Natural capital a missing piece in climate policy

Accounting for the unique and long-term impacts of climate change

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - DAVIS

Research News

 

Clean air, clean water and a functioning ecosystem are considered priceless. Yet the economic value of nature remains elusive in cost-benefit analysis of climate policy regulations and greenhouse-gas-reduction efforts.

A study published today in the journal Nature Sustainability incorporates those insights from sustainability science into a classic model of climate change costs. Led by the University of California, Davis, the study shows that accounting for the economic value of nature has large implications for climate policy and that the cost of climate change could be partly alleviated by investing in natural capital.

"It may seem abstract, with terms like 'natural capital,' but these are real things," said senior author Frances Moore, a professor in the UC Davis Department of Environmental Science and Policy. "What we're talking about is thousands of species being at high risk of extinction and large-scale changes to the ecosystem services we depend on for our lives and our economy. At the end of the day, this paper addresses some fundamental questions of how humans depend on nature for their wellbeing."

NATURAL CAPITAL AN ECONOMIC BUILDING BLOCK

Climate economic models typically represent the economy as made of two building blocks: human capital (labor) and manufactured capital, such as buildings and machines. This study incorporates a third building block--natural capital--which comprises the natural systems and healthy habitats for species. Natural capital translates into tangible benefits for people, such as erosion control, and intangible benefits, such as preserving forests for future generations.

"If lost, such natural processes cannot easily be replaced or substituted," said lead author Bernardo Bastien-Olvera, a Ph.D. candidate in the UC Davis Geography Graduate Group. "The associated economic costs of that loss are damaging in a way not currently represented in climate economic models or policy."

The authors found that under plausible assumptions about how natural capital supports economic production and human welfare, climate damage to natural systems warrants rapid mitigation. Most previous analysis has ignored the pathways by which natural systems support welfare and their unique vulnerability to climate change--potentially missing a critical piece of climate damages.

SOCIAL COST OF CARBON TOO LOW

Federal agencies use the "social cost of carbon" to represent the long-term damage done by a ton of CO2 emissions in a given year. The metric is widely used in cost-benefit analyses of climate and energy policy. Yet standard estimates only roughly account for ecological damages and do not fully account for the unique and long-term costs of climate impacts on natural systems. Because of this, the study finds that the federal social cost of carbon may well be far too low.

"With this new framework, we are more aware of the need to limit emissions," Bastien-Olvera said. "We calculate the emissions pathway that maximizes social welfare in the model. That pathway limits warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2100, consistent with goals of the Paris Agreement. The clues keep leading us to the same conclusion--the need to urgently reduce emissions to limit warming."

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This study was supported by the National Science Foundation, a Hellman Fellowship, a UC Davis John Muir Institute of the Environment Fellowship, and a Fulbright-García Robles Scholarship

 

Volunteers receiving government aid while unemployed face scrutiny, bias from public

INDIANA UNIVERSITY

Research News

 

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- With the worldwide spike in unemployment caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, many people may turn to volunteerism as a way to pass their newly found free time. But new research suggests that volunteers who also receive government aid are often judged negatively as "wasting time" that could be used to find paid employment.

"We found that aid recipients are scrutinized to a greater extent than those who are working, including the underemployed, with observers demonstrating a strong bias toward believing that aid recipients should be using their time to pursue employment opportunities above all else," said Jenny Olson, an assistant professor of marketing at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business and corresponding author of the research forthcoming in the International Journal of Research in Marketing. "This is beyond education, personal leisure, and spending time with family and friends.

"As a result, they are given less latitude in how they use their time, and can even be seen as more moral for choosing not to engage in prosocial behaviors, when such behaviors take time away from gaining paid employment," Olson added. "The simple act of volunteering among aid recipients -- versus not mentioning volunteering -- not only shapes judgments of the individual aid recipients, but this information can also impact views toward federal tax policy more broadly."

Although volunteering is a positive activity that partially combats the negative stereotype of a welfare beneficiary, Olson and her colleagues found that it also sparks anger among observing consumers, with aid recipients being perceived as being "less moral for choosing to volunteer." Factors that minimize these judgments include being perceived as taking strides toward gaining employment via education and being perceived as unable to work.

