What is the Influence of News Media on People’s Perception of Corruption? Parametric and Non-Parametric Approaches

Does the source of one’s news media have a systematic effect on one’s perception of political corruption? While numerous studies have investigated the extent to which media affects trust in institutions, or the polarization of political values, this study shifts the focus on to how one’s media source conceived here as social media versus traditional media affects the perception of corruption in 2 ways. First, we hypothesize that citizens who consume their news predominately from social media will have higher perceptions of political corruption than consumers of more traditional media sources. Second, we hypothesize that perceptions among social media consumers will be more polarized. Specifically, we argue that the gap in corruption perception between supporters of government and opposition political parties will be larger among social media consumers compared to traditional news consumers. We test our hypotheses using newly collected survey data from the European Quality of Government Index survey from 2017, which contains nearly 78,000 respondents in 21 countries in the European Union. Estimating our model with both parametric and non-parametric approaches, we find robust empirical support for two of our 3 hypotheses.

     

Can Corruption Erode Confidence in Political Institutions Among European Countries? Comparing the Effects of Different Measures of Perceived Corruption

The purpose of this study is to analyze the effects of corruption on institutional confidence through testing alternative perceptions-based indexes of corruption. Scholars who have investigated this topic have often employed only indicators of corruption based on experts’ surveys. In this article we also consider a new index of corruption developed aggregating citizens’ perceptions. The first part of the paper explores the levels of corruption perceived by the citizens of EU member states, stressing the differences with the experts’ opinions. The second part tests, through a multivariate analysis, the impact of citizens’ and experts’ perceptions-based indexes of corruption on institutional confidence. The main results show that experts and citizens tend to express similar opinions on the extent of corruption in EU member states though, especially in some countries, these actors present some noticeable differences. Nevertheless, irrespective of the indexes used, more corrupt countries are characterized by lower levels of confidence in parliament and government. This relationship holds even controlling for the presence of reverse causality between corruption and confidence.     

Corruption and the ‘Paradox of Redistribution’

The existing literature on the determinants of income redistribution has identified a ‘paradox’. Namely, that countries with a high degree of market income inequality redistribute little, which is in disagreement with the median voter theorem. In a first step, this paper outlines several mechanisms that explain why government corruption might be partially responsible for this ‘paradox’. In a second step, different corruption perception indices and an instrumental variable approach are used to provide empirical evidence that indicates a significant negative impact of corruption on redistribution levels for a sample of 148 developing and developed countries. This finding suggests that, next to political and need factors, government corruption explains to some extent the ‘paradox of redistribution’. This is especially true for many developing countries, given that they typically have relatively high degrees of corruption and low levels of redistribution.     

Perception of Corruption in 36 Major Chinese Cities: Based on Survey of 1,642 Experts

Perception surveys remain an important tool to measure corruption. However, most existing perception surveys only analyze corruption at the national or international level, and do not provide information about corruption at local levels. But it is corruption in local areas that really influences the everyday life of ordinary people. In order to redress this lacuna, the authors developed an expert survey to measure corruption in 36 major Chinese cities, using a questionnaire that included 11 key questions about different aspects of urban corruption. This study, as the first of its kind in China, has demonstrated the great regional disparity in terms of corruption perception in the country. It has also pointed to the weaknesses of China??s anti-corruption system.     

Der dreifache Bezug zur Arbeit – Transformation öffentlicher Dienste und berufliche Identität

During the last 2 decades the public administration and the public services have undergone far-reaching transformations that resulted in substantial changes in work and employment. This contribution discusses the question as to how workers perceive these upheavals and what consequences these have for their occupational identity. Based on empirical research on an Austrian town the authors show how local government employees, doctors and nurses at the community hospital and the post office’s deliverers and counter clerks interpret the transformations in particular from the perspective of their occupational self-conception. The article makes clear that using the concept of a threefold relationship to work makes it easier to understand workers’ perceptions, interpretations and reactions. Such a threefold relationship to work includes a labour power perspective, a subject perspective and the public sector ethos.     

The Multidimensionality of Welfare State Attitudes: A European Cross-National Study

When evaluating the various aspects of the welfare state, people assess some aspects more positively than others. Following a multidimensional approach, this study systematically argues for a framework composed of seven dimensions of the welfare state, which are subject to the opinions of the public. Using confirmatory factor analyses, this conceptual framework of multidimensional welfare attitudes was tested on cross-national data from 22 countries participating in the 2008 European Social Survey. According to our empirical analysis, attitudes towards the welfare state are multidimensional; in general, people are very positive about the welfare state’s goals and range, while simultaneously being critical of its efficiency, effectiveness and policy outcomes. We found that these dimensions relate to each other differently in different countries. Eastern/Southern Europeans combine a positive attitude towards the goals and role of government with a more critical attitude towards the welfare state’s efficiency and policy outcomes. In contrast, Western/Northern Europeans’ attitudes towards the various welfare state dimensions are based partly on a fundamentally positive or negative stance towards the welfare state.     

