Trends in Educational Assortative Mating in Post-Socialist Central Europe: Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, and Hungary Between 1988 and 2000

"This article analyzes trends in educational homogamy in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary from 1988 to 2000. Our initial hypothesis is that educational homogamy strengthened in post-socialist countries as a result of changing socio-economic conditions during the post-communist transformation. We argue that people's behavior changes in reaction to a new socio-economic environment where risks associated with a poor marital match are more pronounced. We analyze key statistical data on all new marriages in the years 1988, 1991, 1994, 1997 and 2000 in each country. Log-linear and log-multiplicative models led to the rejection of our initial hypothesis. Between 1988 and 2000 educational homogamy remained low and constant in the Czech Republic and high and constant in Poland, whereas it increased slightly in Hungary and rather significantly in Slovakia. The article concludes with a discussion of some possible explanations of these varied trends in educational homogamy with regards to changes in demographic as well as social mobility processes in former socialist countries during the 1990s." Source : California Center for Population Research, U.C.L.A. On-Line Working Paper Series. Paper CCPR-033-05.

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Effects of Kindergarten Retention Policy on Children’s Cognitive Growth in Reading and Mathematics

"Grade retention has been controversial for many years, and current calls to end social promotion have lent new urgency to this issue.... Analyzing data from the US Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Kindergarten cohort with the technique of multilevel propensity score stratification, we find no evidence that a policy of grade retention in kindergarten improves average achievement in mathematics or reading. Nor do we find evidence that the policy benefits children who would be promoted under the policy. However, the evidence does suggest that children who are retained learn less than they would have had they instead been promoted. The negative effect of grade retention on those retained has little influence on the overall mean achievement of children attending schools with a retention policy because the fraction of children retained in those schools is quite small. Nevertheless, the effect of retention on the retainees is considerably large."Source: Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis

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USSC Reports on Courts' Response to Sentencing Guidelines Decision

"Federal courts continue to punish more than 60 percent of convicted criminals within guidelines set by the U.S. Sentencing Commission despite a Supreme Court decision that made the guidelines advisory, recent statistics show." Source: US Sentencing Commission

Link to online report | Link directly to statistics

ESI Special Topic: Terrorism

"This month in Special Topics, the focus is on terrorism. On the 10-year papers list, there are three prominent areas of research: psychological reactions to terrorism, specifically the 9/11 terror attacks; reports of the 2001 anthrax outbreak; and the more general psychological construct known as terror management. Other issues covered in the past decade include public health preparedness for bioterrorism, the potential for a smallpox bioterror incident, the concept of immune system recognition of foreign DNA as a cure for bioterrorism, laws with regard to antiterrorism, and the economic impact of prevention and post-intervention in terror attacks.

In the past two years, the focus remains largely on issues related to 9/11: post-terrorism post-traumatic stress disorder, resilience and emotions post-9/11, and surgical response to 9/11, to name a few. Other topics garnering attention in the past two years include studies of suicide bombers’ reasoning, the pathology and pathogenesis of the 2001 anthrax outbreak, and several studies looking at potential surveillance measures for bioterrorism. The papers are not limited to US-related terrorist attacks; two papers also look at terrorist attacks and patient care in Israel."

"The baseline time span for this database is 1995-2005 (third bimonthly). The resulting database contained 1,826 (10 years) and 871 (2 years) papers; 3,172 authors; 54 countries; 673 journals; and 1,146 institutions."
Source : Essential Science Indicators | ISI Web of Science

Link to Gateway

U.S. Census Report : Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage

"This report presents data on income, poverty, and health insurance coverage in the United States based on information collected in the 2005 and earlier Annual Social and Economic Supplements (ASEC) to the Current Population Survey (CPS) conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau."

"This report has three main sections-- income, poverty, and health insurance coverage. Each one presents estimates by characteristics such as race, Hispanic origin, nativity, and region. Other topics include earnings of full-time, year-round workers; poverty among families; and health insurances coverage of children." Source: U.S. Census Bureau

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Confederate Maps now online

The Hotchkiss Map Collection contains cartographic items made by Major Jedediah Hotchkiss (1828-1899), a topographic engineer in the Confederate Army. Hotchkiss made detailed battle maps primarily of the Shenandoah Valley, some of which were used by the Generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson for their combat planning and strategy. Several of the maps have annotations of various military officers, demonstrating their importance in the military campaigns. The collection also includes maps made or used by Hotchkiss during his post-war years, including maps with information about railroads, minerals and mining, geology and history, most of which focus on Virginia and West Virginia, but also cover other states and even the world.

The collection consists of 341 sketchbooks, manuscripts, and annotated printed maps, the originals of which reside in the Library of Congress' Geography and Map Division.