Other co-authors of the paper, "How Income Shapes Moral Judgments of Prosocial Behavior," are Andrea Morales of Arizona State University, Brent McFerran of Simon Fraser University in Canada and Darren Dahl of the University of British Columbia. The research was supported in part by grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

According to a 2019 report from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, public spending on government assistance averaged more than 20 percent across 36 countries in 2018. Many countries -- including those in Asia, Europe, and the Americas -- have seen a rise in the number of people receiving benefits over the years, a total now reaching into the billions.

The extent to which the welfare state is supported depends, in no small part, on public sentiment. Previous research has shown that support for government spending on welfare programs is directly related to how the voting public perceives the beneficiaries. This is the first paper to document a link between prosocial behavior and support for federal spending on welfare programs.

"Given that individuals perceive opportunity costs for their own time, it stands to reason that they perceive them for others as well," Olson said. "Because government programs are supported by 'their' taxpayer dollars, observers often feel justified in suggesting how aid recipients spend their time."

The research shows that consumers prefer different patterns of tax redistribution as a function of viewing aid recipients making nonfinancial choices. Specifically, consumers support allocating fewer tax dollars toward supporting government assistance programs after hearing about an aid recipient who volunteers his time.

Researchers conducted nine studies across three countries. They randomly presented participants with scenarios about hypothetical aid recipients and asked them to offer judgment about how the recipients used their time, such as engaging in volunteer activities or sending out resumes. Participants were asked how they viewed target individuals on a morality index and how they felt about them emotionally.

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Inequalities in premature deaths have increased between the rich and poor in Canada

CANADIAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION JOURNAL

Research News

 

Socioeconomic inequalities in premature deaths in Canada have increased over the last 25 years, according to new research published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal.

"Although premature mortality rates have declined over time in Canada, those with lower levels of income and education have not benefitted equally from these overall improvements," says Dr. Faraz Vahid Shahidi, Institute for Work and Health, Toronto, Ontario, with coauthors. "As a result of these uneven gains, socioeconomic inequalities in premature mortality have increased in Canada."

To understand how socioeconomic inequalities in premature mortality have changed, researchers analyzed data on adults aged 25-74 years using the Canadian Census Health and Environment Cohorts, which links information from Canada's long-form Census to the Canadian Mortality Database. The study covered the period between 1991 and 2016. Key metrics were socioeconomic status, measured using household income and education, and cause of death.

The relative risk of premature death associated with having a lower income or lower level of education increased steadily over the study period. For example, whereas men in the lowest income group were 110% more likely to die prematurely than their richer counterparts in 1991, they were 180% more likely to die prematurely in 2016. That inequality also increased for lower-income women, who were 70% more likely to die prematurely than their richer counterparts in 1991, but 150% more likely to die prematurely in 2016.

The findings are consistent with those of other international studies that showed increasing mortality gaps between the rich and poor in the United States and Europe.

"We believe that health inequalities are getting worse because underlying social and economic inequalities are getting worse," says Dr. Shahidi. "To resolve health inequalities, governments should pursue policies that will reduce the extent of social and economic inequality in our society, such as raising the minimum wage, improving job security, increasing social assistance rates, and improving access to benefits such as Employment Insurance."

"Trends in socioeconomic inequalities in premature and avoidable mortality in Canada, 1991-2016" is published September 28, 2020.

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Study shows Massachusetts response to COVID-19 in nursing homes helped stem infection rate

State's innovative program can serve as a national model to ease the devastating impact of future pandemics like COVID-19 on frail nursing home residents

HEBREW SENIORLIFE HINDA AND ARTHUR MARCUS INSTITUTE FOR AGING RESEARCH

Research News

A paper just published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society found that adherence to infection control processes, especially proper wearing of personal protective equipment (PPE) and cohorting strategies, such as grouping residents based on their risk of infection or whether they tested positive for COVID-19, was significantly associated with declines in weekly infection and mortality rates.

Lewis A. Lipsitz, M.D., Director of the Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research and Chief Academic Officer at Hebrew SeniorLife, was the lead author on the report, which analyzed the process and outcome of Massachusetts' novel state-wide COVID-19 infection control program developed to stem the rate of infection among vulnerable nursing home populations.

