Restrictive Policies Research Articles

Pregnancy Termination Policy and Cleft Lip and Palate.

Restrictive policies on termination of pregnancy (TOP) may lead to more infants with congenital abnormalities. This study aims to assess the association between state-wide enactment of TOP restriction and cleft lip and/or palate (CL/P) incidence and identify mediating demographic characteristics. This study examines state-specific trends in CL/P incidence in infants before and after implementing laws restricting TOP in MI compared to NY, where no such laws were passed. The percent change of CL/P incidence per 1000 live births in post-policy years (2012-2015) compared to pre-policy years (2005-2011) was compared while adjusting for confounding factors in multivariate models. The incidence of CL/P changed significantly in MI (19.1%) versus NY (-7.31%). Adjusting for sex, race/ethnicity, median household income level, and expected payer revealed that the adjusted percent difference between MI and NY was 53.3% (p <0.001). Stratification by race/ethnicity and median household income demonstrated that changes were only significant amongst Black (139%, p<0.001) and Hispanic (125%, p=0.045) patients or of those from the lowest (50.3%, p<0.001) and second lowest (40.1%, p=0.01) income quartiles. Our research, combined with the recent Dobbs Supreme Court decision allowing states to place further restrictions on TOP, suggests that more infants in the future will be born in need of treatment for CL/P.

Health selection into migration from Poland to the Netherlands: a matched case–control analysis

ABSTRACT This study sheds light on health selection into migration from Poland to the Netherlands. Scholars have highlighted health as an important resource to overcome barriers to migration, and suggested that health selection into migration may particularly be expected under specific conditions, e.g. when geographical distances between origin and destination countries are large and when immigration policies in the destination country are restrictive. I assessed whether health selection into migration was also present in a within–European Union migration flow to which such conditions do not apply. I analyzed data from four surveys of Polish migrants in the Netherlands (n = 1,210) and European Social Survey data on Polish natives who stayed in Poland (n = 1,843). I performed conditional logistic regression analyses for matched case–control groups to model health selection into migration. Better health status was associated with a greater propensity to migrate from Poland to the Netherlands. Additional research is needed to determine whether the lower expected returns on migration for people in suboptimal health make them less inclined to migrate than their healthier counterparts, also in the absence of restrictive immigration policies and excessive geographical distances between origin and destination countries.

Abstract P223: Long Term Impact of COVID19 Pandemic on Estimated Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Physical Activity Level in South American Adults: Results From the Lown Scholars PAFIT Network Online Survey

Background: While restriction measures helped to control the further transmission of the SARS-cov2 virus, they also produced undesirable repercussions on physical activity level (PAL) and, potentially, cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF). However, the extent to which CRF has returned to pre-pandemic levels in the current time has yet to be consistently evaluated, especially in South America. Objective: We aimed to assess changes in PAL and estimated CRF (eCRF) from before the COVID-19 pandemic until the current time using an online survey with validated questionnaires and identifying the determinants of the observed changes. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional online survey using Global Physical Activity Questionnaire (GPAQ) to assess physical activity and sedentary time on a convenience sample of 1934 adults (68.7% women) from Argentina (n = 484), Brazil (n = 405), Chile (n = 279), Colombia (n = 343) and Uruguay (n = 423). We asked participants questions regarding their physical activity, body weight, socioeconomic status, education and cardiovascular risk factors before the start of the pandemic (Feb/Mar 2020) and at the time of the survey (Jul-Sep 2022). We calculated the eCRF before the pandemic and at the current time using a Brazilian equation including age, sex, body mass index, arterial hypertension, hyperlipidemia, current smoking, physical inactivity, and diabetes. To adjust for age, we also calculated eCRF using only the current time age. Results: The participants reported a significant increase in the prevalence of self reported hypertension (12.9% to 16.5%), diabetes (6.8% to 9.8%), dyslipidemia (18.9% to 24%), and obesity (15.4% to 18.2%) comparing pre-COVID-19 period to the time of the survey. In contrast, they reported a significant decrease in PAL at work (median 936.5 to 864.6 METs/min/week; p &lt; 0.032) and within active transportation domains (median 502.6 to 460.3 METs/min/week; p &lt; 0.008). No significant changes were reported in leisure time physical activity. The median sedentary time on weekdays increased by 60 minutes (360 to 420; p &lt; 0.001) post pandemic and eCRF was reduced (mean difference, -1.17 mL/min/kg; p &lt; 0.001). When adjusted for age, the differences remained statistically significant. (-0.50; mL/min/kgmL/min/kg; p 0.001). Conclusion: Social restriction policies aimed at controlling pandemics may lead to reduction in physical activity level and cardiorespiratory fitness in the long term.

