An Effective Approach to the Repeated Cross‐Sectional Design

Repeated cross‐sectional (RCS) designs are distinguishable from true panels and pooled cross‐sectional time series (PCSTS) since cross‐sectional units (e.g., individual survey respondents) appear but once in the data. This poses two serious challenges. First, as with PCSTS, autocorrelation threatens inferences. However, common solutions like differencing and using a lagged dependent variable are not possible with RCS since lags for i cannot be used. Second, although RCS designs contain information that allows both aggregate‐ and individual‐level analyses, available methods—from pooled ordinary least squares to PCSTS to time series—force researchers to choose one level of analysis. The PCSTS tool kit does not provide an appropriate solution, and we offer one here: double filtering with ARFIMA methods to account for autocorrelation in longer RCS followed by the use of multilevel modeling to estimate both aggregate‐ and individual‐level parameters simultaneously. We use Monte Carlo experiments and three applied examples to explore the advantages of our framework.     

Faith in the Court: Religious Out‐Groups and the Perceived Legitimacy of Judicial Decisions

The question of whether judges’ personal characteristics and values bias their decision making has long been debated, yet far less attention has been given to how personal characteristics affect public perceptions of bias in their decision making. Even genuinely objective judges may be perceived as procedurally biased by the public. We hypothesize that membership in a religious out‐group will elicit stronger public perceptions of biased decision making. Using a survey experiment that varies a judge's religious orientation and ruling in a hypothetical Establishment Clause case, we find strong evidence that judges’ religious characteristics affect the perceived legitimacy of their decisions. Identifying a judge as an atheist (a religious out‐group) decreases trust in the court, while identifying the judge as a committed Christian has no bearing on legitimacy. These results are even stronger among respondents who report attending church more often. Thus, we argue that perceptions of bias are conditioned on judges’ in‐group/out‐group status.     

Fatty Acid Profiles for Differentiating Growth Medium Formulations Used to Culture Bacillus cereus T‐strain Spores

Microbial biomarkers that indicate aspects of an organism's growth conditions are important targets of forensic research. In this study, we examined fatty acid composition as a signature for the types of complex nutrients in the culturing medium. Bacillus cereus T‐strain spores were grown in medium formulations supplemented with one of the following: peptone (meat protein), tryptone (casein protein), soy protein, and brain–heart infusion. Cellular biomass was profiled with fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) analysis. Results showed peptone cultures produced spores enriched in straight‐chained lipids. Tryptone cultures produced spores enriched in branched‐odd lipids when compared with peptone, soy, and brain–heart formulations. The observed FAME variation was used to construct a set of discriminant functions that could help identify the nutrients in a culturing recipe for an unknown spore sample. Blinded classification tests were most successful for spores grown on media containing peptone and tryptone, showing 88% and 100% correct identification, respectively.     

Evidence of a ‘refugee paradox’ for antisocial behavior and violence in the United States

Few, if any, studies have examined antisocial behaviors among refugees especially using population-based samples. As such, it is unresolved whether the ‘immigrant paradox’ for antisocial behavior extends to include refugees. Employing data from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions, we assess the lifetime prevalence of antisocial behavior among refugees (n = 428) in contrast with non-refugee immigrants (n = 4955) and native-born Americans (n = 29,267). Additionally, we assess the effect of age of arrival and time spent in the Unites States. Results indicate that refugees were significantly less likely than native-born Americans or non-refugee immigrants to report involvement in any non-violent or violent behavior with the exception of injuring someone such that they had to receive medical attention. We also found no significant relationship between duration as refugee and antisocial behavior. However, persons who spent more than one year as a refugee were significantly more likely to report involvement in violence. Overall, but with some caveats, findings suggest that the immigrant paradox extends to refugees as well.     

A neighborly welcome? Charter school entrance and public school competition on the capital margin

Public Choice - In 1999, the Utah State Legislature allowed charter schools to enter and be administered under the broad oversight of school districts. The structure of the Utah Charter School...