U.S. Health Care and Real Health in Comparative Perspective: Lessons from Abroad

Abstract:

Among the 19 rich democracies I have studied for the past 40 years, the United States is odd-man-out in its health-care spending, organization, and results. The Obama administration might therefore find lessons from abroad helpful as it moves toward national health insurance. In the past hundred years, with the exception of the U.S., the currently rich democracies have all converged in the broad outlines of health care. They all developed central control of budgets with financing from compulsory individual and employer contributions and/or government revenues. All have permitted the insured to supplement government services with additional care, privately purchased. All, including the United States, have rationed health care. All have experienced a growth in doctor density and the ratio of specialists to primary-care personnel. All evidence a trend toward public funding. Our deviance consists of no national health insurance, a huge private sector, a very high ratio of specialists to primary-care physicians and nurses, and a uniquely expensive (non)system with a poor cost-benefit ratio. The cure: increase the public share to more than 65% from its present level of 45%. In regards to funding the transition cost and the permanent cost of guaranteed universal coverage: no rich democracy has funded national health insurance without relying on mass taxes, especially payroll and consumption taxes. Whatever we do to begin, broad-based taxes will be the outcome. Three explanations of "why no national health insurance in the U.S.?" are examined.

Source: Working Paper Series, Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, UC Berkeley

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Neighborhood Ethnic Density as an Explanation for the Academic Achievement of Ethnic Minority Youth Placed in Neighborhood Disadvantage

Abstract:

The underachievement of ethnic minority youth from disadvantaged neighborhoods is a
pervasive educational issue this nation is facing. Based on an ecological perspective, we examined the contextual effects of neighborhood ethnic density and neighborhood disadvantage on the academic achievement of Hmong immigrant youths. Utilizing hierarchical linear modeling techniques in analyzing 3,185 Hmong and White students (for comparisons) across 79 neighborhoods, we found when we controlled for student demographics, Hmong students in the most disadvantaged neighborhoods (high-crime and high-poverty) performed better academically than their ethnically identical peers in the more safe and affluent neighborhoods. Further, with student demographics held constant, Hmong adolescents in the most disadvantaged neighborhoods academically outperformed their White counterparts with the same neighborhood conditions. These intriguing findings resulted from ethnic density in that the predictor of the
Hmong population percentage in each neighborhood appeared to absorb the significant effect of neighborhood types. Hmong students would be more likely to achieve highly when they were surrounded by more Hmong residents in their neighborhoods. The logic behind ethnic density functioning as a positive factor for Hmong students within neighborhoods high in disadvantage is discussed along with the implications of this finding for policy.

Source: Berkeley Review of Education, 1(1), . Retrieved from: http://escholarship.org/uc/item/9bc8v1g6

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Unauthorized Alien Students, Higher Education, and In-State Tuition Rates: A Legal Analysis

Currently, federal law prohibits states from granting unauthorized aliens certain postsecondary educational benefits on the basis of state residence, unless equal benefits are made available to all U.S. citizens. This prohibition is commonly understood to apply to the granting of "in-state" residency status for tuition purposes. Legislation to amend this federal law has routinely been introduced in previous Congresses, and several similar bills have been introduced in the 111th Congress, including H.R. 1751, S. 729, and H.R. 4321. Meanwhile, some states have passed laws aimed at making unauthorized state residents eligible for in-state tuition without violating this provision. This report provides a legal overview of cases involving immigrant access to higher education, as well as an analysis of the legality of state laws that make in-state tuition rates available to illegal immigrants.

Source: Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress

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Avon Global Center for Women and Justice at Cornell Law School: Legal Resources

"This Legal Resources section provides access to treaties and other international and regional documents, statutes and case law from around the world relating to gender-based violence. By making these resources available, our goal is to promote the use of laws and rules aimed at providing access to justice to survivors of gender-based violence."

Link to Avon Global Center for Women and Justice at Cornell Law School: Legal Resources

State Responses to Immigration: A Database of All State Legislation

This database contains all bills and resolutions related to immigrants or immigration that were considered by state legislators across the nation. At present, the database contains all immigration-related legislation for 2007. Data for 2008 and historic 2001-2006 data will be added in the coming months.

