Policy Debate Research Articles

Can information intervention improve dietary quality? Evidence from a randomized controlled trial in rural China

Nutrition education interventions are widely used globally but with mixed results. We conducted a randomized controlled trial to examine the effects of a nutrition education and a precise message (awareness-raising) intervention on nutrition knowledge and dietary quality of households in rural China. Treatment groups first received a lecture on the Chinese Food Guide Pagoda, and then all family members were measured for height and weight and informed of household overweight status. We analyzed 358 households before and after this intervention. Participants in the treatment group increased their dietary knowledge by 6% and improved their dietary quality by 8% after the intervention. The intervention effects were stronger for households with more than 25% and 50% of overweight people. Our study provides evidence that an intervention based on general nutrition information and delivery of a precise message to households can effectively improve dietary quality. Our findings inform the food policy debate on whether nutrition information interventions are effective. Furthermore, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate the effectiveness of a nutrition information intervention to improve dietary quality in rural China.

Contextualising Antarctic tourism diversification: tourism management implications from multinational policy debates

ABSTRACT Beyond the growth in tourist numbers, tourism in the Antarctic has been rapidly diversifying over the last decades. This paper examines Antarctic tourism policy documents from 1961 to 2022 while exploring Antarctic tourism diversification’s historical development and current state. The paper frames Antarctic tourism diversification, clarifying its dimensions, expressed concerns, and suggested policy options for tourism management and regulation. The results reveal that policy discussions were often not aligned with the practice of tourism in the Antarctic, indicating a lack of a comprehensive understanding of its extent and dimensions. While Treaty Parties have long recognized and voiced several concerns over tourism diversification, they have achieved little progress toward regulation and concrete management actions. Market-based processes and policy indecisiveness, including inaction, strongly influence diversification processes. Given tourism’s increasing importance and potential effects, a structural understanding of tourism diversification, its ramifications, processes, and policy relationships is essential to proactively shape Antarctic tourism governance.

Unoist contributions to the triangular debate on money theory in Japan

The purpose of this paper is to summarize the triangular debate on money theory, or money reform, in contemporary Japan and to show the unique contribution of neo-Unoists to the debate. The debates on money theory in the socioeconomic context of Japan are chiefly between Reflationists (who hold to a kind of monetarist policy), Modern Money Theorists (MMT), and Marxists (neo-Unoists). As the policy arguments put forward by each school depend on their theoretical frameworks, the validity of their respective policies is closely related to the validity of the theoretical frameworks that support them. To unravel the Japanese debate on money theory, this paper sets the Marxian money theory, updated by neo-Unoists, as the analytical framework to examine the validity of each school’s theoretical claims, while acknowledging the presence of monetarism and MMT, and the internal debate within the Japanese Marxian school.

Future of Uniform Civil Code in India: Strategies for Effective Implementation and Social Acceptance

The Uniform Civil Code (UCC) remains a contentious and pivotal issue in India's legal and social discourse, aiming to unify personal laws across religious communities under a common civil code. This paper explores strategies for effectively implementing UCC while addressing challenges related to social acceptance in the diverse socio-cultural fabric of India. The introduction provides a comprehensive overview of the historical context and constitutional mandate of UCC under Article 44, highlighting its significance for promoting legal uniformity, gender equality, and social justice. The literature review synthesizes existing scholarship on UCC in India, examining legal precedents, policy debates, and public opinion. It identifies key challenges hindering UCC implementation, including constitutional complexities, religious diversity, federalism, and concerns about minority rights and cultural practices. Building on this foundation, the methodology outlines a qualitative approach incorporating analysis of legal documents, policy documents, court judgments, and insights from stakeholders and experts. It discusses the rationale for selected methodologies to address research questions effectively. Strategies for overcoming implementation challenges are proposed, encompassing legal reforms, public awareness campaigns, community consultations, engagement with religious leaders, and capacity-building for judiciary and legal professionals. These strategies aim to foster dialogue, understanding, and consensus among diverse communities. The paper also examines the role of education, media, civil society, and advocacy groups in promoting social acceptance of UCC. Case studies from other countries provide comparative insights into successful approaches to managing similar legal reforms.