In April 2020, Massachusetts nursing homes became a hotspot for COVID-19 infections and associated deaths. In response, Governor Charles Baker allocated $130 million in additional nursing home funding for two months. Funding was contingent on compliance with a new set of care criteria, which included mandatory testing of all residents and staff, and a 28-point infection control check-list. The 28 items included:

• six core (must-pass) competencies related to cohorting of COVID-19 cases;
• closing of congregate spaces;
• training and demonstrated proficiency in the donning and removal of PPE;
• proper wearing of PPE;
• the presence of appropriate infection control policies; and
• the ability of staff to recognize and respond to the signs and symptoms of COVID-19 infection.

Within two days of the Governor's announcement, Hebrew SeniorLife and the Massachusetts Senior Care Association collaborated to rapidly organize a Central Command Committee and five teams responsible for:

• infection control consultation and training;
• PPE procurement; and
• staffing, testing, and data management.

Eighty nursing homes with previous infection control deficiencies, and 43 additional facilities that failed an initial State Executive Office of Health and Human Services audit, were deemed "special focus" for on-site and virtual consultations, and all Massachusetts facilities were offered weekly webinars and answers to questions regarding infection control procedures. The facilities were also informed by the Massachusetts Senior Care Association of available resources for the acquisition of PPE and back-up staff, and the Massachusetts National Guard was mobilized to provide universal testing.

Review and analysis of data collected from the program showed both resident and staff infection rates in special focus facilities rapidly declined to the same low level in both groups after facilities put recommended infection control interventions in place. For example, special focus resident infection rates declined from 10 percent (May 17) to approximately 0 percent (July 5).

"Massachusetts' innovative program was unprecedented in this country," said Dr. Lipsitz. "It helped long-term care providers increase their knowledge of, and access to, best infection control practices and reduce the risk of COVID-19 spread for both residents and staff."

Lou Woolf, President and CEO of Hebrew SeniorLife said, "We hope to see this intervention replicated in other states, appropriately funded, and sustained in all nursing homes, so that future waves of COVID-19, and other pandemics, can be prevented or mitigated."

"This study shows the importance of prioritizing surveillance testing, funding for wages, and PPE for nursing homes so that we can protect both our staff and our residents," said Tara Gregorio, President of the Massachusetts Senior Care Association. "Until a vaccine is approved and available widely, these remain our best defenses against COVID-19."

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Co-authors on the study include Alyssa Dufour, Ph.D., and Laurie Herndon, G.N.P., from the Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research, Alida M. Lujan, M.B.A., M.P.A., from Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School, Gary Abrahams and Helen Magliozzi from the Massachusetts Senior Care Association, and Mohammad Dar, M.D., from Massachusetts Medicaid (MassHealth).

About the Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research

Scientists at the Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute seek to transform the human experience of aging by conducting research that will ensure a life of health, dignity, and productivity into advanced age. The Marcus Institute carries out rigorous studies that discover the mechanisms of age-related disease and disability; lead to the prevention, treatment, and cure of disease; advance the standard of care for older people; and inform public decision-making.

About Hebrew SeniorLife

Hebrew SeniorLife, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School, is a national senior services leader uniquely dedicated to rethinking, researching, and redefining the possibilities of aging. Based in Boston, the nonprofit organization has provided communities and health care for seniors, research into aging, and education for geriatric care providers since 1903. For more information about Hebrew SeniorLife, visit http://www.hebrewseniorlife.org and our blog, or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

About MSCA

The Massachusetts Senior Care Association represents a diverse set of organizations that deliver a broad spectrum of services to meet the needs of older adults and people with disabilities. Its members include more than 400 nursing and rehabilitation facilities, assisted living residences, residential care facilities, and continuing care retirement communities. Forming a crucial link in the continuum of care, Mass. Senior Care facilities provide housing, health care, and support services to more than 100,000 people a year; employ more than 50,000 staff members; and contribute more than $3.5 billion annually to the Massachusetts economy.

