Michael P. Cameron

A community participation intervention to reduce HIV/AIDS stigma, Nakhon Ratchasima province, northeast Thailand

Abstract This paper explores HIV/AIDS stigma in the socio-cultural context of Nakhon Ratchasima Province in the northeastern region of Thailand. Action research was used to develop a community participation intervention. The intervention was implemented in one village over a period of eight months. We describe the intervention and then test its effect on HIV/AIDS knowledge and HIV/AIDS stigma using a non-equivalent pre-test-post-test control group design. Analysis of co-variance confirms that, controlling for initial levels of HIV/AIDS knowledge and stigma, the intervention had a significant effect on HIV/AIDS knowledge score (p<0.01) and HIV/AIDS stigma score (p<0.01). Participatory observations by the researchers on villagers’ perceptions and behaviour were consistent with the quantitative results. These results suggest that community interventions which empower the community, combined with a financial contribution to reduce resource constraints, are a useful and effective means of increasing interaction between people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) and other community members, increasing tolerance and reducing HIV/AIDS stigma.

The Value of Statistical Life and the Economics of Landmine Clearance in Developing Countries

Summary This paper presents estimates of the value of statistical life (VSL) in rural Thailand using the contingent-valuation (CV) method. These estimates are applied to an economic analysis of landmine clearance. The estimated VSL of US

Can Social Media Predict Election Results? Evidence From New Zealand

250000 suggests that the value of lives saved from landmine clearance is at least an order of magnitude greater than the values used in existing studies.

Alcohol outlet density and violence: A geographically weighted regression approach

The importance of social media for election campaigning has received a lot of attention recently. Using data from the 2011 New Zealand general election and the size of candidates’ social media networks on Facebook and Twitter, we investigate whether social media is associated with election votes and probability of election success. Overall, our results suggest that there is a statistically significant relationship between the size of online social networks and election voting and election results. However, the size of the effect is small and it appears that social media presence is therefore only predictive in closely contested elections.

The marginal willingness-to-pay for attributes of a hypothetical HIV vaccine

INTRODUCTION AND AIMS We investigate the relationship between outlet density (of different types) and violence (as measured by police activity) across the North Island of New Zealand, specifically looking at whether the relationships vary spatially. DESIGN AND METHODS We use New Zealand data at the census area unit (approximately suburb) level, on police-attended violent incidents and outlet density (by type of outlet), controlling for population density and local social deprivation. We employed geographically weighted regression to obtain both global average and locally specific estimates of the relationships between alcohol outlet density and violence. RESULT We find that bar and night club density, and licensed club density (e.g. sports clubs) have statistically significant and positive relationships with violence, with an additional bar or night club is associated with nearly 5.3 additional violent events per year, and an additional licensed club associated with 0.8 additional violent events per year. These relationships do not show significant spatial variation. In contrast, the effects of off-licence density and restaurant/café density do exhibit significant spatial variation. However, the non-varying effects of bar and night club density are larger than the locally specific effects of other outlet types. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION The relationships between outlet density and violence vary significantly across space for off-licences and restaurants/cafés. These results suggest that in order to minimise alcohol-related harms, such as violence, locally specific policy interventions are likely to be necessary. [Cameron MP, Cochrane W, Gordon C, Livingston M. Alcohol outlet density and violence: A geographically weighted regression approach. Drug Alcohol Rev 2016;35:280-288].

Alcohol outlet density is related to police events and motor vehicle accidents in Manukau City, New Zealand

This paper estimates the marginal willingness-to-pay for attributes of a hypothetical HIV vaccine using discrete choice modeling. We use primary data from 326 respondents from Bangkok and Chiang Mai, Thailand, in 2008-2009, selected using purposive, venue-based sampling across two strata. Participants completed a structured questionnaire and full rank discrete choice modeling task administered using computer-assisted personal interviewing. The choice experiment was used to rank eight hypothetical HIV vaccine scenarios, with each scenario comprising seven attributes (including cost) each of which had two levels. The data were analyzed in two alternative specifications: (1) best-worst; and (2) full-rank, using logit likelihood functions estimated with custom routines in Gauss matrix programming language. In the full-rank specification, all vaccine attributes are significant predictors of probability of vaccine choice. The biomedical attributes of the hypothetical HIV vaccine (efficacy, absence of VISP, absence of side effects, and duration of effect) are the most important attributes for HIV vaccine choice. On average respondents are more than twice as likely to accept a vaccine with 99% efficacy, than a vaccine with 50% efficacy. This translates to a willingness to pay US

Farmland loss and livelihood outcomes: a microeconometric analysis of household surveys in Vietnam

383 more for a high efficacy vaccine compared with the low efficacy vaccine. Knowledge of the relative importance of determinants of HIV vaccine acceptability is important to ensure the success of future vaccination programs. Future acceptability studies of hypothetical HIV vaccines should use more finely grained biomedical attributes, and could also improve the external validity of results by including more levels of the cost attribute.

‘Economics with Training Wheels’: Using Blogs in Teaching and Assessing Introductory Economics

Objectives: To explore the cross‐sectional association between alcohol outlet density and police events in Manukau City, New Zealand.

Investigating the characteristics of stated preferences for reducing the impacts of air pollution: A contingent valuation experiment

Although there has been much discussion in the literature about the impacts of farmland loss (due to urbanization) on household livelihoods, no econometric evidence of these effects has been provided thus far. This paper, hence, is the first to quantify the effects of farmland loss on household livelihood outcomes in peri-urban areas of Hanoi, Vietnam. Our study found no econometric evidence for negative effects of farmland loss on either income or expenditure per adult equivalent. In addition, the results show that farmland loss has an indirect positive impact on household welfare, via its positive impact on the choice of nonfarm-based livelihoods.

Customer dissatisfaction among older consumers: a mixed-methods approach

Blogs provide a dynamic interactive medium for online discussion, consistent with communal constructivist pedagogy. This paper explores the use of blogs in the teaching and assessment of a small (40-60 students) introductory economics paper. The role of blogs as a teaching, learning and assessment tool are discussed. Using qualitative and quantitative data collected across four semesters, students’ participation in the blog assessment is found to be associated with student ability, gender, and whether they are distance learners. Importantly, students with past economics experience do not appear to crowd out novice economics students. Student performance in tests and examinations does not appear to be associated with blog participation after controlling for student ability. However, students generally report overall positive experiences with the blog assessment.