新生代农民工市民化意愿的影响因素分析——基于广东省三市的调查

通过对广州、深圳、东莞三市外出务工人员的调查数据,运用理性选择理论,分析了新生代农民工市民化意愿及其影响因素。结果发现,年龄、性别、受教育程度和月收入都对新生代农民工的市民化意愿产生了影响;是否在城市购买住房、城市融入感和自我身份认同也影响了新生代农民工的市民化决策;购买城市社会保险显著提高市民化意愿。而务农经历、婚姻状况和是否获得技术等级证书则未对其市民化意愿产生影响。     

Infrastructure Spending in China Increases Trust in Local Government

Following the 2008/9 financial crisis, China instituted a 4 trillion RMB stimulus package that was spent mostly on infrastructure, with a particular impact at local level. The goal was to sustain economic growth and preserve social stability. We use the Asian Barometer surveys from shortly before and after the stimulus to examine its impact on public trust in government, and find a reversal of a previous downward trend and a substantial increase in trust in local government post stimulus. We consider a number of alternative explanations for this increase in trust, and conclude that the stimulus package is the most convincing explanation. Both perceptions of corruption and experience of corruption increased over the stimulus period. Given the strong negative correlation between corruption and trust, this implies that trust would have increased even further if the level of corruption had remained the same.     

Correcting for Scale Perception Bias in Measuring Corruption: an Application to Chile and Spain

Corruption perceptions are commonly utilized as essential information to measure corruption across countries and regions. In this paper we consider the hypothesis that respondents to corruption perception questions utilize different response scales in their answers, i.e. for identical levels of corruption practices, subjects from one country could answer a different level of corruption perception than subjects from another country, based on socioeconomic characteristics. This hypothesis is investigated by utilizing the technique of anchoring vignettes with a sample of citizens in Spain and Chile. The results show that response scales are used differently across individuals in both countries, suggesting that the use of uncorrected measures of corruption perceptions could mislead some conclusions about the comparisons of the corruption levels between countries.     

A Changing Nexus Between Unemployment and Suicide in Taiwan: Before and After Labor Welfare Improvement in the Late 1990s

The 2009 economic crisis in Greece had harsh implications on the Greek society. The crisis led to high and increasing unemployment rates, which previously found to relate to increases in suicide rates, health risking behaviors and increased risk of mental health problems. The public’s perceptions regarding the consequences of the crisis are crucial to their recovery. In order to get a comprehensive and thorough view of the public’s perceptions, which will allow to draw conclusions and recommendations for a possible effective intervention program, the current study assessed the perceptions of a representative sample of the Greek adult population (N = 3002) in three sampling waves: December 2011, March 2011 and November 2012. These assessments included questionnaires designed to evaluate perceptions of current quality of life, economic decline, coping with economic and occupational commitments, physical and psychological health, wellbeing, health related behaviors, attitudes towards emigration, sources of support and political and social trust. Findings showed significantly higher perceptions of financial uncertainty and difficulties coping with economic commitments. Participants generally rated their psychological health lower than their physical health. Trust ratings were also found to be generally low, especially for younger populations. Younger populations also showed a more willing attitude towards emigrating out of Greece, compared to older populations. Coping measurements revealed a strong possible tendency to go back to the traditional ties of confidence and trust in family and friends as sources of support. In light of the results, we recommend to build programs that see the family and the local community as a resources of resilience and coping.     

Does Municipal Socioeconomic Development Affect Public Perceptions of Crime? A Multilevel Logistic Regression Analysis

Chile is considered as one of the safest countries in Latin America, with a below-the-average world crime rate. However, during the last few decades, the country has experienced a deterioration in public perceptions of safety. This paper investigates public perceptions of crime in the 52 municipalities of the metropolitan area of Santiago, by employing an index of socioeconomic development for each municipality. Multilevel logistic regression analysis is used in order to assess the impact of individual and municipal-level variables on perceptions of crime in these municipalities. The results show that women exhibit higher perceptions of crime, while people living in rural areas, inactive people, and people with higher education and income have generally lower perceptions. Multidimensional poverty is positively associated with high perceptions of crime, while municipal spending on health and/or education does not show a relationship with perceptions of crime. Regarding socioeconomic development level of municipalities, the results show that people living in municipalities of high development show the lowest perceptions of crime, despite the fact that these municipalities do actually exhibit the highest crime rates, a fact confirming the ‘perception gap’ and the ‘neighbourhood favouritism’ theories. The results and conclusions of this study can be used not only by local policy-makers but also by officials in other cities that—like Santiago—are characterised by high urban segregation.     