Availability restrictions and mandatory precommitment in land-based gambling: effects on online substitutes and total consumption in longitudinal sales data

BackgroundGambling causes important harms in societies. According to the public health approach, the most effective policies to reduce harms target full populations. Availability restrictions and mandatory precommitment are among the most effective measures. However, restrictions on the availability of some gambling products or channels may also be offset by increased consumption in other products. Substitution effects can have negative public health impacts due to differing harm potential across different gambling products. This paper uses longitudinal sales data (2019–2022) from the Finnish gambling monopoly Veikkaus. During the observation period, the availability of gambling was restricted in Finland due to subsequent waves of Covid-19-related restrictions. In addition, the gambling monopoly introduced mandatory precommitment to land-based EGMs. We focus on how these restrictive policy changes impacted the total consumption of gambling and possible substitution effects.MethodsThe Finnish gambling monopoly provided weekly theoretical loss data per gambling product category and gambling channel (online, land-based) for the period of January 2019 – July 2022 based on a statutory obligation. We analysed the effects of availability restrictions and other public health measures on the consumption of different products using descriptive time series and regression analyses. We compared the sale of land-based products to online equivalents at product category level and included main policy change periods in the models.ResultsTotal consumption of gambling declined during 2019–2022 mainly due to reduced land-based electronic gambling machine (EGM) consumption. Declines in land-based EGM sales were not offset by online alternatives or other close substitutes in the long term. However, during the first wave of Covid-19, there was an observable substitution of land-based table games by online alternatives and land-based horse betting and possibly sports betting by online horse betting. Overall, the results also show that Covid-19 functioned as a boost to an already existing trend of increasing digitalisation of gambling.ConclusionsThe study provides empirical support for the effectiveness of public health-oriented policies in reducing the total consumption of gambling. Availability restrictions and mandatory precommitment are therefore likely to also reduce the burden of harms of gambling to individuals and societies.

The Painful and Chilling Effects of Legal Violence: Immigration Enforcement and Racialized Legal Status Inequities in Worker Well-Being

A wave of restrictive immigration policies implemented over the past several decades dramatically increased immigrant detentions and deportations in the United States (U.S.), with important consequences for a host of immigrant outcomes. Still, questions remain as to how temporal and geographic variation in immigration enforcement within and across the U.S. shaped racialized legal status inequities in health and well-being, particularly among those employed in precarious occupations. To fill this gap, we interrogated the links between changes in county-level immigration enforcement and racialized legal status inequalities in musculoskeletal pain and social welfare benefits utilization among U.S. agricultural workers over nearly two decades (2002–2018). We merged data from three sources [(1) restricted-access, geocoded data from the National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS) (n = 37,619); (2) county-level immigration enforcement data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC); and (3) population data from the Census and American Community Survey (ACS)] and estimated linear probability models with year, month, and state fixed effects. We show that, in counties with high enforcement rates, workers—especially undocumented workers—were at increased risk of musculoskeletal pain, including pain that was severe. Heightened enforcement was also associated with declines in needs-based benefits utilization, especially among documented and U.S.-citizen non-White workers and undocumented White and non-White workers. Together, these findings highlight how changes in sociopolitical and legal contexts can shift and maintain racialized legal status hierarchies, with especially important consequences for the well-being of vulnerable workers.

Disenchanted With the Immigrant Dream: The Sociological Formation of Ex-Immigrant Subjectivity

AbstractAlthough many return migrants had planned to go back to their country of origin, other return migrants who had originally planned to pursue the immigrant dream––the idea that one can have a better life by migrating—eventually change their mind and return to their society of origin. Just as the identity of individuals must adjust to the loss of a relationship, job, or membership of a group, many formerly aspiring immigrants give up on immigrating. I analyze data from oral history interviews and social media narratives of 121 Chinese ex-immigrants from 16 different countries. I show how disappointments, the language barrier, cultural alienation, racial-ethnic discrimination, intersectional-gender issues, barriers to upward socioeconomic mobility, and/or restrictive immigration policies interact with each other to constitute ex-immigrant subjectivity. This article highlights why immigration is a far less certain process than many perceive it to be, contributing to the broader sociological literature on how in different and similar ways processes of abandoning important social endeavors, like a romantic partnership, political party, or religious faith, transform subjectivities and social identities in other domains of social life.

