Restrictiveness Index Research Articles

Racial/ethnic and educational inequities in restrictive abortion policy variation and adverse birth outcomes in the United States

BackgroundTo examine racial/ethnic and educational inequities in the relationship between state-level restrictive abortion policies and adverse birth outcomes from 2005 to 2015 in the United States.MethodsUsing a state-level abortion restrictiveness index comprised of 18 restrictive abortion policies, we conducted a retrospective longitudinal analysis examining whether race/ethnicity and education level moderated the relationship between the restrictiveness index and individual-level probabilities of preterm birth (PTB) and low birthweight (LBW). Data were obtained from the 2005–2015 National Center for Health Statistics Period Linked Live Birth-Infant Death Files and analyzed with linear probability models adjusted for individual- and state-level characteristics and state and year fixed-effects.ResultsAmong 2,250,000 live births, 269,253 (12.0%) were PTBs and 182,960 (8.1%) were LBW. On average, states had approximately seven restrictive abortion policies enacted from 2005 to 2015. Black individuals experienced increased probability of PTB with additional exposure to restrictive abortion policies compared to non-Black individuals. Similarly, those with less than a college degree experienced increased probability of LBW with additional exposure to restrictive abortion policies compared to college graduates. For all analyses, inequities worsened as state environments grew increasingly restrictive.ConclusionFindings demonstrate that Black individuals at all educational levels and those with fewer years of education disproportionately experienced adverse birth outcomes associated with restrictive abortion policies. Restrictive abortion policies may compound existing racial/ethnic, socioeconomic, and intersecting racial/ethnic and socioeconomic perinatal and infant health inequities.

Trade restrictiveness indexes and welfare: A structural approach

AbstractTrade restrictiveness indexes (TRIs) have become a staple for practitioners and policy‐makers to summarize international trade barriers. TRIs theoretically found a measure of trade restrictiveness by calculating the uniform tariff that is welfare equivalent to the observed distribution of applied tariffs within a country. Here we incorporate importer market power and exporter heterogeneity into calculations of TRIs and welfare globally. To do so, we structurally estimate a quantitative model of international trade. The structure of the model allows tractable estimation of importer and exporter welfare and TRIs for every country in the world from 1990 to 2007. Canonical estimates, which ignore exporter heterogeneity and importer market power, are shown to overstate efficiency losses from tariffs by a factor of 5 for the average importer. Additionally, by not accounting for importer market power canonical methods fail to measure substantial welfare losses to exporters that are captured by importers through tariffs. These channels are shown to significantly impact the measurement and interpretation of TRIs. To conclude, we employ the methodology to evaluate China's WTO accession and a counterfactual renegotiation of NAFTA.

On the sensitivity of trade costs to services trade restrictions†

AbstractServices constitute a significant part of GDP and overall trade in modern economies, but little is known about the magnitude of its obstacles. Great effort has been made to establish measures of services trade frictions on the part of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the World Bank. A customary way of using these measures is to employ them in log‐linear regressions to gauge their effect on services trade flows. This may be problematic to the extent that these measures do not capture ad valorem (tariff type price increasing) trade costs. Hence, it is natural to believe that available services trade cost measures may have a nonlinear impact on services trade flows. The present paper documents that this is the case, using nonparametric estimates to quantify the direct impact of important trade cost measures captured by the Services Trade Restrictiveness Index of the OECD on cross‐border services transaction costs and trade.

