Are Markets the Solution to Water Pollution? A Sociological Investigation of Water Quality Trading

The management of environmental pollution has traditionally been accomplished via the regulatory power of the state, but more recently we have witnessed the rise of a new, market ? based form of governance. Its most visible manifestation is the trading of pollution credits, in which one polluter purchases credits to offset its own pollution output at lower cost than actually remediating the pollution on ? site. This form of commodification has rapidly expanded and now includes markets for greenhouse gas, wetlands, and surface water nutrient credits. I focus on water quality trading and its specific institutional form in which point source "end ? of ? pipe" dischargers purchase nutrient credits from nonpoint sources such as farmers. I argue that the best way to understand this complex form of environmental governance is through a Polanyian framework. Polanyi ? s notion of a "double movement" illustrates the unique relationship between market and state that underlies water quality trading programs. While it seems that the commodification of water quality shifts market oversight from the state to the private sector, there is simultaneously a move towards increased participation by regulatory agencies to counter market uncertainties. I argue that such regulatory oversight is in fact required for the proper functioning of this market sector. I then ii conduct an extensive literature review of scholarly work on water quality trading and demonstrate that the literature consistently rests on a number of flawed assumptions, notably that the supply of water quality credits simply follows demand and that farmers behave as rational economic actors in regards to implementation of conservation practices. I argue that this understanding of water quality trading is hampered by the dismissal of social factors, particularly the social embeddedness of economic actors and the trust relations between them. I use a telephone survey of participants in all active water quality trading programs nationwide as well as site visits to a subset of programs to test these competing bodies of scholarship. The basic question is, What accounts for differences in success rates both between and within trading programs? The use of a local, trusted, embedded intermediary as the link between programs and farmers emerges as the most important explanatory variable for program success. I further illustrate the specific causal mechanisms by which these embedded relationships result in more farmer participation. Finally I examine several negative social and environmental consequences that result from orienting a program towards a more 0?market approach. It appears doubtful that the desire for cost efficiencies on one hand and the need for embedded relations with farmers on the other can be resolved while expanding the market scope of water quality trading. The key may lie in reconfiguring the end goal of trading from cost ? effective water quality improvement to the implementation of agricultural best management practices

Are Markets the Solution to Water Pollution? A Sociological Investigation of Water Quality Trading

The management of environmental pollution has traditionally been accomplished via the regulatory power of the state, but more recently we have witnessed the rise of a new, market ? based form of governance. Its most visible manifestation is the trading of pollution credits, in which one polluter purchases credits to offset its own pollution output at lower cost than actually remediating the pollution on ? site. This form of commodification has rapidly expanded and now includes markets for greenhouse gas, wetlands, and surface water nutrient credits. I focus on water quality trading and its specific institutional form in which point source "end ? of ? pipe" dischargers purchase nutrient credits from nonpoint sources such as farmers. I argue that the best way to understand this complex form of environmental governance is through a Polanyian framework. Polanyi ? s notion of a "double movement" illustrates the unique relationship between market and state that underlies water quality trading programs. While it seems that the commodification of water quality shifts market oversight from the state to the private sector, there is simultaneously a move towards increased participation by regulatory agencies to counter market uncertainties. I argue that such regulatory oversight is in fact required for the proper functioning of this market sector. I then ii conduct an extensive literature review of scholarly work on water quality trading and demonstrate that the literature consistently rests on a number of flawed assumptions, notably that the supply of water quality credits simply follows demand and that farmers behave as rational economic actors in regards to implementation of conservation practices. I argue that this understanding of water quality trading is hampered by the dismissal of social factors, particularly the social embeddedness of economic actors and the trust relations between them. I use a telephone survey of participants in all active water quality trading programs nationwide as well as site visits to a subset of programs to test these competing bodies of scholarship. The basic question is, What accounts for differences in success rates both between and within trading programs? The use of a local, trusted, embedded intermediary as the link between programs and farmers emerges as the most important explanatory variable for program success. I further illustrate the specific causal mechanisms by which these embedded relationships result in more farmer participation. Finally I examine several negative social and environmental consequences that result from orienting a program towards a more 0?market approach. It appears doubtful that the desire for cost efficiencies on one hand and the need for embedded relations with farmers on the other can be resolved while expanding the market scope of water quality trading. The key may lie in reconfiguring the end goal of trading from cost ? effective water quality improvement to the implementation of agricultural best management practices

The Shifting Landscape of Amish Agriculture: Balancing Tradition and Innovation in an Organic Farming Cooperative

