Voluntary Policy Research Articles

The Impact of Non-Fiscal Mandatory and Voluntary Policies and Interventions on the Reformulation of Food and Beverage Products: A Systematic Review

Background/Objectives: Low quality diets are a risk factor for non-communicable diseases; therefore, improving diet quality is a public health and policy priority in the UK and elsewhere. Reformulating food/beverage products to make them healthier may be an effective approach. Evidence suggests that fiscal interventions, notably taxes/levies on soft drinks, can lead to reformulation but the evidence for voluntary or mandated non-fiscal interventions is less clear. We aimed to review and synthesise contemporary evidence to determine whether non-fiscal policies/interventions result in the reformulation of food/beverage products Methods: In April 2023, we systematically searched ten international academic and nine grey literature databases. We included real-world study designs, all nutrients, in- and out-of-home sectors, and studies published from 2013, to ensure policy relevancy. We excluded modelling studies. Using the Synthesis Without Meta-Analysis method we conducted vote counting of studies based on the direction of effect and narrative synthesis by intervention type. Risk of bias was assessed using a tool developed by the EPPI-Centre and quality was assessed using GRADE. Results: We included 77 real-world studies from 19 countries, reporting 100 non-fiscal policies/interventions. Most commonly, these were reduction targets (n = 44), front-of-pack labels (n = 23), and advertising standards (n = 9). Most interventions were voluntary (n = 67), compared to mandatory (n = 33), and focused on the in-home sector (n = 63). The vote counting results showed non-fiscal policies/interventions overall led to improvements in reformulation in 60/63 studies with a valid direction of effect (95%, 95% CI 0.869, 0.984, p < 0.001). Mandatory implementations were more successful than voluntary implementations with 15/15 showing an improvement (100%, 95% CI 0.796, 1], p < 0.001), compared 40/43 showing an improvement (93%, 95% CI 0.814, 0.976, p < 0.001). Most of the studies were of low quality, due to the observational nature of the studies. Sodium was the most commonly targeted nutrient (n = 56) and was found to be reformulated in most studies. Causation is difficult to establish from real-world studies, but evidence suggests that regulatory and multi-component strategies may be effective at driving reformulation. Conclusions: Non-fiscal policies/interventions can play an important role in driving reformulation, alongside fiscal measures. This work was funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research PRP-PRU-02-15-Healthy Weight and registered on Open Science Framework.

Rights-Based Legal Considerations for TB Isolation Practices in Community Settings in the Post-Pandemic Era.

State and local governments are free to enact infectious disease control laws to protect the public health but must conform those laws to right-based limitations imposed by the United States Constitution. TB control laws that empower public health agencies and their representatives to institute restrictions on movement and activities for persons with TB have remained largely unchanged for decades and warrant review to ensure consistency with modern legal principles. During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was increased attention to the tension between non-pharmaceutical public health interventions (masking, isolation, lock-downs) intended to reduce transmission and improve community health and their potential negative consequences on learning, mental health, individual finances and the economy at large. Increasing evidence suggests that much of TB transmission is likely to have occurred prior to diagnosis and treatment initiation, and there is limited scientific evidence for the efficacy of community-based isolation in reducing TB incidence or TB mortality; by contrast, there is evidence that treatment rapidly reduces infectiousness, and that prolonged isolation may have deleterious health and financial effects for persons with TB. The post-pandemic era presents an opportunity to reassess public health authorities' legal obligations in designing voluntary and involuntary isolation policies for persons with tuberculosis. In so doing, state and local governments can recalibrate the balance between respect for individual constitutional rights and achieving public health TB goals.

The effectiveness, cost-effectiveness and policy processes of regulatory, voluntary and partnership policies to improve food environments: an evidence synthesis.

