliminate or weaken juries in response. And each time, courts or legislatures brought juries to heel. Still, history teaches us the valuable role juries play in creating a more equal society.
• The Risk-Benefit Balance in the COVID-19 "Vaccine Hesitancy" Literature: An Umbrella Review Protocol
  "Vaccine hesitancy" has been described as a major public health problem, especially in the COVID-19 era. Identified factors driving "hesitancy" include the concerns of recipients with the safety, side effects, and risk-benefit ratio of COVID-19 vaccines1 -- a proper assessment and disclosure of which are critical to the requisite process of informed consent. However, the expert literature has given little attention to the evidence informing these concerns, focusing instead on features of the recipients themselves to explain the phenomenon of so-called "hesitancy". This umbrella review will expand the scope of research on "vaccine hesitancy" by examining how the safety, side effects, and risk-benefit ratio concerns of recipients of COVID-19 vaccines are addressed in the expert literature. We will include systematic reviews on COVID-19 "vaccine hesitancy" that examine hesitancy in any population involved with COVID-19 vaccination decisions for themselves or as caretakers (e.g., decisions about "vaccinating" their children) to capture the broadest possible range of perspectives on the phenomenon of interest. Only completed, published, and refereed systematic reviews in English will be included. We will search PubMed, the Epistemonikos COVID-19 platform (COVID-19 L*OVE), and the WHO Global Research on COVID-19 Database to locate quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods studies reviews. Reviews that meet the inclusion criteria will undergo quality assessment (AMSTAR) and data extraction. Two reviewers will independently conduct title and abstract screening and extract and synthesize the data. Disagreements will be resolved through full team discussion. Subgroup analyses will be performed to compare findings according to social indicators of target populations, country location of the first author, and other contextual factors. Thematic analysis and synthesis will be used to "transform the data" into themes by applying a deductive-inductive approach. Frequency distributions will be calculated to assess the strength of support for each theme. Findings will be presented in tabular and narrative forms to facilitate their interpretation. Informed consent is a fundamental bioethical principle in medical research and practice. Insufficient attention to the concerns of vaccine recipients about these matters, compounded by a neglect to discuss the evidence-base informing these concerns, may contribute to the very problem that the COVID-19 "vaccine hesitancy" expert literature purports to address. This is especially true of an intervention based on novel technologies and intended to be delivered on a global scale. Identifying if and how the expert literature engages with these concerns is critical.
• Implementation of the caring for providers to improve patient experience (CPIPE) intervention in Migori County, Kenya: challenges, successes, and lessons
  Key drivers of poor Person-Centered Maternal Care (PCMC)--respectful and responsive care--include provider stress and unconscious bias. The Caring for Providers to Improve Patient Experience (CPIPE) intervention, a 5-component intervention including provider training, peer support, mentorship, embedded champions, and leadership engagement, was successfully piloted over 6-months in two health facilities in Migori County. Didactic and interactive content to promote PCMC and address stress, burnout, difficult situations, and bias, was delivered during a 2-day training. Facility-based embedded champions then led monthly refreshers and facilitated peer support groups. Twenty-four mentors provided mentorship across various topics with paired mentees. We engaged facility and county leadership through a community advisory board (CAB). CPIPE increased provider awareness and commitment to avoid bias and provide PCMC to all women; increased awareness of techniques for managing stress and difficult situations; created a supportive workplace culture and facilitated advocacy with leadership to address sources of stress, provide mental health supports, and provide PCMC. Challenges included limited training time, hierarchical facility culture which hindered cross-cadre activities, varying levels of site engagement, competing demands, and leadership changes. CPIPE is an innovative and practical intervention which centers the experiences of the providers and the care of vulnerable women. The pilot success underscores the timeliness, relevance, and feasibility of similar interventions in resource-constrained settings. CPIPE advances the evidence base for interventions to improve patient and provider experiences of maternal care.
