The impact of law on moral and social norms: evidence from facemask fines in the UK

We measure the extent that a prevailing law can affect moral and social norms. We use variations in facemask fines in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic as a case study, as it presents us with many features of a natural experiment. Our analysis provides two important findings. First, we find that the legal status of a behaviour, that is whether the behaviour is illegal or not, is important in influencing stated compliance and moral and social norms. In contrast we find no evidence that a variation in penalties has any effect on stated compliance or moral or social norms. We consider these results are important for law makers and society, as both moral and social norms are known to be important drivers of social change, and our results show that legality influences both—thus highlighting an endogenous relationship between the law—and moral and social norms

Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (4th edition)1.

In 2008, we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, this topic has received increasing attention, and many scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Thus, it is important to formulate on a regular basis updated guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Despite numerous reviews, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to evaluate autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. Here, we present a set of guidelines for investigators to select and interpret methods to examine autophagy and related processes, and for reviewers to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of reports that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a dogmatic set of rules, because the appropriateness of any assay largely depends on the question being asked and the system being used. Moreover, no individual assay is perfect for every situation, calling for the use of multiple techniques to properly monitor autophagy in each experimental setting. Finally, several core components of the autophagy machinery have been implicated in distinct autophagic processes (canonical and noncanonical autophagy), implying that genetic approaches to block autophagy should rely on targeting two or more autophagy-related genes that ideally participate in distinct steps of the pathway. Along similar lines, because multiple proteins involved in autophagy also regulate other cellular pathways including apoptosis, not all of them can be used as a specific marker for bona fide autophagic responses. Here, we critically discuss current methods of assessing autophagy and the information they can, or cannot, provide. Our ultimate goal is to encourage intellectual and technical innovation in the field

"Raise children to fight against aging": The determinants of elderly wellbeing in today's China

As the old Chinese saying goes, “raise children against aging” is used to describe the most desirable life arrangement for Chinese elderly people, as it reflects the core idea of filial piety that lies near the heart of the Confucian doctrine regulating society. In a fast-changing economy, are these traditional values still hold for Chinese elderly? Applying the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), we explore the determinants of elderly’s wellbeing in modern China. We have a particular interest in whether living with their children, receiving pecuniary/material transfer or support from children or having more children significantly affects the wellbeing of the elderly. We find that these factors have no significance in affecting the wellbeing of the elderly in China. Furthermore, among the factors significantly determining the wellbeing of Chinese elderly people, pensions and health care are very important, particularly to the elderly in rural areas. Notably, gross domestic product (GDP) level of the province or municipality, where the elderly habitats have a significant impact on elderly’s wellbeing and this echoes with some contemporary research

Estimating the impact of the first COVID-19 lockdown on UK food retailers and the restaurant sector.

Using an approach normally used to estimate cumulative excess deaths, we measure the impact of the COVID-19 shock on sales of UK food retailers and restaurants. To control the spread of COVID-19, travel and social interactions were restricted, putting significant pressure on retailers, who had to adapt whilst complying with a fast-changing marketplace. Results show that in the period March-August 2020, COVID-19 restrictions accounted for a £4 billion increase in sales for food retailers, and £4 billion in non-store retailers; and a £20 billion loss in sales in non-food stores, and £25 billion loss in turnover for food and beverage serving services

Financial Literacy and Portfolio Diversity in China

AbstractThis study documents the effect of financial literacy on the portfolio diversity of family wealth in China with a two-way, fixed-effect model. The results show that most people in China do not have sufficient financial literacy to understand financial assets, which implies a lack of financial knowledge in China. It also looks into the determinants of holding each financial asset, no matter how high- or low-risk, which has not been fully explored in the existing literature. The empirical results found that the knowledge of portfolio diversity increases according to their levels of education and financial literacy. In addition, people living in urban areas diversify their portfolios more than in rural areas. People with high financial literacy understand the value of time (interest); therefore, they prefer to have portfolios that evaluate time and avoid options that do not (cash). We also found that people’s characteristics in risk significantly affect whether they hold stock, mutual funds, or other financial assets.</jats:p

The impact of law on moral and social norms: evidence from facemask fines in the UK

