Alternative Policies Research Articles

Money backfires: How Chinese investment fuels anti-China protests abroad

China has been expanding its global economic presence through foreign direct investment, foreign aid, and trade. China’s growing economic influence, however, is inviting worries and suspicion in many countries, leading to the rise of anti-China protests. How and when does China’s economic expansion promote anti-China protests? We explore this question by examining the effect of Chinese FDI on the rise of anti-China protests across 127 countries. First, we argue that Chinese FDI promotes anti-China protests, but the effects are contingent on the level of political competition. We find that the effect of Chinese FDI on anti-China protests is particularly stronger in countries where citizens have limited institutional routes to express their grievances and pursue policy alternatives through political competition. Second, we find that the pattern of increasing anti-China protests does not appear in the context of Chinese foreign aid or trade with China. The finding that Chinese FDI backfires and incites anti-China protests has profound implications for our understanding of China’s global economic influence and its limits.

The role of economies of scale and efficiency in food shopping and management routines in reducing household food waste: the Italian case

ABSTRACT Household food waste (HFW) represents a challenge which needs to be halved in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. Addressing food waste at households level is strategic to achieving these goals. Hence, to provide a deep understanding of this phenomenon we identify a monetary function of food waste per capita with an original theoretical model of household utility maximization, which introduces three sources of economies of scale and a measure of efficiency in food shopping and management routines. Subsequently, we estimate this function using two-stage least squares on primary data collected through an online survey conducted in Italy with a sample of 1,076 consumers responsible for household food shopping. The findings confirm that economies of scale and efficiency in food shopping and management routines reduce HFW. Insights are provided into the potential effectiveness of policy alternatives in reducing HFW and, consequently, making progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.

Effects of private health insurance on waiting time in public hospitals.

The Australian government pays $6.7 billion per year in rebates to encourage Australians to purchase private health insurance (PHI) and an additional $6.1 billion to cover services provided in private hospitals. What is the justification for large government subsidies to a private industry when all Australians already have free coverage under Medicare? The government argues that more people buying PHI will relieve the burden on the public system and may reduce waiting times. However, the evidence supporting this is sparse. We use an instrumental variable approach to study the causal effects of higher PHI coverage in the area on waiting times in public hospitals in the same area. The instrument used is area-level average house prices, which correlate with average income and wealth, thus influencing the purchase of PHI due to tax incentives, but not directly affecting waiting times in public hospitals. We use 2014-2018 hospital admission and elective surgery waiting list data linked at the patient level from the Victorian Center for Data Linkage. These data cover all inpatient admissions in all hospitals in Victoria (both public and private hospitals) and those registered on the waiting list for elective surgeries in public hospitals in Victoria. We find that one percentage point increase in PHI coverage leads to about 0.34days (or 0.5%) reduction in waiting times in public hospitals on average. The effects vary by surgical specialities and age groups. However, the practical significance of this effect is limited, if not negligible, despite its statistical significance. The small effect suggests that raising PHI coverage with the aim to taking the pressure off the public system is not an effective strategy in reducing waiting times in public hospitals. Alternative policies aiming at improving the efficiency of public hospitals and advancing equitable access to care should be a priority for policymakers.

The Russia-Ukraine frozen conflict: Evidence from an expert survey

Many ask whether the war between Ukraine and Russia will turn into a frozen conflict, but the frozen conflict has existed since 2014. To improve the understanding of this conflict, we combined existing frozen conflict research with an original expert survey. Our main findings are that the conflict is driven by both the political issue of Ukraine’s alignment with the West and the territorial status of Crimea, Donetsk, and Luhansk; that achieving stable peace hinges on an improbable scale of Ukrainian military victory; and that the alternative Western policies were unlikely to deter the invasion, raising concerns for the future resolution of conflict.