• Pathways to home ownership in an age of uncertainty
  This research investigates how young households (aged 25-34) in Sydney and Perth are adapting their spending and saving behaviours and living arrangements in order to be able to buy a home. Increased house prices and cost of living have worsened the challenge of home ownership, with households--particularly low-income ones--unable to keep pace with market increases through their saving and budgeting strategies, which included minimising discretionary spending and actively managing finances such as by paying ahead on utility bills, eating basic foods and avoiding spending altogether. The research indicates a diminished ability to save for a deposit through employment alone, with around 40 per cent of research survey participants expecting family assistance, whether direct finance or in-kind, to help them purchase. The ability to access such family support was found to be the single biggest factor in supporting being able to buy a home. In Sydney, familial support was an essential component of being able to buy a home in all cases, while in Perth it was still possible for some to buy without assistance, however many still benefited from direct and indirect help. Government assistance policies need to a focus on long term risks and uncertainties generated through rising house prices, rising interest rates and an uncertain labour market. Housing policy will also need to recognise the often precarious life courses people experience, including recognising other tenures (such as renting) as legitimate long term housing outcomes. Housing policy needs to account for both existing and emergent generations of households who will never attain home ownership and address the structural wealth inequalities that being locked out of ownership generates.
• Realising the collective value of data by governing with rather than over
  Governments and businesses are under pressure to realise the value of data. However, value realisation is often fraught, and it is possible to get it scandalously wrong. It is difficult to realise value unless you know what it looks like, and our current theories of value are an inadequate guide. The mechanistic Newtonian-inspired logic that often informs thinking about value creation is counterproductive in complex problem spaces typical of social domains. This logic often leads to harmful practices that erode reputations and trust. However, we do not yet know how to govern complexity to create collective value. To address this problem, I propose a combined theory of value and power underpinned by complexity theory. That is, value is the enhanced capacity to act (i.e. power) we seek from all social arrangements. I rework the power-to, -over, and -with trichotomy to argue that the value created in social assemblages can be hoarded (power-over) or shared (power with). I pose the questions 'what does a power-with look like?' and 'why should we choose it?' I propose that systemic power with (i.e. governing-with) tends to look like a collective experiment in which data is used as feedback, rather than to judge and control. As all participants obtain value, virtuous cycles of value creation ensue. Governing with is proposed as normatively superior to governing-over for producing long-term collective value and flourishing as the contributing capacities of all are enhanced. We cannot effectively combat domination (i.e. power-over) unless we can clearly articulate an alternative. This paper proposes power-with and governing-with as domination's foil.
• The state of the Mental Health related conditions among the Scheduled Tribes and the Culture-Specific approaches and methods they apply for the Management of such conditions: A Bibliographic essay catering to the contemporary trends in Mental Health research in India.
  The World Health Organization has defined 'Health' as "a state of complete physical, mental, social and spiritual well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity". The concept of mental health includes subjective well-being, perception of self-efficacy, autonomy, competence, and recognition of one's ability to realize one's intellectual and emotional potential. It is also defined as a state of well-being in which individuals realize their abilities or are able to cope with the stresses of normal life, be productive at work, and contribute effectively to their communities.India is home to the largest tribal populations in the world with 8.6% of the total population belonging to Scheduled Tribes forming 705 tribal groups across India, a significantsection of which are suffering from a multitude of mental health issues. This article narrates the state of the mental health conditions pervading inside the tribal groups across India and their ability to cope with the emerging trends and issues responsible for the increase in cases of mental health problems. Tribal communities are not immune from the clutches of mental illness and the unique cultures of each tribal society have shaped their own understanding of mental illness and the strategies for its treatment/management. Further, it is observed that the decisions and choices taken by the authorities catering to the wider arena of mental health issues, which were imposed on the tribal groups without consulting their prerogatives and social proclivities, have led to a state of social-emotional distress and lethargy in terms of the treatment seeking behaviour.
• The Role of Christian Nationalism on January 6 and After: What National Survey Data Tell Us
  This document is the expert testimony requested by the United States House of Representatives Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol. The authors provide an analysis of national survey data to demonstrate how the Christian nationalism on display at the January 6th Capitol Attack represents broader trends in American public opinion including support for political violence and belief in baseless conspiracies.