Optimum breeding strategies using genomic and phenotypic selection for the simultaneous improvement of two traits

Key message A breeding strategy combining genomic with one-stage phenotypic selection maximizes annual selection gain for net merit. Choice of the selection index strongly affects the selection gain expected in individual traits.Selection indices using genomic information have been proposed in crop-specific scenarios. Routine use of genomic selection (GS) for simultaneous improvement of multiple traits requires information about the impact of the available economic and logistic resources and genetic properties (variances, trait correlations, and prediction accuracies) of the breeding population on the expected selection gain. We extended the R package “selectiongain” from single trait to index selection to optimize and compare breeding strategies for simultaneous improvement of two traits. We focused on the expected annual selection gain (ΔGa) for traits differing in their genetic correlation, economic weights, variance components, and prediction accuracies of GS. For all scenarios considered, breeding strategy GSrapid (one-stage GS followed by one-stage phenotypic selection) achieved higher ΔGa than classical two-stage phenotypic selection, regardless of the index chosen to combine the two traits and the prediction accuracy of GS. The Smith–Hazel or base index delivered higher ΔGa for net merit and individual traits compared to selection by independent culling levels, whereas the restricted index led to lower ΔGa in net merit and divergent results for selection gain of individual traits. The differences among the indices depended strongly on the correlation of traits, their variance components, and economic weights, underpinning the importance of choosing the selection indices according to the goal of the breeding program. We demonstrate our theoretical derivations and extensions of the R package “selectiongain” with an example from hybrid wheat by designing indices to simultaneously improve grain yield and grain protein content or sedimentation volume.

Passive Energy-Saving Optimal Design for Rural Residences of Hanzhong Region in Northwest China Based on Performance Simulation and Optimization Algorithm

The rural residences of Northwest China are characterized by a state of high energy consumption and low comfort due to the limited economic level and awareness of energy-saving compared with the urban residences. To remedy this, appropriate passive design strategies should be adopted first, in order to provide a design mode with low energy consumption and low cost for rural residences under the premise of thermal comfort. In this paper, taking Hanzhong region (Shaanxi Province, China) as an example, we establish a benchmark model based on a field survey and develop an optimization process by combining EnergyPlus simulation software, the MOBO optimization engine, and weighted sum method. The action mechanisms of passive design parameters, including the building orientation, length–width ratio, building envelope parameters, external shading system, and window–wall ratio, on heating, cooling, and total energy consumption are analyzed, and the quantitative relationships between single-parameter and energy consumption are established. Then, the mutually restricted indices of total energy consumption and initial investment cost are taken as optimization objectives, and 17 design parameters are selected as the optimization variables. The NSGA-II algorithm is adopted to conduct the multi-parameter, multi-objective optimization design for rural houses in Hanzhong area, through coupling of the EnergyPlus and MOBO software. In this way, Pareto solutions are obtained and the value distributions of the multi-objectives and design parameters are analyzed. Based on the actual requirements of decision-makers and using the weight method, three design schemes focusing on different performance tendencies are proposed. The results indicate that by using the proposed optimization process, the building energy consumption can be significantly reduced while taking initial investment costs into account, where the energy-saving rate is in the range of 31.9–61.5%. When the EC/IC ratio is 1:1, 2:1, and 1:2, the energy-saving rate can reach 51.5%, 57.8%, and 43.5%, respectively. It can provide a beneficial pattern for the energy-saving design and renovation of rural residences in Hanzhong area of China.

Digital Trade Enablers and Barriers in the European Union

The purpose of this paper is to research the indicators of digital development in the EU that are preconditions for development of digital trade and also to confront them with the barriers for cross-border digital trade. Thy hypothesis is that countries differ in the digital society development that can be burden in their participation in digital trade activities. The preconditions are measured by comparing indicators/indexes that regards the e-commerce and/or to digital trade (i.e. B2C e-commerce index;Network readiness index, internet users, etc.) while the barriers are measured by Digital trade restrictiveness index and Digital Services Trade Restrictiveness Index. The analysis is focused to EU member states which are divided on two groups: EU14 (EU-15 - UK) and EU13 (new member states). The main findings indicate the EU member states are very heterogeneous due to the ICT development, and also, unexpectedly, some of the EU members put high restrictions for carrying out digital trade. The Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Germany are the best performers in digital society development. At the same time, France and Germany are the most restrictive EU members. For the efficient exploitation of the ICT in conducting the trade activities, the EU should overcome the differences in regulatory framework of the member states but also it should: promote the investments in adequate infrastructure and skills and help businesses to be present on the digital platforms.

