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Lessons from attracting international capital for renewables in Vietnam
Get PDFThis policy brief sets out how Vietnam has used the state-owned energy company, Vietnam Electric (EVN), to provide strategic financial support for renewables projects in order to attract overseas capital, and the lessons that other emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs) can draw from this experience
The changing urban mobility and health risks in Africa: examining motorcycle taxi transportation in Kenya
Get PDFMotorcycle taxis (MTCs) have become the primary mode of transportation in many African countries. However, implementation gaps and weak enforcement raise concerns about compliance. This paper examines how MTC noncompliance contributes to public health challenges, focusing on rider adherence to traffic laws. It draws on primary data collected from 18th August to 13th September 2025, from policymakers, motocycle users and health officers across seven counties in Kenya. Data were collected through random selection and referral sampling of resourceful individuals through in-person interviews with 17 participants and phone and online interviews with five participants. The findings show that despite robust legislation, enforcement remains limited, leading to noncompliance, especially among riders who often operate unregistered MTCs with illegal plates. This, alongside a lack of governance structure in the sector, exacerbates the risk of a public health crisis. Countering such challenges will involve moving beyond traditional law enforcement toward more innovative governance frameworks through a multi-stakeholder approach, creating specialized motorbike traffic units within various enforcement agencies, fostering collaboration between health institutions and law enforcement, raising awareness of safety issues, and adopting innovative policing tools such as smart cameras. The paper also suggest building dedicated motorcycle lanes and addressing cultural issues that require behavioral change, particularly among riders
Rethinking governmentality and citizenship in Germany: the spiritual path of civic education
No full textAccording to a dominant diagnosis, democratic citizenship is in crisis in Europe – a claim that has led to flourishing calls for increased civic education to teach ordinary people the norms of ‘good citizenship’. In this article, I develop a sociological critique of this pedagogisation of citizenship. I do so through an ethnography of the German civic education sector. I outline that, since 1945, a large state-funded civic education agenda has recast German citizenship as a project of spiritual becoming. Relying on pedagogical techniques of intimate self-exploration, affective self-revelation and physical embodiment, civic educators strive to cultivate their students’ ethical personhood. Preoccupied with enabling every citizen to display personal uprightness in the face of threats to democracy, this pedagogy runs on moralising ideals of ethical exemplarity and martyrological self-sacrifice. Theoretically, my analysis advances existing conceptualisations of contemporary European citizenship regimes. If scholars have often understood these regimes as a (Foucauldian) governmentality, crucial questions remain about how this governmentality infiltrates civic subjectivities, and how citizen-subjects agentively embrace this governmentality as authoritative for their own lives. I argue that, by drawing on Michel Foucault’s writings on spirituality and conversion, we can address these lacunae. This not only closes a gap in governmentality studies and the political sociology of citizenship, it also provides a fresh take on fundamental questions of structure and agency in the social sciences – highlighting how people agentively inhabit governing practices that spell their own subjection
The real effects of accounting on R&D alliance formations and innovation: evidence from ASC 606
No full textI examine how Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) 606 affects R&D alliance formations and innovation in the drug development industry. ASC 606 alters revenue recognition timing and increases disclosure requirements. I document that firms dependent on R&D alliance revenues accelerate revenue recognition and expand revenue-related disclosures following ASC 606 adoption. These concurrent changes reduce information asymmetry, both between firms and between managers and investors, but only when increased disclosure accompanies accelerated recognition. Consistent with these net reductions in information asymmetry, affected firms raise more equity capital and increase R&D investment. Notably, these firms, which historically acted as technology providers (principals), form more R&D alliances as technology acquirers (partners). Consequently, they exhibit higher innovation output, measured by new patents and drug candidates. This study identifies a specific mechanism through which accounting standards can stimulate innovation: reduced information asymmetry that facilitates strategic R&D alliance formation
Antiracism and the current moment
No full textThe most potent forms of racism within the West today arise from the international configuration of authoritarian populist and fascist politicians and the movements that support them. Their forms of racism have united distinct local events and contexts into a broader international synthesis about migration, crime, sexual violence, national abasement, civilizational decline and racial extinction. The Western far-right has developed racial projects that seek to radically transform Western societies along many social, political and cultural dimensions. Key themes within contemporary racism are drawn out in the article, including its civilizational and natalist forms, the significance of Europe and its alleged degradation, the centrality of gender for racist mobilisations and the complications provoked by ethnic diversity in the far-right. The formidable challenges for antiracism are elicited in the article, including limitations to “identitarian”, “decolonial” and “communal” antiracism. The conclusion considers general directions that contemporary antiracism might take
Polarisation and public policy: political adverse selection under Obamacare
