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Generalized latent variable models for location, scale, and shape parameters
No full textWe introduce a general framework for latent variable modeling, named Generalized Latent Variable Models for Location, Scale, and Shape parameters (GLVM-LSS). This framework extends the generalized linear latent variable model beyond the exponential family distributional assumption and enables the modeling of distributional parameters other than the mean (location parameter), such as scale and shape parameters, as functions of latent variables. Model parameters are estimated via maximum likelihood. We present two real-world applications on public opinion research and educational testing, and evaluate the model’s performance in terms of parameter recovery through extensive simulation studies. Our results suggest that the GLVM-LSS is a valuable tool in applications where modeling higher-order moments of the observed variables through latent variables is of substantive interest. The proposed model is implemented in the R package glvmlss, available online
Women’s jihadi radicalization: tracing ISIS women in case of Turkey
No full textWhat is the allure of ISIS for women from Turkey? This article addresses this question by exploring Turkey’s dynamics that differentiate it from Western recruits. Drawing on the qualitative analysis of selected newspapers scanned from the most recruited provinces of Turkey, the study tackles why and how women joined ISIS as there has been less study of this cohort. The paper also examines how far recruits from the West experience various forms of identity crisis. The study reveals stratified motivations pivoting around geography, family, pre-existing networks, ideology, and religion are notably important. Turkey’s case metamorphosis the social understanding of identity crisis and the various forms these can take
Governance and the implementation of the EU Cohesion Policy
No full textThis paper explores the role of governance in policy implementation, using the European Union (EU) Cohesion Policy as a case study. Leveraging a quasi-natural experiment in Italy, where certain projects were shifted from EU to national management, we evaluate the impact of governance structures on financial execution. Using a non-parametric generalization of the difference-in-differences estimator, we find that otherwise identical projects achieve better financial execution under EU governance. Projects reassigned to national management experience a significant slowdown in financial execution within ten months, with delays reaching nearly 20% after 24 months. These delays are particularly pronounced when projects are managed at the sub-national level rather than by the national government. Our findings contribute to the broader policy debate on the effectiveness of multi-level governance structures in public investment programs
Company-state at home: the East India Company and the fiscal system in eighteenth-century Britain
No full textThe significance of the state’s fiscal system for military capacity, colonization, trade, and economic development is a long-studied topic. Much scholarship has focused on Britain and the emergence of its fiscal-military state. This article shows that fiscal capacity was not created only by government bureaucracies: the ‘company-state at home’ model presented here complements the narrative of the ‘fiscal-military state’ by showing that much fiscal revenue from trade was realized through the action of the English East India Company (EIC). Lacking the capacity to enact exhaustive laws, carry out complex calculations, or effectively manage a large bureaucracy, the English state relied on the administrative capacity of the EIC to collect customs on the East Indies trade. The institutional solution of allowing the EIC to collect revenues overcame the administrative challenge of customs revenue collection. This solution was made possible by the EIC’s administrative capacities and sustained by alignment between Company and state interests. The role of the EIC in British state development suggests a symbiotic lens through which to study the relationship between the state and corporations, which can be applied across time, space, and state objectives
Bodies as territories: revisiting the coloniality of gender
No full textIn this article, I reconsider the coloniality of gender in light of Trans* anti-colonial contributions and feminist and women’s social movements’ mobilisation of the multidimensional concept of ‘territorio-cuerpo-tierra’ (territory-body-land) in contemporary Abya Yala. I ask what might be gained in centring the reconceptualisation of the relationship between gender and bodies offered by these activists and scholars within the theorisation of gender and coloniality opened by María Lugones. The article starts by revisiting Lugones and related decolonial and non-binary approaches to gender that highlight the coloniality of knowledge informing medical and racist constructions of gender, to then examine different approaches to territory-body-land as contemporarily mobilised against gender-based violence and femi and trans-cide in Abya Yala. I locate this examination in the context of increasingly authoritarian forms of social precarisation and exclusion, where the question of gender has become centre stage. Against these reactionary trends, these popular social movements’ use of the trope of bodies as territories foregrounds the differentially gendered bodily dimension of this politics in promising ways. Ultimately, the article sheds light on the need to centre coloniality in the gendering of democratic claims
Does individual participation in the global public sphere matter?