Concentration of Urban Violence in Fortaleza and Strategies for Crime Prevention

Despite the continued prevalence of violence in Latin America, there is a relative dearth of research investigating both spatial patterns of violent crimes and the effectiveness of evidence-based crime prevention policies in Brazil. This study aims to address this gap in extant knowledge by creating a Spatial Violence Index and a Restrictive Ambient Index to investigate the spatial dynamics of violent crimes and urban vulnerabilities in Fortaleza. Both exploratory spatial data analysis and spatial regression models were employed to visualize the associative patterns and measure the correlation between the two indexes. The results demonstrate how locations characterized by high levels of violence are spatially correlated with more vulnerable locations in terms of both socio-economic-demographics and urban disorder. Overall, the study identified 124 vulnerable micro-territories that would benefit from the allocation of resources in an effort to reduce violence in the city by enhancing the efficiency of policing and prevention strategies.

Import demand elasticities revisited

Import demand elasticities are regularly used to compute trade restrictiveness indices, to transform estimated effects of trade policies into ad-valorem equivalents, or to judge on the prohibitive level of various tariff and non-tariff policy instruments. The fast rising number of negotiations of free trade agreements and the fact that non-tariff measures are at the core of these strongly motivates for an update of the import demand elasticity estimates provided by Kee, Nicita, and Olarreaga in 2008 which are based on trade data for the period 1988–2001. Following their GDP function approach, we present import demand elasticities for more than 150 countries and over 5000 products over the period 1996–2014. Countries exhibiting the highest average elasticities belong to the economically biggest countries in their respective regions, while countries with the lowest import demand elasticities are typically small island states. Import-weighted results suggest that especially countries rich in natural resources are facing an inelastic import demand, with the agri-food sector being more price-responsive than the manufacturing sector. Finally, import demand for intermediate goods seems to be more elastic than demand for products destined for final consumption.

Restricted Selection Index to Relieve the Negative Repercussion in Reproductive Performance of Holstein Cows

The aim of this investigation was to develop restricted selection index aiming to improve 305-day yields of milk (MY), fat (FY) and protein (PY), while keeping the deterioration in days open (DO), calving interval (CI) and number of services per conception (NSPC) at minimum levels in Holstein cows. The data represent 3682 records of 1122 cows, daughters of 95 sires and 712 dams. The data were analyzed by multi-trait animal model with repeated measures. Eight selection indexes (five unrestricted and three restricted) were derived using MY, FY, PY, CI, DO and NSPC in various combinations as sources of information in the indexes. However, the true breeding value included MY, FY and PY. The highest accuracy of selection (0.60) resulted from selection based on the full index. Milk yield and SPC appeared to be the most valuable traits in the full index. Combining the two traits into one index (the best reduced index) gave 0.57 accuracy of selection. The index based on MY alone (the most accurate single trait index) gave 0.53 accuracy. It seems possible to reduce the expected genetic deterioration in the reproductive traits by restricting the full index to result in zero genetic change in NSPC (rTI=0.48). This restriction will allow the breeder to mitigate the deterioration in DO and CI by 12 and 16 days respectively, by sacrificing with part of the expected genetic improvement in productive traits (29, 40 and 48% in MY, FY and PY, respectively).