Indicators and Implications of Zero Tolerance of Corruption: The Case of Hong Kong

Notwithstanding the voluminous studies of Hong Kong’s anticorruption experience and the admiration the ICAC has earned from other governments as a model for “institutional engineering,” little is known about how the public in Hong Kong has perceived and responded to corruption. Less clear is what factors beyond a powerful and independent anticorruption agency have made the Hong Kong experience possible. Drawing on original survey data collected in Hong Kong in 2010–2011, this study investigates what determines individual propensities to accept or reject corruption and explores the role of a zero-tolerance culture in preventing corruption. Evidence confirms the existence of a low tolerance for corruption in Hong Kong. It also reveals a more significant impact of informal institutions than formal ones on corruption tolerance levels. As the very first study of zero tolerance of corruption, this research adds considerable depth to our understanding of why Hong Kong has become one of the most corruption-free societies in the world and of the importance of civic engagement in deterring actual and potential corruption.     

Knowing your audience: Investigating stillbirth knowledge and perceptions in the general population to inform future public health campaigns

BackgroundThe prevalence of stillbirth in many high income countries like Australia has remained unchanged for over 30 years. The 2018 Australian government Senate Select Committee on Stillbirth Research and Education highlighted the need for a public health campaign to encourage public conversations and increase awareness. However, there is little evidence about the community’s knowledge and perceptions towards pregnancy and stillbirth, nor their aspirations for a public health campaign.AimsTo assess the general knowledge, perceptions, myths and attitudes towards stillbirth to inform future public health campaigns.MethodsAustralian participants (n = 344; predominately women n = 294 (85.5%)) were recruited via Facebook.com. They completed a cross-sectional online survey designed to assess their knowledge of pregnancy and stillbirth, with additional questions on socio-demographic characteristics.ResultsStillbirth knowledge and awareness of incidence was low in this sample. Prominent myths, such as baby runs out of room in the uterus (n = 112, 33%) and baby slows down when preparing for labour (n = 24, 27%) were endorsed. Only 25% (n = 85) knew the prevalence of stillbirth in Australia (six per day). Almost two-thirds (n = 205; 62%) agreed that there needs to be a public health campaign, however one in five (n = 65; 20%) were concerned that talking about stillbirth with pregnant women may cause them to worry.Discussion and conclusionOur findings reinforce the need for a targeted campaign, which educates the general population about the definition and prevalence of stillbirth, stillbirth risks and modifiable health behaviours. Appropriate messaging should target pregnant women during antenatal care as well as their support and care systems (family, friends, and care providers).     

Predicting Public Corruption with Neural Networks: An Analysis of Spanish Provinces

We contend that corruption must be detected as soon as possible so that corrective and preventive measures may be taken. Thus, we develop an early warning system based on a neural network approach, specifically self-organizing maps, to predict public corruption based on economic and political factors. Unlike previous research, which is based on the perception of corruption, we use data on actual cases of corruption. We apply the model to Spanish provinces in which actual cases of corruption were reported by the media or went to court between 2000 and 2012. We find that the taxation of real estate, economic growth, the increase in real estate prices, the growing number of deposit institutions and non-financial firms, and the same political party remaining in power for long periods seem to induce public corruption. Our model provides different profiles of corruption risk depending on the economic conditions of a region conditional on the timing of the prediction. Our model also provides different time frameworks to predict corruption up to 3 years before cases are detected.     

The pattern of sexual politics: feminism, homosexuality and pedophilia

Until recently sex and gender issues were thought to be biological or natural rather than political. The feminist movement largely changed perceptions of gender, and the gay and lesbian movements significantly altered conceptions of sex, so that what were once seen as permanent moral standards are now viewed as historical and political constructions. As views of these groups have moved towards social constructionism, perceptions of child sexuality have become more absolutist. Current attitudes towards child sexuality and representations of it resemble historical attitudes towards women and homosexuals. This article argues that there is a two-phase pattern of sexual politics. The first is a battle to prevent the battle, to keep the issue from being seen as political and negotiable. Psychological and moral categories are used to justify ridicule and preclude any discussions of the issue, and standard Constitutional guarantees are seen as irrelevant. The second phase more closely resembles traditional politics as different groups argue over rights and privileges. Feminist and gay/lesbian politics have recently entered the second phase, while pedophilia is in the first.     

