Focusing on two commonly used indicators of turnout, VAP turnout (the number of votes cast as a percentage of the population of voting age) and RV turnout (votes cast as a percentage of the number of registered voters), this article discusses possible biases induced by migration flows. Using a global dataset on elections in over 100 democracies between 1990 and 2012, we test the potential bias induced by the percentage of resident non-citizens and nationals living abroad on VAP and RV turnout, respectively. Through time series cross sectional analysis, we find that the number of resident non-citizens does negatively bias VAP turnout, to the extent that a country with 10 percent non-citizen residents would have turnout underreported by nearly 4 percentage points. In contrast, we find that the number of nationals living abroad does not induce a turnout bias.

The following study aims to identify the various regulatory failures which may lead to industrial disasters through the lens of a comparative study of the Fukushima Daiichi and Lac-Mégantic disasters. Through this comparison, the author aims to demonstrate that even in very different circumstances, certain common regulatory behaviours, structures and cultures may lead to similar disastrous outcomes. This study will focus on three types of regulatory failure: (1) weak or vague operating rules; (2) a lack of inspections to assess compliance with regulatory standards as well as a lack of enforcement when non-compliance is identified; and (3) regulatory capture resulting in the adoption of unsafe practices, underestimating risks or willful blindness to safety threats. However, the author emphasizes that other forms of regulatory failure, beyond the scope of this study, were present in both cases, including the regulators’ failure to keep track of essential safety data, the use of flawed risk assessment protocols, over-reliance on industry data, lack of independence from government, and failure to implement adequate emergency response programs.