Repetitive peripheral magnetic stimulation for the assessment of wrist spasticity: reliability, validation and correlation with clinical measures

Purpose To determine feasibility and reliability of using repetitive peripheral magnetic stimulation (rPMS) to induce wrist extension movement for the assessment of spasticity in wrist flexors, instead of the passive stretch used in the modified Tardieu scale. Methods Spasticity was assessed with the index of movement restriction (iMR), calculated as the difference between the range of maximum wrist passive movement and the rPMS-induced movement, in 12 healthy subjects (HS), 12 acute stroke patients without spasticity (AS) and 12 chronic stroke patients with spasticity (CS). Test-retest reliability and clinical correlation were assessed in CS patients before Botulinum neurotoxin type A (BoNT-A) treatment. Results In comparison to HS and AS patients, CS patients showed statistically significant reduction of rPMS-induced movement amplitude, velocity, and acceleration. The mean iMR was 2.8 (SD = 2.6) in HS, 13.0 (SD = 11.2) in AS and 59.2 (SD = 23.4) in CS. This score significantly reduced to 41.1 (SD = 19.7) in CS after BoNT-A (p < 0.01). Test-retest reliability was very good, with an intraclass correlation coefficient ranging between 0.85 and 0.99 for the variables analysed. Conclusions We have shown good reliability and feasibility of a new method providing quantifiable data for the assessment of spasticity and its response to BoNT-A treatment. IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION The muscle contraction induced by repetitive peripheral magnetic stimulation (rPMS) in paretic muscles of post-stroke patients was used to assess spasticity. The index of movement restriction (iMR), calculated as the difference between the maximum passive range of movement and the rPMS induced movement, improved after botulinum toxin treatment. Measuring spastic reactions to rPMS provides quantifiable and reliable data for follow-up and assessment of therapeutic benefits.

Voting power on a graph connected political space with an application to decision-making in the Council of the European Union

We analyze the problem of computing the Banzhaf and Shapley power indices for graph restricted voting games, defined in a particular class of graphs, that we called line-clique. A line-clique graph is a model of a uni-dimensional political space in which voters with the same bliss point are the connected vertices of a clique and then other arcs connect nodes of consecutive cliques. The interest to this model comes from its correspondence to the spatial voting game: a model that has been proposed and used by political analysts to understand nations’ behavior and the political outcome of the bargaining process within the EU Council. Broadly speaking, the computation of a power index of a graph restricted game is strongly #P-complete, as it includes the enumeration of all winning coalitions. Nevertheless, we show that in this special class of graph coalitions can be enumerated by dynamic programming, resulting in a pseudo-polynomial algorithm and proving that the problem only weakly #P-complete. After implementing our new algorithms and finding that they are very fast in practice, we analyze the voting behavior in the EU Council, as for this application previous research compiled a large data set concerning nations’ political positions and political outcomes. We will test whether voting power has an effect on the political outcome, more precisely, whether nations that are favored by their weight and position can influence the political outcome to their advantages. Using linear regressions, we will see that unrestricted power indices are not capable of any predictive property, but graph restricted indices are. The statistic evidence shows that the combination of voting weight and network position is a source of power that affects the political outcome to the advantage of a country.

Services trade in the ASEAN region and participation in GVCs

This paper documents the importance of trade in services for global value chain participation in the ASEAN region. Using newly created data on GVCs as well as a new database on the services trade restrictiveness index to connect international trade policies in services to participation in GVCs, we show that restrictions on trade in services are detrimental for backward participation in GVCs and that such restrictions are harmful to ASEAN members when compared to other countries in the data set. Also, we show that services trade restrictions are especially detrimental to ASEAN countries when such backward integration is connected to forward participation, hence, central positions in GVCs. Restrictions on trade in services slow down the upgrading of value chain positions, which calls for policy actions to follow up trade liberalization in industrial products with a new round of lower restrictions on services trade.

