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Abstract. Background: Few studies have examined the effect of pandemics on suicide-related outcomes. Aims: We examined whether suicidal ideation levels among the general population changed owing to the COVID-19 pandemic by tracking individuals between January and April 2020. Method: We used a prospective observational longitudinal design ( n = 6,683) and stratified sampling to conduct online surveys of the general adult population in Japan before (baseline) and during the pandemic (follow-up). Results: Suicidal ideation levels were significantly lower during than before the pandemic; however, the effect size was very small. Participants who were younger, with unstable employment, without children, with low income, and receiving psychiatric care were more likely to have higher suicidal ideation levels during the pandemic. Limitations: Because this was an Internet survey and subject to selection bias, the sample was not necessarily representative of the Japanese population. At the time of the survey, COVID-19 cases and deaths in Japan were relatively lower than in other developed countries. The dropout rate may have affected the results. Conclusion: Although the short-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on suicidal ideation is limited, relatively young and economically vulnerable individuals are more likely to show exacerbated suicidal ideation during the pandemic.

Do White voters use candidate race as a voting cue in biracial electoral contests? We argue that the answer to this question depends on the level of political knowledge and information that voters have rather than on their attitudes toward minorities. Our analyses of precinct- and individual-level data show that White voters who are likely to be informed about candidates vote less often for the Democratic party when the candidate is Black, whereas vote choices of White voters who are unlikely to be informed about candidates are unaffected by candidate race.

Political competition lies at the core of representative democracy. Yet, uncompetitive elections and uncontested races are widespread in the United States, particularly at the state level. In this article, we analyze the consequences of uncontested elections on lawmaking activity. Our primary hypothesis is that legislators who run unopposed are less active lawmakers than those who were selected through competitive elections. Studying roll‐call vote participation and bill introduction and enactment for most of the U.S. states for 1999–2000, we find that state legislators elected in unopposed elections perform more poorly compared to their colleagues elected in competitive contests.

"Preface" -- "Acknowledgements" -- "Contents" -- "About the Authors" -- "1 Introduction" -- "1 Introduction" -- "2 Book Outline" -- "2 Rationale Behind Suicide Prevention Policies" -- "1 Introduction" -- "2 Bereaved Family Members of Suicide Victims" -- "2.1 Estimating the Number of People Who Became Bereaved in 1993–2006" -- "Spouses" -- "Siblings" -- "Parents" -- "Children" -- "2.2 Estimating the Total Number of Living Bereaved Family Members in 2006" -- "Estimating the Total Number of Living Family Members Who Became Bereaved from 1993 to 2006" -- "Estimating the Total Number of Living Family Members Who Became Bereaved Before 1992" -- "2.3 Results" -- "Estimate of the Number of People Who Became Bereaved in 1993–2006" -- "Estimate of the Total Number of Bereaved Family Members Who Were Living in 2006" -- "Costs of Suicides in Japan" -- "3 The Werther Effect" -- "4 Social Costs of Suicide" -- "4.1 Social Losses Caused by the Loss of Individuals" -- "Potential Years of Life Lost (PYLL)" -- "4.2 Lifetime Work-Loss Cost of Suicide" -- "5 Market Imperfections and Distortions in Incentives" -- "5.1 Credit Market Imperfections" -- "5.2 Life Insurance Market Imperfections" -- "6 Conclusion" -- "References" -- "3 Socioeconomic Causes of Suicide" -- "1 Introduction" -- "2 Factors of Suicide Viewed from an Economic Standpoint" -- "2.1 Income and Its Inequality" -- "2.2 Economic Growth and Economic Crisis" -- "2.3 Employment Situation" -- "3 Suicide Trends in Japan Through Cross-National Comparison" -- "4 Suicide Trends in Japan Viewed Chronologically: Jump, Inertia, Age Change, and Decline" -- "4.1 Decomposition of Japanese Suicides" -- "4.2 Increase in the Number of Suicides from 1997 to 1998" -- "Decomposition of the 1997–1998 Suicide Growth Rate, by Gender, Age, and Population Structure

This book examines the causes and consequences of suicide from the perspective of economics. The approach here differs from those in medical, psychiatric, epidemiological, and sociological studies of suicide and is thus novel in a way that highlights the importance of economic and institutional settings in the problem of suicide. The authors argue that suicide imposes a tremendous economic cost on contemporary society in a variety of ways, requiring the government to develop an effective prevention strategy. An empirical analysis using data from Japan and other developed countries shows that natural disasters and economic crises increase suicide rates, while liberal government policies favorable to the poor can decrease them. Further, the types of effective prevention strategies in the context of railway/subway suicides, celebrity suicides, public awareness campaigns, and education using data primarily from Japan are revealed. This book ultimately contributes to an understanding of suicides and the development of evidence-based policy proposals. The Japanese version of this book won the 56th Nikkei Prize for Economics Books (Nikkei Keizai Tosho Bunka Award) in 2013. Yasuyuki Sawada is Chief Economist of the Asian Development Bank and Professor of Economics at The University of Tokyo. Michiko Ueda is Associate Professor in the Faculty of Political Science and Economics at Waseda University. Tetsuya Matsubayashi is Associate Professor of Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP) at Osaka University.--

Abstract
What are the fiscal consequences of legislative term limits? To answer this question, we first develop a legislative bargaining model that describes negotiations over the allocation of distributive projects among legislators with different levels of seniority. Building on several predictions from the model, we develop two hypotheses for empirical testing. First, the adoption of term limits that results in a larger reduction in the variance of seniority within a legislature increases the amount of government spending. Second, legislatures that adopt stricter term limits increase the amount of government spending, while legislatures that adopt moderate term limits show no change in the amount. We provide evidence for these hypotheses using panel data for 49 US state legislatures between 1980 and 2010.

We studied the effects of districting on intergovernmental aid by state governments to local governments in the United States. We found that metropolitan areas receive relatively more aid when represented in the state legislature by an at‐large delegation than when divided into single‐member districts. This suggests that the free‐riding that may occur with at‐large representation is more than counterbalanced by other factors. The estimated effects are robust to the effects of other confounding factors as well as the choice of estimators.

AbstractDynastic politicians, defined as those whose family members have also served in the same position in the past, occupy a sizable portion of offices in many parts of the world. We develop a model of how dynastic politicians with inherited political advantages affect electoral outcomes and policy choices. Our model predicts that, as compared with non-dynastic legislators, dynastic legislators bring more distributions to the district, enjoy higher electoral success, and harm the economic performance of the districts, despite the larger amount of distributive benefits they bring. We test the implications of the model using data from Japan between 1997 and 2007.