 

Research may curb economic losses to power plants after earthquakes

Texas A&M researchers have shown that electrical transformer bushing systems reinforced with steel are more resistant to damage.

TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY

Research News

 

Sitting atop power transformers are wavy shaped bushing systems that play a critical role in supplying communities with electricity. However, these objects are also susceptible to breaking during earthquakes. Once damaged, bushings can cause widespread outages and burden the state with expensive repairs.

In a recent study, Texas A&M University researchers have shown that during high seismic activity, the structural integrity of bushing systems can be better maintained by reinforcing their bases with steel stiffeners. Also, by using probability-based loss assessment studies, they found that the economic burden due to damage to bushing systems from earthquakes is up to 10 times lower for steel-reinforced transformer bushing systems compared to other bushing configurations.

"Transformer bushing systems are vital to electrical substation networks, and these components are especially vulnerable in high-seismic regions, like in California or parts of the northeast," said Dr. Maria Koliou, assistant professor in the Zachry Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. "We have conducted a full risk and loss assessment of the impact of damaged bushings in terms of cost and time to recovery for electrical power networks."

The details of the study are provided in the July issue of the journal Structure and Infrastructure Engineering.

An electrical bushing is a sleeve-like covering that surrounds a conductor carrying a high voltage electrical current. Generally found at close proximity to transformers or circuit breakers, these systems ensure that electric currents do not leak out of metal wires. Thus, bushings are made of insulators, porcelain in particular, and are filled with mineral oil.

Despite their ability to withstand strong electric fields, bushings are brittle and can crack easily in the event of high seismic activity. Consequently, any damage to them is an electrical hazard. More extensive structural injuries to the bushing system can cause widespread power outages and high replacement costs.

One possible way to mitigate damage and thereby repair is by strengthening the bushing with steel plates. Just like a strong foundation can improve a building's stability, steel flexural stiffeners as close as possible to the bushing base has been shown to improve bushing stability during earthquakes. However, Koliou said a more comprehensive analysis of the impact of seismic vulnerability on bushing systems in terms of recovery costs has been lacking.

To address this gap, Koliou and her graduate student, Andrew Brennan, conducted a probabilistic analysis to compare the economic losses incurred from the damage of bushings for different intensities of ground motions. They investigated bushings of different geometries representative of medium- and high-voltage scenarios. More importantly, some bushings had steel plate stiffeners and others did not in their original designs.

Koliou and Brennan found that the economic losses for the earthquake intensities considered in the study were 33-55% lesser when the bushings' bases are reinforced with steel plates. In fact, the expected annual losses for bushings without the steel stiffeners were at least 2.5-10 times larger when subjected to different ground motions.

"Our results show that steel stiffeners are effective at preventing bushings from damage, but what 'effective' means for a structural engineer can have little meaning for someone who is not. We wanted to generalize our findings in more practical terms for stakeholders other than engineers," said Koliou. "And so, we quantified the benefit of using steel stiffeners in terms of a dollar value and the time it would take to recover for a variety of earthquake scenarios, which is more easily interpretable."

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Theater improvisation techniques show promising results for science classroom engagement

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND BALTIMORE COUNTY

Research News

 

A researcher at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) has developed a unique method to improve class participation in a graduate-level thermodynamics course by incorporating theater improvisation activities in the classroom. Erin Lavik, associate dean for research and faculty development and professor of chemical, biochemical, and environmental engineering at UMBC, wanted to find a way to encourage better participation in a thermodynamics seminar, and thought that allowing students to warm up to each other through theater exercises might improve their confidence when discussing complex topics. Based on her case studies of class participation on days when improv activities were conducted and also on anonymous survey feedback from students, Lavik confirmed that the improv activities led to a higher rate of engagement and participation. The findings are published in Biomedical Engineering Education.

The research was conducted over the course of the Fall 2019, Spring and Summer 2020 terms, and the improvisation techniques were used both in person and digitally, after remote learning became the new normal. Lavik used a variety of improv games at the beginning of class periods. One example is "Yes, and," which encourages students to listen to each other and build upon what the previous person said in order to create a nonsensical story.

