The COVID-19 vaccination primes positive emotions which are known in the literature to promote cheating by increasing cognitive flexibility and lowering self-control

Tobol, Y., Siniver, E., & Yaniv, G. (2021). COVID-19 vaccination and subsequent dishonest behavior: Experimental evidence. Journal of Neuroscience, Psychology, and Economics, 14(3), 131–137. Oct 2021. https://doi.org/10.1037/npe0000146

Abstract: As of the beginning of 2021, the State of Israel, with a population of 9.3 million, had administered more coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine doses than all countries aside from China, the United States, and the United Kingdom. The vaccine is administered in two doses, 21–28 days apart from each other, which are necessary to confer adequate immunity. The present paper reports the results of a field experiment designed to examine the hypothesis that the COVID-19 vaccination stimulates subsequent dishonest behavior. Specifically, people relaxing after receiving the first and second vaccine doses as well as people waiting to receive the first dose were invited to perform a money-rewarding simple task which involves an opportunity to cheat with no possible detection. Before performing the task, subjects filled out a questionnaire regarding the emotions they were experiencing at that moment. We hypothesized that the COVID-19 vaccination primes positive emotions which are known in the literature to promote cheating by increasing cognitive flexibility and lowering self-control. Therefore, we predicted that (a) people vaccinated with the first dose are more likely to subsequently lie than people who have not yet taken the vaccine and (b) people vaccinated with the second dose are more likely to lie than people vaccinated with the first dose or people who have not yet taken the vaccine. The experiment’s results weakly support the first hypothesis but strongly support the second.

Depression: Households spend less overall, visit grocery stores less & convenience stores more frequently; spend a smaller share of their baskets on fresh produce & alcohol but a larger share on tobacco, no changes in cakes, candy & salty snacks

Meckel, Katherine and Shapiro, Bradley, Depression and Shopping Behavior (September 30, 2021). SSRN: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3934028

Abstract: Using a large survey panel that connects household shopping behavior with individual health information, this paper documents correlations between self reported depression and the size and composition of shopping baskets. First, we find that roughly 16% of individuals report suffering from depression and over 30% of households have at least one member who reports suffering from depression. Households with a member suffering from depression exhibit striking differences in shopping behavior: they spend less overall, visit grocery stores less and convenience stores more frequently and spend a smaller share of their baskets on fresh produce and alcohol but a larger share on tobacco. They spend similar shares on unhealthy foods like cakes, candy, and salty snacks. These cross-sectional correlations hold within counties, suggesting that they are not driven by region specific demographics or preferences that are incidentally correlated with depression status. They also hold when considering only single-member households. However, we rule out large differences in shopping behavior within households as they change depression status throughout the sample. Further, using the take-up of antidepressant drugs as an event, we document little change in shopping in response to treatment. With our results, we discuss the takeaways for health policy, decision modeling and targeted marketing.

Keywords: Mental Health, Economic Burden of Depression, Depression, Shopping, Household Panel Data

JEL Classification: I1, I10, I12, M31,

Paper retraction: Fraud and plagiarism accounted for 28.6 and 59.2% of women and men-authored retractions, respectively

Retraction according to gender: a descriptive study. Evelyne Decullier & Hervé Maisonneuve. Accountability in Research, Oct 7 2021. https://doi.org/10.1080/08989621.2021.1988576

Abstract: Although the underrepresentation of women in publication is a proven fact, there is no information on its counterpart: retractions. Using a previously studied cohort of retractions, the gender of the first author was checked manually to see if there was a similar pattern in the reasons for retraction for women and men authors. Out of 120 retractions, gender was identified for 113 (94.2%). A total of 42 (37.2%) retractions concerned publications authored by women and the reasons for retraction were significantly different between men and women authors. Overall, fraud and plagiarism accounted for 28.6 and 59.2% of women and men-authored retractions, respectively. These findings may have implications as regards training in responsible conduct in research; however, without further investigating larger cohorts and a better understanding of underlying mechanisms, it would be premature to draw any firm conclusions at this stage.

Keywords: Misconduct – retraction- gender

Child access prevention, minimum age requirements for gun purchases, and mandatory gun safety training laws exhibited weak and inconsistent relationships with school firearm incidents

Are gun ownership rates and regulations associated with firearm incidents in American schools? A forty-year analysis (1980–2019). Daniel Hamlin. Journal of Criminal Justice, Volume 76, September–October 2021, 101847. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2021.101847

Abstract

Purpose: This study examines the relationship between state gun ownership rates and school firearm incidents (n = 1275) and injured/killed victims (n = 2026) of these incidents over a forty-year period (1980–2019). It also investigates whether child access prevention, minimum age requirements for gun purchases, and mandatory gun safety training laws are associated with fewer school firearm incidents and injured/killed victims.

Methods: Data were linked together from the School Shootings Database, State Firearm Law Database, the National Center for Education Statistics, and the US Census Bureau. State fixed effects and interrupted time series analyses were performed.

