Individual Policy Research Articles

Assuming accuracy, pretending influence? Risks of measuring, monitoring and reporting sustainable development goals

From the local to global level, indicators and reports are produced and published to support the transition towards sustainable development. Building from two European-level science–policy workshops, this perspective essay discusses the types of risks involved with such sustainability reporting. The analysis is rooted in the framework of the UN 2030 Agenda and sustainable development goals (SDG). As a globally adopted framework, it provides an example of how risks are either recognised and framed, or non-recognised. Well recognised risks include data availability for SDGs and siloed preparation of indicators, while risks receiving less attention are ritualistic reporting lacking a critical evaluation of the limitations of the SDG framework itself. These different risks are likely to reinforce each other. A specific risk is a too narrow focus on one-way communication aiming to inform individual policy decisions. Risks related to SDGs are best managed with iterative, integrative and interactive knowledge production fostering holistic understanding.

Key Challenges for Indigenous Peoples of Canada in terms of Oral Health Provision and Utilization: A Scoping Review.

Background The oral health of Indigenous peoples in Canada is lacking compared with their non-Indigenous counterparts. This scoping assessment aimed to investigate the obstacles of providing and using oral healthcare among Indigenous peoples in Canada. Methods The scoping review took place between December 15, 2021 and January 10, 2022. Five key databases were examined: PubMed, Scopus, ISI Web of Science, Embase, and PROQUEST. The data were analyzed using NVIVO software to facilitate understanding of the major themes, subthemes, and codes provided. Results Seven major themes and eighteen subthemes were identified as impacting the oral health provision and utilization of Indigenous peoples in Canada. The major themes are individual characteristics, affordability, availability, accessibility, accommodation, acceptability, and public or government policy. Thus, to improve the oral health of the Indigenous peoples in Canada, an integrated approach is required to address these obstacles. Conclusions To address the oral health disparities among Indigenous peoples in Canada, policymakers should adopt an integrated approach.

The welfare state and support for environmental action in Europe

How do welfare state policies affect the political support for environmental action of economically vulnerable social groups? Two competing hypotheses can be delineated. On the one hand, a synergy logic would imply that welfare state generosity is associated with higher support for environmental action among economically vulnerable groups due to the insecurity reducing effects of the welfare state. On the other hand, a crowding-out logic would suggest that welfare state generosity is associated with lower support for other policy priorities like environmental action. We test these two hypotheses using 2019 Eurobarometer survey data and country-level indicators of welfare state generosity in 22 European countries. We find that the working class and the elderly are particularly opposed to individual and national environmental action and that the welfare state plays a complex moderating role. Consistent with a synergy logic, welfare state generosity increases pro-environmental behaviour among the working class, but its association with more positive attitudes towards national environmental policies is less strong. Consistent with a crowding-out logic, the elderly appear less likely to behave in environmentally friendly ways if retirement benefits are high. To explore the mechanisms behind this association, we show that the working class who struggle to pay their bills are most opposed to environmental action. Overall, economic insecurities are key obstacles for support of environmental actions and the effects of the welfare state depend both on which social group is concerned and whether individual behaviour versus policy preferences are considered.

Beyond Usual Suspects? Inclusion and Influence of Non-State Actors in Online Public Consultations in Croatia

Despite the increasing use of various e-democracy tools in shaping new policies, there is still a general lack of empirical studies on the influence of non-state actors in online public consultations. This article addresses this gap in the academic literature by focusing on the case of Croatia, which may have relevant broader practical and theoretical implications due to the legally binding rules of institutional responsiveness to individual policy inputs received during e-consultations and the growing interest of citizens and various interest groups to get engaged in this form of policy dialogue. Drawing on the novel data set that includes the responses of 39 government bodies to 51,250 policy inputs of interest groups and individual citizens to online consultations during the first three years since the launch of the government consultation platform, the paper seeks to analyse the influence of different types of non-state actors on the outcomes of government-led online public consultations. Contrary to general expectations about the predominance of more resourceful interest groups, it is argued that individual citizens exert a noticeable influence on the results of online policy consultations of Croatian government bodies. It is also claimed that the specific design and patterns of online public consultations, especially improved responsiveness of government bodies, contribute to the pluralisation of interests, equalizing political representation, and empowering individual citizens and other new actors, beyond traditional interest groups and “usual suspects” in national decision-making processes.

