The Influence of Regulatory Oversight on Environmental, Social, and Governance Ratings

Firm performance in the specific areas of environmental stewardship, social responsibility, and corporate governance (ESG) has become an important criterion that investors use in determining a firm’s value. This empirical investigation, based on stakeholder theory examines the relationship between regulatory oversight and third-party ESG ratings. Our research methodology involved quantitative, observational, and retrospective analyses. The study population consisted of 471 firms from two heavily regulated industry sectors—the utility and financial sectors—and from two less regulated sectors—the information technology and consumer discretionary sectors. We compiled the ESG ratings for the firms from two independent rating services. The quantitative evaluation included multiple regression analysis and multiway frequency analysis. The findings show a statistically significant difference for firms in heavily regulated sectors compared to the ratings for firms in less regulated sectors for the environmental and governance component ratings. This study provides information to help stakeholders recognize the influence of regulation on ESG ratings and explains to investors and company leaders why ESG ratings vary among different industry sectors. This study was limited to four specific sectors but may provide insights applicable to other sectors based on regulatory intensity

Aller et venir : le monopole étatique des " moyens légitimes de circulation "

" Le vagabond est suspect par définition " Daniel Nordman Dans ses œuvres, Karl Marx a tenté de démontrer que le processus de développement capitaliste impliquait l'aliénation des " moyens de production " des prolétaires par les capitalistes. Les prolétaires furent privés de la capacité de produire pour eux mêmes et dépendaient des salaires versés par les propriétaires des moyens de production pour leur survie. En décalquant cet argumentaire, le principal héritier et critique de Karl Marx, M..

Measuring adherence to ARVs among HIV-positive adolescents in Cameroon: a comparative assessment of self-report and medication possession ratio methods

Introduction: adherence to ARV medications has been shown to improve treatment outcomes in HIV positive patients. Given that ARV treatment is lifelong, adherence has become a critical issue as it may reduce over time. Measuring adherence is therefore imperative in programming. There are different methods of measuring adherence each with its advantages and disadvantages, depending on the context and the time. This study therefore compares two widely used adherence measurement scales in Cameroon, namely, the self-report and the medication possession ration (MPR) methods. Methods: the study was done in some selected health facilities of the North West and South West regions of Cameroon among adolescents on ARV. The study was designed as an analytical cross-sectional study with a record review component and systematic random sampling was used to select the participants. Adherence was measured through self-report and the medication possession ratio. Adolescents with adherence levels of at least 95% were considered adherent. Viral load suppression was considered as having the most recent viral load suppression results of less than 1000 copies per ml. The kappa statistics of inter-rate agreement was used to ascertain the difference between adherence as measured by self-report and MPR. The difference in adherence between the two scales was also compared using Fischer´s exact test and p-values were reported. Results: the study shows that adherence level using the self-report technique is 82.9% while that of MPR was 73.4%. When compared using the using Kappa statistics, there was substantial agreement between the two scales of 66% (p=0.54). The results of both self-report adherence and MPR were also compared with viral load suppression and the difference between viral load suppression and MPR was significant (p<0.01). The difference in adherence between viral load suppression and the self-report measure also showed to be significant (p<0.01). Conclusion: adherence from the self-report measure was higher than from MPR, but there was substantial agreement between the scales. Although there is no gold standard for adherence measurement, self-report or medication possession ratio could be used and complemented with laboratory markers like viral load counts

Modelling the impact and cost-effectiveness of combination prevention amongst HIV serodiscordant couples in Nigeria.

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the impact and cost-effectiveness of treatment as prevention (TasP), pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and condom promotion for serodiscordant couples in Nigeria. DESIGN: Mathematical and cost modelling. METHODS: A deterministic model of HIV-1 transmission within a cohort of serodiscordant couples and to/from external partners was parameterized using data from Nigeria and other African settings. The impact and cost-effectiveness were estimated for condom promotion, PrEP and/or TasP, compared with a baseline where antiretroviral therapy (ART) was offered according to 2010 national guidelines (CD4 <350 cells/μl) to all HIV-positive partners. The impact was additionally compared with a baseline of current ART coverage (35% of those with CD4 <350 cells/μl). Full costs (in US $2012) of programme introduction and implementation were estimated from a provider perspective. RESULTS: Substantial benefits came from scaling up ART to all HIV-positive partners according to 2010 national guidelines, with additional smaller benefits of providing TasP, PrEP or condom promotion. Compared with a baseline of offering ART to all HIV-positive partners at the 2010 national guidelines, condom promotion was the most cost-effective strategy [US$1206/disability-adjusted-life-year (DALY)], the next most cost-effective intervention was to additionally give TasP to HIV-positive partners (incremental cost-effectiveness ratio US $1607/DALY), followed by additionally giving PrEP to HIV-negative partners until their HIV-positive partners initiate ART (US$7870/DALY). When impact was measured in terms of infections averted, PrEP with condom promotion prevented double the number of infections as condom promotion alone. CONCLUSIONS: The first priority intervention for serodiscordant couples in Nigeria should be scaled up ART access for HIV-positive partners. Subsequent incremental benefits are greatest with condom promotion and TasP, followed by PrEP

The global mobility divide: How visa policies have evolved over time.