Dietary factors are among the largest and costliest drivers of chronic diseases in England. As a response, the government implements a range of population interventions to promote healthy diets by targeting food environments. This study aimed to conduct a systematic review of the effectiveness, cost-effectiveness and policy process of real-world evaluations of national and state policies on improving food environments, with a focus on whether they were regulatory, voluntary or partnership approaches. Fourteen relevant English-language databases were searched in November 2020 for studies published between 2010 and 2020. Six separate evidence reviews were conducted to assess the evidence of effectiveness, cost-effectiveness and policy processes of policies to improve food environments. A total of 483 primary research evaluations and 14 evidence syntheses were included. The study reveals considerable geographic, methodological and other imbalances across the literature, with, for example, 81% of publications focusing only on 12 countries. The systematic reviews also reveal the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of reviewed regulatory approaches designed to improve health, consumer behaviour and food environment outcomes while public-private partnerships and voluntary approaches to improve diets via reformulation, advertising and promotion restrictions or other changes to the environment were limited in their effectiveness and cost-effectiveness. The study also revealed key enabling and impeding factors across regulatory, voluntary and public-private partnership approaches. From the available evidence reviewed, this study finds that regulatory approaches appear most effective at improving the food environment, and voluntary agreements and partnerships have limited effectiveness. These findings should be carefully considered in future public health policy development, as should the findings of geographic imbalance in the evidence and inadequate representation of equity dimensions across the policy evaluations. We find that food policies are at times driven by factors other than the evidence and shaped by compromise and pragmatism. Food policy should be first and foremost designed and driven by the evidence of greatest effectiveness to improve food environments for healthier diets. This was a complex evidence synthesis due to its scope and some policy evaluations may have been missed as the literature searches did not include specific policy names. The literature was limited to studies published in English from 2010 to 2020, potentially missing studies of interest. Priorities include the need for guidance for appraising risk of bias and quality of non-clinical studies, for reporting policy characteristics in evaluations, for supporting evaluations of real-world policies equitably across geographic regions, for capturing equity dimensions in policy evaluations, and for guideline development for quality and risk of bias of policy evaluations. This study is registered as PROSPERO CRD42020170963. This awardproject was funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Public Health Research programme (NIHR award ref: NIHR128607)and is published in full in Public Health Research; Vol. 12, No. 8. See the NIHR Funding and Awards website for further awardinformation.

Toward sustainable environmental management: Insights from Chinese first-tier cities' consumers' response to green electricity payment policies

China's renewable energy industry is facing the challenge of overcapacity. The environmental management literature suggests that consumers' participation in the green electricity market holds immense potential in addressing renewable energy consumption concerns. However, the question of how payment policies influence China's consumers' willingness to pay for green electricity remains unresolved. Based on 2854 valid questionnaires from a survey conducted in China's four first-tier cities in 2023, our research findings reveal: (1) While 97.9% of consumers express a willingness to use green electricity, only 63.1% are willing to pay a higher cost, indicating the existence of a “value-action” gap between environmental awareness and actual willingness to pay. (2) China's consumers' willingness to pay for green electricity is approximately 38.4 RMB per month. This figure has decreased by 5.7 RMB compared to our survey in 2019. (3) Consumers' willingness to pay will be influenced by the attitudes of those around them. (4) The voluntary payment policy positively impacts consumers' willingness to pay for green electricity. (5) Male, younger, lower education level, higher income, and larger household size consumers exhibit a higher willingness to pay. (6) Electricity price sensitivity weakens the impact of payment policies on willingness to pay.

Business and human rights as Swedish foreign policy: The soft implementation of international regulatory norms

AbstractThis article aims to explain why national governments choose soft policies in the domestication of international norms even when those norms may explicitly call for harder measures. The article achieves this aim by exploring domestic adoption of National Action Plans (NAPs) for implementing the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs). The UNGPs are an international soft law instrument that calls for a mix of voluntary and mandatory policies to promote human rights due diligence, and NAPs are soft domestic policy instruments that lack the bindingness of mandatory due diligence legislation now found in several states. Most governments with NAPs have adopted them specifically as foreign policies, treating them not as regulatory initiatives but as tools for enhancing national reputations. Using a range of primary and secondary sources, the article constructs a case study of Sweden to explain why governments might opt for softer implementation of the UNGPs in the form of NAPs. It draws several conclusions: (1) governments may emulate the approach to domesticating international regulatory norms that is promoted by international organisations; (2) support from domestic actors motivates norm implementation, and the policy style selected is likely to reflect power constellations in the state and, under consensus‐based governance systems, the lowest common denominator of actor preferences; and (3) path dependency following institutional venue selection influences the type of policy developed and adopted. These findings shed new light on the reasons why international policy norms are implemented in ‘softer’ ways than perhaps intended by their architects.