The Role of Family Behaviors in Determining Income Distribution: The Case of South Korea

In this article, we examined what has contributed to the worsening income inequality and poverty between 1996 and 2011 in South Korea. We used a rank-preserving exchange method and a conditional reweighting method to assess the roles of family behaviors—including female labor force participation and family structure—characteristics of household heads, and men’s earnings. The results showed that the change in men’s earnings was a dominant factor in accounting for the increasing income inequality and poverty. The change in age and education among household heads also contributed significantly to the worsening income distribution. The change in family structure mainly affected the income disparity among lower-income families and increased poverty. The rise in women’s labor force participation improved the income distribution but not considerably. The distributional roles of family have not worked to prevent or reverse the worsening income distribution in the past few decades in South Korea.     

The Quality of Life in Taiwan

The AsiaBarometer survey of 1,006 respondents shows that in Taiwan, people have access to modern utilities and digital media, signs of materialistic achievement, and yet are more concerned with physical security and financial safety than with personal growth. Regardless of their demographic backgrounds and value priorities, the Taiwanese, like other Confucian publics, are most satisfied with the interpersonal life sphere and least satisfied with the public life sphere. Their satisfaction levels concerning various life domains affect their sense of well-being more than does their prioritization of values. Assessments of material and nonmaterial life domains contribute to their sense of well-being more than those of interpersonal and public domains do. Access to modern utilities and a high income, however, detract from their sense of well-being. As is the case elsewhere, a better set of objective life circumstance does not necessarily make for a greater quality of life in Taiwan. The government, therefore, should seek to provide more than economic goods and services.     

Support for democracy in cross-national perspective: The detrimental effect of economic inequality

Using survey data and national statistics on 35 modern democracies, this research explores the relationship between economic and political conditions and support for democracy. As expected from modernization theory, support for democracy tends to be highest in countries with a high level of economic development. More importantly, however, I contribute a new finding that income inequality matters much more. Specifically, citizens from countries with relatively low levels of income inequality tend to be more likely than others to support democracy. I also find that household income is positively related to support for democracy in most countries, though it tends to have its strongest effect if economic development is high and income inequality is low. Finally, even after taking into account the level of economic development in one's country, people from former Communist countries tend to have far less support for democracy than those from more established democracies.     

农村妇女对子女的效用预期与其男孩偏好的关系

文章利用中国人民大学2010年相关调查数据从经济、照料和文化三个方面分析了我国农村地区妇女对孩子未来效用的总体预期和分性别预期,以及这种预期效用的性别差异与人们的强性别偏好之间的关系,并得出以下结论:随着经济社会的发展和人口流动的频繁,人们目前对子代的养老效用预期在经济和居住方面已经很低,但在生病照料和赡养、传宗接代方面期望依然很高;人们对男孩和女孩的预期各有侧重,依然体现了传统的"男主外,女主内"的性别认知;人们对孩子效用预期的性别差异与人们的性别偏好呈显著正相关,尤其体现在老年照料、赡养责任和传宗接代等方面,代际经济支持已经不再是影响人们男孩偏好的重要原因。     

Posterity and population growth: fertility intention among a cohort of Nigerian adolescents

Population growth is probably the greatest global challenge of the twenty-first century and fertility is a central element of this growth. Fertility is a human attribute which depends almost entirely on social, economic, political, cultural and psychological frameworks, making fertility intention an element of what individuals learn from a very young age as part of their socialisation into society. The fundamental significance of socio-psychological, environmental and cultural factors in what adolescents are assimilating on fertility cannot be exaggerated, yet, relevant information is limited. Eight factors deduced from ecological model and theory of planned behaviour were used to predict fertility intention among a cohort of Nigerian adolescents, using cross-sectional design. Mean fertility intention was 4.06 ± 1.34. Age and religion had no effect, but gender did. Self esteem, perceived parental expectation of fertility, attitude towards fertility and peer-related subjective norm are significant predictors. Media and ethnic attitude are insignificant predictors of, but are significantly related to fertility intention. Attitude towards a four-child family and perceived behavioural control yielded insignificant relationships with, and also failed to predict fertility intention. Perceived parental expectation of fertility, an interpersonal factor of the ecological model is the single most important predictor (β = 0.707, R² = 0.506, r = 0.711, and partial r = 0.710). Fertility intention points towards fertility decline, though sluggish and diminutive, thereby failing to reflect the need of Nigeria’s population pyramid to thin out from the base.