A Gender-Aware Analysis on the Feminization of Entertainment Industry in Japan

This manuscript reexamines the institutionalization of the feminization of migration industry in the Philippine-Japan migration stream through a gender-aware approach. It interrogates on the reasons why Filipina migrants made their way out of the Philippines, through regular and illicit channels, to a host country like Japan despite its restrictive immigration policies. The study unpacks on the common notion that along with active state facilitation, Filipino women migrants’ mobility or those who are engaged in “nightwork” is basically mediated through the entertainment industry. This research is a product of long engagements with the respondents and various key-informants of NGOs and club owners from 2010 to 2015. The findings reveal that women migrants are able to exploit the migration industry as their personal network in alleviating their precarious status. The researcher agrees that the institutionalization of the migration through the entertainment industry from the Philippines to Japan perpetuates an exploitative woman-dominated migration stream. However, in most instances, Filipina migrants capably exploit their personal or community network formation which could also be found in the nightwork industry.

Solidarity, agency, and learning in everyday participation: A look at an adult education program in the context of COVID‐19

AbstractThe outbreak of the COVID‐19 pandemic on the world stage has impacted multiple aspects of our lives, affecting how we interact, organize public affairs, and carry out daily activities. This paper explores how students in an ongoing adult education program in Villa María, Argentina, continued their studies during the 2020–2022 pandemic in the context of the restrictive public health policies that led to suspending in‐person classes and collaborative sessions and moving to digitally mediated formats. It centers on the experience of adult learners confronted by the COVID‐19 emergency and their response through solidarity relationships and agency. We found that the students actively reorganized and redesigned their academic practices by articulating their emergency needs resulting from the pandemic with their continued participation in their program through acts of solidarity. Finally, we share thoughts and future directions about solidarity in adult learning contexts.

Does a tragic event affect different aspects of attitudes toward immigration?

Abstract Dramatic events can evoke feelings of compassion, fear, or threat, and can affect public opinion regarding controversial issues. Such an event was the drowning of 3-year-old Alan Kurdi, a Syrian boy whose body washed up on a Turkish shore, and was photographed, producing an iconic image that was seen worldwide. The image evoked empathy and compassion that neuroscience and psychological research associate with a motivation to help. This article examines the impact of this event on four different aspects of attitudes toward immigration. The timing of the European Social Survey in Portugal allowed us to use this tragic event as a natural experiment. Our results suggest that Kurdi’s drowning had a significant effect on only two sentiments, but no such impact was detected on other attitudes. The results show that the event did not change the respondents’ opinion regarding the possible negative consequences of immigration on the host country’s economy, crime level, or culture, nor did it change their perception of the skills required by immigrants. On the other hand, the empathy induced by the tragic event increased their willingness to have a less restrictive immigration policy and their openness to having close social relationships with immigrants, although these changes were short-lived.

Have mixed traffic restrictions improved air quality in different regions?

Governments have implemented many regulations to solve traffic congestion and pollutant emissions. Traffic restriction (TR) policy is the most common and widely used traffic regulation. However, it is difficult to alleviate traffic pollution through TR policies. Only a few studies focus on TR policies in multiple cities. In this paper, we classify traffic restrictions by geographical factors and evaluate the impact of different policies based on PSM-DID first. Then, we classify the mixed restrictions and test their effects on air pollution. The results show that TR policy improves air quality regardless of the season. Moreover, the effect of TR policy is not affected by the superposition of the type of traffic restriction. For cities implementing the same TR policy, geographic factors can lead to different outcomes. This finding provides a reference for governments in reducing air pollution.

Steering, rowing, and bailing water: The role of government regulation and ownership in COVID-19 outcomes in nursing homes

Studies of organizations with limited capacity operating in uncertain environments and hit by crises can contribute important insights into public administration. Based on a large-N quantitative analysis of US nursing homes, which became ground zero of the COVID-19 pandemic, this article examines the effect of government regulation, ownership, and several distinct management strategies on organizational capacity to curb the threats posed by the pandemic. Using hybrid datasets including nursing home data, administrator surveys, COVID-19 outcome data, a COVID-19 regulatory stringency index, and US Census Bureau data, our analysis shows that restrictive COVID-19 state government policies and public/nonprofit ownership help minimize environmental threats and reduce COVID-19 impacts. Yet management strategies—external management, innovation management, distributive leadership, and regulation management—have only modest effects on COVID-19 outcomes. These findings inform our understanding of how organizations operate at the margins and the impact of management on outcomes during a crisis.