Experiment in resilient city: An evaluation of China’s demonstration city of safe development policies

The drive of resilient city explores a new path for urban governance in the context of risk society, and China’s demonstration city of safe development (DCSD) policies are the indigenous practice of resilient city idea. This paper used text mining technology and PMC-index model to establish an evaluation system for DCSD policies. Then eight representative sample DCSD policies were assessed. The results show that the average PMC-index scores 5.38 and reaches a great consistency grade. Nine model indicators indicate that the Chinese government has a clear policy focus on the efforts of DCSD, prefers to use compulsory type policy tools, and fully mobilizes the public to participate in safe city development jointly. Meanwhile, structural imbalance in policy instruments is a prominent disadvantage. The research establishes an evaluation system for DCSD policies, and provides a new perspective for the explorations of resilient cities worldwide. The extensive applicability of the policy evaluation model needs to be studied in depth in the future.

Formal vs. Informal Voluntary Disclosure Policies

Abstract Tax administrations have long grappled with the question of how noncompliant taxpayers should be allowed to correct their tax affairs voluntarily. While many jurisdictions have adopted various voluntary disclosure programs, several countries—including some of the world’s largest economies—have not done so. This Article examines the voluntary disclosure practices in twenty-five countries that do not have voluntary disclosure programs. It finds that the tax authorities in these jurisdictions frequently follow informal voluntary disclosure practices that operate as de facto substitutes for formal policies. In some countries, informal voluntary disclosure practices coexist alongside formal schemes. In light of these findings, this Article explores the tax policy considerations concerning the choice between formal and informal voluntary disclosure policies, and shows that formal schemes have several advantages over informal practices.

Classification and Prediction of Food Safety Policy Tools in China Based on Machine Learning

Governments use policy interventions to mitigate food safety risks. Despite its crucial role, empirical studies evaluating the effectiveness of China's food safety policy tools are scarce. Drawing on a dataset encompassing 11,236 food safety policy texts from 2005 to 2021 and the incidence of problematic food products in the Eastern, Central, and Western regions of China, this study employs Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) and eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) models to facilitate the classification of policy tools and forecast the effectiveness of policy combinations. The study reveals that (1) local governments have gradually become an important supplementary maker of food safety policies, and have issued an increasing number of policy tools year by year. (2) Mandatory policy tools are predominant in number and have the highest legal hierarchy and authority levels, followed successively by guiding policy and voluntary policy tools. (3) Mandatory policy tools demonstrated the most effective intervention results, followed successively by guiding policy and voluntary policy tools. (4) The forecast analysis reveals that combinations of policies within high-growth frameworks and those driven by mandatory regulations emerge as the most effective. Therefore, the balance of policy tools in terms of type, effectiveness, and quantity, as well as their applicability in different situations, should all be taken into account.

Food providers and public health professional’s experiences with the adoption and implementation of the National Healthy Food and Drink Policy in New Zealand healthcare facilities

Publicly-funded healthcare facilities in Australia(1) and New Zealand(2) have adopted healthy food and drink policies to enable staff and visitors to choose and consume healthier options. However, adopting such policies does not translate to their full implementation and compliance by food providers, who face barriers to providing healthier food and drinks(3). As part of the wider HealthY Policy Evaluation (HYPE) study, we interviewed hospital food providers and public health dietitians/professionals to understand their experiences implementing the voluntary National Healthy Food and Drink Policy introduced in New Zealand in 2016. Semi-structured interviews focused on the awareness, understanding of, and attitudes towards the Policy; level of support received; perceived customer response; tools and resources needed to support implementation; and unintended or unforeseen consequences. All semi-structured interviews were transcribed verbatim, inductively coded with the assistance of QSR’s NVivo software, and analysed using the reflexive thematic analysis method by Braun and Clarke(4). Twelve participants from across New Zealand were interviewed. Time in their roles ranged from one to 14.5 years, and many were not in the position when the Policy was first adopted. There was a discrepancy in the awareness of the voluntary Policy. However, there was agreement that hospitals should be healthy eating role models for the wider community. Reflexive thematic analysis identified three themes relating to the implementation of the Policy in New Zealand: 1) complexities of operating food outlets under the Policy in hospitals; 2) adoption, implementation and monitoring of the Policy as a series of incoherent ad-hoc actions; and 3) the Policy as (currently) not achieving the desired impact. Participants recognised that the current food supply, presence of food outlets nearby hospitals serving unhealthy foods and culture of unhealthy eating, combined with the difficulty of changing people’s eating habits, leaves doubts if the Policy and healthier options served in the healthcare facilities have any tangible positive impact on staff or visitors. Key suggestions to promote successful Policy implementation included adoption of a mandatory National Policy, funding of central government support for implementation (including supportive implementation tools), regular and systematic monitoring of food availability in each region, and frequent and ongoing communication with staff and visitors using positive messaging around healthy eating and non-health related benefits (e.g. sustainability) to increase their buy-in. Findings from stakeholder interviews and the remaining parts of the HYPE evaluation study are informing the update of the National Policy and associated supportive tools, and highlight the potential positive impact a comprehensive policy evaluation could have on improving policy implementation.