Misconceptions about US Trade Deficits Muddy the Economic Policy Debate

Misconceptions about US Trade Deficits Muddy the Economic Policy Debate

Co-creating art with generative artificial intelligence: Implications for artworks and artists

Synthetic visual art is becoming a commodity due to generative artificial intelligence (AI). The trend of using AI for co-creation will not spare artists’ creative processes, and it is important to understand how the use of generative AI at different stages of the creative process affects both the evaluation of the artist and the result of the human-machine collaboration (i.e., the visual artifact). In three experiments (N = 560), this research explores how the evaluation of artworks is transformed by the revelation that the artist collaborated with AI at different stages of the creative process. The results show that co-created art is less liked and recognized, especially when AI was used in the implementation stage. While co-created art is perceived as more novel, it lacks creative authenticity, which exerts a dominant influence. The results also show that artists’ perceptions suffer from the co-creation process, and that artists who co-create are less admired because they are perceived as less authentic. Two boundary conditions are identified. The negative effect can be mitigated by disclosing the level of artist involvement in co-creation with AI (e.g., by training the algorithm on a curated set of images vs. simply prompting an off-the-shelf AI image generator). In the context of art that is perceived as commercially motivated (e.g., stock images), the effect is also diminished. This research has important implications for the literature on human-AI-collaboration, research on authenticity, and the ongoing policy debate regarding the transparency of algorithmic presence.

Greenhouse gas emissions trends and drivers insights from the domestic aviation in Thailand

Domestic aviation is a swiftly expanding contributor to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Presently, economic volatility and the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis have resulted in the decline of domestic aviation, but domestic aviation is rapidly recovering in many countries. However, from a GHG emissions viewpoint, the domestic aviation sector is largely unenforced even though the International Civil Aviation Organization's (ICAO) Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) provision for international aviation is currently in place. Accordingly, the knowledge base on emissions and their drivers from domestic aviation is weak, especially in developing countries, thus hindering an evidence-based policy debate. In this context, we have estimated and analyzed the pre-COVID-19 GHG emissions and their trends from commercial domestic aviation in Thailand; and provided insights on the role of key drivers that influence GHG emissions that are expected to be useful not only for Thailand but also for other developing countries. Emissions are estimated following Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Tier-II. Specifically, activity-based landing/take-off (LTO) cycle and cruise. This is compared to the Tier-I method, and key drivers were analyzed using an index decomposition method. The total annual average GHG emissions for all LTO cycles and cruises of commercial domestic aviation for 2015–2020 was 2254 Th. tonnes of CO2-eq. During the LTO cycle of the aircraft, GHG emissions were at an average of 983 Th. tonnes of CO2-eq. Additionally, during the cruise stage, emissions averaged 1270 Th. tonnes of CO2-eq. The choice of accounting methods (i.e., IPCC Tier II vs. Tier I) seems to have had only nominal implications. Our analysis showed that, in the 2008–2020 period, the aviation activity effect and economic growth were the key decisive factors in this sector's GHG emissions growth. It was followed by the fuel energy intensity levels and the population effect in descending order of impact. These findings have significant ramifications for present and future policies aimed at decreasing GHG emissions, aiding Thailand in achieving its climate targets by 2050, and enhancing energy efficiency as the domestic aviation market adapts.

Universities and institutionalization of regional innovation policy in peripheral regions: Insights from the smart specialization in Portugal

Regional innovation policies are currently influenced by a series of territorial innovation models, with the regional innovation system (RIS) approach being one of the prominent examples. The rationale of smart specialization strategies (S3s) is deeply influenced by the RIS concept and highlights the importance of entrepreneurial discovery and shared governance by different types of actors. Among them, universities are seen as crucial for the success of S3 design and implementation. This article, mixing a policy debate perspective with analysis of recent quantitative and qualitative information about the Portuguese case, highlights relevant aspects for understanding the institutionalization of regional innovation and the role universities have in it as crucial knowledge brokers. The results have implications for regional innovation policies and in particular for the challenges that peripheral regions face.

Regaining policy attention for a health insurance capitation payment reform in Ghana: A prospective policy analysis.