Comprehensive Utilization Pattern of the Bohai Rim Coastline Using the Restrictive Composite Index Method

Coastlines play an important role in human activity and economic development. Reasonably allocating shoreline resources and addressing contradictions between ecological protection and development are critical issues. In this study, positive and negative factors affecting the natural, environmental, and socioeconomic status of the coastal zone while considering land and sea effects were comprehensively analyzed using ecological theories and methods, and an improved restrictive composite index model was constructed. We quantitatively analyzed the comprehensive utilization pattern of the Bohai Rim coastline, China, in terms of the coastline utilization type and spatial agglomeration characteristics. The comprehensive utilization pattern of the Bohai Rim coastline is as follows: ecological areas are present in the north and south, and industrial areas are present in the east and west. Industrial production areas along the coastline are mainly distributed in the East Liaodong and Bohai bays, and ecological protection areas are located in the estuaries of the Liaohe and Yellow River. The improved restricted comprehensive index method model weakens the interaction among variables and makes the calculation results closer to the real situation. The results of the comprehensive utilization pattern of Bohai Rim coastline obtained by quantitative evaluation are of great significance for the coordinated development of coastline ecological protection and development and utilization.

Conventional generation emulation for power grids with a high penetration of wind power

Abstract Integrating large-scale wind plants with the electricity grids has many challenges for grid operators. Besides the variability and uncertainty of wind power, coordinating between different technologies of generation in the same grid can be considered the main problem, specifically for short-term frequency stability. Therefore, a large penetration of wind power generation in modern power grids has a risky influence on the power-system frequency. Wind-generation plants have contradictory behaviour compared to classic thermal plants, especially in active generated power-shortage events due to the variable nature of wind power. Existing experience in wind plants keeps part of the available wind power unloaded, using what are known as deloading techniques. Different deloading techniques are usually applied to emulate the thermal-plant-governor function and confirm a proper spinning reserve for any active-power shortages. These techniques decrease the generated power from wind plants continuously from maximum point tracking ones. Consequently, the practical capacity, annual generated energy and economical income of wind plants are reduced. In addition, grid-protection and control sub-schemes are set and designed according to the well-known conventional responses of thermal plants, which increase the need for thermal-plant-behaviour emulation. In this paper, instead of the usual deloading methods, a supercapacitors scheme is proposed with wind turbines to emulate the response of conventional power plants. The study discusses the technical and economic benefits of the proposed addition of supercapacitors in the wind-plant-planning phase. Restricted frequency grid-code indices are selected to evaluate studied behaviours. Simulation results of the IEEE four-generation two-area system determines the effectiveness of suggested schemes technically. The System Advisor Model (SAM) program estimates the economic benefits of a typical US study case compared with the existing wind-deloading technique.

The restricted detour polynomials of a prism and some wheel related graphs

The restricted detour index of a connected graph G is equal to the sum of restricted detour distances of all unordered pairs of vertices of G. The restricted detour polynomial of graph G is defined as , where C*(G, k) is the number of unordered pairs of vertices of G laying at restricted detour distance k from each other and δ * is restricted detour diameter of G. In this paper, restricted detour polynomials and restricted detour indices of prism graphs, helm graphs and closed helm graphs have been computed.

FDI-Theories and Relation with FDI Restrictive Index

Foreign direct investment plays a key role in developing nations' economic development. Enhancing foreign economic transactions has become more critical than trade. There are a variety of questions for multinational corporations (MNCs) to address if they plan to invest in other countries, such as why do they invest? How are investments made? Where can I spend it? And how big of an opportunity is that? However in the earlier theories of foreign direct investment, certain questions were dealt with. FDI theories were graded according to microeconomic and macroeconomic viewpoints. An attempt has been made in this paper to research key FDI theories and the relationship between the restrictive index of FDI and FDI is studied by the model of bivariate regression. In India, FDI inflows demonstrate a substantial relationship with the FDI restrictive index. It will have to become more liberal to draw more FDI governments.