Global heterogeneity in folic acid fortification policies and implications for prevention of neural tube defects and stroke: a systematic review

Folic acid (pteroylmonoglutamic acid) supplements are highly effective for prevention of neural tube defects (NTD) prompting implementation of mandatory or voluntary folic acid fortification for prevention of NTDs. We used plasma folate levels in population studies by country and year to compare effects of folic acid fortification types (mandatory or voluntary folic acid fortification policies) on plasma folate levels, NTD prevalence and stroke mortality rates. We conducted systematic reviews of (i) implementation of folic acid fortification in 193 countries that were member states of the World Health Organization by country and year, and (ii) estimated population mean plasma folate levels by year and type of folic acid fortification. We identified relevant English language reports published between Jan 1, 1990 and July 31, 2023 using Google Scholar, Medline, Embase and Global Health. Eligibility criteria were observational or interventional studies with >1000 participants. Studies of pregnant women or children <15 years were excluded. Using an ecological study design, we examined the associations of folic acid fortification types with NTD prevalence (n=108 studies) and stroke mortality rates (n=3 countries). Among 193 countries examined up to 31 July 2023, 69 implemented mandatory folic acid fortification, 47 had voluntary fortification, but 77 had no fortification (accounting for 32%, 53% and 15% of worldwide population, respectively). Mean plasma folate levels were 36, 21 and 17nmol/L in populations with mandatory, voluntary and no fortification, respectively (and proportions with mean folate levels >25nmol/L were 100%, 15% and 7%, respectively). Among 75 countries with NTD prevalence, mean (95% CI) prevalence per 10,000 population were 4.19 (4.11-4.28), 7.61 (7.47-7.75) and 9.66 (9.52-9.81) with mandatory, voluntary and no folic acid fortification, respectively. However, age-standardised trends in stroke mortality rates were unaltered by the introduction of folic acid fortification. There is substantial heterogeneity in folic acid fortification policies worldwide where folic acid fortification are associated with 50-100% higher population mean plasma folate levels and 25-50% lower NTD prevalence compared with no fortification. Many thousand NTD pregnancies could be prevented yearly if all countries implemented mandatory folic acid fortification. Further trials of folic acid for stroke prevention are required in countries without effective folic acid fortification policies. Medical Research Council (UK) and British Heart Foundation.

Return Policies and Everyday Resistance: An Exploration of Nigerian Migrants’ Experiences in Austria

This article delves into the nuances of resistance among Nigerian migrants in Austria, situated within the larger framework of European migration. Against the backdrop of the stringent migration regulations implemented in Austria during the 2015 long summer of migration and amplified during the COVID-19 pandemic, this study aims to provide a deeper exploration of the political sociology of return. Drawing on semi-structured interviews conducted with 18 Nigerian migrants, I examine the perspectives of migrants and their interpretations of voluntary and forced return policies and implementation, shedding light on their motivations, strategies, and decision-making processes. Additionally, the paper incorporates 15 interviews with government officials, non-governmental organisations, and activists to explore the implementation of return policy. Using the framework of everyday resistance by Johansson and Vinthagen (2019), this study uncovers the nuanced ways in which Nigerian migrants in Austria navigate the pressures of returning to their home countries. This analysis is especially significant because of Nigeria’s prominence as a major origin country for migrants in Europe. It provides valuable insights into the broader European migration context and contributes to a better understanding of resistance within return migration processes. These acts manifest in various forms in everyday life, challenging the execution of asylum and return policies in specific physical locations, such as workplaces, cities, and streets, highlighting the complex subtleties of resistance in the context of return migration management.