Sustainable policy: Don't get infected and don't infect others

COVID-19 is an environmental policy problem. The goal of this paper is to show sustainable policies against the COVID-19 pandemic. Medical professionals tend to stick only to pharmacological approaches such as vaccination and boosting, but that is not sustainable. The scorecovid and hiscovid tools revealed that the sustainable and the best policy against COVID-19 is based on the mandatory test-and-isolation by law. Because COVID-19 variants have the ability to spike mutations and immune escape, pharmacological approaches such as vaccination alone cannot mitigate or end COVID-19. The scorecovid tool is a Python Package Index (PyPI) application for scoring individual policies against COVID-19. In scorecovid, scoring policies is calculated by dividing the number of deaths due to COVID-19 by the population in millions. The hiscovid tool was developed to identify mistakes by policymakers in order to monitor their policies in time-series scores. The lower the score, the better the policy.

An Examination of Academic Library Privacy Policy Compliance with Professional Guidelines

Objective – The tension between upholding privacy as a professional value and the ubiquity of collecting patrons’ data to provide online services is now common in libraries. Privacy policies that explain how the library collects and uses patron records are one way libraries can provide transparency around this issue. This study examines 78 policies collected from the public websites of U.S. Association of Research Libraries’ (ARL) members and examines these policies for compliance with American Library Association (ALA) guidelines on privacy policy content. This overview can provide library policy makers with a sense of trends in the privacy policies of research-intensive academic libraries, and a sense of the gaps where current policies (and guidelines) may not adequately address current privacy concerns. Methods – Content analysis was applied to analyze all privacy policies. A deductive codebook based on ALA privacy policy guidelines was first used to code all policies. The authors used consensus coding to arrive at agreement about where codes were present. An inductive codebook was then developed to address themes present in the text that remained uncoded after initial deductive coding. Results – Deductive coding indicated low policy compliance with ALA guidelines. None of the 78 policies contained all 20 codes derived from the guidelines, and only 6% contained more than half. No individual policy contained more than 75% of the content recommended by ALA. Inductive coding revealed themes that expanded on the ALA guidelines or addressed emerging privacy concerns such as library-initiated data collection and sharing patron data with institutional partners. No single inductive code appeared in more than 63% of policies. Conclusion – Academic library privacy policies appear to be evolving to address emerging concerns such as library-initiated data collection, invisible data collection via vendor platforms, and data sharing with institutional partners. However, this study indicates that most libraries do not provide patrons with a policy that comprehensively addresses how patrons’ data are obtained, used, and shared by the library.

Dynamic capabilities and ICT utilization in public organizations: An Empirical testing in local government

This paper explores whether the dynamic capabilities view (DCV), a popular strategic management approach in private firms, can be applied in public sector organizations. Existing frameworks in the public sector mainly focus either on exogenous sources of dynamism or public managers' critical role in driving strategic initiatives, failing to explore the internal processes of organizational change. Against this backdrop, the paper creates and tests – through a survey in 255 out of the 325 Greek municipalities - a conceptual framework shedding light on i) the dynamic capabilities (DCs) necessary to enhance information and communication technologies (ICT) utilization in the public sector, ii) the mechanisms through which DCs lead to performance improvement, and iii) the antecedent organizational resources to these DCs. Our contribution is fourfold. First, we prove that key resources and respective dynamic and operational capabilities should be built for creating more efficient and effective interfaces with individual citizens and businesses. Second, we operationalize and measure specific DCs, exploring their antecedent resources and explaining how DCs can, directly and indirectly, influence performance improvement. Third, we respond to the need of the DCV for empirical studies tailored in specific and underexplored settings unveiling a more comprehensive picture of DC's role and impact. Fourth, we offer policy implications favoring agile and user-centric eGovernment practices at the individual public organizations and central policy entities level.