• Cross-category spillovers in medical research
  Whether research funding is targetable is one of the central unresolved questions of science policy. A particular question is how often research aimed at understanding one disease or problem spills over to others. This has been a perennial topic of debate at the world's largest single funding body of biomedical research, the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH). Critics of the agency's priority-setting process have repeatedly called for better alignment between funding and disease burden, and patient advocates for specific diseases for more funding for their causes. In response, opponents of planning have argued that research in one area frequently leads to advances in others. In this paper, we provide new evidence to inform these debates by examining the extent to which research funding (grants) in one scientific or disease area leads to research findings (publications) in another. We used the NIH's Research, Condition, and Disease Categorization (RCDC) to identify categories for NIH grants awarded between 2008 and 2016. We applied machine-learning to map text to these categories and use this model to categorize publications resulting from these grants. We categorized over 1.2 million publications, resulting from over 90,000 grants. We found that 70% of the publications have at least one RCDC category not in its grant, which we termed "unexpected" categories. On average, 40% of categories assigned to a publication were unexpected. After adjusting for similarity across some of the RCDC categories by empirically clustering the categories, we found 58% of the publications had at least one unexpected category and, on average, 33% of publication categories were unexpected. Our results suggest that disease-orientation and clinical research were less likely to be associated with spillovers. Grants resulting from targeted requests for applications were more likely to result in publications with unexpected categories, though the magnitude of the differences was relatively small.
• Knowledge spillovers from HIV research-funding
  HIV/AIDS has been a major focus for research funders. The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) alone has spent over $70bn on HIV/AIDS. Such investments ushered in antiviral drugs, helping to reverse a rapidly growing HIV/AIDS pandemic. However, the idea that research can deliver unexpected benefits beyond its targeted field, in fact, predates HIV/AIDS to at least Vannevar Bush's influential 1945 report. Cross-disease spillovers - research investments that yield benefits beyond the target disease - remains unexplored, even though it could inform both priority-setting and calculations of returns on research investments. To this end, we took a sample of NIH's HIV grants and examined their publications. We analyzed 118,493 publications and found that 62% of these were spillovers. We used Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms assigned to publications to explore the content of these spillovers, as well as to corroborate non-spillovers. We located spillovers on a network of MeSH co-occurrence, drawn from the broader universe of medical publications, for comparison. We found that HIV spillovers were unevenly distributed across disease-space, and often in close proximity to HIV, which, when discounted, reduced our spillovers estimate to 40%. We further reviewed 1,000 grant-publication pairs from a local sample and 1,000 pairs from a remote sample. For local spillovers, a quarter seemed to be unexpected, on the basis of on their grant description; for remote spillovers, that proportion increased to one third. We also found that the NIH funding institutes whose remits were most closely related to HIV/AIDS were less likely to produce spillovers than others. We discuss implications for theory and policy.
• How TikTok is Being Used to Talk About Abortion Post-Roe
  Objective: Access to information about abortion is essential for ensuring reproductive autonomy, particularly post-Roe. TikTok, a popular video-sharing application, may be a source of information about abortion, yet little is known about the tone and content of such videos. To analyze the most liked abortion videos on TikTok three months following the U.S. Supreme Court decision Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. Study Design: We downloaded the top 200 most liked TikTok videos when searching "abortion" and recorded key video characteristics. We then qualitatively analyzed for content, tone, and speaker type. Results: The top 200 videos were liked by more than 156 users, bookmarked nearly 12 million times, and averaged 42,000 comments each. Most videos were supportive of abortion and presented information that was political or personal in nature. Only two videos contained health information about obtaining or completing an abortion, and only five videos featured or were created by a medical provider. Conclusions: Findings reveal the broad reach of TikTok and the high degree of engagement, underscoring the importance of analyzing online sources of information about abortion. However, our analysis indicates that TikTok is a source of abortion news, political opinion, personal stories, and debate rather than a source of health information for abortion seekers.
• Review of "La main visible des marches. Une histoire critique du marketing" by Thibault Le Texier
  Review of "La main visible des marches. Une histoire critique du marketing" by Thibault Le Texier
• Review of "Welfare Theory, Public Action, and Ethical Values: Revisiting the History of Welfare Economics" edited by Roger E. Backhouse, Antoinette Baujard and Tamatsu Nishizawa
  Review of "Welfare Theory, Public Action, and Ethical Values: Revisiting the History of Welfare Economics" edited by Roger E. Backhouse, Antoinette Baujard and Tamatsu Nishizawa.
