Contagious COVID-19 policies: Policy diffusion during times of crisis.

The COVID-19 crisis demanded rapid, widespread policy action. In response, nations turned to different forms of social distancing policies to reduce the spread of the virus. These policies were implemented globally, proving as contagious as the virus they are meant to prevent. Yet, variation in their implementation invites questions as to how and why countries adopt social distancing policies, and whether the causal mechanisms driving these policy adoptions are based on internal resources and problem conditions or other external factors such as conditions in other countries. We leverage daily changes in international social distancing policies to understand the impacts of problem characteristics, institutional and economic context, and peer effects on social distancing policy adoption. Using fixed-effects models on an international panel of daily data from 2020, we find that peer effects, particularly mimicry of geographic neighbors, political peers, and language agnates drive policy diffusion and shape countries' policy choices.

La crisis de la COVID­19 exigió una acción política rápida y generalizada. En respuesta, las naciones recurrieron a diferentes formas de políticas de distanciamiento social para reducir la propagación del virus. Estas políticas se implementaron a nivel mundial y demostraron ser tan contagiosas como el virus que deben prevenir. Sin embargo, la variación en su implementación invita a cuestionarse cómo y por qué los países adoptan políticas de distanciamiento social, y si los mecanismos causales que impulsan estas adopciones de políticas se basan en recursos internos y condiciones problemáticas u otros factores externos, como las condiciones en otros países. Aprovechamos los cambios diarios en las políticas internacionales de distanciamiento social para comprender los impactos de las características del problema, el contexto institucional y económico y los efectos de los pares en la adopción de políticas de distanciamiento social. Usando modelos de efectos fijos en un panel internacional de datos diarios de 2020, encontramos que los efectos de los pares, en particular la imitación de los vecinos geográficos, los pares políticos y los agnados lingüísticos, impulsan la difusión de políticas y dan forma a las opciones de políticas de los países.

Let sleeping bats lie: Analyzing institutional adaptation to environmental regulatory change through Adaptive Management theory.

Employing a case of a state transportation agency, we examine how complex institutions which integrate outsourcing within a bureaucratic process adapt to environmental regulatory changes. In 2012, two endangered species of bats were located outside of their established ranges in northern Georgia. These discoveries required the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) to comply with a new set of federal regulations relating to those species when developing its projects. This article examines how GDOT adapted to new and unforeseen regulations in the face of environmental uncertainty. Using archival and interview data, we describe how GDOT engaged in Adaptive Management (AM) to internalize environmental changes (i.e. sufficiently stabilize the situation so that the project can get back on track). We also examine the role of outsourcing in bureaucratic agencies as an avenue for AM and suggest extending the AM model to describe mediating actors in the adaptive process. Furthermore, we investigate the impact adaptation had on project outcomes by analyzing 81 bridge projects, which are most susceptible to these environmental shocks, from a sample of 429 transportation projects using multivariate regression. We show that GDOT engaged in initial decision-making, iterative learning, and collaboration through a multi-tiered communication structure. We then present evidence supporting the narrative that these strategies helped it mitigate the impact of subsequent environmental shocks and improve project outcomes over time through adaptation.

Climate research priorities for policy-makers, practitioners, and scientists in Georgia, USA.

Climate change has far-reaching effects on human and ecological systems, requiring collaboration across sectors and disciplines to determine effective responses. To inform regional responses to climate change, decision-makers need credible and relevant information representing a wide swath of knowledge and perspectives. The southeastern U. S. State of Georgia is a valuable focal area for study because it contains multiple ecological zones that vary greatly in land use and economic activities, and it is vulnerable to diverse climate change impacts. We identified 40 important research questions that, if answered, could lay the groundwork for effective, science-based climate action in Georgia. Top research priorities were identified through a broad solicitation of candidate research questions (180 were received). A group of experts across sectors and disciplines gathered for a workshop to categorize, prioritize, and filter the candidate questions, identify missing topics, and rewrite questions. Participants then collectively chose the 40 most important questions. This cross-sectoral effort ensured the inclusion of a diversity of topics and questions (e.g., coastal hazards, agricultural production, ecosystem functioning, urban infrastructure, and human health) likely to be important to Georgia policy-makers, practitioners, and scientists. Several cross-cutting themes emerged, including the need for long-term data collection and consideration of at-risk Georgia citizens and communities. Workshop participants defined effective responses as those that take economic cost, environmental impacts, and social justice into consideration. Our research highlights the importance of collaborators across disciplines and sectors, and discussing challenges and opportunities that will require transdisciplinary solutions.

Performance or marketing benefits? The case of LEED certification.

Green building adoption is driven by both performance-based benefits and marketing based benefits. Performance based benefits are those that improve performance or lower operating costs of the building or of building users. Marketing benefits stem from the consumer response to green certification. This study illustrates the relative importance of the marketing based benefits that accrue to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) buildings due to green signaling mechanisms, specifically related to the certification itself are identified. Of course, all participants in the LEED certification scheme seek marketing benefits. But even among LEED participants, the interest in green signaling is pronounced. The green signaling mechanism that occurs at the certification thresholds shifts building patterns from just below to just above the threshold level, and motivates builders to cluster buildings just above each threshold. Results are consistent across subsamples, though nonprofit organizations appear to build greener buildings and engage in more green signaling than for-profit entities. Using nonparametric regression discontinuity, signaling across different building types is observed. Marketing benefits due to LEED certification drives organizations to build "greener" buildings by upgrading buildings at the thresholds to reach certification levels.