Algeria: A three‐sector macrofiscal model for debt sustainability and growth policy analysis

AbstractIn this paper, we present a dynamic general equilibrium (DGE) model to address the macrofiscal vulnerabilities and the effects of fiscal policy on growth and employment in Algeria. We first discuss the baseline scenario over the period 2021–2040. According to our baseline results, without fundamental changes in fiscal policies, even relatively high growth will not be sufficient to put public debt on a sustainable path. We then conduct four experiments and assess their impact on fiscal accounts, growth, and unemployment: an increase in the efficiency of public spending on infrastructure investment, a gradual reduction in the share of noninterest government spending in GDP, the same gradual reduction in spending combined with a permanent increase in the share of investment in infrastructure in total noninterest government expenditure, and a composite fiscal reform program that combines these individual policies, respectively. The results suggest that public debt sustainability can be achieved, and growth and employment can be promoted, as long as an ambitious fiscal reform program involving tax, spending, and governance reforms is implemented. Importantly, our quantitative analysis shows that, with a well‐designed fiscal program, there may be no trade‐off between fiscal consolidation and economic growth.

Measuring technological innovation efficiency using interval type-2 fuzzy super-efficiency slack-based measure approach

As an important leading industry in China’s economy, the high-tech industry needs to systematically analyze technological innovation activities, thereby measuring the technological innovation efficiency and further improving sustainable development. The high-tech industry in different provinces benefits from individual policies due to their geographical locations. However, since the intensity of policy implementation in the technological innovation activities of the provincial high-tech industry is qualitative information, which is difficult to be expressed by quantitative data and rarely considered in the efficiency assessment. Therefore, this study adopts interval type-2 fuzzy sets to characterize the uncertain qualitative information and constructs an interval type-2 fuzzy evaluation method to measure the technological innovation efficiency of China’s high-tech industry. More specifically, considering the handling of undesirable outputs and the ranking of multiple efficient decision-making units, the super-efficiency slack-based measure (SBM)-Data envelopment analysis (DEA) method has been selected as the basic evaluation model. Then, the super-efficiency SBM-DEA model has been extended into an interval type-2 evaluation approach by considering the uncertain variables. Moreover, the α-cuts and best-and-worst methods are introduced to conduct the decomposition of the proposed evaluation model and aggregate the ultimate efficiency. Finally, a comparative analysis of technological innovation efficiency in the regional high-tech industry has been performed to validate the applicability of the proposed model.

DUKUNGAN FAKTOR-FAKTOR ORGANISASI DAN INDIVIDU DALAM MEMBENTUK KINERJA DOSEN PADA SEKOLAH TINGGI ILMU EKONOMI AMM MATARAM

This study aims to identify organizational factors and individual factors that shape performance and analyze organizational factors and individual factors that have a dominant contribution to the performance of lecturers at STIE AMM Mataram. This type of research is descriptive exploratory research. Data were collected by questionnaire and documentation techniques. Data analysis using factor analysis. Based on factor analysis from the results of factor grouping based on factor loading variance, the 22 existing factors were reduced to 7 groups of factors that had a minimum factor loading value of 0.5, namely: The first group consisted of motivation with a loading factor of 0.902, education with a loading factor of 0.890. policies and rules with a loading factor of 0.852, technology with a loading factor of 0.809, abilities and skills with a loading factor of 0.661 and sanctions with a loading factor of 0.652. The second group consists of experience with a loading factor of 0.949, learning capacity with a loading factor of 0.946, characteristics with a loading factor of 0.727, and ethnicity or race with a loading factor of 0.554. The third group consists of resources with a loading factor of 0.837, leadership with a loading factor of 0.764, and age with a loading factor of 0.607. The fourth group consisted of family background with a loading factor of 0.879, gender with a loading factor of 0.641, and personality with a loading factor of 0.557. The fifth group consists of an organizational structure with a loading factor of 0.718, rewards and rewards with a loading factor of 0.675. The sixth group consisted of attitudes with a loading factor of 0.923 and job design with a loading factor of 0.728. The seventh group consisted of social class with a loading factor of 0.720 and perceptions with a loading factor of 0.588. Based on the loading variance factor grouping above, there are 6 most dominant factors shaping the performance of lecturers at STIE AMM Mataram, namely motivation, education, abilities and skills which are individual factors and policies and rules, technology and sanctions which are organizational factors.