• Review of "Career and Family: Women's Century-Long Journey Toward Equity" by Claudia Goldin
  Review of "Career and Family: Women's Century-Long Journey Toward Equity" by Claudia Goldin
• Review of "Credit and Crisis from Marx to Minsky" by Jan Toporowski
  Review of "Credit and Crisis from Marx to Minsky" by Jan Toporowski.
• The Uneventful Reception of Mandeville's Ideas in the Eighteenth-Century Dutch Republic, or the Mysterious Case of the Missing Outrage
  The heated debates that Mandeville's work inspired in Britain, France and Germany are well?documented. No such account is available for the public reception of his ideas in his country of birth, the Dutch Republic. This paper seeks to fill that void. Remarkable enough, his ideas did not cause much of a stir. Consequently, the paper proceeds to explain the divergent pattern of response from the Dutch. It is argued that his ideas were either reverting back to disputes that had already been settled or were out of touch with the general climate of opinion in the Netherlands.
• Beyond Cheap and Biased: Informal Volunteering on Social Media during the COVID-19 Crisis
  The ability of informal social media networks to facilitate civic participation is a major topic of political and scholarly debate. Some studies find that digital networks support little, cheap, periodic and biased civic participation, while others find the opposite. We argue that many studies do not have the adequate point of comparison in order to determine the con- tribution of digital networks relative to other organizational forms, such as formal volunteering. Using an original population survey on volunteer- ing during the COVID crisis, we compare digital networks to other types of organizations in terms of the relative volume of participation, the type of participation, the persistence of the volunteer , and volunteers socio- economic and demographic characteristics. We find that digital networks contributed substantially in terms of volume, and the type of participation was not comparatively cheap. Yet, we find less persistence among digital volunteers compared to volunteers active in formal civil society organisa- tions(CSO). Lastly, we find that digital volunteers typically have shorter education compared to those who are active in formal CSOs. We end by discussing the implications of our results.
• An examination of current sociopolitical issues in the United States of America
  Scholars in various social science disciplines and journalists recording events have been and will likely be examining the second and third decades of the 21st century far into the future. This paper examines current United States' domestic issues but similar internal sociopolitical factors have occurred internationally. There has been a growing distrust of politicians, belief in conspiracy myths, inaccurate or false information. The erroneous claims of conservatives, along with their media supporters, versus the facts regarding the U.S. crime rate, illegal immigration , and the possible antecedents. Digital, cable TV, and other forms of communication prompted falsehoods with a good portion of the U.S. public accepting those claims are valid. The belief in conspiracy myths and false narratives can become part of an individual's worldview. Modifying a worldview, unlike correcting a mistaken belief, is a challenging task. On January 6, 2021 a mob had been incited to storm the U.S. Capital building. They believed the 2020 election was a fraud. The elected government about to be certified was illegitimate and that was not to happen. Violent bodily harm and destruction of property ensued. The individuals involved apparently did not consider the possible failure of their actions and its consequences. The factors and counterarguments that can influence people to accept or modify conspiracy myth beliefs and faulty claims are reviewed.
• What if you hate your boss? How journalists evaluate newsroom leaders
  This study considers an aspect of the work experience material to an individual employee's happiness--their relationship with their supervisor-- through the lens of expanding journalism studies scholarship on personal wellbeing. Considered through field theory, the present study reflects on interviews with U.S. journalists (n=36) on their relationship with their supervisor and their perceptions of what constitutes an effective leader in journalism. Journalists largely attributed great leadership to a strong rooting in journalistic doxa.
• The Politics-Administration Dichotomy: A Case Study of the Chilean Executive During the Democratic Post-Transition
  This article presents a case study of the Chilean executive, focusing on the civil service in the period after the Pinochet dictatorship and the country's transition to democracy. It provides synchronic and diachronic analysis of the organisation of the executive, public employment and the civil service. Both the qualitative description and statistical evidence reveal the establishment of a flexible regime of public employment with low levels of stability in senior public management positions.
