107159 research outputs found
Sort by
Who benefits from online gig economy platforms?
No full textOnline labor platforms for short-term remote work have many more job seekers than available jobs. Despite their relative abundance, workers capture a substantial share of the surplus from transactions. We draw this conclusion from demand estimates that imply workers’ wages include significant markups over costs and a survey that validates our surplus estimates. Workers retain a significant share of the surplus because demand-side search frictions and worker differentiation reduce direct competition. Finally, we show that applying traditional employment regulations to online gig economy platforms would lower job posting and hiring rates, reducing aggregate surplus for all market participants, including workers
Congestion pricing with electric vehicle exemptions: car-ownership effects and other behavioral adjustments
No full textDecarbonizing transportation requires a shift from conventional to zero-emission vehicles. We examine whether congestion pricing with electric vehicle (EV) exemptions accelerates this transition by encouraging a shift toward cleaner cars. To identify causal effects, we combine administrative data on car ownership with a triple-differences design that exploits household-level variation in policy exposure across metropolitan areas and work commutes. We find that higher rush hour charges for conventional vehicles significantly increase EV adoption, primarily through replacement rather than fleet expansion. However, responses vary by socioeconomic characteristics, with higher-income and well-educated households more likely to adopt EVs. Beyond car ownership, we document behavioral adjustments, including relocation to avoid tolls, re-routing around the cordon, and shifting travel timing. Overall, congestion pricing reduced traffic volumes and improved air quality. Our findings offer insights for designing equitable and effective transportation policies
What kind of social problem is wealth inequality?
No full textIs our societal “problem” the poor – or is it the rich? Should we be looking down, or do we need to look up? Ahead of her book launch event on 19 February, Sarah Kerr asks whether a new articulation of wealth as a social problem could reveal more of the social effects of extreme wealth and, in doing so, galvanise public debate
Policymaking in the digital era: exploring techno-legal assemblages and their impact on policy formulation
No full textThis paper contributes to the literature by shedding light on the impact of digital technologies on the policymaking process. Specifically, it focuses on the formulation phase of policymaking, where policymakers discuss, draft, and approve formal legislation that directly or indirectly involves digital technologies. By drawing on the assemblage theory, the paper argues that the assemblages of existing technological and legal systems significantly influence the policymaking process during the formulation phase. Through a case study of the Italian reform of the Digital Administration Code (DAC), the paper offers a new framework that unpacks the various dimensions – organizational, normative, political, and technological – of the policy formulation phase impacted by techno-legal assemblages. This research provides valuable insights for policymakers tasked with discussing, drafting, and approving policies to digitize relevant public administration sectors
The root of algocratic illegitimacy
No full textWould a political system where the governance was overseen by an algorithmic system be legitimate? The intuitive answer seems to be no. This paper considers the philosophical effort to justify this intuition that argue for algocracy, a rule by algorithms, being illegitimate. Taking as the paradigmatic example the anti-algocratic argument from Danaher that attempts to ground algocratic illegitimacy in the opacity of algocratic decision-making, it is argued that the argument oversimplfies the matters. Opacity can delegitimise—but not simpliciter. It delegitimises because of the presence of certain downstream violations of obligations and rights of the public that result from the opaque governance. Algocratic decision-makers, however, seem not to be subjects to these normative constraints in the relevant sense. The paper therefore argues that the standards of legitimacy that have been deployed for or against different kinds of human governance do not apply to the algorithmic decision-making systems with quite the same force. New avenues for rooting the illegitimacy of algocratic decision-makers have to be developed
Fair trade enclaves: labour and livelihoods in Costa Rica’s banana industry
No full textFair Trade Enclaves tells the story of exploitation and inequality in the production of Fair Trade bananas. It draws on immersive fieldwork in Costa Rica, which was the original testing ground for US-owned plantations and is today the world’s third-largest exporter of bananas. The book offers an ethnographic study of Fair Trade’s impact on the ‘Dollar’ banana system and considers how the growth in Fair Trade affects workers’ livelihoods at the source of production. It documents the labour conditions and daily struggles of Costa Rican banana workers, featuring a comparative anthropological assessment of Fair Trade and conventional farms. The chapters provide a window onto Fair Trade’s ability to effect change within one of the world’s most exploitative and enduring commodity chains, exposing how Fair Trade currently fails to challenge the structural exploitation of banana production within the dollar system. The author reveals how, in some respects, workers at the conventional farm enjoy better conditions compared with those employed on the Fair Trade farm. The book is valuable reading for scholars of Anthropology, Development, and Latin American Studies
A scoping review and modelling of predictors of an abnormal Thompson score in term neonates in low-resource settings
No full textClinical risk scores, such as Thompson score, are useful alternatives to identify neonatal encephalopathy in low-resource settings where adequate training and equipment are often unavailable. An understanding of the clinical predictors of abnormally high Thompson score values would be beneficial to identify term neonates with suspected neonatal encephalopathy. A scoping review was conducted to identify a set of a priori neonatal and maternal variables associated with neonatal encephalopathy. Next, a prospective study of all term neonates admitted to Sally Mugabe Central Hospital in Zimbabwe between October 2020 and December 2022 was conducted to develop a predictive statistical model of abnormal (> 10) Thompson score. In total 45 articles were identified from searching Medline, Scopus and Web of Science and 10 articles were selected. Five studies were conducted in countries in Asia and five in Africa. Of 6,054 neonates who met the inclusion criteria, 4.06% (n = 246) had an abnormal Thompson score at admission with a case fatality rate of 589 per 1000 admissions. Among these neonates, 90.65% (n = 223) had a low Apgar score (p < 0.001). 40 candidate predictors were identified, of which 20 predictors were selected as the most important. Six risk factors were predictive of neonates at risk of abnormal Thompson score, including low neonatal heart rate (aOR = 0.97), temperature lower than 36.5 °C (aOR = 2.24), head swelling (aOR = 2.19), other maternal risk factors of sepsis excluding offensive liquor and premature rupture of membranes (aOR = 1.97), meconium-stained umbilicus (aOR = 1.79), and not crying at birth (aOR = 2.58). These identified risk factors should be prioritised before conducting a Thompson score assessment in resource-poor settings, and local clinical guidelines should incorporate these into the clinical management of at-risk neonates
How nations in the Americas define and promote their identities
No full textIn this extract from the introduction to Nation Branding in the Americas: Contested Politics and Identities, Efe Sevin, César Jiménez-Martínez and Pablo Miño define nation branding and consider its adoption in the Americas, setting out the book’s scope and shifting ideas of national identity since the Cold War
The Planning and Infrastructure Bill: a call for balancing efficiency and democracy
No full textLast week, the Government introduced the Planning and Infrastructure Bill (the Bill) to the House of Commons. As the Bill progresses through parliament, this blog by Oram Policy and Research Fellow, Liz Williams takes stock of what it may mean for democratic engagement