Link to map access

PEW Report : Digital Divisions

Sixty-eight percent of American adults,or about 137 million people, use the internet, up from 63% one year ago. Thirty-two percent of American adults, or about 65 million
people, do not go online, and ihttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gift is not always by choice. Certain groups continue to lag in their internet adoption. For example:

• 26% of Americans age 65 and older go online, compared with 67% ofthose age 50-64, 80% of those age 30-49, and 84% of those age 18-29.
• 57% of African-Americans go online, compared with 70% of whites.
• 29% of those who have not graduated from high school have access,compared with 61% of high school graduates and 89% of college graduates.
• 60% of American adults who do not have a child living at home goonline, compared with 83% of parents of minor children.

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Health Risk, Income, and the Purchase of Private Health Insurance

Abstract : While many believe that an individual's health plays an important role in both their willingness and ability to obtain health insurance, relatively little agreement exists on how and why health status is likely to affect coverage rates, particularly for individuals purchasing coverage in the individual market. In this paper, we examine the relationship between health risk and the purchase of private health insurance and whether that relationship differs between people purchasing coverage in the individual and large group markets and between low and high income individuals. The data source for our analysis is the panel component of the 1996-2002 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS). We find that health risk is positively associated with obtaining private health insurance coverage. The positive relationship between health risk and coverage is stronger for individuals obtaining coverage in the large group market than for individuals obtaining coverage in the individual market. In the large group market, rates of coverage increase more quickly with health risk for low than high income individuals. We conclude that high premiums for high risks are not a significant contributor to the large uninsured population in the U.S. Among low income individuals, high premiums may represent a barrier to low risks in the large group market. Source : NBER

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Will China Eat Our Lunch or Take Us Out to Dinner? Simulating the Transition Paths of the U.S., EU, Japan, and China

Abstract : This paper develops a dynamic, life-cycle, general equilibrium model to study the interdependent demographic, fiscal, and economic transition paths of China, Japan, the U.S., and the EU. Each of these countries/regions is entering a period of rapid and significant aging requiring major fiscal adjustments. In previous studies that excluded China we predicted that tax hikes needed to pay benefits along the developed world's demographic transition would lead to capital shortage, reducing real wages per unit of human capital. Adding China to the model dramatically alters this prediction. Even though China is aging rapidly, its saving behavior, growth rate, and fiscal policies are very different from those of developed countries. If this continues to be the case, the model's long run looks much brighter. China eventually becomes the world's saver and, thereby, the developed world's savoir with respect to its long-run supply of capital and long-run general equilibrium prospects. And, rather than seeing the real wage per unit of human capital fall, the West and Japan see it rise by one fifth by 2030 and by three fifths by 2100. These wage increases are over and above those associated with technical progress. Source : NBER

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Religious Extremism: The Good, The Bad, and The Deadly

Abstract : This paper challenges conventional views of violent religious extremism, particularly those that emphasize militant theology. We offer an alternative analysis that helps explain the persistent demand for religion, the different types of religious that naturally arise, and the special attributes of the “sectarian” type. Sects are adept at producing club goods both spiritual and material. Where governments and economies function poorly, sects often become major suppliers of social services, political action, and coercive force. Their success as providers is much more due to the advantages of their organizational structure than it is to their theology. Religious militancy is most effectively controlled through a combination of policies that raise the direct costs of violence, foster religious competition, improve social services, and encourage private enterprise. Source: NBER

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Human Rights and Rule of Law: What's The Relationship

Abstract:
This article considers several explanations for the international human rights movement’s sudden heightened attention to rule of law.

The human rights movement has increasingly encountered conceptual, normative and political challenges. Perhaps, as de Mello suggested, rule of law will be a “fruitful principle to guide us toward agreement and results,” and “a touchstone for us in spreading the culture of human rights.”

We still live in a world where widespread human rights violations are the norm rather than the exception. Rule of law is seen as directly integral to the implementation of rights.

Rule of law may also be indirectly related to better rights protection in that rule of law is associated with economic development, which is related to better rights performance.

Rule of law is integral to and necessary for democracy and good governance. Attempts to democratize without a functional legal system in place have resulted in social disorder.

Rule of law is said to facilitate geopolitical stability and global peace. According to some, it may help prevent wars from occurring in the first place. It also provides guidelines for how war is carried out, and is central to the establishment of a rights-respecting post-conflict regime.

Author : Randall P. Peerenboom Source : UCLA School of Law. UCLA Public Law Series. Paper 5-21

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Women in Contemporary Philippine Local Politics

Abstract: This study looks at the profiles of Filipino women provincial governors plus city and municipal mayors who were elected into office in 1992, 1995, 1998, and 2001. It presents their socio-economic profiles, their entry into politics, and the major projects they pursued as they got into office. The study validates more general studies that women politicians come from political families. However, the surveys show that they have had achievements as government administrators or professionals and business women before entering politics, or have served as local councilors or village heads (barangay chairs) before running for office. Once in office, they pursue projects which may not be immediately labeled as gender-oriented, such as agriculture or public works, with the more gendered social services (health and education). Nonetheless, some of them are aware of responding to issues important to mothers and children, and some have even started women's and/or children's programs. Many of them consider their being mothers as a big influence on the priority they give their projects. Lecture delivered in the UCLA Center for Southeast Asian Studies Colloquium Series, October 11, 2005 Source : UCLA Center for Southeast Asian Studies. Author : Proserpina D. Tapales Ph.D., Professor of Public Administration, University of the Philippines

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Achieving State and National Literacy Goals, a Long Uphill Road: A Report to Carnegie Corporation of New York

"RAND gathered information from the 50 states and the District of Columbia (DC) on state assessment systems and student performance on reading or English language arts and writing assessments in order to measure adolescent’s (grades 4 through 12) performance toward state literacy goals. Also examines the relative performance of students against national standards represented by the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP)." Source : RAND Corp.