• The Logical Framework Model and the Theory of Change: Bases for the Strategic Planning of Innovation with Social Impact, in a Mexican Public Research Center
  Purpose. A conceptual proposal model based on the Logical Framework Model and the Theory of Change for the social impact strategic planning of innovation in the Public Research Centers (CPIs) of the National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT), Mexico. Methodology. The study implied the context of the CPIs, with a bibliometric study of the Logical Framework and the Theory of Change in the second semester of 2022. Findings. As a theoretical contribution (Scientia), a conceptual proposal model, based on the Logical Framework Model and Theory of Change for the social impact strategic planning of innovation in the CPIs. As a practical contribution (Praxis), the conceptual proposal model relationship with the processes of a CPI that requiring clarity and speed for a highly changing environment. Originality. The research is valuable, original, and unprecedented for combining the Theoretical Framework and the Theory of Change that produce a social impact in a CPI. Conclusions and limitations. * Logical Framework Model and Theory of Change are possible to be included in CPI processes to achieve the social impact strategic planning of innovation. * The limitations are the knowledge and documentary interpretation of the processes of a CPI in social impact strategic planning of innovation. * Future studies propose to carry out a practical intervention that allows the validation of the study.
• Assessing the Evaluation: Biocultural Community Protocols, Inclusive and Prospective Circular Business Innovation in Mexico
  Purpose. A theoretical-argumentative approach is made on the importance of annexing in the biocultural community protocols (PCB), the realization of circular and inclusive business innovation (iNCI) in Mexico. Methodology. Literature on PCBs is reviewed, with methods for evaluating biological resources or traditional knowledge to protect, including social impact assessment methods to design and implement the iNCI based on technology-based enterprises or social impact startups (SIS). The strategic prospective is highlighted as a generator of business scenarios to carry them out. Findings. Proposal of functional conceptual model PCB-iNCI through a SIS. Originality. The possibility both of attracting investors to the community and vice versa to achieve mutual benefits.
• NOMOFOMO in the health of the Smartphone User for the New Normal: a contribution to the Social Media Health Interaction Theory
  Purpose. The paper is aimed to explain how the NOMOFOMO proposal framework, composed of social media innovations acceptance (SMA), "nomophobia" (NMF), and "fear of missing out" (FOM), interacts with smartphone health user repercussions (HRP), contributing to profile social media health interaction theory (SMT). Methodology. It is based on a literature review defining a final questionnaire survey to 431 smartphones users (Jun-Aug-2021) with PLS-SEM analysis. Results. SMA Socialization and Education dimensions, and HRP like pain and movement extremely slowly appearing face like upset or sad, anxiety and anger as central affections. Originality. The framework gathers four empirically proved separately constructs.
• Social Media Information Literacy vs. Fake News: Probing the Business Decisions under COVID-19 times as Innovation skills with fsQCA
  Purpose. This research aims to probe a framework explaining how the social media user professionals in digital marketing and e-business can use social media information literacy (SMIL) for business decisions under COVID-19 times as innovation skills to combat fake news narratives (FKN) to the next normal.Methodology. A literature review was done with Delphi-Focus Group and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) under academics and professionals' supervision as SMIL experts. The survey was on 400 young Mexican SMEs' digital marketing and e-business from Jul-Sep 2021. Findings and Originality. The original findings confirm a framework with five factors, nineteen variables, 71 items, and five paths as innovation skills. Originality. The fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) technique to discover relationships
• The Online Customer Decision-Making Styles as Marketing Innovation Strategies for the New Normal
  Purpose. This research contributed to the customer decision-making style (CDMS) theory in the online framework (eCDMS) to unravel new orientations and segmentation to generate marketing innovation strategies for the new normal firms. Methodology. It is based on a literature review designing a model and questionnaire applied to 400 Mexican online customers (May-Aug, 2021). The dataset is analyzed under Covariance-Based Structural Equation Modelling (CB-SEM), Cluster Analysis, and one-way-ANOVA multivariate methods. Findings and Originality. The obtention of an empirical model with 9 factors, 24 indicators as new online customer decision-making styles orientations (eCDMS orientation), being quality, brand, and customer experience the most relevant. Besides, we obtained four new online customer groups (eCDMS Segmentation) that we called: marketing followers, price searchers, convenience shoppers, ethics& reputation keepers. The originality is based on a framework proposal about the discussion of new online consumers after the COVID-19 pandemic as the first insights to conform to an online customer decision-making style (eCDMS) theory.
