How is climate change changing agrarian studies?

A range of compelling recent literature highlights how climate change is rewriting the intertwined social and environmental processes that comprise agrarian landscapes. Mainstream reaction has been to double down on technical intensification strategies supplemented by a resolute faith in scientific advancement to reduce vulnerabilities. For critical agrarian studies, however,climate change raises new conceptual and methodological challenges. Has climate change reinforced or undermined existing concepts and frameworks that explain core dynamics of agrarian change? Does agrarian studies as a field of engaged research need to change alongside the climate? In this exchange our contributors consider how anthropocentric climate change requires the field to rethink core analytical categories within agrarian studies. Key questions that the forum addresses include: How does climate change validate and/or challenge the conceptual armoury and normative orientations inherited largely from Marxist-influenced political economy? What new concepts and theoretical influences will prove helpful in orientating agrarian studies within a changing climate? How do we synthesise these with existing frameworks and concerns? And how does this reformulation change our understanding of the forms and content of resistance within agrarian environments

Beliefs about what disadvantaged groups would do with power shape advantaged groups' (un)willingness to relinquish it

Dominant groups often resist possible changes to the hierarchical status quo. Might such tendencies be partly rooted in negative—yet potentially malleable—meta-beliefs about how disempowered groups would use power if they gained control? We investigate these questions across three studies and eight independent samples (Total N = 7,460 analyzed responses) in the context of Black–White relations in the United States. Specifically, we examine White Americans’ meta-beliefs about whether Black Americans desire power to structure society into a hierarchy in which they are dominant versus to institute equality for all groups (i.e., meta-dominance beliefs). Across six cross-sectional subsamples (Study 1, Samples A–F; N = 3,383), we developed and validated a measure of meta-dominance, and found that White Americans varied substantially in their beliefs about how Black Americans would use power. Critically, Whites’ meta-dominance beliefs were uniquely related to their opposition to policies empowering Black Americans as well as their support for efforts to maintain Whites’ position atop the social hierarchy, even when controlling for a range of relevant constructs. In two preregistered experiments among White Americans (Studies 2 and 3; N = 4,077), one of which was a registered report, we tested two possible causal pathways that might explain this relation: (a) “Meta-Dominance Beliefs → Opposition to Black Empowerment” and (b) “Opposition to Black Empowerment → Meta-Dominance Beliefs.” We found evidence in support of the “Meta-Dominance Beliefs → Opposition to Black Empowerment” pathway, but not for the latter Opposition to Black Empowerment → “Meta-Dominance Beliefs” pathway. We discuss our findings’ implications for theories of hierarchy maintenance

Statistics and AI: a fireside conversation

A 3-hour webinar titled “Statistics and AI – A Fireside Conversation” was held on Sunday, March 17, 2024, attracting an online audience of approximately 1,000. The event featured three sessions aimed at engaging the statistical community on key topics in the AI era: addressing statistical challenges and opportunities (Panel I), evolving the publication process (Panel II), and advancing next-generation statistical pipelines and resources (Panel III). Panel I examined issues such as dwindling talent, shifting funding landscapes, and AI's rapid rise, highlighting the need for statistical rigor, interdisciplinary collaboration, and innovative approaches to shape the future of AI. Panel II emphasized the importance of streamlining the publication process, fostering impactful research, and prioritizing workflows and data quality. Panel III focused on modernizing statistical education by integrating AI and deep learning, promoting interdisciplinary collaboration, and maintaining foundational principles such as uncertainty and reproducibility. These discussions collectively outlined a strategic roadmap for ensuring the relevance and advancement of statistics in the age of AI

Employee referrals hinder neurodiverse hiring

Qualified candidates on the autism spectrum often struggle to find jobs that match their qualifications and skills. Daniela Lup and Esther Canonico write that employee referrals are a powerful recruiting channel for neurodiverse talent. However, left unchecked, they hinder neurodiverse hiring

Transforming women's health, empowerment, and gender equality with digital health: evidence-based policy and practice

We evaluated the effects of digital health technologies (DHTs) on women's health, empowerment, and gender equality, using the scoping review method. Following a search across five databases and grey literature, we analysed 80 studies published up to Aug 18, 2023. The thematic appraisal and quantitative analysis found that DHTs positively affect women's access to health-care services, self-care, and tailored self-monitoring enabling the acquisition of health-related interventions. Use of these technologies is beneficial across various medical fields, including gynaecology, endocrinology, and psychiatry. DHTs also improve women's empowerment and gender equality by facilitating skills acquisition, health education, and social interaction, while allowing cost-effective health services. Overall, DHTs contribute to better health outcomes for women and support the UN Sustainable Development Goals by improving access to health care and financial literacy

Ethnic disparities in sentencing and the perception of fairness

The publication of new guidelines on pre-sentencing reports by the Sentencing Council focussing on offenders from ethnic and faith minorities has sparked claims of “two-tier justice”. Eoin Guilfoyle, Jose Pina Sanchez and Sara Geneletti defend the intentions of the new guidelines, but argue that it’s important that they not only contribute to greater fairness in sentencing, but that they are also perceived to do so by the public

How the EU and UK should respond to Trump's Liberation Day tariffs

The tariffs implemented by the Trump administration on 2 April are on a scale last seen in the 1930s, writes Robert Basedow. Effective diplomacy, strategic retaliation, cooperation with third countries and domestic reform will be needed to mitigate the damage for the EU and UK

An asset-level analysis of financial tail risks under extreme weather events

Extreme weather events pose a risk to the economic and financial system. To understand the materiality of these risks, financial institutions are beginning to conduct climate stress testing exercises. This requires climate risk models to be integrated with financial risk models. In this paper, we introduce an open, modular, and reproducible framework for the assessment of asset-level physical risk and the translation of these risks into portfolio-level impacts. The proposed framework addresses key limitations of previous research by including multiple financial transmission channels, and the incorporation of spatial correlations between weather events for bottom-up, asset-level, estimation of portfolio-level tail risks. By incorporating direct capital damages, business disruptions, and insurance coverage, we provide an overview of the direct financial impact of extreme weather events. Through an application of the framework for the assessment of flood risk to a portfolio of power firms located in India, we show that these extensions have material impacts on the risk estimates. We further show how different assumptions related to spatial correlations can lead to large under- or overestimations of portfolio-level tail risks