Safety of motorized two-wheeler riders in the formal and informal transport sector

Abstract

Road fatalities are largely preventable problem with large socioeconomic impact. Due to the rapidly increasing population, transport systems and road infrastructure have not met the demand. The use of motorized two-wheeler vehicles has increased, as informal transport. However, evidence on their safety is scarce. The aim of this article is to examine the safety and social equity issues in MTW in the informal transport sector. Factors can be used to explain traffic collisions in MTW in the formal/informal transport sectors: design, rider behavior, road design, enforcement, and regulation of the informal transport sector. Evidence suggests that MTWs could be a common related to pedestrian fatalities. Informal transport drivers are typically poor, uneducated, young men who due to lack of other employment options move into the informal sector. Their vehicles are old, unmaintained and have a lack of protective equipment for themselves and their passengers. Young, male drivers speed, take risks and not use protective equipment. Users of informal transport live in the poorer peripheries of cities, which, have limited, inefficient or unaffordable public transport. The provision of transport has therefore become an often unrecognized, important social equity issue and studies are urgently needed on MTW in the informal transport sector.     

Funding the story of hybrid ventures: Crowdfunder lending preferences and linguistic hybridity

Prosocial crowdfunding platforms are venues for individual lenders to allocate resources to ventures that specifically pursue economic and social value. In a setting where hybridity is expected, do crowdfunders respond positively to category-spanning ventures, or do they prefer to fund ventures that are more clearly situated within a single category? Drawing on theory rooted in category membership and spanning, our hypotheses test whether prosocial crowdfunding lenders will more quickly allocate resources to hybrid microenterprises that communicate their hybridity, or to those that communicate a single one of their dual aims. Our study demonstrates that even in such a setting, crowdfunders lend more quickly to microenterprises that position themselves within a single linguistic category in which the social is emphasized over the economic. This suggests that how hybrid organizations position themselves in their linguistic narratives has a significant impact on resource allocation by external prosocial audiences.     

Explosive Asset Price Bubble Detection with Unknown Bubble Length and Initial Condition

Recent research has proposed a method of detecting explosive processes that is based on forward recursions of OLS, right‐tailed, Dickey–Fuller [DF] unit root tests. In this paper, an alternative approach using GLS DF test statistics is considered. We derive limiting distributions for both mean‐invariant and trend‐invariant versions of OLS and GLS‐based Phillips, Wu and Yu (2011, International Economic Review 52, 201–226) [PWY] test statistics under a temporary, locally explosive alternative. These limits are shown to be dependent on both the value of the initial condition and the start and end points of the temporary explosive regime. Local asymptotic power simulations show that a GLS version of the PWY statistic offers superior power when a large proportion of the data is explosive, but that the OLS approach is preferred for explosive periods of short duration as a proportion of the total sample. These power differences are magnified by the presence of an asymptotically non‐negligible initial condition. We propose a union of rejections procedure that capitalizes on the respective power advantages of both OLS and GLS‐based approaches. This procedure achieves power close to the effective envelope provided by the two individual PWY tests across all settings of the initial condition and length of the explosive period considered in this paper. These results are shown to be robust to the point in the sample at which the temporary explosive regime occurs. An application of the union procedure to NASDAQ prices confirms the empirical value of this testing strategy.     

Residential location and the earnings of African American women

In comparing the earnings of African American women to three reference groups—white women, African American men, and white men—three principal findings emerge. First, African American women residing in the suburbs are worse off than any other suburban group. Second, central city African American women are worse off than any other group of central city residents. Third, while central city residence imposes a statistically significant earnings penalty on men of both races, no such penalty is found for African American or white women. Therefore, African American women will enjoy no earnings advantage if they move to the suburbs. This finding underscores the importance of including women in studies of residential location and the socioeconomic status of African Americans. A narrow focus on male data to inform policy is clearly insufficient.     

Dissecting Foreign Bank Lending Behavior During the 2008–2009 Crisis

This paper analyzes the lending behavior of foreign‐owned banks during the recent global crisis. Using bank‐level panel data for 51 countries, the paper explores the role of affiliate and parent financial characteristics, host location, as well as the impact of parent geographic origin and reach on foreign banks’ credit growth. Overall, the analysis finds robust evidence that foreign banks curtailed the growth of credit relative to other banks, independent of the host region in which they operate. Banks from the United States reduced loan growth less than other parent banks. Neither the global nor regional reach of parent banks influenced the lending growth of foreign affiliates. Parent capitalization and not parent funding explained the behavior of foreign bank credit growth during the global crisis. However, funding did affect the lending behavior of domestic and foreign banks in host countries, with those relying more heavily on deposits suffering a smaller decline in bank lending. Although not the focus of the paper, we also find that government‐owned banks played a countercyclical role in all regions.     