Capitation as a provider payment mechanism gained policy attention by the Ghana National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in 2012 and was piloted in the Ashanti Region, Ghana. Recent studies revealed that the policy was suspended in 2017 due to inappropriate policy framing, actor contestations, unclear policy design characteristics, and an unfavorable political context. However, the NHIS still has interest in capitation as a provider payment option. Using the modified political process model, a prospective policy analysis was conducted to explore how to: i) appropriately reframe policy debates; ii) create political opportunities; and iii) mobilize resources to reattract policy attention to capitation in Ghana. Cross-sectional qualitative data were gathered in December, 2019 from semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of 18 stakeholders and complemented with four community-level focus group discussions with 41 policy beneficiaries in the pilot region. All data were tape-recorded and transcribed. The analysis was thematic, using the NVivo 12 software. The results revealed that an appropriate reframing of the policy requires policy renaming, refinement of certain policy design characteristics (emergency care, capitation rates, choice and assignment of providers) and refocusing policy communication and advocacy on the health benefits of capitation instead of its cost containment intent. To create political opportunities for policy re-implementation, a politically sensitive approach with broader stakeholder consultations should be adopted. Policy advocacy and communication should be evidenced-based and led by politically neutral agents. An equitable capitation policy implementation requires resourcing health facilities, especially the lower-level facilities, with improved infrastructure, consumables, improved information management systems and well-trained personnel to enhance their service delivery capacities. The study concludes that there exists stakeholder interest in the capitation policy in Ghana and calls for an effective reframing, creation of political opportunities, and mobilization of needed resources to regain policy attention.

The Status of Official Languages in the Multilingual European Union

The European Union (EU) comprises 27 nations and uses 24 official languages to acknowledge diversity and equal opportunity in the Union. This is an egalitarian policy, which is met with resistance and challenges due to various practices in the EU administration and management. A consecutive policy debate persisted in EU thinkers to decide the official language of the Union, while the nature of the public sphere was multicultural and multilingual.
 This paper explores factors behind the hurdles to achieving linguistic equality in the EU by looking at various institutional policies and scholastic papers. The research concludes that linguistic equality is theoretically idealised to promote linguistic harmony in the bloc, however, it is practically unattainable because prominent official and working languages like English, French and German trump other official languages of the EU member states. In addition, making everything available in all official languages of the EU is quite limited to avoid cost burden.

Mapping Urban Injustices in Public Space: Challenges and Opportunities

Over the past few decades, cities around the world radically and rapidly changed as regards scale, scope and complexity. This is mainly due to the increasing mobility of people, goods and information as a result of technological developments, liberalization of economic systems, economic fluctuations, wars, and climate change. These changes challenge the processes of production of built environment and create conflicts and contestations between different urban groups, who have contradicted claims on the decisions and processes influencing urban transformation.Such situation brought the discussions on just/unjust urban transformation processes in urban research, policy and public debates. It raised questions on privileging the interests of affluent urban groups, while disadvantaging vulnerable communities. We see public space as central in these debates, as possible facilitator of a more just process of urban transformation. Public space is able to embrace different political, economic and cultural manifestations of urban groups, which allow them to voice their rights on the city. Public space can also submit encounters and interactions between different urban actors and perform as a place of negotiation between them. Public space is potentially able to promote fair allocations of wealth, resources, benefits and opportunities. Also, public space pedagogy helps us to reframe methods of understanding (un)just urban morphologies in urban research, planning and architectural theory as well as praxis. This special issue will thus focus on the question how urban (in)justices can be mapped, and which challenges and opportunities may arise from different approaches to mapping. Intercontextuality as well as intersectional research which combines an analysis of different forms of injustices (such as racial, social, religious, national, ethnic, etc.) will be discussed, alongside more practical and case-study based mapping experiences.Different views on public space can provide us with ways of thinking to develop planning and design strategies, policy measures, civil initiatives, and social movements to oppose processes of unjust urban transformation. Yet, in the context of a rapid-shifting economic, political and social reality, it is more and more urgent for critical re-thinking of public space as facilitator of urban justice.