The importance of listening in this game fosters an attentive classroom. Everyone is expected to participate at least once in the story, which creates a community of students that are primed to pay attention and respond to one another easily. In the survey data that Lavik collected, students said that when the improv games took place, they felt more alert, engaged, and ready to participate.

These findings are situated in a larger body of evidence indicating that doing improvisation exercises can support alertness. Students who believe that they are able to improvise and think on their feet use that knowledge to reduce their anxiety both in their studies and in general. The positive reinforcement associated with the activities after their completion was intended to leave students feeling more comfortable talking and making mistakes in the course.

Now that most university instruction is taking place online, participation in seminars and discussions is more important than ever, but these platforms make it even less likely that students will participate actively. However, given that the improvisation activities can be done completely online and show promising initial results, Lavik believes that the technique might help to engage everyone more effectively.

"The improv exercises often led to laughter, especially the exercises that were inspired by thermodynamics," says Lavik. "It helps create an environment where it is ok to try out new ideas and experiment. It is easier to ask questions when people feel like they are part of a group."

The use of this interdisciplinary method has proven to be highly effective at engaging students and creating a classroom community, especially important given the common limitations of online learning. Providing a final note on the benefits of this project, Lavik says, "We can do a lot to augment learning by being creative across disciplines. This is just one example of why it is so important to talk across our expertise, sharing ideas and techniques across different fields."

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Reusing tableware can reduce waste from online food deliveries

UNIVERSITY OF GRONINGEN

Research News

 

IMAGE: THIS IS A TYPICAL CHINESE MEAL THAT WAS ORDERED ONLINE AND INCLUDES PLASTIC TABLEWARE. view more 

CREDIT: ZHOU ET AL

Lifestyles in China are changing rapidly, and ordering food online is an example. However, those billions of delivery meals produce an enormous amount of plastic waste from packaging, but also from food containers and cutlery; in one year, some 7.3 billion sets of single-use tableware accompany the food. Around one-third of the 553 kilotons of municipal solid waste that is generated each day comes from packaging. That is why a group of scientists analysed whether using paper alternatives or reusable tableware could reduce plastic waste and associated life cycle emissions.

Alternatives

Ya Zhou (associate professor at Guangdong University of Technology) and Yuli Shan are the first authors of this paper. Yuli Shan, Dabo Guan (Professor at Tsinghua University) and Yanpeng Cai (Professor at Guangdong University of Technology) are the corresponding authors.

'We quantified the environmental impact and modelled different alternatives,' explains Shan. The alternatives to the single-use plastic tableware were single-use paper alternatives and reusable silicone tableware that is cleaned either by the restaurants that cook the food or in a central cleaning facility.

Paper substitution

Paper may sound like a good alternative since it can be degraded, but single-use polyethylene-coated paper containers and bags actually increased emissions and total waste volume. 'For those areas without paper waste collection and recycling systems, paper substitution is not the optimal option for addressing the takeaway packaging waste dilemma,' says Zhou. Reusable silicon tableware reduced plastic waste by up to 92 per cent, and environmental emissions (carbon, sulfur and nitrogen dioxides, small particulate matter, dioxins) and chemical oxygen demand) and water consumption by more than two-thirds.

Getting an environmentally friendly and, at the same time, safe system of reusable tableware up and running requires some investments. 'A central cleaning facility would be best, also for health inspections to ensure safety, but this requires a system for collecting the used sets.' That is not easy but also not impossible: 'However, it does need a government effort to realize this.'

Zero waste

The Chinese government is taking steps to drastically reduce waste, as the Nature Food paper explains. A number of initiatives have sought new solutions for municipal solid waste management and plastic reduction, including a sorting implementation plan, a 'zero-waste city' pilot programme that started last year and a nationwide single-use plastic ban as from January 2020.

Would it not be easier to deliver the food without tableware? It may be possible in some cases, but not for all takeaway orders, according to Shan: 'Most meals are not eaten at home but in the classroom, during lunch breaks or at the office, when employees work late.' Zhou added that 'reusing tableware provides a potential solution to reduce waste and emissions from takeaway meals and a new strategy for promoting sustainable and "zero-waste" lifestyles'.