Hepatic encephalopathy is not a contraindication to pre-emptive TIPS in high-risk patients with cirrhosis with variceal bleeding

BackgroundA pre-emptive transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (pTIPS) reduces mortality in high-risk patients with cirrhosis (Child-Pugh C/B+active bleeding) with acute variceal bleeding (AVB). Real-life studies point out that <15% of patients...

Locally Sourced Seed is a Commonly Used but Widely Defined Practice for Grassland Restoration

Abstract With continued losses of grassland, the need for grassland restoration increases, and other contemporary threats, such as climate change, may require new techniques for restorations to be successful and resilient. The conservation community has promoted the use of locally sourced seed for grassland restorations, but it is unclear how widespread the practice has become. Furthermore, rethinking how seed is sourced for grassland restorations is one potential strategy to facilitate climate change adaptation. We surveyed practitioners (anyone conducting grassland restorations) across the United States and Canada in 2017 regarding organizational, state/local government, or individual policies for using locally sourced seed in grassland restorations, how local was defined, and whether climate change was considered in these policies and decisions. We received 494 responses from 40 U.S. states and 5 Canadian provinces. Policies and individual decisions supporting locally sourced seed were common, with only 3.6% of practitioners reporting no consideration of local seed sources in restorations. However, the definition of local varied widely, with relatively large geographic areas, such as ecoregions, considered as a local source. Some practitioners considered climate change, but it was not the greatest concern when making seed sourcing decisions. When they did consider climate change, practitioners' most reported strategy was expanding seed zones used for their seed mix. Although there was a heavy upper Midwest bias in the survey responses, the number and geographic scope of responses provides a snapshot of seed sourcing strategies used by practitioners. Our results suggest that practitioners are concerned about maintaining adaptation given the focus on local seed sources, and outreach could be useful to help practitioners incorporate climate adaptation strategies into seed sourcing practices.

Migration Policy of the EU Countries During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Convergence or Distancing?

This paper examines certain aspects of the migration policy of the EU countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. The coronavirus pandemic has affected all areas of society, including a massive decline in population mobility in all countries of the world. The purpose of this work is to analyze the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic for EU countries in the field of internal and international migration and the implementation of migration policy. The study is based on official data from Eurostat, the International Organization for Migration, the International Labor Organization, analytical reports and legal documents of the European Union as a whole, as well as individual states. The work uses analytical and comparative methods. As part of the analytical method, an analysis was made of some legal documents in the field of migration policy aimed at reducing the risks of the spread of coronavirus infection, social and legal support for certain categories of foreign citizens living in the EU countries. The comparative method made it possible to compare the tools and mechanisms for implementing individual migration policy measures during the pandemic in a number of EU countries and identify the most successful practices. Our research has shown that, on the one hand, a number of measures taken at the EU level have proved to be effective in restoring mobility and ensuring movement within the EU without restrictions. On the other hand, EU member states had fairly broad powers in matters of independent regulation of migration within their own country, focusing primarily on national interests. The results obtained in the work can be further used, firstly, for effective tools for managing migration in the event of global shocks, and secondly, for the purpose of a deeper study of the possibilities and limitations of the implementation of migration policy by states that are members of integration associations. Key words: Migration policy of the EU countries, COVID-19 pandemic, migration regime, social support for the population and migrants, migration crisis, impact of the pandemic on demographic development.

Reinforcement learning with intrinsic affinity for personalized prosperity management

The purpose of applying reinforcement learning (RL) to portfolio management is commonly the maximization of profit. The extrinsic reward function used to learn an optimal strategy typically does not take into account any other preferences or constraints. We have developed a regularization method that ensures that strategies have global intrinsic affinities, i.e., different personalities may have preferences for certain asset classes which may change over time. We capitalize on these intrinsic policy affinities to make our RL model inherently interpretable. We demonstrate how RL agents can be trained to orchestrate such individual policies for particular personality profiles and still achieve high returns.