정책논변모형을 통한 고교학점제 담론 분석

This study analyzes the discourse through the policy argument model and proposes implications for policy implementation under the recognition that the policy means and contents are important for the correct implementation of the policy purpose of the high school credit system. To achieve the research purpose, this study reorganized and utilized Toulmin et al.’s (1979) analysis framework.The conclusions of the analysis using the policy argument model are as follows. First of all, since the high school credit system is an education policy that requires public consensus in consideration of its linkage with university entrance examinations, it is necessary to solidify the foundation for a soft landing sequentially through the process of social consensus and public discussion. Next, we need to move away from the tendency to take a piecemeal approach to the issues of the high school credit system’s curriculum, teaching and learning, educational evaluation, and teachers and facilities, and move toward the holistic approach. There needs to be a soft landing for unit schools with an organic approach. As suggested in the argumentative analysis of this study, it seems necessary to have a strategy that can comprehensively enhance the technical feasibility and political feasibility.

The Current State of U.S.-Chinese Relations

The relationship between China and the United States has often been contentious, from the earliest efforts to establish a trade relationship between the Chinese Empire in the late 18th century to the present day. Today, that relationship remains tense as the two seek to advance their interests, while trying to avoid an escalation of tensions that could escalate into open conflict, especially in regard to Taiwan. Largely driven by the “Century of Humiliation” narrative, China seeks to restore what it perceives as its rightful place in world affairs, and to build a new world order. For the United States the emergence of China as a serious competitor for global influence, represents a threat to the current, post-Cold War world which has largely been the mainstay for the past three decades. Many Americans now view China as an enemy; a view reinforced by politically motivated “China hawks” who relentlessly argue that China is a threat to the current global order, and the role of the United States as the leading world power. These views reflect a lack of understanding about China, not just among the nation’s leaders, but the general public. The result has been a policy debate in the United States over how best to deal with China. What may not be getting enough consideration is a pragmatic approach to Sino-American relations which includes acceptance of that nation as a world power, and management of the relationship in order to minimize, if not eliminate the possibility of a confrontation that could lead to hostilities.

Mapping multiscalar power for fair, effective climate policy discourse

Mainstream climate policy discourse obscures power disparities between those who contribute the most to climate change and those who are hit the hardest, particularly in discussions regarding the appropriate targets for intervention, including behavioral change. We reflect and critique this obfuscation of power in policy debates, and as a corrective, we identify actors with high levels of climate responsibility and high capacity for mitigation and adaptation, and that intersect different scales of social organization. We visually map these overlaps to spur productive dialogue and generate new policy ideas to target the worst violators first and encourage action for others where it is rooted in what capacities they have. We include examples of how power disparities reflect and produce complex climate injustices, underscoring the importance of conceptualizing power through a multiscalar lens for fair and effective climate policy.

On the effectiveness of the interest rate channel within inflation targeting in Ukraine: a VAR approach

Assessing the effectiveness of the inflation targeting framework via the interest rate channel remains crucial in the current monetary policy debate. For Ukraine, the relevance of this discussion is enhanced by the adoption by the National Bank of a rigid inflation targeting policy since 2016, as well as by the challenges of price stability during war. The aim of the study is to identify how the discount rate affects the money market rates and how this affects inflation in Ukraine. Employing a VAR model on monthly data spanning 2016 – Q1 2022, the analysis demonstrates weak empirical evidence for the interest rate channel effectiveness. The impulse response indicates that the discount rate’s initial effect does not provide long-term inflation dynamics control. Variance decomposition analysis highlights the minimal influence of the NBU’s discount rate, primarily evident in the refinancing rate, followed by its impact on the rate of term deposits made by individuals, followed by the inflation, followed by the rate of new loans granted to residents, and finally the rate of government bond yields. Addressing the limitations of a rigid inflation targeting approach, the study recommends adopting a balanced approach, considering both price stability supported by exchange rate control measures and fostering economic growth. Additionally, a viable strategy for deepening the financial sector should be developed.

Did Immigrant Arrest Rates Change During the Trump Administration? Evidence From California and Texas

Despite substantial legal and policy debates, whether immigrant arrest rates changed during the Trump presidency remains surprisingly understudied. This is partially because immigration status is rarely available in crime data. We address this gap by applying difference-in-differences (DD) and difference-in-difference-in-differences (DDD) estimations to detailed arrest data from Texas and California from 2015 to 2018. We find little evidence, descriptive or otherwise, to suggest that the transition from the Obama to the Trump administration had a meaningful impact on immigrant arrests, whether measured as violence, property, drug, or traffic offenses. These results suggest that the immigration enforcement initiatives under President Trump did not deliver on their crime reduction pledges, but they also provide little evidence of over-policing of immigrants in discretionary actions such as traffic arrests.

