The Impact of Employer-Provided Health Insurance on Dynamic Employment Transitions

We estimate the impact of employer-provided health insurance (EPHI) on the job mobility of males over time using a dynamic empirical model that accounts for unobserved heterogeneity. Previous studies of job-lock reach different conclusions about possible distortions in labor mobility stemming from an employment-based health insurance system: a few authors find no evidence of job-lock, while most find reductions in the mobility of insured workers of between 20 and 40%. WE use data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth which describes the health insurance an individual holds, as well as whether he is offered insurance by his employer. This additional information allows us to model the latent individual characteristics that are correlated with the offer of EPHI, the acceptance of EPHI, and employment transitions. Our results provide an estimate of job-lock unbiased through correlation with positive job characteristics and individual specific turnover propensity. We find no evidence of job-lock among married males, and produce small estimates of job-lock among unmarried males of between 10 and 15%.

The Effects of School Desegregation on Crime

One of the most striking features of crime in America is its disproportionate concentration in disadvantaged, racially segregated communities, which has long raised concern that segregation itself may contribute to criminal behavior. Yet little is known about whether government efforts to reduce segregation can reduce crime. We address this question by studying the most important large-scale policy to reduce segregation in American life - court-ordered school desegregation. Our research design exploits variation across large urban school districts in the timing of when they were subject to local Federal court orders to desegregate. We find that for black youth, homicide victimization declines by around 25 percent when court orders are implemented; homicide arrests decline significantly as well. We also find evidence for spillover effects on other age and race groups, consistent with data indicating a sizable amount of offending across groups and with the fact that offending by different groups is also linked through the police budget constraint. Economic models for a "market for offenses" suggest the influence of this second mechanism should attenuate over time as victims respond to a shift in the supply of offenses by reducing investments in crime prevention. Consistent with this theory, we find police spending declines several years after court desegregation orders are enacted. The only detectable life-course-persistent effects are found among birth cohorts that attended desegregated schools.

The Lantern Vol. 5, No. 3, May 1937

• Dedication • Dr. McClure: An Ursinus Man • Roar, O Wind! • To the Ladies! • The Futility of Dying • The Symbolism of the British Crown • Oh! • It Might Have Been • Treat Yourself? • Three Writers • Hawaii in June • On Being a Twin • Black Magic • Triangle • Who Longs? • A Son Passes • Sing an Old-Fashioned Song • Questioning • An Argument About a Fish • That Morning Eye-Opener • Scoop for the Sun • The Dead Do Not Die Once • Give Us Timehttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/lantern/1010/thumbnail.jp

Cutaneous lesions of the nose

Skin diseases on the nose are seen in a variety of medical disciplines. Dermatologists, otorhinolaryngologists, general practitioners and general plastic and dermatologic surgeons are regularly consulted regarding cutaneous lesions on the nose. This article is the second part of a review series dealing with cutaneous lesions on the head and face, which are frequently seen in daily practice by a dermatologic surgeon. In this review, we focus on those skin diseases on the nose where surgery or laser therapy is considered a possible treatment option or that can be surgically evaluated

Common Genetic Polymorphisms Influence Blood Biomarker Measurements in COPD

Implementing precision medicine for complex diseases such as chronic obstructive lung disease (COPD) will require extensive use of biomarkers and an in-depth understanding of how genetic, epigenetic, and environmental variations contribute to phenotypic diversity and disease progression. A meta-analysis from two large cohorts of current and former smokers with and without COPD [SPIROMICS (N = 750); COPDGene (N = 590)] was used to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with measurement of 88 blood proteins (protein quantitative trait loci; pQTLs). PQTLs consistently replicated between the two cohorts. Features of pQTLs were compared to previously reported expression QTLs (eQTLs). Inference of causal relations of pQTL genotypes, biomarker measurements, and four clinical COPD phenotypes (airflow obstruction, emphysema, exacerbation history, and chronic bronchitis) were explored using conditional independence tests. We identified 527 highly significant (p 10% of measured variation in 13 protein biomarkers, with a single SNP (rs7041; p = 10−392) explaining 71%-75% of the measured variation in vitamin D binding protein (gene = GC). Some of these pQTLs [e.g., pQTLs for VDBP, sRAGE (gene = AGER), surfactant protein D (gene = SFTPD), and TNFRSF10C] have been previously associated with COPD phenotypes. Most pQTLs were local (cis), but distant (trans) pQTL SNPs in the ABO blood group locus were the top pQTL SNPs for five proteins. The inclusion of pQTL SNPs improved the clinical predictive value for the established association of sRAGE and emphysema, and the explanation of variance (R2) for emphysema improved from 0.3 to 0.4 when the pQTL SNP was included in the model along with clinical covariates. Causal modeling provided insight into specific pQTL-disease relationships for airflow obstruction and emphysema. In conclusion, given the frequency of highly significant local pQTLs, the large amount of variance potentially explained by pQTL, and the differences observed between pQTLs and eQTLs SNPs, we recommend that protein biomarker-disease association studies take into account the potential effect of common local SNPs and that pQTLs be integrated along with eQTLs to uncover disease mechanisms. Large-scale blood biomarker studies would also benefit from close attention to the ABO blood group

From Romantic Gothic to Victorian Medievalism: 1817 and 1877

"The Cambridge History of the Gothic was conceived in 2015, when Linda Bree, then Editorial Director at Cambridge University Press, first suggested the idea to us

The End of Court-Ordered Desegregation

In response to three Supreme Court rulings in the early 1990s, numerous court-ordered desegregation plans have been terminated. Using a unique dataset and an event study research design, this paper explores the impact of these terminations. The results suggest that termination produces a moderate increase in racial segregation. Outside of the south, dismissal also increases the rate at which black students drop out of school and attend private school. In the south, in contrast, there is no change in the school attendance patterns of blacks. Finally, evidence is presented that whites re-enter dismissed districts in large numbers in the south. (JEL H75, I21, I28, J15, K10)

3 essays in the economics of local public goods

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Economics, 2005."June 2005."Includes bibliographical references.This thesis is a collection of three empirical essays on the economics of local public goods. Chapter One examines the marginal propensity of local governments to spend out of lump- sum grant income. Economic theory predicts that this marginal propensity will equal the marginal propensity to spend on public goods out of private income. A large empirical literature contradicts the prediction. A school finance reform in the state of New Hampshire is used to test the prediction. The use of direct democracy to determine the provision level of local public goods in New Hampshire provides a uniquely appropriate environment in which to conduct the test. The results provide support for the theoretical prediction. Chapter Two examines the most significant locally provided public good, education. Specifically, the chapter examines the end of court-ordered desegregation. The widespread termination of desegregation plans in the post 1990 period has returned a large number of school districts to local control and ended efforts to promote racial integration. The results suggest that the termination of a desegregation plan results in a gradual, moderate increase in racial segregation and an increase in black dropout rates and rates of black private school attendance in localities located outside the South census region. There is no effect on black dropout rates or rates of black private school attendance in the South. Chapter Three examines the impact of the most significant local tax, the property tax, on capital investment. The results suggest that the elasticity of residential capital investment with respect to the property tax is -1.9 to -.8.(cont.) There is no evidence that business capital investment responds to the rate of property taxation in a locality.by Byron F. Lutz.Ph.D

Replication data for: Taxation with Representation: Intergovernmental Grants in a Plebiscite Democracy

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