| 1. |
- Fairbrother, Malcolm, 1975-, et al.
(författare)
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Political trust and the relationship between climate change beliefs and support for fossil fuel taxes : Evidence from a survey of 23 European countries
- 2019
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Ingår i: Global Environmental Change. - : Elsevier. - 0959-3780 .- 1872-9495. ; 59
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Taxes on fossil fuels could be a useful policy tool for governments seeking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, such taxes are politically challenging to introduce, as public opinion is usually hostile to them. Prior studies have found that attitudes toward carbon and other environmental taxes reflect not just people's beliefs and concerns about the problems these taxes address, but also their trust in their country's politicians and political system. Using multilevel models fitted to data collected in 2016 on 42,401 individuals in 23 European countries, we show for the first time that these two factors interact. Among Europeans who distrust their country's politicians, political parties, and parliament, or who live in countries with low levels of political trust, being aware and concerned about climate change is at most weakly associated with support for taxes on fossil fuels. Europeans with high political trust, on the other hand, tend to be much more supportive of fossil fuel taxes if they also believe in the reality and dangers of anthropogenic climate change. Cross-nationally, the nations whose populations are most supportive of higher taxes on fossil fuels are not those that are more aware and concerned about climate change; rather, they are those with the highest levels of political trust.
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| 2. |
- Fairbrother, Nichole, et al.
(författare)
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Open Relationship Prevalence, Characteristics, and Correlates in a Nationally Representative Sample of Canadian Adults
- 2019
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Ingår i: Journal of Sex Research. - : Taylor & Francis. - 0022-4499 .- 1559-8519. ; 56:6, s. 695-704
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Open relationships are those in which individuals agree to participate in sexual and/or emotional and romantic interactions with more than one partner. Accurate estimates of the prevalence of open relationships, based on representative, unbiased samples, are few, and there are none from outside of the United States. We present findings from a nationally representative sample of 2,003 Canadian adults, administered in 2017 via an online questionnaire. Overall, 2.4% of all participants, and 4.0% of those currently in a relationship, reported currently being in an open relationship. One-fifth of participants reported prior engagement in an open relationship, and 12% reported open as their ideal relationship type. Men, compared with women, were more likely to report prior open relationship engagement and to identify open as their ideal relationship type. Younger participants were more likely both to engage in and to prefer open relationships. Relationship satisfaction did not differ significantly between monogamous and open relationships. Having a match between one's actual relationship type and one's preferred relationship type was associated with greater relationship satisfaction. Findings suggest that, while currently only a small proportion of the population is in an open relationship, interest in open relationships is higher, particularly among younger adults, and open appears to be a viable and important relationship type.
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| 3. |
- Bell, Andrew, et al.
(författare)
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Fixed and random effects models : making an informed choice
- 2019
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Ingår i: Quality and quantity. - : Springer. - 0033-5177 .- 1573-7845. ; 53:2, s. 1051-1074
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper assesses the options available to researchers analysing multilevel (including longitudinal) data, with the aim of supporting good methodological decision-making. Given the confusion in the literature about the key properties of fixed and random effects (FE and RE) models, we present these models’ capabilities and limitations. We also discuss the within-between RE model, sometimes misleadingly labelled a ‘hybrid’ model, showing that it is the most general of the three, with all the strengths of the other two. As such, and because it allows for important extensions—notably random slopes—we argue it should be used (as a starting point at least) in all multilevel analyses. We develop the argument through simulations, evaluating how these models cope with some likely mis-specifications. These simulations reveal that (1) failing to include random slopes can generate anti-conservative standard errors, and (2) assuming random intercepts are Normally distributed, when they are not, introduces only modest biases. These results strengthen the case for the use of, and need for, these models.
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| 4. |
- Bell, Andrew, et al.
(författare)
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Understanding and misunderstanding group mean centering : a commentary on Kelley et al.'s dangerous practice
- 2018
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Ingår i: Quality and quantity. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0033-5177 .- 1573-7845. ; 52:5, s. 2031-2036
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Kelley et al. argue that group-mean-centering covariates in multilevel models is dangerous, since—they claim—it generates results that are biased and misleading. We argue instead that what is dangerous is Kelley et al.’s unjustified assault on a simple statistical procedure that is enormously helpful, if not vital, in analyses of multilevel data. Kelley et al.’s arguments appear to be based on a faulty algebraic operation, and on a simplistic argument that parameter estimates from models with mean-centered covariates must be wrong merely because they are different than those from models with uncentered covariates. They also fail to explain why researchers should dispense with mean-centering when it is central to the estimation of fixed effects models—a common alternative approach to the analysis of clustered data, albeit one increasingly incorporated within a random effects framework. Group-mean-centering is, in short, no more dangerous than any other statistical procedure, and should remain a normal part of multilevel data analyses where it can be judiciously employed to good effect.
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| 5. |
- Bjarnadóttir, Sóllilja, et al.