Are cryptocurrencies currencies? Bitcoin as legal tender in El Salvador.

A currency's essential feature is to be a medium of exchange. This study explores the potential of cryptocurrencies to be used in daily transactions in El Salvador, the first country to make bitcoin legal tender. The government's "big push" introduced "Chivo Wallet," a digital wallet sharing features with Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), with perks to use it for trading bitcoins and US dollars. Through a nationally representative, face-to-face survey of 1800 households and blockchain data encompassing all Chivo Wallet transactions, we document a pattern of low and decreasing usage of digital payments and bitcoin. Privacy and security concerns are key adoption barriers, which speaks to a policy debate on crypto and CBDCs with anonymity at its core. Additionally, we estimate Chivo Wallet's adoption cost and complementarities among adopters.

POLICY SERIES: DOCTORAL PROGRAMS IN GERONTOLOGY: PROVIDING LEADERSHIP IN POLICY AND AGING

Abstract Advancements in education, medicine, wealth, technology, and population health have increased individual life expectancies. Healthy aging is not just a function of healthy genes, however; aging is modified by the broader context, which, in turn, creates opportunities and challenges that must be addressed by society. Lack of organized responses to population aging exacerbate social inequities based on workplace discrimination, displacement, and impoverishment, and contribute to public health inequalities pertaining to disease and disability, isolation, and vulnerability among older adults. Public policy offers one of the most effective ways to address inequities and inequalities such as these. This symposium spotlights four doctoral programs that prepare gerontologists who possess subject matter expertise in aging policy, conduct reliable policy surveillance and sourcing, execute empirical evaluations of policy formation and implementation, and offer well-informed contributions to policy makers who are most involved with supporting and protecting older adults. These well-established academic programs at the University of Massachusetts Boston (Edward Alan Miller, PhD), University of South Florida (Lyndsay Peterson, PhD), University of Southern California (Kathleen Wilbur, PhD), and Miami University (Jennifer M. Kinney, PhD) offer classroom education, research, and service-learning opportunities for students to acquire expertise in aging and public policy. Together, these programs provide models for training a generation of leaders in gerontology who can contribute productively to policy development and debates, illuminate structures and processes of policy making and implementation, and deploy analytic skills needed to evaluate policies relative to multiple and often competing interests.

Reliability options: Regulatory recommendations for the next generation of capacity remuneration mechanisms

The policy and regulatory debate raised after the 2022 energy crisis has reaffirmed capacity remuneration mechanisms (CRMs) as a key element of the electricity market design required to drive the much-needed energy transition. Reliability options are a CRM product that effectively addresses the market failures impacting security of supply, while minimising the interference with the different segments of the energy market. This article provides a comprehensive and detailed assessment of the design elements of reliability options and advances recommendations that can be useful for regulators who may consider introducing this scheme in their electricity markets. The analysis benefits from lessons learned in those power sectors where reliability options have been implemented (Colombia, ISO New England, Ireland, Italy, and Belgium). This allows to narrow the gap between the theoretical debate and the real-world implementation of these mechanisms.

Climate policy volatility hinders renewable energy consumption: Evidence from yardstick competition theory

Researchers have a high affirmative agreement on climate change and the need for policies to stimulate renewable energy consumption. However, there is little consensus among policymakers who are supposed to implement the solutions researchers propose. This phenomenon has led to extensive research on the effects of climate policy uncertainty (CPU) on energy consumption. We develop a yardstick competition model to examine the effect of climate policy volatility (CPV) on primary energy consumption in the U.S. residential sector. Our approach employs a Dirichlet process mixture linear model (DPM-LM) to account for unobserved heterogeneity and excess kurtosis. The results revealed that all three CPV estimators (Garman-Klass, Parkinson, and Rogers-Satchell) adversely affected the demand for hydrocarbon gas liquids (HGL) and biomass energy. In contrast, they positively affected the consumption of natural gas. The control variables (price and GDP) were consistent with the a priori expectations. This paper concludes that CPV creates a disincentive to increasing renewable energy demand. It is, therefore, critical for policymakers to consider ways of stabilizing climate policy and arriving at specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and definite time-bound goals and policies. It is equally important for policymakers to use science-based ex-post measures to inform the climate policy debate.