O6-2 Physical activity policy actions in Europe: the MOVING benchmarking tools

BackgroundGlobal research shows a strong link between physical activity and risk of developing non-communicable diseases. To increase physical activity levels, governments must design and implement a comprehensive set of policy actions across a range of areas. To aid governments in this process, the MOVING benchmarking tool was developed to assess the strength of policies across three domains that make up a comprehensive approach to physical activity policy.MethodsThe MOVING benchmarking tool, which was developed using a consultative process that reviewed evidence on physical activity policy design and existing benchmarking tools, built on the policy areas of the MOVING framework. It values the strength of policy design, based on evidence-informed and aspirational attributes of effective policy-making that impacts health-related behaviours, with a focus on adolescents. The tool was applied to a set of physical activity policies from five countries: Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal and UK. These countries were selected based on their participation in the EU-funded CO-CREATE project, which focuses on prevention of overweight and obesity among adolescents. Relevant physical activity policies in each participating country were identified based on a comprehensive scan, with a set methodology.ResultsThe MOVING benchmarks assessed the strengths and weaknesses in the design of policies across the policy areas of the MOVING policy framework. They produced an overall assessment of policy environments for physical activity across the five countries, as well as an assessment of each individual policy area within the framework, such as walking and cycling infrastructure and active transport. Further, by allowing a fast assessment of many physical activity policies, the benchmarking tool enabled an analysis of the interplay of single policies and drawing conclusions about the overall policy environment in the five countries.ConclusionThe MOVING benchmarking tools can identify gaps and assess the strength of actions taken by national governments to promote physical activity, and can be used by policymakers, researchers and civil society to inform advocacy for and design of policies. The scores generated by the benchmarking tool will be amalgamated into an overall policy index for 27 European countries.

S09-1 Which transport policies increase physical activity of the whole of society? A Systematic Review

BackgroundThere is strong evidence of the links between car-dependence and the global physical inactivity epidemic. If eliminated, physical inactivity would remove between 6% and 10% of major non-communicable diseases that are the leading cause of death globally, killing 38 million people each year. Research consistently shows that unlike passive transport (e.g. driving a car), active transport (i.e., walking, cycling) is associated with higher total daily physical activity (PA). While there are public policies that support PA in transport and, as a result, overall PA levels, the specific quantitative effect of such policies on PA behaviour has not been sufficiently investigated. The aim of this systematic review is to determine the level and type of evidence for policies in the area of transport that contribute to higher PA levels of society at large.MethodsSix databases (MEDLINE (Ebsco), SportDiscus, Cinahl, Cochrane library, Web of Science, and Scopus) were searched for key concepts of policy, transport, evaluation and PA. Methodological quality was assessed using standardised tools. The strength of the evidence of policy impact was described based on pre-determined categories of positive, negative, inconclusive or untested.Results17 of 2,549 studies were included in the data synthesis. The authors identified three main transport policy areas with 60 individual policy actions that had a direct or indirect effect on PA. The policy areas were: convenient transport infrastructure development, active travel promotion and shift of transport mode. These areas correspond to Haddon's methodological approach of the transport system division in to three elements (human, vehicle, road). More than half of the policy actions identified (53%) had a positive effect on PA. Study quality ratings were moderate to good.ConclusionsPA levels can be increased by implementing policies that provide convenient, safe, and connected walking and cycling infrastructures, promote active travel and give strong support to public transport. There is also clear evidence that active travel policies work best when implemented in a comprehensive way (very often as a combination of several policies). This may include infrastructure and facility improvements as well as educational programmes to achieve substantial shifts towards active modes of travel.

2021 Assessment of New Zealand district health boards' institutional healthy food and drink policies: the HealthY Policy Evaluation (HYPE) study.

To assess adoption of the voluntary National Healthy Food and Drink Policy (NHFDP) and the alignment of individual institutional healthy food and drink policies with the NHFDP. All 20 district health boards (DHBs) and two national government agencies participated. Policies of those organisations that had not fully adopted the NHFDP were assessed across three domains: nutrition standards; promotion of a healthy food and beverages environment; and policy communication, implementation and evaluation. Three weighted domain scores out of 10, and a total score out of 30 were calculated. Nine of the 22 organisations reported adopting the NHFDP in full. Of the remaining 13, six referred to the NHFDP when developing their institutional policy and three were working toward full adoption of the NHFDP. Mean scores (SD) were 8.7 (1.0), 6.1 (2.6) and 3.8 (2.2) for the three domains, and 18.6 (4.8) in total. Most individual institutional policies were not as comprehensive as the NHFDP. However, some contained stricter/additional clauses that would be useful to incorporate into the NHFDP. Since a similar policy analysis in 2018, most DHBs have adopted the NHFDP and/or strengthened their own nutrition policies. Regional inconsistency remains and a uniform mandatory NHFDP should be implemented that incorporates improvements identified in individual institutional policies.