Verticillium Species as an Ecofriendly Alternative to Manage the Invasive Tree Ailanthus altissima (Mill.) Swingle

Environmental pollution, unintended harm to beneficial organisms, and the development of herbicide resistance among weeds are the main consequences of the massive and consistent use of chemical herbicides in recent decades. The growing need for alternative solutions has been reinforced by restrictive policies, leading to a search for natural herbicidal candidates. Mycoherbicides, formulations containing plant pathogenic fungi, are viewed as promising substitutes for chemical herbicides. In the case of Ailanthus altissima (Mill.) Swingle, one of the worst invasive alien tree species in the world, Verticillium-based mycoherbicides offer a viable method for control, inducing a lethal wilt disease and leading plants to death within a few years. The demonstrated significant effectiveness enables addressing challenges posed by other—conventional—approaches. The current analysis matches key internal (strengths and weaknesses) and external factors (opportunities and threats) of Verticillium Nees isolates as environmentally-friendly control agents against the invasive A. altissima, by listing each singularly and then crossing them among the categories, drawing from the collaborative efforts of American, Austrian, and Italian research teams.

Ins and Outs: Immigration Policies in Early 20th Century Mexico and the Arrival of Spanish Immigrants and Exiles

Abstract: In the early decades of the 20th century, Mexican immigration laws and government circulars dictated populations believed to be economically, racially, and intellectually favorable. Determined to be a population able to easily assimilate into Mexican society based on their ability to maintain Mexico's mestizo demographic identity, the government gave preferential treatment to Spaniards seeking the opportunity to migrate. The Mexican government sought to protect the nation's mixed-identity through the promulgation of restrictive immigration policies, establishing limitations for populations believed to be too "other" to seamlessly integrate and bring wide-spread benefit to the nation. To understand Mexico's provision of aid to Spanish exiles and refugees unable or unwilling to return to their homeland during and after the Spanish Civil War, this article examines the Ley de Migración, the Ley de General Población, and other immigration laws promulgated between 1926 and 1936 and their efforts to control who was able to enter the country.

Migration policies versus public health – the ethics of Covid-19 related movement restrictions for asylum seekers in reception centers in Greece in 2020

Background The emergency context of the Covid-19 pandemic necessitated the use of national and international public health measures of unprecedented scale to minimize mortality and morbidity, often in conflict with other principles and rights, such as the autonomy of individuals. Concerns have been voiced that for populations facing precarity, such as migrants, a disproportionate and unfair application of restrictive measures, deficient application of protective measures, and even enforcement of restrictive migration policies under the pretext of the pandemic has occurred. Methods Various principles have been proposed as moral foundations of public health interventions. The author used two public health ethics frameworks to examine the acceptability of movement restrictions on asylum seekers residing in refugee camps in Greece from March 2020 to October 2020. Results Most of the principles described in the frameworks for the ethical application of movement restrictions were not adhered to. Main concerns include that, measures were prolonged despite lack of evidence about their effectiveness to reduce morbidity and mortality, while posing severe and disproportionate burdens for this population. Conclusions An ethically acceptable public health response to Covid-19 is incompatible with certain living conditions of refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants. The question of whether and if so the extent to which the discipline of public health inherently has the role of rectifying existing injustices and social inequalities when these can be convincingly related to health outcomes, is central to the design of public health interventions for these populations. The answer can exemplify the need to address moral and political determinants of health. It is essential for public health professionals to be aware of the moral theorizations that underpin their work, so as to ensure that their policies are aligned with those and to contribute to the debate that shapes these determinants.

Non-profit administrative advocacy: anti-violence non-profit organisations and their relations with state agencies in Russia

Research on non-profit organisations’ (NPOs’) administrative advocacy suggests that while restrictive regulatory legislation hinders their activities, ambiguous state policy on particular social issues provides opportunities to advance their agenda. To better understand how non-profits conduct their administrative advocacy in a context characterised by both restrictive regulatory legislation and state policy ambiguity, this article examines Russian NPOs that are dealing with the contested issue of domestic violence. Drawing on network governance theory, the study investigates how these organisations navigated this complex terrain of restrictions and opportunities. It finds that anti-violence NPOs employed collaborative tactics to engage staff of state agencies who directly interact with citizens, while facing the risk of state-sanctioned repressions due to the potential classification of their work as political. By considering a case of administrative advocacy in a contentious policy field, this article argues for the need to account for the broader political context when researching non-profit advocacy.

