Peer Effects on Criminal Behavior. Evidence from the homeless

This paper investigates the influence of peers on criminal behavior, using original data I collected by interviewing homeless people in Milan. Information on friends’ names was elicited, which allows to map each respondent’s network. Each individual was also asked to report his criminal status prior to becoming homeless. To estimate the causal effects of network size and of the share of criminal friends on (subsequent) criminal behavior, I rely on two instruments. The first is the share of rainy days since the individual has become homeless: rainfall fosters concentration of homeless individuals in sheltered places and increases the probability of meetings. The second instrument is the fraction of inmates released by Milan’s authorities during one’s period as homeless, which affects the supply of criminal potential friends. I find that the probability of arrest decreases by 16 percentage points with the network size, but it increases by 20 percentage points with the share of criminal friends in the group.Peer effects, crime, homeless.

Mortality Risk Valuation for Environmental Policy

Most benefit-cost analyses of reductions in air pollutants and other pollutants carrying mortality risks rely on estimates of the value of reductions in such risks produced by compensating wage studies, or contingent valuation studies that value risk reductions in the context of transport or job-related accidents. As the authors argue below, these estimates are inappropriate when valuing risk changes produced by environmental programs. The objectives of this paper are to explain why these estimates are inappropriate and to describe an improved approach to valuing reductions in risk of death from environmental programs, especially programs to reduce air pollution. The authors have implemented this approach in a pilot study in Tokyo, Japan. The paper provides estimates of the value of a statistical life based on the pilot study and describes extensions of the approach based on test results. The preliminary results from the Tokyo pilot indicate that individuals are able to distinguish between different magnitudes of small changes in mortality risks and between the same change in these risks occurring at different times (although the latter has not yet been subjected to an external scope test). Changes to the survey and a big increase in sample size may improve performance on the internal validity tests and the results of the scope tests. Although the current results can only be considered suggestive, if they were to remain after administration of the survey to a larger sample, and subject to some other caveats, they would imply that the VSL's currently used in benefit-cost analyses of environmental policies are significant overestimates.

Me, myself and you: How self-consciousness influences time perception

Several investigations have shown that the processing of self-relevant information differs from processing objective information. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of social stimuli on subjective time processing. Here, social stimuli are images of an unknown male and female person and an image of participants' self. Forty university students were tested with a time reproduction task in which they were asked to reproduce the duration of the stimulus previously presented. Images of others or themselves were used to mark the temporal intervals. Participants also performed questionnaires to evaluate the level of anxiety and depression as well as self-consciousness. A generalised linear mixed-effects model approach was adopted. Results showed that male participants with higher Private Self-Consciousness scores showed higher time perception accuracy than females. Also, female participants reported higher scores for the Public Self-Consciousness subscale than male participants. The findings are discussed in terms of social context models of how attention is solicited and arousal is generated by social stimuli, highlighting the effect of social context on subjective perception of time

I can feel my heartbeat: Dancers have increased interoceptive accuracy

Interoception is the process of perceiving afferent signals arising from within the body including heart rate (HR), gastric signals, etc. and has been described as a mechanism crucially involved in the creation of self-awareness and selfhood. The heart beat perception task is a tool to measure individuals’ interoceptive accuracy (IAcc). IAcc correlates positively with measures of self-awareness and with attributes including emotional sensitivity, empathy, prosocial behavior, and efficient decision-making. IAcc is only moderate in the general population. Attempts to identify groups of people who might have higher IAcc due to their specific training (e.g., yoga, meditation) have not been successful. However, a recent study with musicians suggests that those trained in the arts might exhibit high IAcc. Therefore, we here tested IAcc in professional dancers. Twenty professional dancers and 20 female control participants performed 4 intervals of a heartbeat perception task while their actual HR was recorded. Dancers had a higher IAcc, and this effect was independent of their lower heart rates (a proxy measure of physical fitness), counting ability and knowledge about HR. An additional between-group analysis after a median split in the dancer group (based on ‘years of dance experience’) showed that junior dancers’ IAcc differed from controls, and senior dancers’ IAcc was higher than both junior dancers and controls. General art experience correlated positively with IAcc. No correlations were found between IAcc and questionnaire measures of empathy, emotional experience, and alexithymia. These findings are discussed in the context of current theories of interoception and emotion –highlighting the features of arts training that might be related to IAcc

The illusion of data validity : Why numbers about people are likely wrong

This reflection article addresses a difficulty faced by scholars and practitioners working with numbers about people, which is that those who study people want numerical data about these people. Unfortunately, time and time again, this numerical data about people is wrong. Addressing the potential causes of this wrongness, we present examples of analyzing people numbers, i.e., numbers derived from digital data by or about people, and discuss the comforting illusion of data validity. We first lay a foundation by highlighting potential inaccuracies in collecting people data, such as selection bias. Then, we discuss inaccuracies in analyzing people data, such as the flaw of averages, followed by a discussion of errors that are made when trying to make sense of people data through techniques such as posterior labeling. Finally, we discuss a root cause of people data often being wrong – the conceptual conundrum of thinking the numbers are counts when they are actually measures. Practical solutions to address this illusion of data validity are proposed. The implications for theories derived from people data are also highlighted, namely that these people theories are generally wrong as they are often derived from people numbers that are wrong.© 2022 Wuhan University. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Is there persistence in the growth of manufactured exports? Evidence from newly industrializing countries

Price and income elasticities estimated from a country's export demand function are used both to predict and to prescribe effective export strategies. But the focus on elasticities has led to the neglect of an important empirical regularity: a strong persistencein the growth rate of a country's exports. The authors shift the spotlight to this phenomenon and describe the degree and pattern of persistence. They find that a country's exports are influenced not only by the elasticities, but also by the quality of its transactional infrastructure (proxied by the penetration of telecommunications). More important, when world income rises, exports rise relatively uniformly for different country groups. As world income contracts, the decline in exports is greater and is especially sharp for certain countries. The authors infer from this asymmetry in income elasticity of demand, and from the observed persistence of exports, that long-term buyer supplier relationships lead to the creation of"insiders"and"outsiders"in the world market for manufactured goods, a condition that tends to perpetuate itself.Access to Markets,Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Inequality,Markets and Market Access

The Relationships Between Entrepreneurs\u27 Gender, Attitudes Toward Seeking Assistance from Entrepreneurship Centers, Utilization of Centers, and Entrepreneurial Success

Despite the proliferation of entrepreneurship centers, little is known about the reasons entrepreneurs appear reluctant to utilize their services. Although women are more likely than men to seek help in most settings, some research appears to suggest that this tendency may not apply to entrepreneurs. This is interesting given the financial underperformance of female-owned firms and research showing that entrepreneurship centers are effective and thereby lead to economic development. To better understand these issues, I propose and test a new conceptual framework of entrepreneurial help seeking that considers how entrepreneurs vary in their attitudes towards seeking professional help. In addition, I explore the influence of entrepreneurs’ gender on attitudinal differences, help-seeking behaviors, and entrepreneurial success. This research integrates three theoretical frameworks: the psychology of help-seeking, gender role congruity, and the theory of guided preparation as an entrepreneurial resource. The findings demonstrate that entrepreneurs’ gender influences their attitudes toward seeking assistance from entrepreneurship centers as well as their entrepreneurial success. In addition, entrepreneurs’ attitudes toward seeking assistance influence their utilization of assistance, which influences their subsequent entrepreneurial success