Alternative policy narratives of the future of climate change: Analyzing Finland's energy and climate strategy and news reports

AbstractIn this article, we examine the ways in which the futures of climate change and the climate change policy process are constructed as narratives—both explicitly and implicitly—in two different yet interconnected contexts that shape public climate discourse and debate: foresight‐based political decision‐making and journalism. The featured case is the National Energy and Climate Strategy of Finland for 2030. We employ and expand the Narrative Policy Framework to better understand the co‐existent, implicit narratives of the future in the contexts of policy and media. We construct two co‐existing yet contradictory underlying narratives of the future of climate change and climate policy. Our approach reveals that the prevailing master narrative of a desirable future is challenged by a co‐existing counter narrative where policies in the energy and climate strategy prioritize shorter‐term policy interests over climate change. Building on these findings, we argue that, in climate policy communication, communicators convey futures through narratives—both explicitly, as descriptions of what is perceived, hoped, and anticipated to happen, and implicitly, as the sum of the parts included and excluded.

Negotiating the public: re-municipalization, water politics and social reproduction

ABSTRACT In the context of the global wave of privatization of local public services, re-municipalization has emerged as a viable policy alternative, broadly understood as the return to public management. The paper examines its transformative potential by analysing what ‘public’ means in practice with a particular focus on governance and decision-making. To do so, the paper investigates the re-municipalization of urban water services in Naples (Italy) and Paris (France) by utilizing qualitative methods. Through a critical political economy approach, informed by social reproduction theory and political ecology, I argue that re-municipalization should be seen as a process that different social forces continuously try to shape. The findings not only contribute to the specific literature on water services, but also to that on re-municipalization, within the debate about public versus private provision. More broadly, the research enhances the understanding of water through the lenses of critical political economy.

Avoiding the blame game: NGOs and government narrative strategies in landscape fire policy debates in Russia

AbstractTo what extent can nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) communicate policy problems in an authoritarian country, and how limited are they in narrating policy alternatives? This article seeks to develop studies on the application of the Narrative Policy Framework (NPF) in Russia, extend our knowledge about the use of narrative strategies in centralized and authoritarian policy processes, highlight certain methodological peculiarities related to the devil–angel shift calculation, and test causal mechanism hypotheses that have not previously been applied to the analysis of policy debates in Russia. The study examines hypotheses based on the narrative strategies (devil–angel shift, scope of conflict, and causal mechanisms) that were used by government and NGO coalitions in the debate about “landscape fire” policies in Russia over the period 2019–2021. The results show that the differences between the coalition's narrative strategies were not as significant as had been shown previously. The government coalition uses a strong angel shift in its narratives and avoids conflict expansion. The NGO coalition demonstrates a moderate angel shift, but with the use of conflict expansion in parts of the narratives. Both coalitions use the intentional or inadvertent causal mechanism blaming the citizens for starting the fires, but differ in employing causal mechanisms when discussing the large scale of landscape fires.

Mainstreaming immigrant integration in Labour Market Support: policy index and alternative policy frameworks

ABSTRACT In many Western European countries, governments have increasingly accepted the strategies of enhancing equality between immigrants and EU nationals in major policy domains. One of the latest trends in integration policy framework is mainstreaming – the practice of bringing the needs and priorities of vulnerable groups such as immigrants to the centre of attention in more generic policies (e.g. employment support, education) as opposed to responding to the specific concerns of these groups through separate policy interventions. To examine and categorise the scope of mainstreaming and the level of access to mainstreamed policies for various groups of immigrants, I develop a Policy Index of Mainstreaming in Labour Market Support that covers data from 2006 to 2016 across 25 EU/EEA countries. The paper explores the policy patterns revealed by the Index. It argues that while mainstreaming as a theory challenges existing integration approaches, differences in political ideology do not necessarily lead to radical institutional change. This finding contributes to the historical-institutionalist argument on policy compatibility through institutional change mechanisms.

NCLB Alternate Assessment Policies and Postschool Employment Outcomes for Individuals With Significant Cognitive Disabilities.

The participation of students with significant cognitive disabilities in accountability assessments aligned with general education standards is a heavily debated topic in the field of special education. Attempts to understand the impact of these assessments have generally been limited to correlational methods. We employed a difference-in-differences approach using select waves of the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 dataset to estimate the impact of alternate assessment policies from the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 on the employment outcomes of individuals with significant cognitive disabilities. Our hypothesis was that these policies would produce a detrimental effect. Analyses suggested that alternate assessment policies resulted in descriptively positive employment outcomes, yet estimates were highly imprecise, which yields a complicated picture requiring more research.

