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Among the research studies related to the relevance between religious belief and mental health, most of them highlight people with religious belief who tend to obtain mental comforting more easily. However, the research studies mentioned above were cross-sectional studies, and they only verified that religious beliefs and mental health are relevant, but they did not prove their cause-and-effect relationship. That is, they do not identify “due to people's religious beliefs, they have healthier mind” or “due to people's healthier minds, they have religious beliefs.” Therefore, the study aims to explore the benefit evaluation of religious belief affecting mental health.

The study uses propensity score matching (PSM) and treatment effect (ATT) to carry out the causal inference between religious beliefs and mental health. First, the propensity score (PS) is calculated from the impact factors that affect people's religious belief before establishing counterfactual analysis based on the PS to analyze the effect of religious beliefs to further understand the difference of mental health index between people with religious belief and without it, and confirm the cause-and-effect relationship between them.

Religious beliefs and participation are ubiquitous within and across populations. The associates between religious participation and health are considerably in great magnitude. Most of the research in the past related to religious beliefs and mental health only verified that religious beliefs and mental health are relevant but not proved its cause-and-effect relationship. This paper aimed to explore the causal relationship between religious belief and mental health. The experimental results showed religious belief has treatment effect toward “daily functioning,” “feeling affect,” “spirituality” and “mental health.” On a whole, religious belief can promote mental health.

In academic and practical circles, there are a lot of research studies exploring the relationship between religious belief and mental health. However, there is no research investigating the cause-and-effect relationship between religious belief and mental health. It also causes some questioning toward the relevant research studies. Therefore, the outcome of this study not only can clarify the legitimacy, importance, and practicality on the researches in the past but also provide the practical support for psychology and counseling.

This paper aims to introduce matching in propensity score analysis (PSA) as an alternative statistical approach for researchers looking to make causal inferences using intact groups.

An illustrative example demonstrated the varying results of analysis of variance, analysis of covariance and PSA on a heuristic data set. The three approaches were compared by results and violations of statistical assumptions.

Through the illustrative example, it is demonstrated how different statistical approaches can produce varied results. Only PSA mitigated pre-existing group differences without violating the assumption of independence.

This paper attempts to answer calls in the literature for more robust statistical methodologies to better inform human resource development practice and theory.

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how to examine the effectiveness of a pilot summer bridge program for elementary algebra using propensity scores. Typically, selection into treatment programs, such as summer bridge programs, is based on self-selection. Self-selection makes it very difficult to estimate the true treatment effect because the selection process itself often introduces a source of bias.

By using propensity scores, the authors can match students who participated in the summer bridge program with equivalent students who did not participate in the summer bridge program. By matching students in the treatment group to equivalent students who do not participate in the treatment, the authors can obtain an unbiased estimate of the treatment effect. The authors also describe a method to conduct a sensitivity analysis to estimate the amount of hidden bias generated from unobserved factors that would be needed to alter the inferences made from a propensity score matching analysis.

Findings suggest there is no significant difference in the pass rates of the subsequent intermediate algebra course for students who participated in the summer bridge program when compared to matched students who did not participate in the summer bridge program. Thus, students who participate in the summer bridge program fared no better or worse when compared to similar students who do not participate in the program. These findings also appear to be robust to hidden bias.

This study describes a unique way to estimate the causal effect of participating in a treatment program when there is self-selection into the treatment program.

This paper aims to presents one of the first direct micro-econometric impact of competitive industries (based on revealed comparative advantage [RCA] between Pakistan and China) on household welfare in Pakistan using semi-parametric matching technique.

The study has also measured and identified the industrial competitiveness in both agricultural and non-agricultural (manufacturing) industries using RCA approach. RCA at the four-digit ISIC level are matched to household survey data (Pakistan Social and Living Standard Measurement) for 2013-2014 to represent the competitive industries in which the household’s higher earner is employed.

The findings of the study reveal that the China–Pakistan ex-post treatment effect (industrial competitiveness) provides welfare-improving effects. Furthermore, on this behalf, this study further assesses ex-ante treatment effects of recently signed China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) on household welfare and suggests that CPEC would boost further trade liberalization and, therefore, would lead to industrial competitiveness and hence economic growth.

Paper contributes to two streams of literature. First, it measures and identifies the industrial competitiveness in both agricultural and non-agricultural industries using RCA approach; and second, it assesses the welfare of those households associated with these industries using semi-parametric propensity score matching technique.

The current study seeks to assess the predictive utility of personality, family violence, associations with criminal friends, peer rejection, parental attachment, and parental supervision as predictors of homicidal behaviour among a sample of 144 male recidivistic offenders.

This research project utilized a quasi‐experimental design with propensity score matching in order to minimize the effect of selection bias. Post‐matching binary logistic regression analysis was subsequently conducted in order to determine what factors predict homicidal behaviour.

Post‐matching regression results indicated that experience of family violence, psychoticism, and parental attachments were significant predictors of being a homicidal murderer.

The findings provide strong empirical support for the important role of early childhood experiences in the prediction of homicidal acts, along with the crucial role of personality (psychoticism). These findings provide additional support for Eysenck's theoretical indications regarding the role of psychoticism in the prediction of violent criminal behaviours.

This study examines the relationship between small-firm managers' propensity to participate in a growth-oriented training program and their subsequent program outcome in terms of strategic reorientation. From a policy perspective, this relates to the important question of what benefit would come from recruiting managers who are normally not easily recruitable for training programs.

