Enforcing compulsory schooling by linking welfare payments to school attendance: lessons from Australia’s Northern Territory

Efforts to enforce compulsory schooling by linking welfare assistance to school attendance are rarely successful in themselves, according to this report. Abstract Efforts to enforce compulsory schooling by linking welfare assistance to school attendance are rarely successful in themselves. One reason is a lack of credibility: targeted families may anticipate that welfare administrators will be reluctant to withdraw support when attendance does not improve. Australia\u27s School Enrolment and Attendance through Welfare Reform Measure (SEAM) demonstrates the impact of a credible threat. Targeting the Indigenous population of the Northern Territory, its credibility stemmed from the extreme circumstances created by the Northern Territory Emergency Response Act and from the troubled history of race relations in Australia. We show, using a difference-in-difference analysis of standardized test data (NAPLAN), that SEAM had a substantial, immediate impact: in its first year it triggered an increase in test participation rates of 16- 20 percentage points over pre-SEAM levels; and it significantly increased the share of tested cohorts achieving national minimum standards by 5-10 percentage points. However, welfare payments were rarely withheld from truant families and participation rates fell in subsequent years, though remaining significantly above pre-SEAM levels. This suggests that initiatives such as SEAM will not be fully effective in the longer term unless accompanied by measures that increase parents’ and children’s appreciation of the value of schooling

How windfall income increases gambling at poker machines

In December 2008 and March-April 2009 the Australian Government used fiscal stimulus as a short-run economic stabilization tool for the first time since the 1990s. In May-June 2012, households received lump sum cheques as compensation for the introduction of the Carbon Tax scheduled for 1 July 2012. This paper examines the relationship between these financial windfalls and spending at electronic gaming machines (EGMs) using data from 62 local government areas in Victoria, Australia. The results show large increases in spending at EGMs during the periods when Australian households received economic stimulus cheques. Increased spending at EGMs in December 2008 amounted to 1% of the total stimulus for that period. We conclude that the 2008-2009 stimulus packages substantially increased gambling at EGMs in Victoria. We find no unexpected increase in spending at EGMs in the months when Carbon Tax compensation cheques were paid

The case for human development: a cross-country analysis of corruption perceptions

Economic studies have demonstrated, both empirically and theoretically, that higher levels of human development (HD) and economic freedom (EF) are associated with lower levels of perceived corruption. This study separately examines the impact of human development and economic freedom on perceived levels of corruption across more than one hundred countries using a novel approach that greatly reduces multicollinear bias in the model. The results from this study confirm that both HD and EF are significant predictors of corruption perception levels. Furthermore, an increase in either HD or EF corresponds to a reduction in corruption perception. When evaluated separately, however, increases in human development are shown to correspond to greater reductions in corruption perception than economic freedom. This is demonstrated with an OLS regression using data collected from a single year and a number of panel estimates that utilize data from multiple years.Human Development; Economic Freedom; Corruption; International; Cross-Country; Residual Analysis

Building mass support for global pandemic recovery efforts in the United States

Containing the COVID-19 pandemic will confer global benefits that greatly exceed the costs but effective solutions require the redistribution of vaccines, technology, and other scarce resources from high-income to low-income countries. The United States has played a central role in coordinating responses to previous global health challenges, and its policy choices in the current pandemic will have a far-reaching impact on the rest of the world. Yet little is known about domestic support for international recovery efforts. We use a series of conjoint and persuasive messaging experiments, fielded on two national surveys of the US adult population (N = 5,965), to study mass support for international redistribution. We find clear evidence that the general population strongly supports allocating vaccines to own-country recipients before others. But despite this “vaccine nationalism,” Americans are also willing to support the US government playing a major role in global pandemic recovery efforts, provided policymakers forge international agreements that ensure moderate domestic costs, burden-sharing with other countries, and priority for certain types of resources, such as domestically manufactured vaccines and patent buyouts. Finally, we test five different persuasive messaging strategies and find that emphasizing the relatively low costs and large economic benefits of global vaccination is the most promising means of increasing domestic support for international redistribution. Overall, our results demonstrate that policymakers can secure broad public support for costly international cooperation by crafting responses aligned with the economic interests of the United States