Predictors of glycemic control and diabetes-related costs among type 2 diabetes patients initiating therapy with liraglutide in the United States

Objective:

Liraglutide has been shown to significantly improve glycemic control and reduce body weight while minimizing the risk of hypoglycemia in adult patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D). This study aimed to identify characteristics that predict clinical and economic outcomes associated with liraglutide therapy in clinical practice in the US.

Methods:

Using the Truven Health MarketScan Laboratory Database, glycemic control (A1C <7%) and diabetes-related costs were evaluated in T2D patients initiating liraglutide between January 1, 2010 and June 30, 2012. Patients were required to have ≥1 post-index claim for liraglutide and A1C values at baseline and 6 months follow-up. All valid values of baseline A1C were included. Patients previously treated with GLP-1 receptor agonist(s) or insulin, or with evidence of type 1 diabetes, pregnancy, or gestational diabetes during the study period were excluded. Multivariable regression models were used to identify predictors of glycemic control and diabetes-related costs.

Results:

Of 417 patients newly treated with liraglutide, 54.0% achieved glycemic control (A1C <7%) during follow-up. Factors associated with increased odds of glycemic control during follow-up were: being female, POS/EPO health plan type, baseline A1C, early liraglutide initiation (0–1 prior oral anti diabetics [OADs] vs ≥2), adherence to liraglutide (defined as the proportion of days covered [PDC]), and diabetic retinopathy. Being female, earlier liraglutide initiation (0–1 prior OADs), and higher patient share of liraglutide costs were associated with significantly lower diabetes-related costs during follow-up. Factors associated with significantly higher post-index diabetes-related costs were: higher baseline A1C, baseline use of sulfonylureas, and diabetic retinopathy.

Conclusions:

Within this commercially-insured population of T2D patients treated with liraglutide, gender, baseline A1C, early liraglutide initiation (0–1 prior OADs), diabetic retinopathy, better adherence, and patient share of liraglutide costs were associated with increased odds of achieving glycemic control and the odds of having higher or lower diabetes-related costs.     

Identifying design values across countries through adaptive comparative judgment

International Journal of Technology and Design Education - Adaptive comparative judgment (ACJ) has proven to be a valid, reliable, and feasible method for assessing student performance in...     

Why Do Some Bt-Cotton Farmers in China Continue to Use High Levels of Pesticides?

China was the first developing country to introduce Bt cotton on a large scale. This paper provides an indepth economic analysis of Bt cotton production by small-scale farmers in China. Data were collected in 2002 in Linqing County, in Shandong Province and comprised a season-long cotton production monitoring with 150 farmers and complementary household interviews. For quality assessment, the Bt toxin concentration of the various Bt varieties used by the farmers was determined for each plot. All farmers were growing insect resistant Bt cotton varieties. Yet, they sprayed high amounts of chemical insecticides, out of which 40% were extremely or highly hazardous. The paper reviews methodological issues inherent to impact assessment of crop biotechnology and identifies market and institutional failure as possible reasons for continued high pesticide use. Using the damage function methodology the coefficients for both damage control inputs, i.e., Bt varieties (measured as toxin concentration), and insecticide quantity were not significantly different from zero. Results show that absence of enabling institutions and lack of farmer knowledge can considerably limit the benefits of Bt cotton for small-scale farmers. The paper points out the importance to include the institutional conditions in the evaluation of agricultural biotechnology in developing countries.     

Fulfilling its promise? Strategic public procurement and the impact of equality considerations on employers’ behaviour in Scotland

ABSTRACT

Public administration is an important force influencing equality in today’s society. Like budgetary choices, public procurement has increasingly gained attention as a means to promote equality. Yet, there are important gaps in knowledge, especially regarding how equality requirements in public procurement affect company behaviour. This paper sheds first light on the impact strategic public procurement has on employers’ behaviour. Based on empirical research, this paper highlights that companies perceive a limited prevalence of equality stipulations in Scottish public procurement practices and raises doubts about the impact of public procurement practices to create a successful business case for equality.     

Immigration and Informal Labor

We develop state‐level proxies for informal employment using differences between measures of self‐reported employment and officially sanctioned employment. In construction and landscaping, industries associated with under‐the‐table labor, we develop proxies for informal work based on productivity per officially sanctioned worker. We relate each set of proxies for informal employment to changes in immigrant population and composition. We find some evidence that immigration is associated with informal employment generally and in the construction industry when prevailing wages are low. States with high concentrations of low‐skilled male immigrants have higher levels of informal employment in the landscaping industry.