Efficient Peacekeeping for a New World Order

With the convergence of preferences for democracy and free markets in so many nations, the UN has a momentous opportunity to provide the infrastructure needed to attain international peace. Given that peace is a public good, its provision by the international community currently suffers from the problems associated with these commodities, in particular that of “collective action." Namely, peacekeeping will entail “free-riding," by member states of the international system. This leads to the underprovision of peacekeeping/peace-enforcing efforts. This article presents a market- based proposal to remedy this problem. The proposed changes to peacekeeping operations aim to discourage wealthier nations from vetoing missions of genuine humanitarian concern for fear of casualties to their troops. Second, it also more justly compensates low-income nations participating in operations. Thirdly, it corrects for the current tendency to use more weapons and less personnel, and finally and most importantly, it would reflect the preferences of the international community for different peacekeeping operations in a transparent manner.

Pricing with Monitoring Costs

This paper presents empirical evidence which at first glance appears to show that firms are not pricing to maximize profits. We then present a model to explain how this behavior is in fact optimal when we account for additional constraints faced by firms in certain product markets.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Globalization and International Conflict: Can FDI Increase Peace?

This paper extends the analysis of the conflict-trade relationship by introducing foreign direct investment (FDI). We present a formal model that shows why FDI can improve international relations. We then proceed to test the model empirically. Our empirical results in fact show that foreign direct investment plays a similar role to trade in affecting international interactions. More specifically, we find that the flow of FDI has reduced the degree of international conflict and encouraged cooperation between dyads during the period of the late 1980 and the decade of the 90s. This is an especially important finding since one of the main characteristics of globalization has been the reduction of barriers to international capital flows. As a consequence, these have expanded enormously relative to trade flows. Finally, we also find that trade and FDI complement each other in reducing conflict. The policy implication of our finding is that further international cooperation in reducing barriers to both trade and capital flows can promote a more peaceful world.Foreign Direct Investment, Conflict, Trade

THE IMPACT OF FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT ON INTERNATIONAL CONFLICT

This paper extends the analysis of the conflict-trade relationship by introducing foreign direct investment (FDI). We present a formal model that shows why FDI can improve international relations. We then proceed to test the model empirically. Our empirical results show that foreign direct investment plays a similar role to trade in affecting international interactions. More specifically, we find that the flow of FDI has reduced the degree of international conflict and encouraged co-operation between dyads during the period of the late 1980s and the decade of the 1990s. This is an especially important result since one of the main characteristics of globalization has been the reduction of barriers to international capital flows and, as a consequence, the amounts of capital flows have expanded enormously dwarfing those of trade flows. The policy implication of our finding is that further international co-operation in reducing barriers to capital flows can promote a more peaceful world.

Trade, Peace and Democracy: An Analysis of Dyadic Dispute

At least since 1750 when Baron de Montesquieu declared "peace is the natural effect of trade," a number of economists and political scientists espoused the notion that trade among nations leads to peace. Employing resources more efficiently to produce some commodities rather than others is the foundation for comparative advantage. Specialization based on comparative advantage leads to gains from trade. If political conflict leads to a diminution of trade, then at least a portion of the costs of conflict can be measured by a nation's lost gains from trade. The greater two nations' gains from trade the more costly is bilateral (dyadic) conflict. This notion forms the basis of Baron de Montesquieu's assertion regarding dyadic dispute. This chapter develops an analytical framework showing that higher gains from trade between two trading partners (dyads) lowers the level of conflict between them. It describes data necessary to test this hypothesis, and it outlines current developments and extensions taking place in the resulting trade-conflict literature. Cross-sectional evidence using various data on political interactions confirms that trading nations cooperate more and fight less. A doubling of trade leads to a 20% diminution of belligerence. This result is robust under various specifications, and it is upheld when adjusting for causality using cross-section and time-series techniques. Further, the impact of trade is strengthened when bilateral import demand elasticities are incorporated to better measure gains from trade. Because democratic dyads trade more than non-democratic dyads, democracies cooperate with each other relatively more, thereby explaining the "democratic peace" that democracies rarely fight each other. The chapter then goes on to examine further extensions of the trade-conflict model regarding specific commodity trade, foreign direct investment, tariffs, foreign aid, country contiguity, and multilateral interactions.Defense in a Globalized World

Socio-demographic inequalities and excess non-COVID-19 mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic: a data-driven analysis of 1 069 174 death certificates in Mexico.