In the context of the recent proliferation of alternative operations and marketing schemes across the agricultural landscape, this article examines an Amish organic farming cooperative in northeast Ohio. Contrary to popular perception, the large majority of Amish are not full-time farmers, and those who do farm typically use conventional, chemical-intensive methods. The adoption of certified organic among the Amish is a pragmatic decision that stems from concerns over the sociocultural effects of losing their agrarian heritage, but it also raises challenges that require a careful balance between market imperatives and cultural traditions. We investigate these challenges and the Amish response to them, including: how a culture group largely antithetical to bureaucracy and economic regulation has responded to the demands of external certification standards, how the cooperative has found markets for its products given their reluctance to use the Amish name in advertising, and how a people known for adherence to conservative cultural traditions manages to embrace the alternative nature of organic farming. Our study illustrates the complex ways culture can both facilitate and constrain agricultural innovation

PGE2 Augments Inflammasome Activation and M1 Polarization in Macrophages Infected With Salmonella Typhimurium and Yersinia enterocolitica

Eicosanoids are cellular metabolites, which shape the immune response, including inflammatory processes in macrophages. The effects of these lipid mediators on inflammation and bacterial pathogenesis are not clearly understood. Certain eicosanoids are suspected to act as molecular sensors for the recruitment of neutrophils, while others regulate bacterial uptake. In this study, gene expression analyses indicated that genes involved in eicosanoid biosynthesis including COX-1, COX-2, DAGL, and PLA-2 are differentially regulated in THP-1 human macrophages infected with Salmonella enterica Typhimurium or Yersinia enterocolitica. By using targeted metabolomics approach, we found that the eicosanoid precursor, arachidonic acid (AA) as well as its derivatives, including prostaglandins (PGs) PGF2α or PGE2/PGD2, and thromboxane TxB2, are rapidly secreted from macrophages infected with these Gram-negative pathogenic bacteria. The magnitude of eicosanoid biosynthesis in infected host cells depends on the presence of virulence factors of Y. enterocolitica and S. Typhimurium strains, albeit in an opposite way in Y. enterocolitica compared to S. Typhimurium infection. Trials with combinations of EP2/EP4 PGE2 receptor agonists and antagonists suggest that PGE2 signaling in these infection models works primarily through the EP4 receptor. Downstream of EP4 activation, PGE2 enhances inflammasome activation and represses M2 macrophage polarization while inducing key M1-type markers. PGE2 also led to a decreased numbers of Y. enterocolitica within macrophages. To summarize, PGE2 is a potent autocrine/paracrine activator of inflammation during infection in Gram-negative bacteria, and it affects macrophage polarization, likely controlling bacterial clearance by macrophages

Creative destruction in science

Drawing on the concept of a gale of creative destruction in a capitalistic economy, we argue that initiatives to assess the robustness of findings in the organizational literature should aim to simultaneously test competing ideas operating in the same theoretical space. In other words, replication efforts should seek not just to support or question the original findings, but also to replace them with revised, stronger theories with greater explanatory power. Achieving this will typically require adding new measures, conditions, and subject populations to research designs, in order to carry out conceptual tests of multiple theories in addition to directly replicating the original findings. To illustrate the value of the creative destruction approach for theory pruning in organizational scholarship, we describe recent replication initiatives re-examining culture and work morality, working parents\u2019 reasoning about day care options, and gender discrimination in hiring decisions. Significance statement It is becoming increasingly clear that many, if not most, published research findings across scientific fields are not readily replicable when the same method is repeated. Although extremely valuable, failed replications risk leaving a theoretical void\u2014 reducing confidence the original theoretical prediction is true, but not replacing it with positive evidence in favor of an alternative theory. We introduce the creative destruction approach to replication, which combines theory pruning methods from the field of management with emerging best practices from the open science movement, with the aim of making replications as generative as possible. In effect, we advocate for a Replication 2.0 movement in which the goal shifts from checking on the reliability of past findings to actively engaging in competitive theory testing and theory building. Scientific transparency statement The materials, code, and data for this article are posted publicly on the Open Science Framework, with links provided in the article