No full textPoliticising policies designed to address market failures can diminish their effectiveness. We document a pattern of ‘political adverse selection’ in the health insurance exchanges established under the Affordable Care Act (colloquially, ‘Obamacare’): Republicans enrolled at lower rates than Democrats and independents, a gap driven by healthier Republicans. This selection raised public subsidy spending by approximately $155 per enrollee annually (3.2% of average cost). We fielded a survey to show that this selection does not exist for other insurance products. Lower enrolment and higher costs are concentrated in more Republican areas, potentially contributing to polarised views of the policy
Integrating price benchmarks and comparative clinical effectiveness to predict initial price offers for Medicare Drug Price Negotiation (Initial Price Applicability Year 2027)
No full textObjectives: This study estimated initial price offers for the 15 drugs selected for the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program in the Initial Price Applicability Year 2027. Methods: We applied the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services guidance to construct a list of therapeutic alternatives for each drug. Price benchmarks included the statutory discount, Big 4/Federal Supply Schedule prices, estimated Medicare Part D net prices, and wholesale acquisition cost. Comparative effectiveness evidence was extracted from peer-reviewed network meta-analyses, clinical guidelines, and Institute for Clinical and Economic Review assessments. Drugs were rated on a 4-tier scale (A-D) based on comparative net health benefit. Initial offers were then estimated by applying market-based discounts depending on the availability and type (branded vs generic) of therapeutic alternatives. Results: For 6 drugs, statutory or Big 4/Federal Supply Schedule prices anchored the estimated initial offers. Four drugs were informed by clinically comparable branded alternatives, leading to approximately 20% reductions from net price. Two drugs with primarily generic alternatives received larger discounts of approximately 30%. Three drugs with therapeutic alternatives previously negotiated in Initial Price Applicability Year 2026 were assigned either the established maximum fair price or a market-based premium (semaglutide). Across all 15 drugs, estimated discounts ranged from 32% to 78% off list price and 16% to 56% off net price. Conclusions: Our analysis highlights how Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services may incorporate statutory discounts, prior maximum fair prices, and comparative effectiveness evidence into initial price offers, although uncertainty remains. An explicit health technology assessment framework could strengthen future negotiation cycles unless international price referencing policy intercedes
The role of exposure in domestic abuse victimization: evidence from the COVID‐19 lockdown
No full textPreventing a COVID‐19 health crisis had unintended consequences on domestic abuse victimization. Using event methodology and individual‐level call data, we examine domestic abuse patterns during the first nationwide COVID‐19 lockdown in Greater London, and find that the lockdown changed both the nature of reporting and the type of relationship within which the abuse occurs. Abuse by current partners and family members increased on average by 8.5% and 16.4%, respectively, during the COVID‐19 lockdown, while abuse by ex‐partners declined by 9.4%. We address possible changes in domestic abuse reporting using information on the caller type and the timing of abuse. We show that the increase in domestic abuse calls is driven by third party reporting, which is 32% higher in high density areas where neighbours can overhear abuse, while no comparable changes occur in victim reporting. These findings highlight the importance of environmental factors, such as exposure, in affecting domestic abuse victimization across different types of relationships
Commercialisation and care sufficiency: the privatisation of children's homes in England
Get PDFAlthough the commercialisation of care services is intended to produce markets that respond to care need, it is still unclear whether profit incentives align with population need. In this Health Policy, we examine the provision of the children's residential care market in England and whether it responds effectively to geographical need. We analysed comprehensive data on all children's homes in England between 2014 and 2023 and categorised providers as Local Authority, third sector, investment owned, individual owned, or corporate owned. We operationalised area need through net loss measures: the difference between the number of children placed outside a Local Authority versus those placed within it. Using Bayesian hierarchical models, we assessed the relationships between area characteristics, children's home locations, and ownership structures. In 2023, 852 (29·8%) of 2861 children's homes in England were owned by investment firms, doubling the number they ran in 2014 (414 of 1350 homes). All for-profit homes disproportionately located in areas of low need and investment-owned homes located more in areas with low house prices. Compared with Local Authority homes, investment-owned homes were less likely to operate in areas of high need and non-commercial homes were most likely to open in areas of high need. The commercialisation of children's social care provision has corresponded with less accessible services, contributing to sufficiency issues. Current market dynamics fail to address, and likely worsen, geographical disparities in children's residential care provision
Green capital requirements: prudential regulation, credit allocation, and climate policy
No full textWe study bank capital requirements as a tool to address climate-related financial risks and carbon externalities. An increase in capital requirements for high-emitting f irms can reduce lending to clean firms. Such crowding-out can happen even under optimal prudential policy when high-emitting firms become riskier due to increased transition risk. Using capital requirements to reduce carbon externalities may re quire sacrificing financial stability or prove altogether ineffective. However, capital requirements can play an indirect role by making environmental policy credible. Our model can be applied in any setting in which a capital regulator considers both credit risk and credit allocation