First Impression of the Category

## What policies other governments are implementing to support well-being in human rights 1. Non-compliance tax for firms that do not hire people with disabilities in Austrian employment 2. ​​Changes to same-sex marriage legislation in the UK
## If we were not constained by data, what would we measure in this category to assess policy across countries (what other indicators) - Labor force participation rate of people with disabilities - Whether same sex marriage is legal or not

Literature Review 1

Research Paper 1: financial incentives for firms to promote employment of disabled workers ## What policies do countries actually pursue, what are their limitation, successes, failures and or unintended consequences Policies: - Austria raised the non-compliance tax for firms not meeting the quota of one disabled worker per 25 non-disabled workers. - This 30% tax increase amounts to roughly 1.5% of workers’ average monthly salary or 0.19% of firms’ average monthly payroll in the Austrian private sector in 2006. Successes: - Not only were firms more likely to comply, but more workers who are disabled gained access to jobs, training, and firm resources as a result of the levy funds - One in 40 firms employs one more person who is disabled than they would without the tax increase - After 18 months, one in 15 firms employs one more person who is disabled due to the tax increase

## What are the scholarly debates - The study shows that there is more hiring, but it does not test whether the job creates a safe environment for the workers ## What data is being used to measure policy and its effects? How is it being quantitatively analyzed? Data: - The Austrian Social Security database (ASSD) , which contains detailed information on individuals’ employment history since 1972, together with an unambiguous firm identifier - Data from the Austrian Federal Welfare Office (FWO), which records the disability status of all disabled individuals

    How is it being quantitatively analyzed: 
        - Used linear regression that allows them to identify the average treatment effect of the tax increase on the number of disabled workers per firm
        - It includes control variables such as firm age, firm location, firm’s industry affiliation, the number of non-disabled apprentices, and characteristics of the firm’s average non-disabled workers

Literature Review 2

Research Paper 2: Same sex marriage legislation improving mental health ## What policies do countries actually pursue, what are their limitation, successes, failures and or unintended consequences Policies: - England & Wales legalized same-sex marriage in 2013, and Scotland followed in 2014. Successes: - They found evidence that the legalization of same-sex marriage was independently associated with an improvement in LGB mental health functioning - The effect of legalization on mental health functioning was higher for men with higher degrees of family support (compared with men with low family support), but family support did not modify the effect of legalization for women. Failures/Unintended consequences: - The UKHLS survey did not include certain questions on gender identity, limiting the scope of the study - Information on whether the participant had disclosed their sexual orientation to their family was unavailable

## What are the scholarly debates - Those with higher levels of these types of minority stress are unable to realize the full benefits that equal marriage brings to the social inclusion of LGB people, especially gay and bisexual men. ## What data is being used to measure policy and its effects? How is it being quantitatively analyzed? Data: - Supplementary data are available at EURPUB online - UK Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS)

  How is it being quantitatively analyzed: 
      - Effects panel analysis comparing individuals across time
      - Mental Component Score (MCS-12) from the Short Form-12 survey
      - Control variables: Socio-demographics, survey weights.

Looking at the SSPI

## How does the SSPI attempt to measure policies in human rights and what are its shortcoming and strengths? - It is doing great at measuring how the law is being perceived by society and rule of law index, but I don't think it is being too inclusive of people with different identities other than gender. ## Based on lit review what policies seem measurable that we are not currently measuring? - Income equality among races, genders, sexual identities, and people with disabilities - How large is the wage gap within the country