Results: State gun ownership rates declined between 1980 and 2019 while school firearm incidents generally ranged between 20 and 40 incidents before skyrocketing to 102 incidents in 2018 and 110 incidents in 2019. Findings were mixed on the relationship between state gun ownership rates and school firearm incidents and injured/killed victims. Additionally, child access prevention, minimum age requirements for gun purchases, and mandatory gun safety training laws exhibited weak and inconsistent relationships with school firearm incidents.

Discussion: Although access to firearms plays an undeniable role in school shootings, it remains unclear what policies are needed to reduce these incidents. Future research may be needed to explore holistic approaches to addressing this problem.

Introduction

School shootings have become a pressing concern for the American public education system. In the United States, the number of shootings on school grounds is consistently higher than that of any other country in the world (Hahn et al., 2005). While many gun incidents in US schools do not lead to injury or death, a non-trivial number of devastating mass shootings occurring in the past decade have resulted in substantial numbers of victims and ignited intense gun control debates. One of these highly distressing incidents was in 2012 when a 20-year old with a history of mental health problems murdered six adults and twenty children between the ages of six and seven in a mass shooting at an elementary school in Connecticut (Langman, 2015). More recently in 2018, national attention became refocused on gun control after a 19-year old assailant killed fourteen students and four school staff at a high school in Florida where he had been previously expelled (Aslett, Webb Williams, Casas, Zuidema, & Wilkerson, 2020). Loss of life and psychological trauma are directly observable ramifications for schools and communities that experience a school shooting. The traumatic effects of these incidents also appear to extend beyond the location of the shooting itself, inflicting damage on the psyche, confidence, and wellbeing of the broader public (Collins, 2014; Newman, Fox, Harding, Mehta, & Roth, 2005).

Public outcry after major school shootings has spurred varying proposals for action from federal, state, and local officials (Schildkraut & Hernandez, 2014). While policy recommendations have ranged from arming teachers to strengthening mental health supports for troubled youth, gun control has been at the forefront of disputes over how to prevent school shootings (Rajan & Branas, 2018). Many states have enacted gun safety legislation following rampage-style school shootings (Schell, Cefalu, Griffin, Smart, & Morral, 2020). The main rationale for enhanced gun control is straightforward. The United States has both the highest rate of gun ownership and the greatest number of school shooting incidents in the developed world. Proponents of strong legal restrictions on firearms argue that these patterns demonstrate that guns are too accessible to those with mental health issues and a history of violence, making school shootings an inevitable consequence. Yet, opponents claim that gun prevalence is a response to existing crime and violence, and that restrictive gun laws violate the right to bear arms enshrined in the US Constitution by preventing law abiding citizens from owning guns (Stolzenberg & D'alessio, 2000).

In the empirical literature, many researchers have estimated correlational associations between gun ownership rates and general crime and violence, but this work is inconclusive (Kleck, 2015; Shetgiri, Boots, Lin, & Cheng, 2016; Siegel, Ross, & King III, 2013). Investigations of gun control regulations have exhibited more consistent associations with lower crime and violence (Andres & Hempstead, 2011; Fleegler et al., 2013; Hurka & Knill, 2020; Schell et al., 2020; Smith & Spiegler, 2020). For school-based incidents with firearms, empirical analyses are lacking. Nevertheless, there are compelling reasons to expect that high rates of gun ownership increase the likelihood of school firearm incidents as school shootings often involve weapons stolen by minors from family members, friends, and neighbors (Jeynes, 2020; Shetgiri et al., 2016). Some evidence on regulation is suggestive, indicating that laws holding gun owners criminally liable for negligent storage of firearms (e.g. child access prevention laws) are linked to lower prevalence of gun carrying in school (Anderson & Sabia, 2018; Fla. Stat. Ann. § 790.174, 2011; Hawaii Rev. Stat. § 134-10.5, 2011). Other scholarship on preventative measures is predominantly theoretical, drawing from threat assessment models (Cornell, 2020) or in-depth analyses of a subset of school shootings (Langman, 2009a). Broader empirical analysis is needed to launch a line of inquiry that can shed light on policy responses that might hold promise for reducing school shootings.

This study investigates the relationship between state gun ownership rates and school firearm incidents (n = 1275) and injured/killed victims (n = 2026) of these incidents from 1980 to 2019 in the United States. Over this forty-year period, it also examines whether child access prevention, minimum age requirements for gun purchases, and mandatory gun safety training laws are associated with decreases in school firearm incidents and injured/killed victims. For the analyses, data from the School Shootings Database were linked to data from the State Firearm Law Database, the National Center for Education Statistics, and US Census. State-level fixed effects models are performed to explore whether state-level gun ownership rates are related to the number of school firearm incidents and injured/killed victims. Interrupted time series analyses are then used to examine whether child access prevention, minimum age requirements for gun purchases, and mandatory gun safety training laws are associated with declines in school firearm incidents and injured/killed victims. This study provides a quantitative analysis of school firearm incidents over a forty-year period that has the potential to contribute to an underdeveloped literature. It may also raise important questions for gun policy and regulation.