BACKGROUND: In 2020, Mexico experienced one of the highest rates of excess mortality globally. However, the extent of non-COVID deaths on excess mortality, its regional distribution and the association between socio-demographic inequalities have not been characterized. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective municipal and individual-level study using 1 069 174 death certificates to analyse COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 deaths classified by ICD-10 codes. Excess mortality was estimated as the increase in cause-specific mortality in 2020 compared with the average of 2015-2019, disaggregated by primary cause of death, death setting (in-hospital and out-of-hospital) and geographical location. Correlates of individual and municipal non-COVID-19 mortality were assessed using mixed effects logistic regression and negative binomial regression models, respectively. RESULTS: We identified a 51% higher mortality rate (276.11 deaths per 100 000 inhabitants) compared with the 2015-2019 average period, largely attributable to COVID-19. Non-COVID-19 causes comprised one-fifth of excess deaths, with acute myocardial infarction and type 2 diabetes as the two leading non-COVID-19 causes of excess mortality. COVID-19 deaths occurred primarily in-hospital, whereas excess non-COVID-19 deaths occurred in out-of-hospital settings. Municipal-level predictors of non-COVID-19 excess mortality included levels of social security coverage, higher rates of COVID-19 hospitalization and social marginalization. At the individual level, lower educational attainment, blue-collar employment and lack of medical care assistance prior to death were associated with non-COVID-19 deaths. CONCLUSION: Non-COVID-19 causes of death, largely chronic cardiometabolic conditions, comprised up to one-fifth of excess deaths in Mexico during 2020. Non-COVID-19 excess deaths occurred disproportionately out-of-hospital and were associated with both individual- and municipal-level socio-demographic inequalities

Prevalence of prediabetes in Mexico: a retrospective analysis of nationally representative surveys spanning 2016–2022Research in context

Summary: Background: Characterizing prediabetes phenotypes may be useful in guiding diabetes prevention efforts; however, heterogeneous criteria to define prediabetes have led to inconsistent prevalence estimates, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Here, we estimated trends in prediabetes prevalence in Mexico across different prediabetes definitions and their association with prevalent cardiometabolic conditions. Methods: We conducted a serial cross-sectional analysis of National Health and Nutrition Surveys in Mexico (2016–2022), totalling 22 081 Mexican adults. After excluding individuals with diagnosed or undiagnosed diabetes, we defined prediabetes using ADA (impaired fasting glucose [IFG] 100–125 mg/dL and/or HbA1c 5.7–6.4%), WHO (IFG 110–125 mg/dL), and IEC criteria (HbA1c 6.0–6.4%). Prevalence trends of prediabetes over time were evaluated using weighted Poisson regression and its association with prevalent cardiometabolic conditions with weighted logistic regression. Findings: The prevalence of prediabetes (either IFG or high HbA1c [ADA]) in Mexico was 20.9% in 2022. Despite an overall downward trend in prediabetes (RR 0.973, 95% CI 0.957–0.988), this was primarily driven by decreases in prediabetes by ADA-IFG (RR 0.898, 95% CI 0.880–0.917) and WHO-IFG criteria (RR 0.919, 95% CI 0.886–0.953), while prediabetes by ADA-HbA1c (RR 1.055, 95% CI 1.033–1.077) and IEC-HbA1C criteria (RR 1.085, 95% CI 1.045–1.126) increased over time. Prediabetes prevalence increased over time in adults >40 years, with central obesity, self-identified as indigenous or living in urban areas. For all definitions, prediabetes was associated with an increased risk of cardiometabolic conditions. Interpretation: Prediabetes rates in Mexico from 2016 to 2022 varied based on defining criteria but consistently increased for HbA1c-based definitions and high-risk subgroups. Funding: This research was supported by Instituto Nacional de Geriatría in Mexico. JAS was supported by NIH/NIDDK Grant# K23DK135798