Referendum as a policy instrument to enhance energy democracy in formulating energy transition path, agenda, and policies: A case study of Taiwan's referendums in 2018 and 2021

This study explores whether energy policy-related referendum initiatives in Taiwan can serve as effective policy instruments for the public to participate democratically in the formulation of energy policy and transition. Taiwan's conventional energy policy-making process is top-down, determined by the government, politicians, and experts. This process was challenged by five bottom-up energy-related referendum initiatives in 2018 and 2021, demanding a reduction in coal-fired electricity generation, electricity generation from nuclear energy instead, and an end to the expansion of large-scale fossil fuel energy infrastructure. The preferences of the general public and government for the energy transition agenda were in conflict. The results show that referendum is an effective and socially integrated policy instrument for enhancing energy democracy and guiding governmental energy transition in Taiwan, particularly by resisting the government's dominant coal-based energy agenda and facilitating a restructuring of the energy sector against various social and contextual pressures on energy preferences and contested policy goals. This bottom-up, exogenous rather than endogenous, and forced rather than voluntary energy policy formulation model corresponds to the international discussion on how energy democracy can change traditional structural power relations between the government and citizens in energy policy formulation and transition.

Cognition Analysis of Building Energy Efficiency Labeling System and the Application of Policy Instrument

&lt;p&gt;2021年住商部門佔總排碳量，全國約占21.9%，台北市約佔75.88%。各國皆認為建築能源效率會是住商部門能否達到淨零排放的重要指標，無不積極推動建築能效標示；不過能效標示必須搭配自願性或強制性的政策工具才會發生效果。文獻回顧發現標示制度成功與否取決於標示「感知」、「品質」及「信任」三面向的發展程度。本研究歸納3面向的8個認知構面及其16項評估項目與7項政策工具，經問卷抽樣調查分析，發現「信任」面向之6項重要評估項目最受重視，其中以「評估人員條件」、「培訓認可條件」及「抽複查機制」3項評估項目對標示公信力影響最大。至於「感知」面向則僅有「與建築節能相關職業」(即資訊提供族群)的認知程度較高，未與建築節能議題接觸者，感知普遍不足，與從事建築職業無關。另外，彙整出7項政策工具之評估項目相關性分析表，自願性政策工具明顯較強制性政策工具受青睞；「強制性」的政策工具著重於「標示機構公正性」與「評估人員專業性」，不論是資訊提供或接收者，認知一致，為該政策工具之重點施政作為。「經濟手段」的政策工具，並無偏重那個面向，應從各面向並進，惟職業別與居住地區別特徵認知差異大，應針對不同族群調整施政作法，「資訊透明化」之政策工具，著重於機構公正性、辦理程序嚴謹性，應防止制度容易發生弊端的問題，並彙整出政策工具與評估項目之相關性分析表，供後續推動政策工具的參考。&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In terms of the total carbon emissions accounted for by the residential and commercial sector in 2021, it accounts for approximately 21.9% nationwide and 75.88% in Taipei City. Various countries believe that building energy efficiency will be an important indicator of whether the residential and commercial sectors can achieve net-zero emissions, so they all actively promote building energy efficiency labels; however, energy efficiency labels must be paired with voluntary or mandatory policies to be effective. A review of the literature found that the success of a labeling system usually depends on the degree to which the public has developed three aspects of labeling: &amp;quot;perception&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;quality&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;trust&amp;quot;. This study summarized the 8 cognitive aspects of the 3 aspects and their 16 evaluation items and 7 policy Instruments. After a questionnaire survey and analysis, it was found that the 6 important evaluation items of the &amp;quot;trust&amp;quot; aspect received the most attention, among which the &amp;quot;evaluator&amp;quot; was the most important. The three evaluation items, &amp;quot;Conditions&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;Training Accreditation Conditions&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;Spot Review Mechanism&amp;quot; have the greatest impact on the credibility of the label. As for the &amp;quot;perception&amp;quot; aspect, only &amp;quot;occupations related to building energy conservation&amp;quot; (that is, the information providing group) have a higher level of awareness. Those who have not been exposed to building energy conservation issues generally have insufficient awareness, which has nothing to do with being engaged in the construction profession. In addition, a correlation analysis table of the evaluation items of 7 policy Instruments was compiled. Voluntary policy Instruments are obviously more popular than mandatory policy Instruments; &amp;quot;mandatory&amp;quot; policy Instruments focus on &amp;quot;marking the impartiality of the organization&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;professionalism of the assessor&amp;quot;. &amp;quot;Sex&amp;quot;, whether the information provider or the receiver has a consistent understanding, is the key governance action of this policy Instrument. The policy Instrument of &amp;quot;economic means&amp;quot; does not focus on one aspect. It should be based on all aspects. However, there are great differences in the recognition of the distinguishing characteristics of occupational gender and place of residence. Governance practices should be adjusted according to different ethnic groups. The policy Instrument of &amp;quot;information transparency&amp;quot; focuses on Regarding the fairness of the institution and the rigor of the processing procedures, we should prevent problems that are prone to malpractice in the system, and compile a correlation analysis table of policy Instruments and assessment items for reference in the subsequent promotion of policy Instruments.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;