While visa policies are the major instrument for regulating and controlling the global flow of people, little is known about how they have changed over time. Accordingly, scholars have expressed the need for large-N datasets which cover more than one point in time. This article takes up this challenge and presents a for the first time a global overview of the changes in visa waiver policies based on a newly created database containing the visa waiver policies of over 150 countries for 1969 and 2010. We find that, on average, visa-free mobility has in-creased over the past 40 years. However, not everybody has benefited from these develop-ments. In fact, visa waivers are increasingly unequally divided: While citizens of OECD countries and rich countries have gained mobility rights, mobility rights for other regions have stagnated or even diminished, in particular for citizens from African countries. Overall, we find a clear bifurcation in mobility rights, leading to a ‘global mobility divide’

The political role of service delivery in state-building: Exploring the relevance of European history for developing countries

Concerns about failed and fragile states have put state- and nation-building firmly on the academic and policy agenda, but the crucial role of public services in this process has remained underexplored. The 1960s and '70s generated a substantial set of literature that is largely missing from current writing. It identified state penetration, standardisation and accommodation as key processes in the state- and nation-building sequence. This article analyses these three processes in Western Europe in the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries, and the role of public services therein, to explore how they may help us to understand the success and failure of state- and nation-building in developing countries and fragile states. © The Authors 2011. Development Policy Revie

Excluding pregnancy among women initiating antiretroviral therapy: efficacy of a family planning job aid

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Guidelines for initiating ART recommend pregnancy testing, typically a urine test, as part of the basic laboratory package. The principal reason for this recommendation is that Efavirenz, a first-line antiretroviral medication, has the potential of causing birth defects when used in the first trimester of pregnancy and is therefore contraindicated for use by pregnant women. Unfortunately, in many African countries pregnancy tests are not routinely provided or available in ART clinics, and, when available outside clinics, are often not affordable for clients.</p> <p>Recently, the World Health Organization added a family planning job aid called the 'pregnancy checklist,' developed by researchers at Family Health International, as a recommended tool for screening new ART clients to exclude pregnancy. Although the checklist has been validated for excluding pregnancy among family planning clients, there are no data on its efficacy among ART clients.</p> <p>This study was conducted to assess the clinical performance of a job aid to exclude pregnancy among HIV positive women initiating ART.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Non-menstruating women eligible for ART were enrolled from 20 sites in four provinces in Zambia. The pregnancy checklist was administered followed by a urine pregnancy test as a reference standard. Sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values were estimated.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Of the 200 women for whom the checklist ruled out pregnancy, 198 were not pregnant, for an estimated negative predictive value of 99%. The sensitivity of the checklist was 90.0%, and specificity was 38.7%. Among the women, 416 out of 534 (77.9%) did not abstain from sex since their last menses. Only 72 out of the 534 women (13.4%) reported using reliable contraception. Among the 416 women who did not abstain, 376 (90.4%) did not use reliable contraception.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The pregnancy checklist is effective for excluding pregnancy in many women initiating ART, but its moderate sensitivity and specificity precludes its use to completely replace pregnancy testing. Its use should be encouraged in low resource settings where pregnancy tests are unavailable or must be rationed. Family planning methods should be available and integrated into ART clinics.</p

Certifications of citizenship: the history, politics and materiality of identity documents in South Asian states and diasporas

Experiences in the post-partition Indian subcontinent refute the conventional expectation that the 'possession of citizenship enables the acquisition of documents certifying it' (Jayal, 2013, 71). Instead, identity papers of various types play a vital part in certifying and authenticating claims to citizenship. This is particularly important in a context where the history of state formation, continuous migration flows and the rise of right-wing majoritarian politics has created an uncertain situation for individuals deemed to be on the ‘margins’ of the state. The papers that constitute this special issue bring together a range of disciplinary perspectives in order to investigate the history, politics and materiality of identity documents, and to dismantle citizenship as an absolute and fixed notion, seeking instead to theorise the very mutable ‘hierarchies’ and ‘degrees’ of citizenship. Collectively they offer a valuable lens onto how migrants, refugees and socio-economically marginal individuals negotiate their relationship with the state, both within South Asia and in South Asian diaspora communities. This introduction examines the wider context of the complex intersections between state-issued identity documents and the nature of citizenship and draws out cross-cutting themes across the papers in this collection