Source: Migration Policy Institute

Link to MPI Search site

Almost All Millennials Accept Interracial Dating and Marriage

"Over the last several decades, the American public has grown increasingly accepting of interracial dating and marriage. This shift in opinion has been driven both by attitude change among individuals generally and by the fact that over the period, successive generations have reached adulthood with more racially liberal views than earlier generations. Millennials are no exception to this trend: Large majorities of 18-to-29 year olds express support for interracial marriage within their families, and the level of acceptance in this generation is greater than in other generations."

Source: Pew Research Center

Download Pew report on racial attitudes in the United States | Link to online fact sheet

World Bank: Global Economic Prospects 2010

"The global economic recovery that is now underway will slow later this year as the impact of fiscal stimulus wanes. Financial markets remain troubled and private sector demand lags amid high unemployment,..."

Source: World Bank

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Report of the National Equality Panel (U.K.)

From the Executive Summary

"The independent National Equality Panel was set up to examine how inequalities in
people’s economic outcomes – such as earnings, incomes and wealth – are related to
their characteristics and circumstances – such as gender, age or ethnicity."

"Our report shows the way economic advantage reinforces itself across the life cycle, and on to the next generation. It matters more in Britain who your parents are than in many other countries."

Source: Government Equalities Office, United Kingdom

Download full pdf report | Download summary | Link to online overview

Pew Survey Report: Senate Legislative Process A Mystery To Many

"In the latest installment of the Pew Research Center’s News IQ Quiz, just 32% know that the Senate passed its version of the legislation without a single Republican vote. And, in what proved to be the most difficult question on the quiz, only about a quarter (26%) knows that it takes 60 votes to break a filibuster in the Senate and force a vote on a bill. The survey was conducted before Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown won a special election to the Senate on Jan. 19; Brown’s election means Senate Democrats can no longer count on a 60-vote majority once he takes office."

Source: Pew Research Center for People and the Press.

Download full pdf report | Download topline questionnaire | Link to online summary

Statistical Portrait of Hispanics in the United States

This statistical profile of the Latino population is based on Pew Hispanic Center tabulations of the Census Bureau's 2008 American Community Survey (ACS). The ACS is the largest household survey in the United States, with a sample of about 3 million addresses. It covers virtually the same topics as those in the long form of the decennial census. The ACS is designed to provide estimates of the size and characteristics of the resident population, which includes persons living in households and, for the first time, persons living in group quarters.

Source: Pew Hispanic Center

Download full pdf report | Link to online summary and tables

UN Department of Economic And Social Affairs (DESA) Working Paper Series

The DESA Working Papers are preliminary documents circulated in a limited number of copies and posted on this website, to stimulate discussion and critical comment on the broad range of economic, social and environmental issues associated with the United Nations Development Agenda.

Readers are invited to submit their comments directly to the authors. The views and opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of the United Nations Secretariat. The designations and terminology employed may not conform to United Nations practice and do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Organization.

Link to DESA Working Papers website

Many Americans Mix Religious Beliefs and Practices

Pew Forum Poll Finds Eastern, New Age Beliefs Widespread

The religious beliefs and practices of Americans do not fit neatly into conventional categories. According to a new report based on a recent national survey by the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life, large numbers of Americans engage in multiple religious practices, blending elements of diverse traditions.

The survey, conducted Aug. 11-27 among 4,013 adults reached on both landlines and cell phones, finds that many Americans say they attend worship services of more than one faith or denomination, even when they are not traveling or going to special events like weddings and funerals.

Source: Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life

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Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be...Lawyers

This essay treats a legal education as an investment, and asks the question of whether, based on known costs and expected benefits, such investment should be undertaken. The inquiry will necessarily differ from one potential law student to another. But for three posited “typical students,” the investment is shown to be a bad one.

Source: Vanderbilt Law and Economics Working Paper No. 09-29 [via SSRN

Download complete pdf publication | Link to SSRN

Health Care on Aisle 7 : The Growing Phenomenon of Retail Clinics

Presents information on the growing phenomenon of retail medical clinics, the types of patients they serve and the types of care they provide, and whether some common claims about retail clinics are supported by evidence.