FACTORS AFFECTING THE VOLUNTARY SOCIAL INSURANCE PARTICIPATION INTENTION: THE CASE OF SMALL TRADERS IN HO CHI MINH CITY

This study aims to evaluate the factors affecting voluntary social insurance participation of small traders. The proposed research model was based on merging Theory of Planned behavior (TPB) and Technology acceptance model (TAM) to examine how to form the participating voluntary social insurance intentions. The research sample was taken from 322 people who are small traders in Ho Chi Minh City. The results of data analysis (CB-SEM technique) show that attitude is an important factor affecting intention. Other factors in TAM and TPB also significantly influence voluntary social insurance participation intention. In the conclusion of this study, implications for voluntary social insurance policies were presented.

National progress towards supranational climate & energy goals due to policies & their mixes? Insights from Northern & Western Europe

The European Union's climate strategy obliges its Member States to fulfil common Climate and Energy Targets by 2030 while the Member States are free in their choice of mixes among polices and instruments providing rule-, economic-and information-focussed incentives. This paper comparatively firstly calculates in how far 11 Member States have already progressed towards these targets, based on the goals set in the National Climate and Energy Plans. Secondly, the paper quantitatively investigates in how far there is a relationship between this progress and the use of different policy-mixes of the countries. The findings about the relationship between progress and policy mixes show that most Pearson correlations (weak to moderate) exist for the rule-focussed incentives (r = −0,41 to −0,62), while fewer but stronger correlations exist for economic- (r = −0,79) and information-focussed incentives (r = −0,73 to −0,74). Voluntary and other policies and measures seem to be of less importance as they only show negligible correlations. Since all discovered correlations are negative, this research shows that a good policy-mix should consist out of a fair share of the main three policy-groups. These highly current findings can guide also other countries globally in the development of a good climate strategy.

Public support for decarbonization policies in the UK: exploring regional variations and policy instruments

ABSTRACT Decarbonization policies require public support to be implemented and to remain in legislation. Examinations of public support for climate policies tend to focus on a small number of policy instruments and/or use hypothetical instead of real policy proposals. Here, we address these criticisms by examining public support across four distinct policy instruments – command-and-control, market-based, information-based, and voluntary – using sixteen policy proposals by UK political parties and government institutions. In addition to assessing UK national policy support, we also explore regional differences. Using a representative sample of the UK population (N = 1,911), we find that, at a national level, individuals preferred instruments shown to be less effective in reaching net-zero: information-based and voluntary policies. Our results indicate that the extent to which individuals believe in the free market, their environmental worldviews and political party support as well as their age are all correlated with policy support. We find stark regional differences where, compared to individuals living in Greater London, those living in the remainder of the country were 32% and 30% less likely to support command-and-control and market-based policies, respectively (among other regional differences). Regional variations in free-market beliefs and population density partly explain differences in policy support. We propose policymakers focus on place-based initiatives to increase support for decarbonization policies that are more effective in reaching net-zero and on improving the perception of market-based and command-and-control policies through positive framing and policy bundles.

