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Trust is praised by many social scientists as the foundation of functioning social systems owing to its assumed connection to cooperative behavior. The existence of such a link is still subject to debate. In the present study, we first highlight important conceptual issues within this debate. Second, we examine previous evidence, highlighting several issues. Third, we present findings from an original experiment, in which we tried to identify a “real” situation that allowed us to measure both trust and cooperation. People’s expectations and behavior when they decide to share (or not) their data represents such a situation, and we make use of corresponding data. We found that there is no relationship between trust and cooperation. This non-relationship may be rationalized in different ways which, in turn, provides important lessons for the study of the trust—behavior nexus beyond the particular situation we study empirically.

We examine an intervention randomized at the village level in which female farmers invited to a single training session were randomly paired with farmers whom they did not know and encouraged to share new agricultural information throughout the growing season for a recently adopted cash crop. We show that the intervention significantly increased the productivity of all farmers except those who were already in the highest quintile of productivity and that there were significant spillovers in productivity to male farmers.

Student loans have become a social-financial issue in the United States. This study uses a nationally representative dataset to examine the association between financial socialization and student loan borrowing behavior of individuals after controlling a number of different socio-demographic factors. Results show that the financial burdens of college education, such as borrowing and the dollar amounts of a loan, are higher for Blacks, however, their college attendance is significantly lower than Whites. Blacks are more independent and receive less financial support from family and relatives than Whites. The wealth gap that exists between Black and White parents may contribute to the disparity. Additional financial resources for higher education as well as financial education and counseling may be needed to create better academic access for the vulnerable underserved groups including minority students.

We examined differences in family structure change in an urban sample of mothers (N = 1,314) from their child’s birth to age 5 and whether ecological risk moderated this association. We found that compared with U.S.-born Latino mothers, foreign-born Latino mothers were 62% less likely to break up and 75% less likely to repartner than remain stably resident. Across nativity status, Latina mothers with fewer children, more economic stress, less income, and less frequently reported father involvement were more likely to break up and repartner than remain stably resident. We found no moderation effects of ecological risk.

We develop a simple dynamic model of policy reform that captures some of the determinants that underlie the differences between the reform paths taken by a number of countries since the early 1990s. The model focuses on the interaction between domestic institutions and international organizations that promote reform, on the one hand, and the political incentives for reversing reforms, on the other. At equilibrium, there are three types of reform paths. A country can undergo a full-scale, lasting reform, can carry out a partial but lasting reform, or can go through cycles of reforms and costly counter-reforms. Domestic institutions, along with the incentives provided by international organizations, determine the equilibrium path. A politically myopic international organization may induce cycles of reforms and costly counter-reforms, thereby reducing the country's well-being. An international organization that only provides funds to promote reforms may have a less beneficial effect than one that assists the country with fresh funds to defend reforms when there is a risk of reversal. International funds that promote reforms can also influence domestic institutions. For example, due to the intervention of an international organization, countries could have incentives to dismantle institutions that build up reversal cost and/or do not fully build their fiscal capacity.

In the past 40 years, a large number of children have been abandoned by their families or have been abducted in China. We argue that the implementation of the one-child policy has significantly increased both child abandonment and child abduction and that, furthermore, the cultural preference for sons in China has shaped unique gender-based patterns whereby a majority of the children who are abandoned are girls and a majority of the children who are abducted are boys. We provide empirical evidence for the following findings: (1) Stricter one-child policy implementation leads to more child abandonment locally and more child abduction in neighboring regions; (2) A stronger son-preference bias in a given region intensifies both the local effects and spatial spillover effects of the region's one-child policy on child abandonment and abduction; and (3) With the gradual relaxation of the one-child policy after 2002, both child abandonment and child abduction have dropped significantly. This paper is the first to provide empirical evidence on the unintended consequences of the one-child policy in terms of child trafficking in China.

This article emphasizes the need for broader approaches for formulating policies for mitigating the effects of climate change especially in the contexts of agricultural decisions, and population health and migration. Constraints imposed by rapid population growth in developing countries for achievement of Sustainable Development Goals are discussed and evidence is presented on “unwanted” fertility from India. Second, comparisons are made for India during 2002–2016 for average well depths in 495 districts and terrestrial water storage anomalies assessed via GRACE satellites for 274 1° × 1° grids using estimated parameters from dynamic random effects models. Lastly, migration patterns especially of the highly educated from 39 sending countries to OECD countries during 2000–2010 are analyzed using dynamic random effects models and total fertility rates were significantly associated with higher migration rates for the highly educated. Implications of the empirical evidence for enhancing global sustainability are discussed.

The use of active transportation (AT), such as walking, cycling, or even public transit, as a means of transport offers an opportunity to increase youth physical activity and improve health. Despite the well-known benefits of AT, there are environmental and social variables that converge on the AT experiences of low-income youth and youth of color (YOC) that have yet to be fully uncovered. This study uses an intersectional framework, largely focusing on the race-gender-class trinity, to examine youth AT within a context of transportation inequity. Theoretically guided by the Ecological Model of Active Transportation, focus groups were completed with two groups of girls (15 participants) and two groups of boys (nine participants) ranging between the ages of 12–15 years who lived within the Washington D.C. area. This research found race, gender, and class to be inhibitors of AT for both boys and girls, but with more pronounced negative influences on girls.

This paper examines whether Medicaid adult vision coverage affects labor market activity using state-by-year changes to these benefits.We find that vision benefits increase hours worked and occupational skill requirements, but no consistent evidence of changes on the extensive employment margin. Intensive margin effects could be facilitated by decreased barriers to transportation - when a state covers vision services, beneficiaries are more likely to commute to work by car or motorcycle rather than other modes. Our study suggests that, conditional on eligibility, Medicaid can have a positive effect on labor market activity by expanding access to services that enable work. JEL codes:I13, I18, J22, H75. Link to online-before-print version

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients face an uncertain fate as their future in the United States is being debated. Yet even before the program was introduced in June 2012 and became endangered in September 2017, they encountered challenges in navigating a fragmented health care landscape throughout the United States. This paper focuses on  DACA  recipients' experiences in accessing health care throughout their lives, both before and after receiving DACA. We conducted semi-structured interviews and questionnaires with 30 DACA recipients living in Maryland between April–December 2016. Participants represented 13 countries of origin and ranged in age between 18 and 28. Results demonstrate that DACA recipients have had punctuated coverage throughout their lives and continue to face constrained access despite temporary gains in status. Health care access is further stratified within their mixed-status families. Participants have also experienced shifts in their health care coverage due to moving between jurisdictions with variable eligibility and changing life circumstances related to family, school, and employment. This article underscores the importance of examining young adult immigrants' access to care over time as they weather changes in the broader policy context and in highly variable contexts of reception nationwide, shaped by state, but also county and city policies and programs. The challenges and gaps in coverage DACA recipients face also underscore the need for both health care and immigration reform.