Beliefs about minority representation in policing and support for diversification

Diversification of police forces is widely promoted as a reform for reducing racial disparities in police–civilian interactions and increasing police legitimacy. Despite these potential benefits, nearly every municipal police department in the United States remains predominately White and male. Here, we investigate whether the scale and persistence of minority underrepresentation in policing might partly be explained by a lack of support for diversification among voters and current police officers. Across two studies (N = 2, 661) sampling the US adult population and residents from a city with one of the least representative police forces in the country, individuals significantly overestimate officer diversity at both the local and national levels. We find that correcting these biased beliefs with accurate information reduces trust in police and increases support for hiring new officers from underrepresented groups. In the municipal sample, these corrections also cause an increase in residents’ willingness to vote for reforms to diversify their majority White police department. Additional paired decision-making experiments (N = 1, 663) conducted on these residents and current police officers demonstrate that both prefer hiring new officers from currently underrepresented groups, independent of civil service exam performance and other hiring criteria. Overall, these results suggest that attitudes among voters and police officers are unlikely to pose a major barrier to diversity reforms

The case for human development: a cross-country analysis of corruption perceptions

Economic studies have demonstrated, both empirically and theoretically, that higher levels of human development (HD) and economic freedom (EF) are associated with lower levels of perceived corruption. This study separately examines the impact of human development and economic freedom on perceived levels of corruption across more than one hundred countries using a novel approach that greatly reduces multicollinear bias in the model. The results from this study confirm that both HD and EF are significant predictors of corruption perception levels. Furthermore, an increase in either HD or EF corresponds to a reduction in corruption perception. When evaluated separately, however, increases in human development are shown to correspond to greater reductions in corruption perception than economic freedom. This is demonstrated with an OLS regression using data collected from a single year and a number of panel estimates that utilize data from multiple years

The case for human development: a cross-country analysis of corruption perceptions

Economic studies have demonstrated, both empirically and theoretically, that higher levels of human development (HD) and economic freedom (EF) are associated with lower levels of perceived corruption. This study separately examines the impact of human development and economic freedom on perceived levels of corruption across more than one hundred countries using a novel approach that greatly reduces multicollinear bias in the model. The results from this study confirm that both HD and EF are significant predictors of corruption perception levels. Furthermore, an increase in either HD or EF corresponds to a reduction in corruption perception. When evaluated separately, however, increases in human development are shown to correspond to greater reductions in corruption perception than economic freedom. This is demonstrated with an OLS regression using data collected from a single year and a number of panel estimates that utilize data from multiple years

Devotions for Advent 2022 Canticles of Luke

Each week of this Advent devotional will focus on one of the four Lukan canticles, putting it in its context as well as making connections to other portions of Scripture. At the end of this Advent season, may we, like those who have gone before us, “sing to the Lord, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day” (Ps. 96:2). Many thanks to all the CSL and CTSFW students who contributed devotional reflections. A special note of thanks to my counterpart, Zachary Roll, who organized this effort at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis who has been a joy to work with and to get to know. A final note of thanks to Kim Hosier in the print shop and Rev. Dr. Paul Grime for their aid in completing this devotional booklet.https://scholar.csl.edu/osp/1021/thumbnail.jp

Devotions for Lent 2023 Hymns of Lent

This Lent, we will continue reflecting on hymns of faith, namely, some of our most beloved Lenten hymns. 10 such hymns have been chosen to fill the 40(+) days of Lent. Therefore, this devotional, different from previous editions, does not proceed on a weekly basis, but merely flows from one hymn to the next. Also different from previous editions, the devotional reflections are specifically based on the stanzas of the selected hymns. Therefore, each day’s reflection features the text of the hymn stanza, a devotion based on that stanza, a prayer, and then a Scripture passage or passages for further meditation. I pray these reflections may be of edification for you during this Lenten season.https://scholar.csl.edu/osp/1022/thumbnail.jp