National identity predicts public health support during a global pandemic

Changing collective behaviour and supporting non-pharmaceutical interventions is an important component in mitigating virus transmission during a pandemic. In a large international collaboration (Study 1, N = 49,968 across 67 countries), we investigated self-reported factors associated with public health behaviours (e.g., spatial distancing and stricter hygiene) and endorsed public policy interventions (e.g., closing bars and restaurants) during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic (April-May 2020). Respondents who reported identifying more strongly with their nation consistently reported greater engagement in public health behaviours and support for public health policies. Results were similar for representative and non-representative national samples. Study 2 (N = 42 countries) conceptually replicated the central finding using aggregate indices of national identity (obtained using the World Values Survey) and a measure of actual behaviour change during the pandemic (obtained from Google mobility reports). Higher levels of national identification prior to the pandemic predicted lower mobility during the early stage of the pandemic (r = −0.40). We discuss the potential implications of links between national identity, leadership, and public health for managing COVID-19 and future pandemics.publishedVersio

Examining the generalizability of research findings from archival data

This initiative examined systematically the extent to which a large set of archival research findings generalizes across contexts. We repeated the key analyses for 29 original strategic management effects in the same context (direct reproduction) as well as in 52 novel time periods and geographies; 45% of the reproductions returned results matching the original reports together with 55% of tests in different spans of years and 40% of tests in novel geographies. Some original findings were associated with multiple new tests. Reproducibility was the best predictor of generalizability—for the findings that proved directly reproducible, 84% emerged in other available time periods and 57% emerged in other geographies. Overall, only limited empirical evidence emerged for context sensitivity. In a forecasting survey, independent scientists were able to anticipate which effects would find support in tests in new samples

Predicting attitudinal and behavioral responses to COVID-19 pandemic using machine learning

At the beginning of 2020, COVID-19 became a global problem. Despite all the efforts to emphasize the relevance of preventive measures, not everyone adhered to them. Thus, learning more about the characteristics determining attitudinal and behavioral responses to the pandemic is crucial to improving future interventions. In this study, we applied machine learning on the multinational data collected by the International Collaboration on the Social and Moral Psychology of COVID-19 (N = 51,404) to test the predictive efficacy of constructs from social, moral, cognitive, and personality psychology, as well as socio-demographic factors, in the attitudinal and behavioral responses to the pandemic. The results point to several valuable insights. Internalized moral identity provided the most consistent predictive contribution—individuals perceiving moral traits as central to their self-concept reported higher adherence to preventive measures. Similar results were found for morality as cooperation, symbolized moral identity, self-control, open-mindedness, and collective narcissism, while the inverse relationship was evident for the endorsement of conspiracy theories. However, we also found a non-neglible variability in the explained variance and predictive contributions with respect to macro-level factors such as the pandemic stage or cultural region. Overall, the results underscore the importance of morality-related and contextual factors in understanding adherence to public health recommendations during the pandemic.Peer reviewe

Crowdsourcing hypothesis tests: Making transparent how design choices shape research results

To what extent are research results influenced by subjective decisions that scientists make as they design studies? Fifteen research teams independently designed studies to answer fiveoriginal research questions related to moral judgments, negotiations, and implicit cognition. Participants from two separate large samples (total N > 15,000) were then randomly assigned to complete one version of each study. Effect sizes varied dramatically across different sets of materials designed to test the same hypothesis: materials from different teams renderedstatistically significant effects in opposite directions for four out of five hypotheses, with the narrowest range in estimates being d = -0.37 to +0.26. Meta-analysis and a Bayesian perspective on the results revealed overall support for two hypotheses, and a lack of support for three hypotheses. Overall, practically none of the variability in effect sizes was attributable to the skill of the research team in designing materials, while considerable variability was attributable to the hypothesis being tested. In a forecasting survey, predictions of other scientists were significantly correlated with study results, both across and within hypotheses. Crowdsourced testing of research hypotheses helps reveal the true consistency of empirical support for a scientific claim.</div

National identity predicts public health support during a global pandemic.

Changing collective behaviour and supporting non-pharmaceutical interventions is an important component in mitigating virus transmission during a pandemic. In a large international collaboration (Study 1, N = 49,968 across 67 countries), we investigated self-reported factors associated with public health behaviours (e.g., spatial distancing and stricter hygiene) and endorsed public policy interventions (e.g., closing bars and restaurants) during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic (April-May 2020). Respondents who reported identifying more strongly with their nation consistently reported greater engagement in public health behaviours and support for public health policies. Results were similar for representative and non-representative national samples. Study 2 (N = 42 countries) conceptually replicated the central finding using aggregate indices of national identity (obtained using the World Values Survey) and a measure of actual behaviour change during the pandemic (obtained from Google mobility reports). Higher levels of national identification prior to the pandemic predicted lower mobility during the early stage of the pandemic (r = -0.40). We discuss the potential implications of links between national identity, leadership, and public health for managing COVID-19 and future pandemics