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Reference: Ya Zhou, Yuli Shan, Dabo Guan, Xi Liang, Yanpeng Cai, Jingru Liu, Wei Xie, Jinjun Xue, Zhuguo Ma & Zhifeng Yang: Sharing tableware reduces waste generation, emissions and water consumption in China's takeaway packaging waste dilemma. Nature Food, 15 September 2020

 

Scholars untangle marketing's complex role in understanding political activities

News from the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing

AMERICAN MARKETING ASSOCIATION

Research News

 

As 2020 began, many pundits predicted a politically charged year, but few predicted that it would include a global pandemic overtaxing healthcare resources, strained U.S. race relations resulting in mass demonstrations across the globe, devastating fires consuming massive swaths of the United States, and a catastrophic global economic downturn. This month's special issue of the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing acknowledges the role that marketing does and can play in addressing political activities with articles that explore key topics like elections, voting, corporate political advocacy, and consumer political identities. Two commentaries from an industry veteran and an esteemed journal editor offer both applied and scholarly paths for future marketing strategies and research. While the articles were not intended to respond directly to the specific events, they still provide theories explaining firm, consumer, agency, and other stakeholder behaviors along with strategy implications.

"A Vote of Competence: How a Similar Upbringing to Political Candidates Influences Voting Choice," by Matthew D. Meng and Alexander Davidson

The authors explore a commonly used political strategy: showing how similar political candidates are to constituents and voters. The authors confirm this relationship but expand the understanding as it relates to a candidate's competence along with particular audiences for whom the strategy is most effective.

https://doi.org/10.1177/0743915620943181

"Citizen Participation in Political Markets: Extending Service-Dominant Logic to Public Policy," by Mark Peterson and Robert W. Godby

The results of this study suggest that the decisions offered by citizens in a research setting reflect citizens' competence for informing elected representatives and policy makers regarding budgeting. When constituents can be brought into the process of ongoing governance in an effective and manageable fashion that does not require an expensive referendum or election, distortions of democracy will be reduced.

https://doi.org/10.1177/0743915620912287

"To Change the Law, Defy the Law: Hijacking the Cause and Co-Opting Its Advocate," by Bernard Cova

This research examines how the advocates of a cause respond to corporate approaches that integrate marketing and political activities for the cause. The findings reveal that such marketing activities resemble co-optation of the initial advocate of the cause and hijacking of the cause they advocate for.

https://doi.org/10.1177/0743915620943855

"Brands Taking a Stand: Authentic Brand Activism or Woke Washing?" by Jessica Vredenburg, Sommer Kapitan, Amanda Spry, and Joya A. Kemper

The authors draw on theory to determine how and when a brand engaging with a sociopolitical cause can be viewed as authentic, finding that moderate, optimal incongruence between brand and cause acts as a boundary condition. They explore important policy and practice implications for current and aspiring brand activists, from specific brand-level standards in marketing efforts to third-party certifications and public sector partnerships.

https://doi.org/10.1177/0743915620947359

"The Activist Company: Examining a Company's Pursuit of Societal Change Through Corporate Activism Using an Institutional Theoretical Lens," by Meike Eilert and Abigail Nappier Cherup

Using institutional theory, the authors create a framework showing how corporate activism can address these societal problems through influence and change strategies that can target the institutional environment "top-down" or "bottom-up." This framework further investigates how the company's identity orientation facilitates corporate activism.

https://doi.org/10.1177/0743915620947408

"Political Ideology in Consumer Resistance: Analyzing Far-Right Opposition to Multicultural Marketing," by Sofia Ulver and Christofer Laurell

The authors explore the discursive efforts in far-right consumer resistance to advance a political agenda through protests directed at brands' multicultural advertising and analyze how these consumers conceptualize their adversaries in the marketplace. In contrast to previous framings of adversaries identified in consumer research, where resistance is typically anticapitalist and directed toward firms' unethical conduct or the exploitation by the global market economy per se, the authors find that the following discursive themes stand out in the far-right consumer resistance: the emphasis on the state as main antagonist, the indifference to capitalism as a potential adversary, and overt contestation of liberal ethics.