Keeping tabs through collaboration? Sharing ministerial responsibility in coalition governments

AbstractMoving past the conventional focus on ministerial portfolios, this paper investigates how coalition governments allocate and share ministerial responsibility for individual policy issues. Sharing responsibility induces coalescing parties to collaborate on policy issues, which addresses the problem of ministerial autonomy. Consequently, I argue that incumbent parties in coalition governments share ministerial responsibility for contentious and salient policy issues. This claim is corroborated based on a newly elicited dataset of over 30,000 ministerial policy responsibilities from Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands. The findings have important implications for scholarship on coalition governments, as they demonstrate that incumbent parties can use the design of ministerial portfolios itself to insulate a coalition compromise from partisan deviations.

Perceived barriers and facilitators to the provision of physiotherapy in residential aged care facilities: A national survey of Australian physiotherapists.

To identify and explore physiotherapists' perceived barriers and facilitators to the provision of physiotherapy in Australian residential aged care facilities (RACFs). A national cross-sectional survey was conducted with physiotherapists who worked in Australian RACFs for at least 50% of their working week. A variety of methods, such as social media, direct contact with aged care providers, and the Australian Physiotherapy Association, were used to advertise the survey. A rigorous design was used to develop the online survey to collect views on barriers and facilitators to provision of physiotherapy in Australian RACFs. Descriptive analysis was conducted using SPSS to analyse participant characteristics. Inductive framework analysis was conducted using NVivo 12 to identify key themes. One hundred and sixty-five qualified and registered physiotherapists (mean age 39.5 years, 74% female) who worked predominantly in Australian RACFs participated in this study. Five themes were identified: individual physiotherapist, collaborations, organisational, RACF community, and public policy. Each had associated barriers and facilitators to provision of physiotherapy as perceived by physiotherapists. Individual, collaborative, and RACF community factors were the main facilitators of physiotherapy in Australian RACFs. Organisational and public policy factors were identified as the main barriers of physiotherapy. This study highlighted what factors are perceived by RACF physiotherapists to facilitate provision of physiotherapy, and what areas of improvement should be considered to potentially provide more effective care in Australian RACFs. Due to the varied responses in this study, further research is warranted to determine the degree of impact of the identified factors.

The Ecology of Engagement: Fostering cooperative efforts in health with patients and communities.

Patients and community members are engaged in nearly every aspect of health systems. However, the engagement literature remains siloed and fragmented, which makes it difficult to connect engagement efforts with broader goals of health, equity and sustainability. Integrated and inclusive models of engagement are needed to support further transformative efforts. This article describes the Ecology of Engagement, an integrated model of engagement. The model posits that: (1) Health ecosystems include all members of society engaged in health; (2) Engagement is the 'together' piece of health and healthcare (e.g., caring for each other, preventing, researching, teaching and building policies together); (3) Health ecosystems and engagement are interdependent from each other, both influencing health, equity, resilience and sustainability. The Ecology of Engagement offers a common sketch to foster dialogue on engagement across health ecosystems. The model can drive cooperative efforts with patients and communities on health, equity, resilience and sustainability. Three of the authors have lived experiences as patients. One has a socially disclosed identity as a patient partner leader with extensive experience in engagement (individual care, education, research, management andpolicy). Two authors have significant experience as patients and informal caregivers, which were mobilized in descriptive illustrations. A fourth author has experience as an engaged citizen in health policy debates. All authors have professional lived experience in health (manager, researcher, health professional, consultant andeducator). Six patient and caregiver partners with lived experience of engagement (other than the authors) contributed important revisions and intellectual content.