The South's Democracy Struggle Reaches New Urgency

Abstract: This article examines the history and impact of the Voting Rights Act 1965 and the South's current political landscape more than a decade after the devastating 2013 Shelby v. Holder Supreme Court decision, which eviscerated the landmark civil rights legislation. The VRA has been under constant attack in recent years, with efforts to reduce its effectiveness. These attempts have led to the implementation of suppressive voting laws and restrictive election policies by Southern lawmakers. The region has become more racially diverse, but these measures dilute the influence of a diverse electorate. With the 2024 election quickly approaching, debates on voting and elections are at an all-time high across the country. In response to systematic efforts to undermine democracy, grassroots activists have come together to fight these measures and offer new proposals to fully restore the VRA and build a more inclusive and sustainable democracy across the South.

Anti-immigrant backlash: the Democratic Dilemma for immigration policy

Anti-immigrant backlash has emerged in recent years as a considerable threat to democracy. In many countries illiberal and anti-democratic political forces driven in part by anti-immigrant sentiment have damaged or threaten to damage the proper functioning of democratic institutions. Should policymakers try to avert this threat by implementing more restrictive immigration policy? If they do so, they may expose immigrants to unjust exclusion. If they do not, they may risk democratic dysfunction, even democratic failure. I will call this the Democratic Dilemma for immigration policy. In this paper I argue that this is a hard ethical dilemma that does not lend itself to a straightforward resolution. I propose an analytic and evaluative framework for assessing possible policy responses to the Dilemma to aid policymakers’ as well as the public’s ethical judgement.

Wartime Trade Policy Measures in Comparison of the Historical Periods of the First World War and the Special Military Operation

With the beginning of the special military operation (SMO), a new type of foreign trade policy is forming, based on restrictions. History shows that the practice of restrictions on trade operations is not new. The article compares Russia’s trade policy measures introduced during the First World War of 2014–2018 and the SMO, which began in 2022. The goal is to identify tools that are not currently used. Restrictions on exports and imports, measures to stimulate imports, and measures to build new trade routes are considered. Even before the start of the SMO, from the moment of political aggravation, Russia limited the export of wood and fertilizers, which contradicted the Protocol on Accession to the WTO and the refusal of quantitative restrictions. Unfriendly countries that applied preventive sanctions against Russia, with the beginning of the SMO, denied Russia most favored nation treatment. As during the First World War, grains, flour and sugar were among the food products subject to government export restrictions. Both periods were characterized by measures to stimulate imports in an effort to provide industry with raw materials and equipment. Import restriction measures in the first period applied to luxury goods, in the second they took the form of sanctions against unfriendly countries. The war period was characterized by growing interest in the northern sea routes. Compared with World War I, modern export restriction policies were more varied in terms of product coverage, but lacked the specific details by export directions that were developed a century ago. Many of the modern measures allow exemptions only in relation to EAEU countries. In our opinion, exemptions from restrictions on the export of humanitarian goods could be made for the developing countries which are most in need of grain or fertilizers.

From Europe to Mexico: The Unexpected Journey of Thirty Jewish Families Escaping Nazism

Abstract Despite Mexico’s highly restrictive policy toward Jewish refugees during the 1930s and the Second World War, nearly two thousand Jewish refugees fleeing from Nazism managed to enter the country. While previous historiography has primarily focused on government policies toward Jewish refugees, it has paid little attention to the experiences of those who actually arrived in Mexico. This article fills this gap by analyzing the forced migration and transit process of thirty Jewish refugee families who arrived in Mexico between 1937 and 1949. Mexico emerged as a crucial option for refugees throughout their flight when they utilized and established transnational links that would ultimately lay the groundwork for their rescue. By expanding the field of Holocaust studies to encompass the experiences of refugees in Latin America, this study provides important insights into the global dynamics of the Holocaust.

Extending Driver's Licenses to Undocumented Immigrants: Comparing Perinatal Outcomes Following This Policy Shift.

Research shows that restrictive immigration policies and practices are associated with poor health, but far less is known about the relationship between inclusive immigration policies and health. Using data from the United States natality files, we estimate associations between state laws granting undocumented immigrants access to driver's licenses and perinatal outcomes among 4,047,067 singleton births to Mexican and Central American immigrant birthing people (2008-2021). Fitting multivariable log binomial and linear models, we find that the implementation of a license law is associated with improvements in low birthweight and mean birthweight. Replicating these analyses among U.S.-born non-Hispanic White birthing people, we find no association between the implementation of a license law and birthweight. These findings support the hypothesis that states' extension of legal rights to immigrants improves the health of the next generation.