An evaluation of the impact of mitigation policies on health and the economy by managing social distancing during outbreaks

The COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated various unavoidable social restrictions, leading to questions about the effectiveness of public emergency interventions and their impact economic growth. Block et al. (2020) conducted a notably study using an agent-based model to evaluate policies for reducing contact and demonstrated how choices in contact behavior can influence the rate and spread of the virus. However, their approach did not consider the economic consequences of these social restrictions. In response, we propose a set of strategies for governments to plan and evaluate policies during emergencies, aiming to contain infections while minimizing negative economic consequences. Our results indicate that there is no trade-off between containment strategies and economic output loss, making containment measures necessary policy instruments. However, potential trade-offs do emerge when selecting the most effective strategy. In this context, we propose and evaluate various policy alternatives to extreme "social distancing" measures, which can partially restore essential social interactions while preventing economic disasters induced by productivity losses.

Strategic capital taxation, tradable emission permits and global pollution

AbstractThe paper considers a two‐country model with international capital mobility and production‐generated cross‐border pollution. It examines the effectiveness of alternative policy combinations consisting of capital taxes and nationally or internationally tradable emissions permits in reducing global pollution. The internationally mobile capital is taxed according to three different rules, namely, capital tax exemptions, capital tax credits and capital tax deductions. Our key result is that, under certain conditions, the lowest Nash equilibrium level of global pollution is achieved with a policy mix combining either capital tax exemptions or capital tax credits with internationally, rather than nationally, tradable emission permits.

Eğitim Siyasasının Yapılandırılması Formülasyonunda Karar Verme (Decision-Making) Modelleri

Abstract The decision-making process in education policy making begins with the raising of an education-related problem, which is often the first step towards the legislative process. In this regard, the decision-making process focuses on how the proposals included in the policy agenda will be implemented and with what strategies they can be implemented. Again, qualified information obtained from the policy analysis department can directly affect decision-making mechanisms. However, it is decided by adding cultural, social, economic and other dynamics of society in order to decide on the policy alternative that will be included in the policy agenda. There are basically several different approaches and models for the realization of the decision-making function. The first of these is the rational model, the other is the Deconstructive model, and finally the mixed models that provide a compromise between these two. As a result of the formulation phase in the education policy process within this framework, a set of laws or rules may not always be formed. In some cases, legislators and decision makers may not consider the formulated considerations appropriate. Any formulated issue can be delayed by spreading over time and can be suspended due to different situations. Therefore, the solutions formulated for the solution of any problem do not mean that the problem has been completely solved. In some cases, the general managerial will may not consider problems that are formulated very effectively appropriate for different and dysfunctional reasons. This is an indication that even if the problem is very important and is very important by different groups, it may fall off the agenda over time. Key Words: Education Policy, Structuring Formulation, Decision-Making Models

Prices versus quantities in forest regulation

We revisit an unanswered and yet critical question in forest policy design: does a price or quantity instrument achieve a better social outcome when the government does not have perfect information. This is a common question in environmental regulation, but in the forest policy literature an equivalence between these instruments has historically been presented, albeit under perfect information. In the forestry case one might be tempted to simply defer to Weitzman (1974), who derived rules for prices versus quantity policy choices when either marginal abatement costs or marginal benefits of polluting emissions are unknown to the policy maker. These rules may not be transferrable to the forestry problem, however. We develop a framework of marginal costs and benefits based on a standard rotation model, showing that uncertainty leads to (very) different results than in the emissions literature. For example, we find that the slopes of marginal costs and benefits and the difference between the expected values of uncertain parameters and their realizations matter differently for the forest policy case. We also find that symmetric over- and under-estimation around true parameter values can result in asymmetric changes in marginal cost curves. Most importantly, we find that even the size of this difference now matters to the price versus quantity policy choice. Our results both draw into question whether Weitzman rules simply apply to forest resources, and they suggest that our new approach should be used for evaluating alternative forestry policies to achieve public goods goals.