• Protection of Traditional Knowledge and its Resulting Innovation
  Purpose. This document aims to propose a reflection on how important it is for emerging countries to protect their traditional knowledge and the potential it must generate resulting innovation. Methodology. The mentioned above is based on defining what traditional knowledge is, the scope and limitations of the practice by the countries that recognize it, and its relationship with the concepts of the 2018 Oslo Manual (OECD, 2018) on innovation. Findings and originality. It is concluded that there is still work to be done since there are persistent problems such as the lack of schemes: regulatory protection, rapprochement of cultural and/or traditional issues as well as marketing, among others, for emerging countries, which, if achieved, will allow them to reflect it in the improvement of their economies.
• Could Donald Trump Be Legally Stopped from Running for President? An Analysis of Bar-to-Office Pleas and Probation Terms
  When politicians are charged with crimes, prosecutors sometimes insist that any plea deal include a stipulation that they refrain from running for office in the future, or else judges impose such a restriction as a term of probation. Known as bar-to-office provisions, this Article examines their use, legality, and arguments for and against them. The ongoing criminal case against Donald Trump is used as a vehicle to analyze bar-to-office provisions, though lessons drawn from the discussion apply to any politician being driven from office by a criminal proceeding.
• Cities v. Big Pharma: Municipal Affirmative Litigation and the Opioid Crisis
  The opioid crisis has been called the worst drug epidemic in American history. It has already killed thousands and scarred millions more. Over the last few years, there has been a rise in affirmative litigation by municipalities -- that is, proactive suits that seek to vindicate some public interest, not merely the municipality's corporate interests. This article examines the recent wave of lawsuits by cities and counties against the opioid industry. Municipalities face unique challenges in bringing suits. Relative to individual opioid users, municipalities face a complex task when attempting to prove injury and causation for their harms. And unlike states or nations, municipalities lack inherent authority to bring suits on behalf of their residents. The Article first explains the basics of municipal affirmative litigation, including its history, major cases, criticisms, and benefits. It then describes the origins of the opioid crisis and the pharma industry's complicity in exacerbating it. Next, it examines some of the major obstacles to municipal suits: standing, statutes of limitations, and preemption. Lastly, it describes the five theories most commonly employed in municipal affirmative litigation: (1) public nuisance, (2) Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), (3) negligence, (4) state consumer protection laws, and (5) unjust enrichment. For each theory, it considers potential drawbacks to employing the theory, analogies that may predict its viability, and past opioid cases where it has been tested.
• The Administrative Power: How State Courts Can Expand Access to Justice
  This Article examines the administrative powers of courts and the ways it can be used to expand access to justice. Administrative power, or rule-making power, is the power that state supreme courts have to regulate the lower courts, rules, practice and procedure, and the legal profession. Although they are often underutilized these powers have great potential to address the access to justice crisis throughout the nation. For virtually every area of law is touched by the administrative power of courts. The Article details the extent of the access to justice crisis, charts the history of administrative powers over time, and explores their benefits. It then proposes five solutions that state high courts should implement: (1) making courts more accommodating to self-represented parties, (2) opening up the justice system so that non-lawyers can play more meaningful roles in court, (3) using summary jury trials to reduce the costs of litigation for civil plaintiffs, (4) reforming pro bono so that more lawyers contribute to it, and (5) establishing and expanding funding mechanisms to pay for access to justice initiatives. In the end, the Article seeks not only to convince courts to adopt reforms, but to convince legal reformers that the rule-making powers of courts should be given as much attention as traditional litigation to advance reform.
• Living Arrangements and Housing Affordability Issues of Young Adults in Canada: Differences by Nativity Status
  Canada has witnessed a diversification of young adults' living arrangements. The percentage of young adults in nuclear families declined. Conversely, the percentage of young adults who live alone or with roommates increased. This diversification reflects growing inequalities in young adults' ability to transition into economic roles and access private safety nets. We document inequalities in young adults' risk of having unaffordable housing according to their living arrangements. Young adults who live solely with their children are most likely to have unaffordable housing. The opposite is true for those who live with their parents. Moreover, the protective effect of living with parents is smaller for the foreign-born than for the native-born. The National Housing Strategy in Canada should allocate considerable resources for the construction of affordable housing that can accommodate the diverse living arrangements of young adults.
