Clinical trials have demonstrated the efficacy of vaccines against the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) [1]. However, whether coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination has achieved its full benefits in the real world remains unclear. One reason for this is that people may adjust their behaviours after vaccination. Concerns have been raised regarding the […]

Dengue has long been a public health problem in tropical and subtropical countries. In 2015, a dengue outbreak occurred in Taiwan, where 43,784 cases were reported. This study aims to assess the impact of dengue on Southern Taiwan’s economic growth according to the economic growth model-based regression approach recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). Herein, annual data from Southern Taiwan on the number of dengue cases, income growth, and demographics from 2010–2015 were analyzed. The percentage of reduction of the average income per capita in 2015 due to the dengue outbreak was estimated. Dengue was determined to have a negative linear economic impact on Southern Taiwan’s economic growth. In particular, a reduction of 0.26% in the average income per capita was estimated in Southern Taiwan due to the 2015 outbreak. If the model is applied alongside other dengue outbreak forecast models, then the forecast for economic reduction due to a future dengue outbreak may also be estimated. Prevention and recovery policies may subsequently be decided upon based on not only the number of dengue cases but also the degree of economic burden resulting from an outbreak.

Foreign policy objectives can be achieved through religious institutions as a form of soft power. However, empirical evidence on this form of soft power is limited. In this study, we provide rigorous empirical evidence of electoral influence through the channel of religious institutions. To test the efficacy of this channel of influence, we study the Chinese government’s attempts to influence Taiwanese elections through religious institutions. By leveraging spatial regression methods, we demonstrate that Mazu temples influence electoral behavior through a localized process. The density of urban Mazu temples in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, which are subject to influence from China, is associated with an increase in vote share for the pro-China party in their neighborhoods. However, the influence on voters in urban and village areas is not homogeneous. In contrast to urban temples, the relationship between village Mazu temples and the electoral results is insignificant.

The App Store introduced a title-length limit for mobile apps in 2016, and similar policies were later adopted across the industry. This issue drew considerable attention from industry practitioners in the 2010s. Using both empirical and theoretical approaches, this paper examines the effectiveness of this policy and its welfare implications. Title length became an issue because some sellers assemble meaningful keywords in the app title to convey information to consumers, while others combine irrelevant yet popular keywords in an attempt to increase their app’s downloads. We hypothesize that when titles are short, title length is positively associated with an app’s performance because both honest and opportunistic sellers coexist in the market. However, due to the presence of opportunistic sellers, once titles become too long, this positive relationship disappears. We examine this hypothesis using a random sample of 1998 apps from the App Store in 2015. Our results show that for apps with titles longer than 30 characters, title length remains positively associated with app performance. However, for titles exceeding 50 characters, we do not have sufficient evidence to conclude that further increases in length continue to generate additional downloads. To interpret our empirical findings, we construct communication games between an app seller and a consumer, in which the equilibrium is characterized by a threshold. Based on our model and empirical observations, the 30-character limit might hurt consumers.