A clean road to international trade: Environmental regulations and the cleanliness of export enterprises

This study explores the impact of environmental regulations on the clean product exports of firms and the mechanism of this impact from the dual perspectives of the extensive and intensive margins. It uses matched micro data and aims to explore the clean road to international trade. According to the benchmark regression, environmental regulations improve the export intensity of clean products. However, their impact on the export probability of clean products is not significant. That is, environmental regulations promote the intensive margin of enterprise clean product exports but do not promote the extensive margin of enterprise clean product exports. The mechanism analysis shows that the cost effect is an important way for environmental regulations to promote the cleanliness of export products. However, the channel of technological innovation is not verified. In addition, compared with command-and-control and voluntary public policy tools, market-inspired environmental regulations have a stronger promoting effect on the cleanliness of export enterprises. This study provides microevidence and a policy basis for improving the environmental policy system and for the sustainable development of international trade.

Are policy mixes in energy regulation effective in curbing carbon emissions? Insights from China's energy regulation policies

AbstractWe consider the policy mixes of three categories of energy regulation policies in China: renewable energy law (mandatory policy), low‐carbon city pilot (voluntary policy), and carbon emissions trading system (market‐based policy). The mix of mandatory, voluntary, and market‐based policies mitigates 4.359 million metric tons of carbon emissions. Voluntary and market‐based energy policies work, while mandatory policy fails due to rent‐seeking by local officials. Policy mixes are more effective in undeveloped and politically average regions than in developed and politically rich ones. Government attention, industrial structure, and green innovation are the economic mechanisms; consistency, coherence, credibility, and comprehensiveness are the policy mechanisms. Our study highlights that policy category, rather than policy quantity, matters more in determining policy effect.

Analyzing the Costs and Benefits of Utilizing a Mixed-Strategy Approach in Infectious Disease Control under a Voluntary Vaccination Policy.

Infectious diseases pose significant public health risks, necessitating effective control strategies. One such strategy is implementing a voluntary vaccination policy, which grants individuals the autonomy to make their own decisions regarding vaccination. However, exploring different approaches to optimize disease control outcomes is imperative, and involves assessing their associated costs and benefits. This study analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of employing a mixed-strategy approach under a voluntary vaccination policy in infectious disease control. We examine the potential benefits of such an approach by utilizing a vaccination game model that incorporates cost and benefit factors, where lower costs and higher benefits lead to reduced infection rates. Here, we introduce a mixed-strategy framework that combines individual-based risk assessment (IB-RA) and society-based risk assessment (SB-RA) strategies. A novel dynamical equation is proposed that captures the decision-making process of individuals as they choose their strategy based on personal or communal considerations. In addition, we explore the implications of the mixed-strategy approach within the context of social dilemmas. We examine deviations from expected behavior and the concept of social efficiency deficit (SED) by allowing for the evolution of vaccine strategy preferences alongside risk perception. By comprehensively evaluating the financial implications and societal advantages associated with the mixed-strategy approach, decision-makers can allocate resources and implement measures to combat infectious diseases within the framework of a voluntary vaccination policy.

Behavioral vaccination policies and game-environment feedback in epidemic dynamics

Many policymakers have adopted voluntary vaccination policies to alleviate the consequences of contagious diseases. Such policies have several well-established feathers, i.e. they are seasonal, depending on an individual’s decision, adaptive, and control epidemic activity. Here, we study ideas from behavioral epidemiology embedded with a vaccination game and pairwise two-player two-strategy game to represent the environmental feedback in an SVIR model by using a composite information index including disease incidence, vaccine factors and cooperative behavior on a global time scale (repeated season). In its turn, the information index’s game dynamics to participate in the vaccine program (cooperation) is supposed to reflect the feedback-evolving dynamics of competitive cognitions and the environment. The assuming model is described by two different evolutionary game systems connected by an unknown external public opinion environment feedback. The embedded model is described by an inherited system showing a behavioral aspect, i.e. pairwise game indicates an individual’s cooperative behavior, and a vaccine game refers to vaccine-cost influence. This is a novel attempt to stabilize the two different decision processes to pool them into a single index. Extensive simulations suggest a rich spectrum of achievable results, including epidemic control, human behavior, social dilemma, and policy suggestions.