(författare)
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When trusting the state is not enough: broader institutional trust and public support for energy transition policies
- 2024
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Ingår i: Environmental Sociology. - 2325-1042. ; , s. 1-12
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Existing research shows that public attitudes toward climate policies reflect political trust. Support for some policies may reflect not only trust in the state and its institutions, narrowly defined, but also other institutions. In this paper, we show how a broader measure of institutional trust that includes the state but reaches beyond it matters for public opinion toward energy transition policies, including just transition policies assisting workers who lose their jobs because of new environmental policies. Using data from Iceland, we find that trust in both state and non-state institutions correlates with attitudes toward three key energy transition policies: taxation of fossil fuels, subsidies for renewable energy, and just transition support for workers. More narrowly defined political trust, in contrast, correlates only with attitudes towards taxes. These results suggest that support for climate action, including a just energy transition, reflects overarching trust towards different institutions, including but not limited to the state.
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| 6. |
- De Vito, Laura, et al.
(författare)
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Implementing the Water Framework Directive and Tackling Diffuse Pollution from Agriculture : Lessons from England and Scotland
- 2020
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Ingår i: Water. - : MDPI. - 2073-4441. ; 12:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Tackling diffuse pollution from agriculture is a key challenge for governments seeking to implement the European Union’s Water Framework Directive (WFD). In the research literature, how best to integrate and align effective measures for tackling diffuse pollution, within the context of the EU’s multilevel governance structure, remains an open question. This paper focuses on the first and second implementation cycles of the WFD to explore how national governance arrangements either facilitated or hindered the adoption of effective policies, especially with regards to the delivery of agricultural and water policies on the ground. It draws on data collected through systematic document analysis and interviews with key experts, policymakers and interest groups, and presents a comparative analysis of two case studies: England and Scotland. The case studies show that Scotland’s joined-up governance structure, which enabled policymakers and interest groups to work together and to build trust and cooperation, facilitated the adoption of stricter measures for tackling diffuse pollution. In contrast, in England institutional fragmentation prevented a meaningful engagement of all parties and acted as a barrier. The analysis unpacks the design of policy mixes and the conditions that allow national governments to pursue more holistic and integrated governance approaches to overcome opposition from interest groups and gain their support.
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| 7. |
- Fairbrother, Malcolm, 1975-, et al.
(författare)
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Can Bureaucrats Break Trust? : testing Cultural and Institutional Theories of Trust with Chinese Panel Data
- 2022
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Ingår i: Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World. - : Sage Publications. - 2378-0231. ; 8
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- What is the relationship between trust and the quality of political institutions in a society? According to an influential cultural perspective, social trust—the belief that most people can be trusted—is a value inculcated during individuals’ formative years, and remains fixed afterward. A second perspective holds that social trust reflects experiences throughout the life course, particularly interactions with public institutions and officials. The authors test these cultural and institutional theories using data from three waves of the China Family Panel Studies, assessing how political and social trust respond to treatment by public officials that respondents consider unfair. The authors find that such experiences, which they show in many cases likely meant being a victim of corruption, are associated with declines in trust. Yet the effects are short lived: within two years both types of trust revert to their original levels. These results therefore provide mixed support for both theories and suggest a reconciliation between them.
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| 8. |
- Fairbrother, Malcolm, 1975-, et al.
(författare)
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Climate policy in British Columbia : an unexpected journey
- 2023
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Ingår i: Frontiers in Climate. - : Frontiers Media S.A.. - 2624-9553. ; 4
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Since introducing a path-breaking carbon tax in 2008, the western Canadian province of British Columbia (BC) has attracted significant attention from climate policy scholars. The enactment of its carbon tax has made the case of BC intriguing, as Canada is a poor climate performer, BC is a fossil fuel producer, and carbon taxes are politically challenging to introduce anywhere. This paper discusses the BC tax, and what lessons it holds for other jurisdictions. We complement existing accounts with new details about key events and developments in recent years, and about climate policymaking in BC generally. While there are features of the tax's design and promotion that would be worth replicating elsewhere, we argue its survival reflects some simple good fortune. Moreover, the case of BC should not be reduced to its tax, as the province has enacted other notable climate policies, some of which have done more to reduce emissions while attracting less public criticism.
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| 9. |
- Fairbrother, Malcolm, 1975-
(författare)
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Free traders : elites, democracy, and the rise of globalization
- 2019
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Bok (refereegranskat)abstract
- Today's global economy was largely established by political events and decisions in the 1980s and 90s, when scores of nations opened up their economies to the forces of globalization. In Free Traders, Malcolm Fairbrother argues that politicians' embrace of globalization was much less motivated by public preferences than by the agendas of businesspeople and other elites. Drawing on over one hundred interviews with decision-makers, and analyses of archival materials from Canada, Mexico, and the U.S., Fairbrother tells the story of how each country negotiated and ratified two agreements that substantially opened and integrated their economies: the 1989 Canada-U.S. and trilateral 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement. Contrary to what many commentators believe, these agreements-like free trade elsewhere-were based less on mainstream, neoclassical economics than on the informal, self-serving economic ideas of business. While the stakes in the globalization debate remain high, Free Traders uses a comparative-historical approach to sharpen our understanding of how globalization arose in the past to provide us with clearer trajectory for how it will develop in the future.
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| 10. |
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