Zhiwu Wei (p), Pei Kuang, Davide Luca, Yao Yao

Chen Sharony

Brexit is one of the defining European political events of the last decades, and there is well documented evidence of polarisation among the British electorate. But does this polarisation influence economic behaviours? We combine household survey and administrative data to study the effects of the Brexit vote on household economic expectations, spending intentions, and actual economic behaviour. We find that the Brexit vote had immediately enlarged the view divergence between pro-Brexit and anti-Brexit voters in assessing the general and personal economic situations, as well as household plans on major purchases and general spending. The divergence remains strong even after controlling for distinctive individual socioeconomic characteristics. We use quarterly housing and licensed automobile transaction data at the Local Authority level to measure actual economic behaviours. On average, a 10% difference in the share of Leave voters is associated with a 5.98% increase in the gap of housing transaction volume per capita and a 0.78% increase in the gap of licensed automobile stock per capita after the Brexit vote. Furthermore, the divergence in economic expectations, spending intentions, and actual economic behaviour has been long-lasting, until at least the end of 2019. Contradicting recent research, our results indicate that “partisan bias” in the context of a once-in-a-lifetime political event has a strong and consequential effect on economic behaviour.

Hana El Toqi (p), Amine Abi Aad (p), Pablo Collazzo

Zhiwu Wei

Managers in the dynamic environment of emerging markets have a choice to either conduct some economic activities in the informal economy or not. This choice is governed by their ability to take risks. One of the established theories that help explain why some individuals are risk takers while others are risk averse is the regulatory focus theory (RFT). Prior research have studied the relationships between RFT and firm performance, RFT and the use of informal economy, and the use of informal economy and firm performance. In this paper, we bundle all previous findings and theorize that the use of informal economy partially mediates the relationship between RFT and firm performance. That is, we fill a gap in the literature by studying the effect of personal and environmental factors together on firm performance in the dynamic environments of emerging markets. Using a sample of 362 Lebanese managers, we found support for our theorizing. We found that the use of informal economy partially mediates the positive relationship between promotion focus mindset and firm performance, and the negative relationship between prevention focus mindset and firm performance.

Margarita Barer (p), Yotam Luria, Fany Yuval

Democratic countries recognize transparency as an essential aspect of governmental accountability. Accordingly, members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) have adopted regulations or legislation to promote transparency. However, though transparency is very popular in public discussions, research of transparency in the municipal area is limited and incomplete. This study qualitatively explores the citizens’ beliefs and attitudes toward local government transparency through a Systematic Review of the Literature (SLR) methodology. The research focuses on identifying, analyzing, and categorizing citizens’ beliefs toward transparency using data collected and thus determines the variables that influence the citizens’ demands for transparency in local government based on previous studies.
The PRISMA method was employed for case selection in the SLR research process, and following this for the synthesis of results the Conventional Content Analysis methodology was applied. The PRISMA method yielded 49 records included in the systematic review. The records were published between 2005 and 2020. There are 43 journal articles, two book chapters, three proceedings papers, and one conference paper. The records were published in 30 peer-reviewed international journals. The majority of the records were found in more generic public administration journals and journals that combine informational science and public administration. Most of the research was conducted in the USA (24%), Spain (20%), China (14%), and South Korea (12%).
Through the conventional content analysis, ten core categories and 43 subcategories emerged. The first seven core categories relate to citizens’ beliefs and attitudes toward local government transparency. The last three core categories are variables that influence citizens’ demand for local government transparency.
The core categories that emerge are (1) Expectations of citizens from the local government and themselves; (2) Instrumental transparency; (3) Relationships with government; (4) Advantages and disadvantages in increasing transparency (Possible consequences of increasing transparency); (5) Digital age perception; (6) Transparency as a human right; (7) Dominant transparency domains; (8) Citizens’ characteristics; (9) Citizens’ behaviors, and (10) Citizens’ environment.
Finally, the results and the discussion section are still in progress as these are preliminary results only.

Chen Sharony (p), Lihi Lahat ,Villy Abraham, Ori Lev, Amit Avigur- Eshel

Margarita Barer

One of the exciting questions related to health systems’ success during the Covid-19 pandemic is public support for the policy tools used during this challenging period. While by no means the only reason for success, public legitimation can help cooperation and voluntary compliance with government tools (An and Tang 2020). Policy tools (or instruments) are a government's ways of enacting its policies (Salamon 2002; Howlett 2011). Tools used in the context of Covid-19 included travel restrictions, social distancing, information, and loans (Capano et al. 2020). Several studies have explored the use of various policy tools during the pandemic (e.g., Capano et al. 2020; An and Tang 2020). However, these studies mostly took a top-down perspective, examining how governments implemented (or should implement) policy tools. In contrast, this study adopts a bottom-up perspective to explore the connection between the public’s values, trust, and risk perceptions and support for policy tools in the area of immunization.
This comparative study is based on a survey administered to the general population (18+) in Israel and the United Kingdom – two very different cases. Drawing on the Moral Foundation Theory (MFT) of social values, such as care/harm, authority/respect, and fairness/ reciprocity, we are exploring the effect of values, trust, and risk perceptions on the support for policy tools. For the dependent variable, we developed a new scale of 12 policy tools representing different levels of government coercion, for example, electronic tracking of unvaccinated citizens, allowing vaccination exemptions on the grounds of conscience, and launching a media campaign on medical hazards attributed to Covid-19. Preliminary findings reveal significant differences between Israel and the UK in institutional and general trust. The differences in values and risk perceptions are less dramatic. In the UK authority and fairness had a significant effect on support for coercive policy tools. Ingroup had a significant effect on support for free market policy tools. Risk and trust in institutions were mediating factors for both types of policy tools. In Israel, risk perception was the main factor affecting support for different policy tools.
The empirical findings can enrich our theoretical understanding of the diverse contextual conditions, such as public support, that affect the efficacy of policy tools in health systems. They may also have practical implications; for example, they could guide policymakers’ choice of policy tools in the design stage.