Source: RAND Corporation

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Understanding Commanders' Information Needs for Influence Operations

From the online Summary:

The objectives of this study were to develop a better understanding of commanders' information requirements pertaining to cultural and other “soft” factors (e.g., networks and hierarchies, cultural norms, attitudes) in order to improve the effectiveness of combined arms operations, and to develop practical ways for commanders to integrate information and influence operations activities into combined arms planning and assessment in order to increase the usefulness to ground commanders of such operations. The monograph describes commanders' own views of their information needs for information and influence operations, identifies principal sources of commanders' information needs for these operations, and sets out important challenges associated with improving the ability of field commanders to plan, execute, and assess successful information and influence operations. Also included is a review of various indicators related to information and influence operations that have been used in the field; specific message themes that were used in Bosnia; a detailed analysis of tasks related to information and influence operations; an implementation plan for a metrics-based planning and assessment approach for information and influence operations that was developed in an earlier study; a taxonomy of information operations tasks and effects; and assessments of the suitability of two analytic techniques — expected utility modeling and social network analysis — for information and influence operations.

Source: RAND Corporation

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Working Paper : "Calorie Posting in Chain Restaurants"

From Press Release:

A new study released Jan. 6 examined consumer behavior before and after calorie counts were posted, and determined that when restaurants post calories on menu boards, there is a reduction in calories per transaction. Based on transaction data provided by Starbucks, researchers from the Stanford Graduate School of Business found that calorie-posting in New York City in 2008 led to a 6% reduction in calories per transaction. According to the study, beverage choices at Starbucks are unaffected by calorie posting. However, calorie posting leads consumers to buy fewer food items, and to switch to lower calorie food items.

Source: Stanford School of Business

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Worldwide Study Finds Few Gender Differences in Math Abilities

From the Press Release:

Gender Gaps Linked to Status of Women, According to New Analysis

Girls around the world are not worse at math than boys, even though boys are more confident in their math abilities, and girls from countries where gender equity is more prevalent are more likely to perform better on mathematics assessment tests, according to a new analysis of international research.

Source: American Psychological Association

Download full pdf publication : Cross-National Patterns of Gender Differences in Mathematics

Mullahs, Guards, and Bonyads : An Exploration of Iranian Leadership Dynamics

The Islamic Republic of Iran poses serious challenges to U.S. interests in the Middle East, and its nuclear program continues to worry the international community. The presidential election of June 2009 that returned Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power and led to broad protests and a government crackdown presents yet another cause for U.S. concern. Yet the U.S. ability to “read” the Iranian regime and formulate appropriate policies has been handicapped by both a lack of access to the country and the opacity of decisionmaking in Tehran. To help analysts better understand the Iranian political system, the authors describe

* Iranian strategic culture, including the perceptions that drive state behavior
* the informal networks, formal government institutions, and personalities that influence decisionmaking in the Islamic Republic
* the impact of elite behavior on Iranian policy formulation and execution
* factionalism, emerging fissures within the current regime, and other key trends.

Source: RAND Corporation

Download full pdf publication | Download pdf Executive Summary | Link to online summary

Who Regulates Whom? An Overview of U.S. Financial Supervision

Federal financial regulation in the United States has evolved through a series of piecemeal responses to developments and crises in financial markets. This report provides an overview of current U.S. financial regulation: which agencies are responsible for which institutions and markets, and what kinds of authority they have. There are two traditional components to U.S. banking regulation: deposit insurance and adequate capital. Commercial banks accept a quid pro quo that was adopted in response to widespread bank failures during the 1930s. Through deposit insurance, the federal government provides a safety net for some banking operations and in return the banks that are exposed to depositor runs accept federal regulation of their operations, including the amount of risk they may incur. Since the 1860s, federal banking regulation has sought to prevent excessive risk taking by banks that might seek to make extra profit by reducing their capital reserves--at the time called "wildcat" banks. There are five federal bank regulators, each supervising different (and often overlapping) sets of depository institutions. Federal securities regulation is based on the principle of disclosure, rather than direct regulation. Firms that sell securities to the public must register with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), but the agency has no authority to prevent excessive risk taking. SEC registration in no way implies that an investment is safe, only that the risks have been fully disclosed.

Source: Congressional Research Service

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New PEW survey results : Internet, broadband, and cell phone statistics

From Overview

In a national survey between November 30 and December 27, 2009, we find:

74% of American adults (ages 18 and older) use the internet -- a slight drop from our survey in April 2009, which did not include Spanish interviews. At that time we found that 79% of English-speaking adults use the internet.

60% of American adults use broadband connections at home – a drop that is within the margin of error from 63% in April 2009.

Download full pdf report | Download Survey Questions (pdf) | Link to online overview