Commodification of Children: Critical Macro-Finance, Neoliberal Care Systems, and the Law

Description This dataset supports the research project titled The Business of Foster Care and Adoption: Institutional Theory and the Commodification of Children. It investigates how legal traditions (civil code vs. common law) and institutional arrangements shape adoption and foster care outcomes, drawing on theories of commodification, regulatory fragmentation, and welfare governance. Included files: analyze_adoption_data_fixed.py: Python script for statistical testing using Shapiro-Wilk, Mann-Whitney U, and Kruskal-Wallis methods. Table.xlsx: Core data matrix, including international adoption data from United Nations sources and U.S. AFCARS statistics. README.md: Explains variables, data sources, and how to replicate the analysis using Google Colab. The project uses non-parametric tests due to data non-normality and compares adoption prevalence across countries. It was developed collaboratively by researchers at the University of Puerto Rico, Texas Tech University, and Linköping University. To replicate the results in Google Colab: Open Colab and create a new notebook. Install packages: !pip install pandas openpyxl scipy Download files directly from this DOI (see below). Run the script using %run analyze_adoption_data_fixed.py or exec(open(...).read()). This dataset is intended for scholars in social work, law, public policy, and international development exploring the institutional dimensions of child welfare systems.