A control group design including pre- and post-training surveys is used to assess the effects of a large-scale management training program. Accounting for selection bias, the difference-in-difference method, together with propensity score matching, was applied to assess average program effects. The matching-smoothing method was used to assess heterogeneity in program effects associated with participation propensity.

Overall, program participation associated positively with change in strategic orientations. This effect was especially pronounced for managers with either low or medium to high inclinations for program enrollment, while diminishing in the modest to medium range.

The findings have important practical implications for selection of target groups and recruitment strategies in relation to small-firm management training programs. From the results, recruitment strategies may effectively include managers with either high or low participation propensities, rather than aiming to “fill up” with managers with moderately low participation propensity.

Several extant studies have examined average treatment effects from small-firm training programs. Yet there has been a lack of examination of the extent to which participation propensity modifies the effect of training on outcomes. This study brings new knowledge of the direction and magnitude of such heterogeneous training effects.

In the existing literature on crowdfunding project performance, previous studies have given little attention to the impact of investors’ hedonic value and utilitarian value on project results. In a crowdfunding setting, utilitarian value is somehow hard to satisfy due to information asymmetry and adverse selection problem. Therefore, the projects with more hedonic value can be more attractive for potential investors. Lucky draw is a method to increase consumer hedonic value, and it can influence investors’ behavior as a result. The authors hypothesize that projects with hedonic treatment (lucky draw) may have higher probability to win their campaign than others. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

A unique self-extracted two-year Chinese crowdfunding platform real data set has been applied as the analysis sample. The authors first employ propensity score matching methods to control for the endogeneity of hedonic treatment adoption (lucky draw). The authors then run OLS regression and probit regression in order to test the hypotheses.

The analysis suggests a significant positive relationship not only between project lottery adoption and project results but also between project lottery adoption and project popularity.

The results suggest that an often ignored factor – hedonic treatment (lucky draw) – can play an important role in crowdfunding project performance.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate a recent training programme for graduates, implemented in Italy and entitled Work Experience Laureati and Laureate, i.e. Work Experience for Graduates. The aim of the programme was to increase the career prospects of unemployed graduates in the region of Umbria.

The authors rely on administrative data and matching methods to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention in terms of employability of participants.

The results show that participants are more likely to be employed and to sign an apprenticeship contract within the region boundaries. The authors also find substantial differences in employability and type of contract by gender, with men having a higher probability of finding a job (permanent contract and apprenticeship). The authors show that this may be explained by the different choices in terms of field of study, with males being more prone to enrol in scientific areas and females in the humanities.

It is an intervention implemented in one Italian region.

This is one of the few studies that analyses the effectiveness of active labour market policies targeting unemployed graduates, especially in the Italian context. The authors rely on different administrative data sources that allow them to evaluate the effectiveness of the programme.

This article aims to analyze the impact that the inclusion of students with disabilities has on the achievement of their schoolmates and to analyze the impact that this inclusion has on the achievement of the students with disabilities themselves.

The author begins investigating how the inclusion of students with disabilities in regular schools affects achievement of schoolmates. To answer this research question, the author explores the natural variation in time in the number of students with disabilities and use data from National Exam of Upper Secondary Education (Enem). Then, the author investigates how the inclusion affects achievement of the students with disabilities themselves and uses propensity score matching methodologies and, again, data from Enem.

The results show that an additional percentage point in the proportion of students with disabilities would reduce schoolmates' writing scores by a 0.0031 standard deviation. In other subjects, the author finds weak or none evidence of a significant peer effect. In addition, using Propensity Score Matching methodologies, the results show that the mean scores are up to 44% of a standard deviation, which is higher among students with disabilities enrolled in regular schools compared to those who are enrolled in special schools. In summary, the evaluation is that inclusion policies achieve the goal of improving the performance of students with disabilities but such policies have a small and adverse side effect.

For this reason, the present study proposes to fill this gap in the literature by analyzing the impact of the inclusion of students with disabilities on both groups. In addition, this paper contributes to the empirical literature of peer effect with an analysis of the peer effect of students with disabilities per competency. Finally, the article is important given the existence of few articles in Brazil on the topic of education and people with disabilities.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on firm performance in six Latin American economies. Firm performance includes five distinct dimensions, namely, firm turnover, labour productivity, innovativeness, product differentiation and technological transfer. The countries under scrutiny are Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Mexico.

Propensity score matching techniques are used to identify the causal effect of CSR on firm performance. To this end, World Bank Enterprise Survey (2006 wave) is used. This data set collects relevant firm-level data.

CSR has a positive impact on the outcome variables analysed, suggesting that corporate goals are compatible with conscious business operations. The results also vary across countries.

The pattern that emerges from the analysis seems to suggest that the positive effects of CSR depend on countries’ stage of industrialisation. In particular, the least developed the economy, the wider the scope of CSR. Nonetheless, the relationship between conscious business operations, firm performance and countries’ level of development is not directly tested in the present work.

The main practical implication of the study is that Latin American firms should adopt CSR. This is because corporate responsible practices either improve firm performance or they are not shown to have a detrimental effect.

The major policy implication is that emerging countries’ governments as well as international organisation should provide meaningful incentives towards CSR adoption.

The paper provides three major original contributions. First, it brings new descriptive evidence on CSR practices in Latin America. Second, it uses a broader and novel definition of firm performance, which is aimed at capturing developing countries’ business dynamics as well as at overcoming data limitations. Finally, it reassesses and extends the empirical evidence on the impact of CSR on firm performance.