Evaluation of the eco-geo-environment in the Qaidam Basin, China

Eco-geo-environment quality refers to the degree of the merits of eco-geo-environment, which reflects the suitability of eco-geo-environment for sustainable development of human activities and socioeconomics in a specific time and space. The ultimate purpose of eco-geo-environment investigation and evaluation is to guide human production and life practice. Qaidam Basin, situated in the northeast Qinghai-Tibet Plateau of China, possesses a unique ecological environment, complicated geological features, and relatively underdeveloped economy. Evaluation of eco-geo-environment quality could ascertain the ecological background value and support policy makers in making decisions that promote economic development while ensuring the least damage to the environmental resources. However, there is no unified and authoritative evaluation index system to evaluate the quality of the eco-geo-environment. Based on the “Technical Criterion for Ecosystem Status Evaluation (HJ 192-2015)”, we add the eco-geo-environment restriction index and revise the existing Ecological Index formula. Further, we define the eco-geo-environment index to evaluate the quality of the eco-geo-environment. The computed eco-geo-environment index of the Qaidam Basin was found to be 26.088, belonging to the “Poor”. The result suggests that the eco-geo-environment quality of Qaidam Basin is quite fragile. Our results highlight the need for the judicious use of resources and promoting eco-geo-environment protection with a focus on sustainable development. More importantly, our evaluation system contributes to a policy-relevant and solution-oriented template for other similar regional assessments.

Research on Incentive and restraint mechanism of capital operation of power grid enterprises under new development pattern

Under the new development pattern of dual circulation economy, the reform of state-owned enterprises has entered the deep water area, and the operating environment of power grid enterprises has changed significantly, which has a profound impact on the capital operation strategy and effect of the enterprises. This paper analyzes the new characteristics of capital operation of power grid enterprises under the new development pattern, constructs the incentive and restriction index system of capital operation of power grid enterprises, designs the incentive and restraint mechanism of capital operation of power grid enterprises, and verifies the scientificity and applicability of the mechanism by financial evaluation and analysis. The research results enrich the theory of capital operation management based on financial evaluation, and provide theoretical basis and practical reference for grid enterprises to optimize the distribution of capital investment and improve the efficiency of capital operation.

The impact of restrictions on FDI

In the 1990s and 2000s, most countries – including many emerging economies – lifted some barriers to FDI together with trade liberalization; this trend has slowed since the global financial crisis. In this paper, we assess the impact of FDI restrictions on gross inflows by exploiting the sectoral dimension of FDI flows and of the Regulatory Restrictiveness Index (RRI) reported in the OECD databases. In a sample of 17 OECD countries and 23 sectors covering the years 2012-2018, we find that FDI restrictions significantly dampen foreign investments in the manufacturing and service sectors, particularly when they limit foreign equity acquisitions. We also take into account restrictions motivated by national security considerations, which are not scored in the RRI; similarly to other restrictions involving screening schemes, they have not had a significant impact on the size of FDI flows so far.

The Effects of Restrictive Measures on Cross-Border Investment: Evidence from OECD and Emerging Countries

This paper investigates the effects of global and sectoral restrictive measures on crossborder FDI among 49 advanced and emerging countries. We use a gravity model with panel data from 2010 to 2019 and the FDI Restrictiveness Index of the OECD that quantifies the level of restriction in FDI. Our results suggest that global restrictive measures do not significantly affect cross-border FDI in OECD countries, while restrictions in the service sector have negative and significant effects on FDI. Moreover, the overall restrictive measures and those in the service sector negatively impact inward FDI among OECD and big emerging countries. In addition, restrictions in the services sector impede inward FDI in African countries. Interestingly, restrictions in the secondary sector boost FDI between advanced and African countries, with larger effects for inward investments in African countries. The analysis of disaggregated sectoral restrictive measures shows that restrictions in business and other financial services are negatively associated with intra-OECD FDI, while restrictions in the banking sector have a significant positive impact on FDI. We also find that restrictions in the manufacturing sector have restrictive impacts on inwrad FDI in big emerging countries, and those in the mining, quarrying, and oil extraction sector hinder inward FDI in African countries. Reforms to liberalize sectoral restrictions by country have positive effects on FDI, but deregulation of the services sector has beneficial effects on inward FDI in all countries.