https://doi.org/10.1177/0743915620947083

"Politics at the Mall: The Moral Foundations of Boycotts," by Daniel Fernandes

This article demonstrates that although both liberals and conservatives engage in consumer political actions, they do so for different reasons influenced by their unique moral concerns: Liberals engage in boycotts and buycotts that are associated with the protection of harm and fairness moral values (individualizing moral values), whereas conservatives engage in boycotts and buycotts that are associated with the protection of authority, loyalty, and purity moral values (binding moral values). In addition, the individualizing moral values lead to a generally more positive attitude toward boycotts, which explains why liberals are more likely to boycott and buycott.

https://doi.org/10.1177/0743915620943178

"Commentary: Brand Activism in a Political World," by Christine Moorman

The Editor in Chief of the venerable Journal of Marketing and author of "The CMO Survey" analyzes CMO's changing opinions on firm activism.

https://doi.org/10.1177/0743915620945260

"Commentary: Patagonia and the Business of Activism," by Vincent Stanley

Patagonia's Director of Philosophy discusses the brand's decision to take public stands on critical issues such as climate change.

https://doi.org/10.1177/0743915620943181

For the full issue and contact information, visit https://journals.sagepub.com/toc/ppoa/39/4.

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About the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing

The Journal of Public Policy & Marketing is a forum for understanding the nexus of marketing and public policy, with each issue featuring a wide-range of topics, including, but not limited to, ecology, ethics and social responsibility, nutrition and health, regulation and deregulation, security and privacy.

https://www.ama.org/jppm

About the American Marketing Association (AMA)

As the largest chapter-based marketing association in the world, the AMA is trusted by marketing and sales professionals to help them discover what's coming next in the industry. The AMA has a community of local chapters in more than 70 cities and 350 college campuses throughout North America. The AMA is home to award-winning content, PCM® professional certification, premiere academic journals, and industry-leading training events and conferences.

 

Education: an influencing factor for intergenerational mobility in Canada

Education tied to intergenerational mobility

INSTITUT NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE - INRS

Research News

 

Quebec and Montreal, September 25, 2020 - The relationship between the income levels of parents and their children once they reach adulthood is complex, but education could be one of the factors that influence Canadian intergenerational mobility. This according to a study recently published by INRS (Institut national de la recherche scientifique) professor Xavier St-Denis and Statistics Canada researcher Gaëlle Simard Duplain in Canadian Public Policy/Analyse de politiques. The study looks at the role education levels play in intergenerational income mobility in Canada.

Most studies available on the subject present results based on national or regional income mobility, which can be used to make geographic and historical comparisons. "The underlying mechanisms at play in the relationship between the income of parents and the income of their children, including their education levels and job characteristics, hasn't been studied much in Canada," explained Professor St-Denis.

To measure the effects of education on intergenerational mobility in Canada, the two researchers looked at the data from Statistics Canada's Longitudinal and International Study of Adults (LISA), which covers the period from 1982 to 2014. "Our study shows that in Canada, a child's education level explains 40.5% to 50.1% of the correlation between a child's income once they reach adulthood and their parent's income," said Professor St-Denis. "That's similar to the results observed in the United States and the UK."

Income inequality repeated from one generation to the next

According to the research results, social and economic inequalities occur early in life and have long-lasting effects.

The results also point to the existence of differentiation mechanisms that operate throughout the working lives of people with similar levels of education. "Intergenerational mobility partly results from the different characteristics in a child's environment, from their cumulative and complementary effects. It also results from the time, financial resources, and social capital that parents with a higher income are more likely to invest in their children's education," said Professor St-Denis, who recently joined INRS's Urbanisation Culture Société Research Centre.

If the income of people living in a society is only marginally dependent on their parents' income, that society is said to have a high degree of intergenerational mobility. In other words, the context in which children grow and evolve does not depend solely on their parents' economic situation. Access to education, for example, could depend not on parents' ability to pay for it, but on the child's interest in pursuing their studies.

Inversely, when the income of individuals in adulthood is, on average, similar to that of their parents, inequalities are reproduced to a much greater degree from one generation to the next. This can result in intergenerational income immobility.

