How HIV-Positive Aboriginal Women (PAW) Talk About Their Mothering Experiences With Child and Family Services in Ontario

Aboriginal families are disproportionately involved with Children's Aid Societies (or CAS), which is of concern given the history of colonization, assimilation, and child welfare policies that fail to recognize Indigenous practices within Canada. There is no historical data regarding HIV-positive Aboriginal women's (PAW) experiences and interactions with the child welfare system, despite a high degree of HIV-related stigma and discrimination by CAS staff coupled with lack of HIV knowledge and sensitivity to provide culturally appropriate care to PAW and their children. This article is relevant to local and international child welfare practices, and specifically to CAS agencies across Ontario.     

State prison expansion: An explanatory model

This article, through development of an explanatory model called the process model, attempts to account for differences among states in levels of prison expansion. The model recognizes the importance of the tie between prisoner population and prison growth but considers additional factors which mediate this relationship. Given increases in prisoner populations, the model posits that the extent of prison construction is determined by three broad classes of factors: accelarators, which increase the probability of construction, and buffers and inhibitors, which decrease the probability. First, the rudiments of the process model are sketched and the accelerator, buffer, and inhibitor variables are described. Next, the process model is developed more fully through an examination of prison expansion in ten example states. Finally, the implications of the model are explored.     

Violent Crime and Capital Market Punishment: How Violent Crime Affects the Supply of Debt to Municipal Mexico

Research shows that violent and organized crime reduces foreign direct investment and that armed conflict lowers sovereign credit ratings. Building on these insights, I argue that violent crime reduces financial institutions’ confidence in the capacity of governments to repay loans, raising the costs attached to loans, and reducing government debt through a “supply-side” logic. Yet, this logic is difficult to test. Governments can render lenders indifferent to violent crime by accepting higher borrowing costs, resulting in no observed relationship between them. It is for this reason that analysis of the effect of violent crime on government credit ratings alone cannot tell us much about its effect on actual government debt. In this study, I explain how analysis of subnational debt from welfare-minded public banks and profit-minded private lenders can distinguish the supply-side logic from the null hypothesis. Cross-sectional time-series analysis of homicide rates and municipal debt in Mexico demonstrates support for the supply-side logic. Evidence of the supply-side logic reveals that those governments most in need of cost-efficient financing are most likely to be charged higher prices for it or priced out of capital markets altogether, signaling the need for market intervention in these cases.     

Does the @realDonaldTrump Really Matter to Financial Markets?

Does the @realDonaldTrump really matter to financial markets? Research shows that new information about the likely future policy direction of government affects financial markets. In contrast, we argue that new information can also arise about the likely future government's resolve in following through with its policy goals, affecting financial markets as well. We test our argument using data on U.S. President Donald J. Trump's Mexico-related policy tweets and the U.S. dollar/Mexican peso exchange rate. We find that Trump's Mexico-related tweets raised Mexican peso volatility while his policy views were unknown as well as thereafter, as they signaled his resolve in carrying out his Mexico-related agenda. By helping politicians disseminate policy information to voters, and since voters hold governments accountable for their policy performance, social media allows investors to gather information about the likely policy direction and policy resolve of government, especially those of newcomers whose direction and resolve are unknown.     

Clinical,Ethical, and Forensic Implications of a Flexible Threshold for LD and ADHD in Postsecondary Settings

Specific learning disabilities (SLD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are lifelong neurologically based disorders diagnosed using objective and specific criteria. Evaluation of current practices indicates that many clinicians employ flexible thresholds for making these diagnoses, at least when evaluating young adults. Given that academic accommodations can provide significant competitive advantages and that students with these diagnoses may qualify for substantial government-funded subsidies and benefits, issues of fairness arise if the objective and research-informed criteria for making these diagnoses are not upheld. This paper investigates the extent to which flexible thresholds are being employed in these diagnoses and the clinical, ethical, and forensic implications that result if clinical standards are not upheld. Recommendations for improved training of professional are provided.