Objectives: At the beginning of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, some countries imposed entry bans against Chinese visitors. We sought to identify the effects of border shutdowns on the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak. Methods: We used the synthetic control method to measure the effects of entry bans against Chinese visitors on the cumulative number of confirmed cases using World Health Organization situation reports as the data source. The synthetic control method constructs a synthetic country that did not shut down its borders, but is similar in all other aspects. Results: Six countries that shut down their borders were evaluated. For Australia, the effects of the policy began to appear 4 days after implementation, and the number of COVID-19 cases dropped by 94.4%. The border shutdown policy took around 13.2 days to show positive effects and lowered COVID-19 cases by 91.7% on average by the end of February. Conclusions: The border shutdowns in early February significantly reduced the spread of the virus. Our findings are informative for future planning of public health policies.
ObjectivesThe US ranks ninth in obesity in the world, and approximately 7% of US adults experience major depressive disorder. Social isolation due to the stigma attached to obesity might trigger depression.MethodsThis paper examined the impact of obesity on depression. To overcome the endogeneity problem, we constructed pseudopanel data using the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System from 1997 to 2008.ResultsThe results were robust, and body mass index (BMI) was found to have a positive effect on depression days and the percentage of depressed individuals in the population.ConclusionsWe attempted to overcome the endogeneity problem by using a pseudo-panel approach and found that increases in the BMI increased depression days (or being depressed) to a statistically significant extent, with a large effect size.
Many important contests, such as job interviews and political debates, are presented in sequential order. Previous studies find serial position effects such that the later presenter has a higher probability of a win. However, no previous studies use both random assignments of contestants and a large number of contestants and judges. We use Immortal Songs 2, a popular TV program that satisfies both conditions, to confirm the findings of serial position effects. In addition, Immortal Songs 2 has round-by-round competition rules. The first round is a competition between the first and second contestants. Then, the winner of the first round is announced. The second round is a contest between the winner of the first round and the third contestant. As the rounds continue, the winner of the previous round should have a higher probability of winning in theory, but, in fact, the second contestant's probability of winning is always 0.5.
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