• Territorial Patterns of Open E-Government: Evidence from Chilean Municipalities
  This article analyses the development of open e-government between 2019 and 2021 in Chile's 345 municipalities. We aggregated an e-government index (EGi) to measure the provision of local digital services for citizens. We then combined this with indicators of transparency and access to public information to create an open e-government index (OEGi). Our empirical strategy is based on geospatial econometric analysis in two stages: first, we describe and georeference our index, estimating the level of spatial autocorrelation and then fit different econometric models to measure the impact of the degree of Internet use, socioeconomic dynamism and management capacity on the municipalities' development of open e-government. Our main findings indicate that monetary poverty has a negative effect on the index, while the municipal government's budget has a positive effect.
• Leitura publica e a possibilidade de modos publicos e comuns para a provisao e fruicao dos bens culturais
  Public and public access libraries are organized for the provision of a differentiated set of reading goods. They declare to be open institutions for the use of the public. We address the characteristics of the provision and uses of goods in public libraries, referring to the complexity of these characteristics. The theme of library economics and public reading needs to be deepened to build reflection and proposal on public policies of culture, including policies of public reading. We advance the need to understand some lines of economic thought about reading goods, the market, and valuation, sharing and enjoyment of cultural goods. We focus on the economy of public reading in Portugal and the provision of services and goods that propitiate their shared and/or common usage, while acknowledging that there may similarities with other locations and other areas of culture. We reflect on the current relevance of public policies for reading in libraries and on the need to think about public and common modes of provision of cultural goods and services
• Neighborhood Structure and Environmental Quality: A fine-grained analysis of spatial inequalities in urban Germany
  Urban environments are characterized by sparsity of space, elevated levels of air pollution, and limited exposure to natural environments. Yet, residential environmental quality varies substantially both between and within urban areas. This study combines information on the socioeconomic and -demographic composition of 186,000 neighborhoods with administrative and remote sensing data on the spatial distribution of industrial plants and urban green space to investigate patterns of environmental inequality in urban Germany at unprecedented levels of spatial granularity. It disentangles neighborhood disadvantages experienced by non-nationals from those eperienced by low-income households in order to assess the plausibility of economic explanations of residential sorting. The high level of spatial granularity makes it possible to examine patterns of environmental inequality not only between the relatively large areas that have been used as units of analysis in previous work but also within them, while reducing the threat of ecological bias. Results indicate that German non-nationals are more likely to be exposed to industrial air pollution and less likely to live close to green spaces. This association holds even after adjusting for neighborhood income composition and in fixed-effects specifications that restrict the analysis to within-city variation. I find no evidence for environmental inequality by socioeconomic position. Exploratory sub-sample analyses suggest that neighborhood disadvantages for non-nationals are higher in cities with higher right-wing vote shares.
• In Defence of the Kalam Cosmological Argument for the Existence of God.
  This paper will offer a defence of the Kalam cosmological argument for the existence of God, originally proposed by al-Ghazali (c.1056-1111), and reiterated and defended in our own time by W.L. Craig, together with a robust defence of its necessary concomitant, causal finitism, arguing that time and space must be finite. It will also argue that attempts to combine the Kalam argument with the teleological one, whether in its 'fine-tuning' or design forms, fail. It will conclude that creation was not ex nihilo, but from the infinite substance of God.
• The stricter the better? The impact of early teacher grading standards on students' competences development and academic track enrollment
  Despite the growing attention on teachers' grading practices in educational research, less attention has been dedicated to the consequences of teachers' grading standards on students' educational outcomes, especially in early stages of their scholastic career. This paper aims at filling this gap, analyzing the impact of teacher's severity in grading on students' competences development and academic track enrollment, and how it varies according to students' gender, socio-economic background and immigrant status. The analysis relies on Italian INVALSI-SNV data: information on 5th graders and their teachers are linked, and pupils are followed up to 8th and 10th grade, in which their competences and school track are recorded. Trough 2SLS regressions we demonstrate that being exposed to stricter grading in 5th grade leads to higher students' competences later on, and to higher probability to enroll in the most prestigious academic track, with no notable heterogeneous effects across students with different sociodemographic characteristics.