We measure the extent that a prevailing law can affect moral and social norms. We use variations in facemask fines in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic as a case study, as it presents us with many features of a natural experiment. Our analysis provides two important findings. First, we find that the legal status of a behaviour, that is whether the behaviour is illegal or not, is important in influencing stated compliance and moral and social norms. In contrast we find no evidence that a variation in penalties has any effect on stated compliance or moral or social norms. We consider these results are important for law makers and society, as both moral and social norms are known to be important drivers of social change, and our results show that legality influences both – thus highlighting an endogenous relationship between the law - and moral and social norms

Global Teacher Status Index 2018

This Global Teacher Status Index survey in 2018 (GTSI 2018) went to 35 countries (instead of 21 countries as in 2013) and administered a questionnaire to over 1,000 members of the public in each country. Specifically, they went to 14 new countries (Taiwan, Hungary, Ghana, Uganda, Argentina, Peru, Colombia, Chile, Panama, India, Russia, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Canada). These countries were chosen on their performance in PISA and TIMSS assessments to represent each major continent and as representative of different strands of education systems. It was deemed important to compose a sample in line with the relevant proportions in the population. This was done by careful consultation of the available country specific population census information. Quota sampling was used to allocate respondents using a balanced sample of 16 to 64-year–olds, which had sample fractions according to their: age, gender and region. As in 2013, the data for this study was collected by the polling company Populus using a theyb-based survey (WBS). The consistency of survey method and the retention of nearly all the questions the authors had in our previous questionnaire allow for significant comparative analysis. They took advantage of five years of innovation in survey design to introduce a number of new elements to the survey in 2018. Firstly, as noted above, they extended the coverage of countries sampled. A second fundamental change in this new survey is that they also included an oversample of an additional 200 teachers in 27 of our countries. This extra over sample meant that they could make interesting comparisons of what the public thinks of teachers and the education system with what the teachers in the same country think of their job and the system they work in from the inside. This extra data proved to yield interesting new insights. A third major new component in the GTSI 2018 survey was that they wished to incorporate an element of the ‘implicit response’ views of teachers and the general public. Specifically, the researchers wished to add to the questions from 2013 which were primarily based on considered responses to questions relating to ordering, ranking and given considered opinions about teachers and their role by including an element of ‘quick fire’ implicit response questions with which they attempt to measure people’s sub-conscious reactions and impressions of teachers. Hence, they sought to capture the innate, unconsidered views of people rather than those borne of long reflective processes. The underlying theory here is provided by Kahneman (2011) who suggests that there is a fundamental distinction bettheyen cognitive activity related to ‘front of the brain’ processes which can be thought of as ‘implicit and intuitive’ – rather than what the person really thinks in their subconscious; views and reactions and those of the ‘back of the brain’ considered and reflected opinions which may contain elements of what one is ‘meant to’ or ‘expected to’ think conventionally. They sought to do this by providing the respondent with 10 pairs of words and asked them to select in each pair the word which best represented teachers. The authors asked them to do this as fast as possible and encouraged them not to think or reflect on this too much. A fourth new element in the GTSI 2018 is that they used the latest quasiexperimental survey design techniques to attempt to reveal new insights. For example, they provided a visual ‘nudge’ to respondents by providing a third of the sample with one image of an ordered classroom of diligent pupils, a second third with a different image of unruly pupils in a classroom and a final third got no image when anstheyring questions. The question - inspired by the work a recent Nobel Laurette in Economics Richard Thaler, (see Thaler and Sunstein 2008) - they wish to explore here is whether people’s perceptions are altered by having a different visual promoting image when anstheyring questions. A fifth experimental insight they used was to variously ask questions in a different order to half the sample (in the case of seeking anstheyrs to questions on occupational status and wage perception rankings) to see if they can disentangle whether perceptions about status causes perceptions about pay - or – whether perceptions about pay causes perceptions about status. Additionally, they sought to examine the role that information about educational spending may play in shaping people’s views on how much should be spent on education

Dimeric furanocoumarins from the roots of <i>Angelica dahurica</i>

<p>Three new dimeric furanocoumarins, dahuribiethrins H–J (<b>1</b>–<b>3</b>), and a new ester coumarin, dahurinol A (<b>4</b>), were isolated from the roots of <i>Angelica dahurica</i>. Their structures were elucidated on the basis of extensive spectroscopic data including UV, IR, HRESIMS, 1D and 2D NMR. Compounds <b>2</b> and <b>3</b> exhibited inhibition of nitric oxide production in the lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophage cells with IC₅₀ values of 8.7 ± 0.6 and 27.3 ± 0.9 μM, respectively.</p