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Face the facts: Female pols suffer from "face-ism"

"Successful female politicians face a number of obstacles that don't burden their male peers. One of these, a new University of Michigan study shows, is 'face-ism'—a tendency to emphasize women's bodies rather than their faces.... The U-M researchers computed 'face-ism' scores for all the politicians by analyzing photos on the same website—www.congress.org. They obtained the scores by measuring the size of the face from the top of the head, including the hair, to the lowest part of the chin, then dividing by the total size of the body image pictured. The result is a ratio expressing the proportion of the person's total image devoted to the face. Overall, the researchers found, the 504 male politicians had higher face-ism scores than the 84 female politicians. The heads of male politicians occupied 78 percent of their images, on average, while the heads of female politicians occupied 75 percent of their images—a statistically significant difference." Source: University of Michigan News Service

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Effective Foundation Boards: The Importance of Roles

Abstract : "Foundations are unique among organizations in the enormous latitude they have in determining their work and the manner in which it is done. This flexibility manifests itself particularly in the variety of roles that foundation board members can take. Most of the literature in the field focuses on best practices in board structure and processes. These are necessary in the spirit of responsiveness and legal accountability, but are not sufficient for effectiveness. Achieving role clarity, influence in decision-making and responsibility for impact are three keys to more effective foundation governance. These three attributes can be better understood and achieved by examining the roles of foundation board members as individuals and as a collective. Recognizing these important, often overlooked, phenomena will help boards not only have good work that will keep them enthused and committed, but also to produce the good work that the public expects." Source : Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government, Faculty Research Working Paper Series

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Protect our rights - a briefing document on the (U.K.) government's anti-terrorism proposals

"This briefing examines together the Home Secretary’s proposals for three new offences (18 July), the Association of Chief Police Officers’ demand for more powers (21 July), the Prime Minister’s twelve point statement (5 August) and the Home Office consultation document on deportation and exclusion (5 August). This kind of government by press release is not conducive to much-needed debate and does not amount to meaningful consultation. To avoid the growing suspicion about a possible September “stitch-up” the government should make its full intentions clear immediately so all in civil society can have their say." Source: Statewatch

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Supreme Court Nominee : Harriet Miers

Information about Supreme Court Nominee Harriet Miers including her legal background, and a brief discussion of justices who had not previously served in the judiciary (such as Earl Warren, William O. Douglas, Felix Frankfurter, Hugo Black, Louis Brandeis, and Abe Fortas). Source : National Public Radio (NPR).

Link to site

Stonewalled: Police abuse and misconduct against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the US

"In a new report titled Stonewalled: Police abuse and misconduct against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the US, Amnesty International (AI) documents serious patterns of police misconduct and brutality — including abuses that amount to torture and ill-treatment — against LGBT individuals. Profiling of LGBT individuals as criminal; selective enforcement of laws; sexual, physical and verbal abuse; inappropriate searches and mistreatment in detention remain commonplace, as does a lack of accountability for perpetrators." Source: Amnesty International


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When Men Murder Women: An Analysis of 2003 Homicide Data

"This annual report details national and state-by-state information on female homicides involving one female murder victim and one male offender. The VPC releases the study each year to coincide with Domestic Violence Awareness Month in October. In 2003, the most recent data available from the Federal Bureau of Investigation's unpublished Supplementary Homicide Report, firearms were the most common weapon used by males to murder females (835 of 1,678 homicides or 50 percent). Of these, 77 percent (647 of 835) were committed with handguns. Alaska ranks first in the nation in the rate of women killed by men. Ranked behind Alaska are: Nevada, Louisiana, New Mexico, Tennessee, South Carolina, Arizona, Georgia, Mississippi, and Texas. Nationally, the rate was 1.31 per 100,000." Source: Violence Policy Center

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Election Day Survey

"In the fall of 2004, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) distributed the first-ever Election Day Survey, requesting voting and elections information from election officials throughout the country. Collecting this information is part of EAC's mission to provide resources and guidance to policy makers and election officials as we work together to make sure every vote is counted fairly and accurately. The 2004 Election Day Survey is the largest and most comprehensive survey on election administration ever conducted by a U.S. governmental organization, and we thank the nation's secretaries of state and state and local elections officials for their cooperation and contribution." Source: United States Election Assistance Commission

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Also available : State Data Tables