The cekungan bandung urban area management policy formulation

This research aims to explain the management of the Cekungan Bandung Urban Area with a focus on three policy formulations, namely process, content and context in the social, environmental and economic dimensions. The research method used is a qualitative approach. Data collection techniques include observation and interviews with stakeholders, using purposive sampling techniques, including the Head of West Java Province Regional Development Planning Agency, district/city Bappeda heads, planners (Badan Perencanaan Dan Pembangunan Daerah, Bappeda), Regional People`s Representative Assembly (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat Daerah, DPRD members), Legal Bureau and Collaboration Bureau Heads in West Java Province, and Academic Manuscript Compiler. Due to the absence of comfortable, safe, and punctual public transportation, people continue to use private vehicles, leading to unresolved traffic congestion and environmental pollution, thus resulting in economic losses. The results show the formulation of policies for managing the urban area of the Cekungan Bandung, specifically the establishment of BP Cek ban, faced challenges due to a lack of authority in managing financial and human resources. The agency couldn’t execute programs or activities and implement the development due to limitations in legal authority over state finances. Alternative policies were not effectively synchronized between government levels and lacked legislative support, hindered by regional autonomy. The contribution of the research is as reference material for the government in formulating management policies for the Cekubgan Bandung urban area.

Dimensional traps in evasion models and their effects on industrial structure

Size-dependent firms’ monitoring by the state leads to sub-optimal results in terms of combating evasion and efficient allocation of investment by firms. While Coppier, Michetti and Scaccia (2022) describe how such a policy can be a source of dimensional trap in a single-firm evasion model, the present paper moves to a heterogeneous context, considering industrial structures composed of many firms with different sizes. We then propose a discrete-time nondeterministic dynamic model to describe the consequences of size-dependent policies and potential dimensional traps on industrial structure and its evolution over time. We show that an unwise choice of policy parameters may determine a long-run equilibrium industrial structure characterized by a small number of large firms and a plethora of small firms, with the latter being marked by inefficient resource allocation and noncompliant behavior with regard to tax regulations. These results are robust to different choices of the initial industrial structure suggesting alternative policy indications.

Framing active school travel in Ontario, or how spinach is good for you

Active school travel (AST) is promoted in many jurisdictions, including Ontario, Canada, where there is provincial support for school travel planning (STP) efforts. Two pillars of school travel plans in the province are education and encouragement. For these pillars to stand, relevant stakeholders must be cognizant of and understand the issues and stakes. For this reason, we deem it important to understand how AST is communicated. In this research we adopt framing analysis to investigate the ways in which various organizations communicate to the public around AST. A frame is a central organizing idea or story line that provides meaning to a particular phenomenon, and thus helps to set the parameters for conversations about policy. In the case of AST, framing can influence what policy alternatives are perceived as available by children, parents, and their wider communities. The research is supported by natural language processing techniques applied to publicly available documents from Ontario stakeholders involved in school travel planning. We then compare the findings from these documents to a selection of academic studies on AST. We conclude that framing of AST in Ontario is mostly empirical-scientific in style, and largely in agreement with academic research on AST. However, it is essentially conservative and does not challenge the status quo of motorized travel. Furthermore, the frames tend to download responsibility for change to households, which limits the scope of policy alternatives by keeping collective action out of the frame.

Regulatory incentives for transmission system operators under flow-based market coupling

Flow-based market coupling is a critical element of the electricity market in Europe. Transmission System Operators determine the commercial transmission capacity that can be implicitly traded in a zonal day-ahead market. However, this entails a trade-off: higher commercial transmission capacities increase market efficiency, affecting the electricity market prices, but also increase redispatch costs, affecting the network tariff. The decision on the commercial transmission capacity should optimally balance day-ahead welfare and redispatch costs, but depends on the rules and regulated incentives enforced on the TSOs. A MinRAM criterion, i.e., imposing minima for the commercial transmission capacity, is a one-size-fits-all policy without variation in time and space that unlikely leads to optimal transmission capacity allocation and is hard to tune because regulators have incomplete information. Incentive regulation is an alternative policy instrument promoting welfare-maximizing commercial transmission capacities, robust against information asymmetry. We provide a set of mathematical conditions to properly design an incentive scheme that rewards price convergence and penalizes excessive redispatch costs. Therefore, this paper serves as a stepping stone towards tapping the full potential of cross-border trade in zonal markets for policymakers, regulators, TSOs and market participants.

