The scale of COVID-19 graphs affects understanding, attitudes, and policy preferences

Mass media routinely present data on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) diffusion with graphs that use either a log scale or a linear scale. We show that the choice of the scale adopted on these graphs has important consequences on how people understand and react to the information conveyed. In particular, we find that when we show the number of COVID‐19 related deaths on a logarithmic scale, people have a less accurate understanding of how the pandemic has developed, make less accurate predictions on its evolution, and have different policy preferences than when they are exposed to a linear scale. Consequently, merely changing the scale the data is presented on can alter public policy preferences and the level of worry about the pandemic, despite the fact that people are routinely exposed to COVID‐19 related information. Providing the public with information in ways they understand better can help improving the response to COVID‐19, thus, mass media and policymakers communicating to the general public should always describe the evolution of the pandemic using a graph on a linear scale, at least as a default option. Our results suggest that framing matters when communicating to the public

Do Board's Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy and Orientation Influence Environmental Sustainability Disclosure? UK Evidence

The environmental implications of corporate economic activities have led to growing demands for firms and their boards to adopt sustainable strategies and to disseminate more useful information about their activities and impacts on environment. This paper investigates the impact of board’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy and orientation on the quantity and quality of environmental sustainability disclosure in UK listed firms. We find that effective board CSR strategy and CSR-oriented directors have a positive and significant impact on the quality of environmental sustainability disclosure, but not on the quantity. Our findings also suggest that the existence of a CSR committee and issuance of a stand-alone CSR report are positively and significantly related to environmental sustainability disclosure. When we distinguish between firms with high and low environmental risk, we find that the board CSR/sustainability practices that affect the quantity (quality) of environmental sustainability disclosure appear to be driven more by highly (lowly) environmentally sensitive firms. These results suggest that the board CSR/sustainability practices play an important role in ensuring a firm’s legitimacy and accountability towards stakeholders. Our findings shed new light on this under-researched area and could be of interest to companies, policy-makers and other stakeholders

Days Before Merger, Complaints Filed Asking for Investigation of Pan American and Tahoe Resources

Faculty mentioned/quoted: Professor Emeritus Shin Imai & the Justice and Corporate Accountability Projec

Oversight or interference? Jensen\u27s pending departure sparks debate about government\u27s relationship to OSC

Mentioned/quoted: Professor Edward Waitze

The Value of Empathy

Osgoode faculty mentioned/quoted: Dean (Interim) Mary Condo

The Value of Empathy

Osgoode faculty mentioned/quoted: Dean (Interim) Mary Condo

Days Before Merger, Complaints Filed Asking for Investigation of Pan American and Tahoe Resources

Faculty mentioned/quoted: Professor Emeritus Shin Imai & the Justice and Corporate Accountability Projec

Oversight or interference? Jensen\u27s pending departure sparks debate about government\u27s relationship to OSC

Mentioned/quoted: Professor Edward Waitze

CPPIB says excluding fossil fuels from its portfolio would be \u27an active short on human ingenuity\u27

Mentioned/quoted: Cynthia William