No full textAn influential tradition within democratic theory holds that democracy involves not only electoral procedures, but also the participation and representation of individual citizens in the formation of collective opinion in the public sphere. Perhaps surprisingly, however, several prominent accounts of how the global order ought to be democratised reject the core assumption from domestic democratic theory that individuals should have access to sites and processes of public deliberation. The paper argues that these prominent perspectives in the literature on global democracy are wrong to do so. The argument proceeds in three parts. The first asks whether a global public sphere already exists, and whether one ought to exist. The second considers and critiques the view that we should emphasise deliberation not between individuals but between “discourses” at the global level. The third addresses and rejects an alternative family of arguments which suggests that there is insufficient agreement on values across different “lifeworlds” at the global level for meaningful deliberation between individuals to be possible
The political economy of the World Health Organization model lists of essential medicines
No full textContext The World Health Organization (WHO) Model Lists of Essential Medicines (EML) aims to help countries select medicines based on the priority needs of their populations. However, rapid evolution within the pharmaceutical sector toward complex, high-priced medicines has challenged WHO decision making, leading to inconsistent decisions. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how political factors impact the WHO EML. Methods Document review and semistructured interviews of diverse stakeholder groups with direct experience with the WHO EML, either as stakeholders involved with WHO EML processes (e.g., selection of medicines, observers) or external applications (n = 29). Donabedian's structure–process–outcome framework was combined with the Three I's framework (ideas, interests, and institutions) to understand how political factors shape the WHO EML. Findings The concept of essential medicines evolved from an original focus on generic medicines in resource-constrained countries to include complex, high-priced therapeutics also relevant to high-income nations. The WHO has never explicitly addressed whom its decisions are for. Some believe the Model Lists have a “symbolic” price-lowering mechanism, whereas others do not (e.g., the pharmaceutical industry concerns to profitability). This tension has led to different ideas and interests driving the EML. A lack of data and human resources inhibits evaluation and exacerbates the influence of external actors. A degree of inconsistency has emerged in the concept and recommendations of essential medicines. Conclusions The current debate about the role of the WHO EML centers on the question whether the Model Lists ought to include complex, high-priced medicines. However, this research demonstrates that challenges may have roots deeper than amending decision criteria. At the core of this issue is the role of the list. Defining a strategic vision for the WHO EML, refining decision criteria, and increasing institutional support would align interests, good processes, and, ultimately, contribute to positive societal health outcomes
From ‘safe haven’ to ‘zone of precarity’ locating Istanbul through the perceptions and everyday urban practices of skilled migrants
No full textThis article seeks to position Istanbul through the practices of everyday life of middle-class, skilled migrants from both the Global North and South and their perceptions of urban safety and precarity. It examines individuals' processes of migration to Turkey, revealing their initial impressions of Istanbul as a safe city of opportunities, and then analyses their everyday urban lives, highlighting hidden forms of precarity and discrimination. Through in-depth interviews with 45 women and 34 men-more than half of whom are North American and European-and participant observation in people's living environments and at various social events, I argue that Istanbul, while perceived as a 'safe haven' at first, becomes a 'zone of precarity' where most of the participants have experienced intersectional forms of precarity, latent patterns of discrimination, and insecurities that belie the common perception that skilled migrants are privileged. To substantiate this argument, this ethno-spatial study presents an analysis of qualitative data as well as an online subjective mapping of Istanbul, where perceptions of urban safety and spatial precarity are displayed through socio-spatial experiences encountered in neighbourhoods, workplaces, and public spaces
Job loss and earnings inequality: distributional effects of formal re-employment in Chile
No full textThis paper examines the impact of job losses on the subsequent earnings of formal workers in Chile using administrative data. It contributes to the literature by examining the impact of job losses across the earnings distribution using unconditional quantile regression analysis. The paper thus provides evidence on the costs of losing a formal job in an emerging economy that is now considered 'high-income' but still suffers from high earnings inequality and other issues that characterise labour markets in developing countries, such as high job rotation. Our results show that, on average, wages decline by 42 % in the first month after an involuntary job loss and never fully recover their previous level within our observation period of 3 years after this loss. Workers in the bottom 10 per cent of the earnings distribution experience greater wage losses after unemployment and take longer than average to recover. Conversely, those in the top 5 per cent experience little or no wage loss and even increase their wages over time. By having a more pronounced effect at the bottom of the earnings distribution, our findings suggest that involuntary job losses reinforce earnings inequality in the Chilean labour market
Passing on the flame: do mega sports events promote health behaviours?
No full textTo justify billion-dollar public expenditures on mega sports events, proponents often suggest lasting improvements in health behaviours among the general public. To estimate the returns to health behaviours from hosting the 2012 London Olympics, we collected panel data on more than 19, 000 respondents across two European capitals, London and Paris, between 2011 and 2013. Using a difference-in-differences design with Paris as counterfactual, we find an increase in physical activity by six percentage points among the inactive, from a baseline of 34%. Activation, however, lasts only for about 100 days. Although we also find suggestive evidence for reduced alcohol and tobacco consumption during the event, a cost-benefit analysis suggests that staging mega sports events is not a cost-effective policy to promote lasting health behaviour change