Analisis Kebijakan Pendidikan Dalam Meningkatkan Budaya Mutu Di SD IT Tafizil Qur'an Yayasan Islamic Center Sumatera Utara (YIC-SU)

Education policy analysis in improving quality culture through a process of predetermined stages to formulate problems that nanitnya bring up alternative policies as problem solving and improve the quality of education. The purpose of this study was to analyse the application of educational policy analysis in improving quality culture at SD - IT Tafizil Qur'an Yayasan Islamic Center North Sumatra (YIC-SU). This research method uses qualitative research using primary and secondary data collection techniques. Data sources include interviews, observation and documentation. The results of this study indicate that SD - IT Tafizil Qur'an (YIC-SU) in conducting educational policy analysis to improve quality culture by conducting several stages, namely 1). Problem formulation, 2). Policy agenda and formulation of policy alternatives, 3). Policy determination. The results obtained by SD - IT Tafizil Qur'an (YIC-SU) can build a good and sustainable quality culture so that it continues to be a school that is in great demand.

Evaluating Policies of Expanding Versus Restricting First-Line Treatment Choices: A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis Framework

ObjectivesHealthcare payers often implement coverage policies that restrict the utilization of costly new first-line treatments. Cost-effectiveness analysis can be conducted to inform these decisions by comparing the new treatment with an existing one. However, this approach may overlook important factors such as treatment effect heterogeneity and endogenous treatment selection, policy implementation costs, and diverse patient preferences across multiple treatment options. We aimed to develop a cost-effectiveness analysis framework that considers these real-world factors, facilitating the evaluation of alternative policies related to expanding or restricting first-line treatment choices. MethodsWe introduced a metric of incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) that compares an expanded choice set (CS) including the new first-line treatment with a restricted CS excluding the new treatment. ICER(CS) accounts for treatment selection influenced by heterogeneous treatment effects and policy implementation costs. We examined a basic scenario with 2 standard first-line treatment choices and a more realistic scenario involving diverse preferences toward multiple choices. To illustrate the framework, we conducted a retrospective evaluation of including versus excluding abiraterone acetate plus prednisone (AAP) (androgen deprivation therapy [ADT] + AAP) as a first-line treatment for metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer. ResultsThe traditional ICERs for ADT + AAP versus ADT alone and ADT+ docetaxel were $104 269 and $206 324/quality-adjusted life-year, respectively. The ICER(CS) for comparing an expanded CS with ADT + AAP with a restricted CS without ADT + AAP was $123 179/quality-adjusted life-year. ConclusionsThe proposed framework provides decision makers with policy-relevant tools, enabling them to assess the cost-effectiveness of alternative policies of expanding versus restricting patients’ and physicians’ first-line treatment choices.

Analysis of cotton production and price relationship by Koyck model: a case study for Azerbaijan

Objective: The objective of this study was to examine the production quantity-price relationship in cotton production in Azerbaijan with the data of the period 1995-2022. 
 Materials and Methods: In this study, the data obtained from FAOSTAT and the State Statistics Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan were analyzed. Koyck model was used to analyze the relationship between cotton production and price in Azerbaijan.
 Results: It was determined that the time required for the change in cotton prices to cause a significant and perceptible effect on cotton production is 2,86 years according to the average number of lags. A one-unit increase in cotton prices increases production by 2,524 tons, while a one-unit change in prices in the previous period increases cotton production by 1,870 tons.
 Conclusion: In order to sustain and increase cotton production in Azerbaijan and to create international competition opportunities, it is necessary to closely follow the developments in the production of this product and develop alternative strategies and policies.