• Hunter-gatherer Population Expansion and Intensification: Malthusian and Boserupian Dynamics
  Despite years of debate, the factors that control the long-term carrying capacity of human populations are not well understood. In this paper, we assess the effect of changes in resource extraction and climate driven changes in ecosystem productivity on the carrying capacity of hunter-gatherer populations in a terrestrial and coastal ecosystem. To make this assessment, we build time-series estimates of changes in resource extraction via human stable isotopes and ecosystem productivity via paleoclimate models and geomorphic records of flood events. These estimates of resource extraction and ecosystem productivity allow us to assess a complex model of population expansion that proposes linked changes between population density, resource extraction, and intensification. We find that changes in resource extraction had a larger effect on carrying capacity in both the terrestrial and coastal ecosystems than climate drivers of ecosystem productivity. Our results are consistent with the idea that both Malthusian limits on resources and Boserupian pressures to reorganize economic systems operate in hunter-gatherer populations over the long-term. Our data and analysis contribute to evaluating complex models of population growth and subsistence change across archaeological cases.
• Global inequalities in common mental disorders: Understanding the predictors of lifetime prevalence, treatment utilisation and perceived helpfulness across 111 countries
  Background Socio-economic inequalities in common mental disorders (CMDs) such as lifetime prevalence, treatment utilisation, and perceived treatment helpfulness have been documented in various settings. However, whether these inequalities are present globally (in both HICs and LMICs) and what factors explain between-country variation is unclear because of inadequate cross-national data. We therefore examine this question using a recently published global, individual-level survey data. Methods This study uses a nationally representative individual-level survey dataset (Wellcome Global Monitor 2020), in 111 countries (N= 117,088) to test if socio-economic factors (household income quintile, education), psycho-social factors (local stigma perception, trust in health professionals) and country-level factors (GDP, Gini, health expenditure) predict (1) CMD lifetime prevalence, (2) utilisation and (3) perceived helpfulness of talking to a mental health professional and taking prescribed medication. Multi-level logistic regression models were used. Findings Across both HICs and LMICs, individuals in higher household quintiles are less likely to experience anxiety or depression (OR=0.90 for each increase in income quintile, 95% CI[0.89-0.91]), more likely to talk to a mental health professional (OR=1.05[1.03-1.07]) and more likely to perceive this treatment as 'very helpful' (OR=1.06[1.03-1.09]). Income is not, however, linked to utilisation (OR=0.98[0.97-1.01]) and helpfulness of taking prescribed medication (OR=1.02[0.99-1.05]). Perceived stigma reduces mental health professional utilisation (OR=0.93[0.90-0.97]) and helpfulness (OR=0.76[0.72-0.81]), while trust in health practitioners increases both utilisation (OR=1.10[1.06-1.14]) and helpfulness (OR=1.32[1.24-1.40]). Country-level health expenditure is related to higher mental health professional utilisation (OR=1.11[1.04-1.19]. Interpretation This analysis reveals a global 'triple inequality effect', whereby the disadvantages of lower SES individuals persist in each outcome (lifetime prevalence, treatment utilisation and helpfulness). But these inequalities are moderated by background factors such as stigma and trust in health professionals, and depend on the type of treatment. These findings suggest that addressing inequalities in CMDs cannot focus on only one of these inequalities alone nor can efforts ignore the social context in which they are embedded.
• Understanding the social and political dimensions of research(er) assessment: Interpretative flexibility and hidden criteria
  Debates about appropriate, fair and effective ways of assessing research and researchers have raged through the scientific community for decades, recently mostly concerned with discussing the merits and limitations of metric-based, quantitative assessments versus peer review-based, qualitative alternatives. Ample attention has been paid to formal assessment criteria, building to a consensus that less emphasis should be placed on quantification, while supporting open and diverse sets of criteria. Yet the theory and evidence upon which such policy reform depends is still surprisingly sparse. Based on qualitative free-text responses from 121 respondents gathered during an international survey of active researchers, this study examines how criteria are applied in practice and how those being assessed perceive informal criteria to determine the outcomes of assessments. While confirming the general critique on over-emphasising quantification, respondents particularly identify a mismatch between formal criteria and actual evaluation practices. Hidden criteria, including social, political, and demographic factors, are perceived important, especially in intransparent assessment procedures, opening up for assessors' interpretative flexibility. This adds to ongoing discussions on the performativity of assessment criteria and lays bare a tension between the rigidity and flexibility of criteria and the extent to which these can be transparently communicated.