Long-term effects of school quality on health and lifestyle: evidence from comprehensive schooling reforms in England

Members of the National Child Development Study cohort attended very different types of secondary schools, as their schooling lay within the transition period of the comprehensive education reform in England and Wales. This provides a natural setting to explore the impact of educational attainment and of school quality on health and health-related behavior later in life. We use a combination of matching methods and parametric regressions to deal with selection effects and to evaluate differences in adult health outcomes and health-related behavior for cohort members exposed to the old selective and to the new comprehensive educational systems

Evaluating Lotteries, Risks, and Risk-mitigation Programs

Two experiments were designed to explore the existence of systematic differences in risk perceptions and risk attitudes between Chinese and U.S. participants. The first experiment involved ranking monetary lotteries using measures of perceived riskiness and WTP. Several simple heuristics were evaluated to predict perceived riskiness and WTP. Using WTP responses, cumulative prospect theory functions were determined for participants from both countries. Compared to their U.S. counterparts, Chinese participants are found to be less risk averse and to have higher within group agreement for each task. The second experiment involved ranking real-world risks and associated risk-mitigation programs using measures of concern and preference, respectively. Conjoint analysis reveals additional cultural differences in the perception and evaluation of multi-attribute risks and risk-mitigation programs. The cross-cultural versus cross-task variation are discussed.

Household vulnerability and child labor : the effect of shocks, credit rationing and insurance

The theoretical literature has pointed at the importance of access to credit market in determining the household decisions concerning children's activities and the reaction of households to adverse shocks. In this paper we address these issues making use of a unique data set for Guatemala that contains information on credit rationing and shocks. We address the potential endogeneity of the variable of interest using a methodology based on propensity scores and we use sensitivity analysis to assess the robustness of the estimates with respect to unobservables. The results show the importance of access to credit markets and of shocks in determining children's labor supply.Street Children,Environmental Economics&Policies,Youth and Governance,Economic Theory&Research,Banks&Banking Reform

Cost-Benefit Analysis and Regulatory Reform: An Assessment of the Science and Art

The continuing efforts in the 104th Congress to legislate requirements for cost-benefit analysis (CBA) and the revised Office of Management and Budget guidelines for the conduct of such assessments during a regulatory rulemaking process highlight the need for a comprehensive examination of the role that CBA can play in agency decision-making. This paper summarizes the state of knowledge regarding CBA and offers suggestions for improvement in its use, especially in the context of environmental regulations.

Understanding Early Withdrawals From Retirement Accounts

Examines early withdrawals from IRAs and 401(k)s by demographics, education, income, and reason, including job loss, poor health, and college costs. Suggests policies to expand plan participation, preserve retirement savings, and increase other savings

Psychopathology and Creativity Among Creative and Non-Creative Professions

The mad genius debate has been a topic that has been discussed in both popular culture and academic discourse. The current study sought to replicate previous findings that linked psychopathology to creativity. A total of 165 biographies of eminent professionals (artists, scientists, athletes) were rated on 19 mental disorders using a three point scale of not present (0), probable (1), and present (2) for potential symptoms. Athletes served as an eminent but not creative comparison group in order to discern whether fame, independent of creativity, was associated with psychopathology. Comparison of proportion analyses were conducted to identify differences of proportion between these three groups for each psychopathology. Tests for one proportion were calculated to compare each group’s rates of psychopathology to the rates found in the U.S. population. These analyses were run twice, where subjects were dichotomized into present and not present categories; first, “present” included “probable” (inclusive) and second where it included only “present” (exclusive). Artists showed greater frequency rates of psychopathology than scientists and athletes in the more inclusive criteria for inclusion, whereas both artists and athletes showed greater frequency rates than scientists in the stricter criteria. Apart from anxiety disorder, athletes did not differ from the U.S. population in rates of psychopathology whereas artists differed from the population in terms of alcoholism, anxiety disorder, drug abuse, and depression. These data generally corroborate previous research on the link between creativity and psychopathology

'I've used the word cancer but it's actually good news' : discursive performativity of cancer and the identity of urological cancer services

© 2015 Foundation for the Sociology of Health & Illness. Acknowledgements We are grateful to the patients and staff who took part in the study, and to two anonymous reviewers whose thoughtful comments helped refine our thinking. This research was supported by a grant from the Big Lottery Fund. The views expressed here are the authors’and do not necessarily reflect those of the funding bodies or any other organisation.Peer reviewedPostprin

Risk Perception and Drug Safety Evaluation

The authors present a Risk communication framework based on a survey of empirical research concerning public Risk perceptions. They also apply it to the area of pharmaceutical regulation to suggest more effective regulatory strategies