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About the article

"Exploration of the Role of Education in Intergenerational Income Mobility in Canada: Evidence from the Longitudinal and International Study of Adults" was published on September 14, 2020, in Canadian Public Policy/Analyse de politiques.

About INRS

INRS is a university dedicated exclusively to graduate level research and training. Since its creation in 1969, INRS has played an active role in Quebec's economic, social, and cultural development and is ranked first for research intensity in Quebec and second in Canada. INRS is made up of four interdisciplinary research and training centres in Quebec City, Montreal, Laval, and Varennes, with expertise in strategic sectors: Eau Terre Environnement, Énergie Matériaux Télécommunications, Urbanisation Culture Société, and Armand-Frappier Santé Biotechnologie. The INRS community includes more than 1,400 students, postdoctoral fellows, faculty members, and staff.

Source:

 

How do Americans view the virus? Anthropology professor examines attitudes of COVID

NORTHERN ARIZONA UNIVERSITY

Research News

 

In her ongoing research about Americans' responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, Northern Arizona University anthropology professor Lisa Hardy and her collaborators have talked to dozens of people. A couple of them stand out to the researchers.

Hardy spoke to a man who had polio as a child and had to live in a home with an iron lung away from his family. He said he was not in good health but he was not afraid of COVID-19 because he has seen all of this. A woman told anthropology lecturer Leah Mundell that she was the only Spanish-speaking contact tracer in her county, and she took on the responsibility of helping clients with much more than their physical health, connecting them with services and translating for them as they struggled to access resources.

Hardy's research, to which Mundell contributed, was published this week in Medical Anthropology. "Connection, Contagion, and COVID-19" looks at how Americans' attitudes and responses have changed during the time of the pandemic and how to many people, the virus is not a biological agent but instead a malicious actor. This perception may play a role in the various responses Hardy's team heard, including comments about racism, social justice and mistrust of information.

"Social scientists have done an excellent job of exploring past pandemics with regard to xenophobia--the 'Spanish Flu,' for instance--and how people understand bodies and illness," Hardy said. "This work builds on that by examining the COVID-19 pandemic in the current political moment. The results of this and other research can help to inform areas where collaborative interventions could potentially help to slow the spread of the virus and support well-being for people living through this time."

The research project, which is a collaboration as part of the Social Science Community Engagement Lab, started six months ago, in the early days of the pandemic in the United States. Researchers, including Hardy, Mundell and two others, conducted semi-structured conversational phone interviews with 50 diverse participants. They asked open-ended questions about how people are dealing with the pandemic and their experiences of social and political responses. Then they transcribe the recorded interviews and apply codes to the transcripts to identify patterns. Hardy said this qualitative strategy is ideal for exploring a situation that is rapidly changing and unfolding over time.

As they've called more people, the researchers have seen the interview content change. In more recent interviews, people talked about social uprisings like Black Lives Matter. They're analyzing the relationship between these social movements and perceptions of COVID-19.

Researchers also are talking to more people who have had COVID-19 or had loved ones who got sick. Recent data includes how people reflect on medical care and contact tracing; that information will be useful for pandemic response. They also will continue interviewing after the Nov. 3 election, which will offer insight into the politicization of the pandemics and its effects.

Tracing the logic of different groups also is important for the group's research. Hardy said they've seen an increase in conspiracy theories in more recent interviews, as people across the political spectrum develop unfounded theories about the virus and its reach.

"We want to understand where these ideas are coming from and see how they influence behavior like vaccine uptake, health practices and voting patterns," she said.

The article includes specific responses researchers have collected as they describe their experiences. They run the gamut; interviewees shared fears, concerns and conspiracy theories. Other interviewees talked at length about new connections and circles of care they have formed to help others and to accept help when needed.

"The strength of some of the people who are having to live through hardships is really heartwarming to us," Hardy said. "It gives us hope in this time of tragic loss and tension in the United States."

While the long-term effects of the pandemic are impossible to predict at this point, Hardy anticipates ongoing effects from the loss of loved ones and inability to grieve together as well as long-term health effects in people who survive COVID-19 but continue to have symptoms. But, she added, the country is seeing the development of creative and dynamic strategies for connection and resilience that will hopefully persist through generations.

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