In his recent article, Dr. Beazer examines what determines whether countries’ institutions attract or deter investment. He argues that host institutions’ attractiveness depends on firms’ home environment. Using multiple data sets at different levels of analysis, he finds that states with independent judiciaries are particularly attractive to investment from countries also possessing independent courts. Similarly, countries with low judicial independence disproportionately send FDI to countries lacking independent judiciaries. These findings’ implications challenge conventional wisdom: “Good” institutions may not attract all investors, and “bad” institutions may not always deter, as current research suggests.

In his recent article, Dr. McFarland examines whether police maltreatment, whether experienced personally or indirectly through one’s family or friends, represents a structurally rooted public health problem that disproportionately affects minorities. Using data from a community sample of black and white men in Nashville, he finds that black men are more likely to report unfair treatment by police (UTBP) than white men, and that those reporting UTBP have shorter telomeres. These results draw a link between police treatment and health status among minorities.

In her recent article, Dr. Holmes examines the barriers to climate change adaptation, including lack of financial resources, limited technical capacity and prohibitive politics. To do so, she examines Florida’s pilot adaptation projects proposed by county public health departments and supported by the Building Resilience Against Climate Effects program, interviewing state program administrators and project managers at the county level. She finds that increasing the funding for pilot projects help move beyond the preparatory groundwork stage to broader, more sustained adaptation actions.