Alcohol involvement in violence. A study from a Danish community

All cases of assaults with violence (n = 1639) from a well defined area were registered for 1 year. A positive alcolmeter test (% greater than 0.2) was registered in 488 cases (29%). A further 216 patients (13%) were found under the influence of alcohol according to a simple clinical judgement. In nine of ten manslaughter and murder cases alcohol was involved. Young men, 19-29 years of age, comprised the majority of victims. Of the episodes of violence 66% took place during the weekend. In 250 cases the alcohol concentration surpassed 1.5%. Almost 50% of the violence episoded took place in or around restaurants. Blunt violence was concerned in 73% of the episodes. Gunshot was registered in five cases, stabbings in two cases.     

Protesting a perceived injustice: Sex discrimination and the restoration of equity

In this paper we propose a theoretical model that examines the relationship between resources and significant others in people's attempts to restore equity. Viewing the restoration of equity as a complex process, we integrate resource mobilization and equity arguments in order to better understand how people come to dispute and settle fair terms of exchange in allocative relationships. With individual-level data, we examine sex discrimination complaints and show that protest reactions against a perceived injustice are influenced by the level of resources a person controls. We find that the more resources a person controls, the better able she or he is in managing the protest and negotiation for equity. Further, resources also protect complainants from reprisals by the source of the inequity. These findings provide insight into the process by which people attempt to restore equity, and they suggest that the examination of real-life inequitable relations enhances our understanding of reactions to inequity.     

Small group insurance reform: how are state programs measuring up?

In the past decade, states have responded to the health insurance needs of small businesses by launching a number of reforms. According to authors Michael Morrisey and Gail Jensen, more than 30 states have implemented "bare-bones" policies that seek to make minimum-benefit, affordable coverage available to small employers. Almost all states have enacted legislation modifying the underwriting practices that insurers may use with respect to such things as pre-existing conditions and occupational exclusions. Other states have provided tax or employer subsidies. But despite the efforts of the states, the authors found the state policies have had little success. Drawing from a survey found that the few employers who were aware of the programs found them to be unappealing. In discovering what doesn't work, the authors are able to suggest remedies for the states' small group insurance ills, such as offering long-term instead of short-term subsidies.     

Beyond effects: Adolescents as active media users

This is an overview of the special Issue, Adolescents Uses of Media. The articles in the special issue are described as taking the uses and gratifications approach, which emphasizes that people make choices about the media they consume and that people differ in their interpretations of media content. The common goal of the articles is to integrate this approach with developmental perspectives on adolescence. Common themes include adolescents as active media users, the developmental context of adolescence, the cultural context of media use, and integrative and innovative methodological approaches.Received Ph.D. from University of Virginia. Research interests include adolescent reckless behavior, adolescents' uses of media, and the transition to adulthood.Received Ph.D. from University of Chicago.     

Going Nordic—Can the Nordic model tackle grand challenges and be a beacon to follow?

Nordic countries are known for having extensive welfare services, a highly compressed wage structure owing to strong social partners, as well as effective regulation and governance in public administration. Various typologies capture aspects of the institutional features of families of nations across various policy areas, showing that there is a specific Nordic variant of political economy. While there is an extensive literature focusing on socio-economic outcomes in the Nordic countries, there is less scholarly focus on the linkages between the regulatory processes, and their policy output, in response to various challenges. This volume examines how exogenous challenges (market liberalization promoted by EU integration and the gig economy, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic) and endogenous challenges in the welfare state (regulation of child-care quality and retirement ages) are tackled in a selection of Nordic countries. After a bibliometric analysis on the state of the literature, features of the Nordic model are presented. Then, the contributions of the articles to the special issue are summarized, after which lessons for other models of political economy are pinpointed. We find that although there is high variation within the Nordics in the studies of the special issue, there is a trend whereby, over time, a broader range of actors involved in the policy and regulatory process. Although not perfect, challenges are solved incrementally and often at an early stage. In other words, the Nordic regulatory model is highly adaptable to different challenges. Thus, the Nordic model does present crucial lessons for other types of political economy.     

Governance reforms and public acceptance of regulatory decisions: Cross-national evidence from linked survey experiments on pesticides authorization in the European Union

Do governance reforms affect public acceptance of regulatory decisions, and if so, how? We tackled this critical but under-studied question through a pair of linked survey experiments on public attitudes toward the reform of European Union (EU) pesticides regulation among a representative sample of the adult population in six EU member states. We tested the expectation that citizens are more likely to accept a regulatory decision that runs counter to their prior policy preferences if it is taken under a procedure they support. We first conducted a conjoint experiment to study whether the specific design of decision-making procedures impacts public support for EU pesticide regulation. In a second linked experiment, we asked respondents whether farmers should be allowed to use glyphosate, the best known and most controversial pesticide. We then asked respondents if they would accept an authorization decision on glyphosate contrary to their prior expressed preference if it were taken under a decision-making procedure they supported. The results demonstrate that a regulatory decision-making procedure respondents support increases their willingness to accept a hypothetical authorization decision contrary to their prior expressed preference. Contrary to the findings of previous research, our study thus provides strong evidence that governance reforms supported by citizens can enhance acceptance of controversial regulatory decisions, even on politicized issues such as pesticides authorization.     

Voters' wrath? Policy change and government popularity

Recent research suggests that voters are bad at responding in a meaningful way to policy events when deciding for whom to vote. Voters rely on so‐called “blind retrospection”, punishing governments for events outside politicians' control. However, another core aspect of the blind retrospection perspective has not been put to the test: are voters unable to respond to policy decisions that clearly are under the politicians' control? We construct a unique large‐N dataset on legislative changes in German old age pensions and unemployment protection to see if cutbacks and expansions lead to lower/higher support for the government. Our data are exceptionally fine‐grained and allow us to track the policy‐vote link for 416 months from 1977 to 2013 with a total of 329,167 respondents. We find substantial support for the notion that voters react in a meaningful way to policy changes, but also that they can be distracted by high‐profile, extreme events.