Recalling Extra Data: A Replication Study of Finding Missing Markets

We re-examine some of the strongest evidence supporting agricultural commercialisation, a highly touted yet under-researched development intervention. Our replication study re-examines Ashraf, Giné, and Karlan’s ‘Finding Missing Markets’ paper. Using the previous paper’s raw data, our research generally reproduces the original findings. We explore the evaluation’s theory of change, focusing on the result that first time export crop adopters benefit more from agricultural commercialisation than previous adopters. We also examine recall bias questions and provide sample size guidance for future researchers. Similar to the original paper, we find that the intervention mostly benefits households just entering the agricultural production value-chain.     

Role orientations of junior British MPs: A test of Searing's categories with emphasis on constituency activities

Based on interviews with 45 junior British MPs in 1995, a factor analysis is used to test the staying power of the role categories found by Donald Searing in his study Westminster's World, based on 1972–73 interviews. Searing's categories Policy Advocate and Ministerial Aspirant are clearly identified by the factor pattern, as are two sub‐types of his Constituency Member: Welfare Officer and Local Promoter. Two additional factors emerged, indicating orientation of some MPs toward Local Media and Local Party. Regression analysis testing behavioural consequences of the role types (identified as independent variables based on factor scores) produced more mixed results than Searing's original tests, including the unexpected finding that MPs who find the Local Party helpful spend more time in their constituencies and in their surgeries with constituents than do Welfare Officers.     

Is the EU held accountable for economic performances? Assessing vote and popularity functions before and after membership

The EU has become increasingly responsible for the state of national economies over the last decades. Meanwhile, many observers have claimed that this increased responsibility has not translated into more accountability. In this article, we revisit this literature and analyse vote-popularity functions before and after accession because it provides a situation when the EU is an incumbent and when it is not. Using Eurobarometer surveys from 2001 to 2011, which were carried out in the countries that joined the EU in 2004 and 2007, we first show that individuals do not hold the EU accountable for macroeconomic performances before accession, but that they do after accession. Using European Election Studies surveys, we also indicate that the incumbent European Peoples’ Party is held accountable for the state of the economy in countries that are ruled by the EU, but not in countries that have just become EU members.     

Determinants of congressional minimum wage support: the role of economic education

Much has been made about the lack of economic education among the public at large, yet little has been said about the limited education of Members of Congress. This paper examines the economic education levels of Members of Congress voting on the 2007 increase in the minimum wage. Controlling for a variety of characteristics of members and constituents, this study finds that members who majored in economics as undergraduates were less likely to vote for the minimum wage increase than their colleagues. No other major had a consistent influence. A large number of statistical specifications confirm the robustness of the finding.     

Online solicitation offenders are different from child pornography offenders and lower risk contact sexual offenders

The current study compared 38 lower risk (based on actuarial risk assessments) men convicted of contact sexual offenses against children, 38 child pornography offenders, and 70 solicitation offenders (also known as luring or traveler offenders). Solicitation and child pornography offenders were better educated than contact offenders but did not differ on other sociodemographic variables. In comparison to child pornography offenders, solicitation offenders had lower capacity for relationship stability and lower levels of sex drive/preoccupation and deviant sexual preference. Solicitation offenders were also more problematic than lower risk contact offenders on sex drive/preoccupation and capacity for relationship stability and had greater self-reported use of child pornography. Differences between groups on two actuarial risk measures, the Static-99 and the VASOR, were inconsistent. This study suggests that solicitation offenders differ in meaningful ways from lower risk contact offenders and child pornography offenders and, consequently, in risk, treatment, and supervision needs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

Harm-reduction activism: a case study of an unsanctioned user-run safe injection site

Due to the ongoing health crisis among injection drug users in Vancouver, Canada, there have been repeated calls for the establishment of safe injection sites (SISs) since the early 1990s. In April 2003, in response to a large-scale police crackdown and government inaction, a group of activists opened an unsanctioned SIS in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside (DTES). The 327 Carrall Street SIS operated for 181 days despite considerable police harassment and limited financial support. During the operation of the SIS, volunteers supervised over 3000 injections and demonstrated the feasibility of a user-run low-threshold SIS. The experience of the SIS provides valuable lessons for those seeking to advance the interests of injection drug users through community mobilization and direct action approaches. In this article, Thomas Kerr, Megan Oleson, and Evan Wood describe the events surrounding the establishment, operation, and closing of the unsanctioned SIS, and outline the lessons learned.     

提高认识 加强对上海外来流动人口的管理

人口流动是市场经济发展和社会进步的必然趋势。外来流动人口对上海的建设和繁荣作出了贡献,但也对社会治安秩序带来了负面影响。上海应根据城市建设发展需要加强对外来流动人口的管理工作,正确处理好敞开城门与设置门槛的关系,搞好流入地和流出地的管理合作,在加强部门管理的同时发挥综合管理优势,使日常管理与集中整治、属地管理与自我管理相结合,做到既依法严格管理,又热情服务,努力提高上海对外来流动人口的管理水平。