Objectivity vs. Advocacy: Newspaper Rhetoric during the “Bemis Affair” and the “Oleomargarine Controversy”

I introduce two important case studies of media roles in public debate over the nature of economics as a science. These cases, one during the 1890s and the other in the 1940s, reveal uncertainty among the American citizenry concerning what kind of science economics is. The question—a long-running one—was this: How pure and detached from policy advocacy must economists be

Perhaps we can hit upon some medium of course : Rockefeller philanthropy, economic research, and the structure of social science--1911-1946

In January 1957, Merle Curti published The History of American Philanthropy as a Field of Research. Curti believed the time was right for historians to ask: how important has relatively disinterested benevolence been in giving expression to, and in promoting at home and abroad, a major American value---human welfare? Historians have done much research over fifty years to answer Curti\u27s question. Some historians argue that philanthropic benevolence has been relatively unbiased when supporting research to solve social and economic problems; these historians interpret philanthropic support of social research as generally compatible with unbiased selection of research problems and methods. Other historians believe philanthropic financial assistance has been incompatible with the ideal of neutral and detached social research, that is, that philanthropic support is often in conflict with this ideal. During the first half of the twentieth century, the premier philanthropic organizations supporting social research to lift the human prospect were the Rockefeller Foundation and the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial. In this dissertation, I work with published literature and archival materials to show that Rockefeller philanthropies were important between 1911 and 1946 in promoting an improved human condition in the United States and around the world. I respond to previous historians with my thesis that neither the compatibility nor conflict explanations best describe the relationship between Rockefeller philanthropy and social science. The best description is what some recent historians describe as a complexity relationship

Drip Pricing When Consumers Have Limited Foresight: Evidence from Driving School Fees

This paper empirically investigates the add-on or drip pricing behavior of firms. We present a model in which consumers purchase a base product and, with some probability, an add-on product from the same firm, but are not always attentive to their possible need for the add-on product. We show that a loss leader pricing strategy emerges whereby firms price the base product below, and the add-on above, standalone pricing levels. We test the implications of the model in the Portuguese market for driving instruction where students frequently pay for repeat driving exams and additional lessons upon failing their initial exam. Relying on a detailed, nationwide data set on student characteristics and preferences, school attributes including fees and costs, and market demographics for a cross-section of local markets with differing numbers of school competitors, we find evidence in support of the model predictions. Most notably, prices for the base course of instruction, but not the add-on repeat courses, decline in the number of competitors a firm faces. We complement these results with survey evidence on possible sources of consumer inattention that the observational data does not speak to. The consumer survey suggests that approximately one quarter of students are inattentive to repeat fees when making their school choice driven both by an underestimation of fail propensities and an unawareness of the actual cost of a repeat exam. This result has important policy implications regarding the cross-subsidization of students who are aware of the add-on by those who are not

Risk-based selection in unemployment insurance: evidence and implications

This paper studies whether adverse selection can rationalize a universal mandate for unemployment insurance (UI). Building on a unique feature of the unemployment policy in Sweden, where workers can opt for supplemental UI coverage above a minimum mandate, we provide the first direct evidence for adverse selection in UI and derive its implications for UI design. We find that the unemployment risk is more than twice as high for workers who buy supplemental coverage, even when controlling for a rich set of observables. Exploiting variation in risk and prices to control for moral hazard, we show how this correlation is driven by substantial risk-based selection. Despite the severe adverse selection, we find that mandating the supplemental coverage is dominated by a design leaving the choice to workers. In this design, a large subsidy for supplemental coverage is optimal and complementary to the use of a minimum mandate. Our findings raise questions about the desirability of the universal mandate of generous UI in other countries, which has not been tested befor

Risk-based selection in unemployment insurance: evidence and Implications

This paper studies whether adverse selection can rationalize a universal mandate for unemployment insurance (UI). Building on a unique feature of the unemployment policy in Sweden, where workers can opt for supplemental UI coverage above a minimum mandate, we provide the first direct evidence for adverse selection in UI and derive its implications for UI design. We find that the unemployment risk is more than twice as high for workers who buy supplemental coverage. Exploiting variation in risk and prices, we show how 25- 30 percent of this correlation is driven by risk- based selection, with the remainder driven by moral hazard. Due to the moral hazard and despite the adverse selection we find that mandating the supplemental coverage to individuals with low willingness- to-pay would be suboptimal. We show under which conditions a design leaving choice to workers would dominate a UI system with a single mandate. In this design, using a subsidy for supplemental coverage is optimal and complementary to the use of a minimum mandate

Nitric oxide-driven modifications of lipoic arm inhibit α-ketoacid dehydrogenases

Pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDHC) and oxoglutarate dehydrogenase complex (OGDC), which belong to the mitochondrial α-ketoacid dehydrogenase family, play crucial roles in cellular metabolism. These multi-subunit enzyme complexes use lipoic arms covalently attached to their E2 subunits to transfer an acyl group to coenzyme A (CoA). Here, we report a novel mechanism capable of substantially inhibiting PDHC and OGDC: reactive nitrogen species (RNS) can covalently modify the thiols on their lipoic arms, generating a series of adducts that block catalytic activity. S-Nitroso-CoA, a product between RNS and the E2 subunit\u27s natural substrate, CoA, can efficiently deliver these modifications onto the lipoic arm. We found RNS-mediated inhibition of PDHC and OGDC occurs during classical macrophage activation, driving significant rewiring of cellular metabolism over time. This work provides a new mechanistic link between RNS and mitochondrial metabolism with potential relevance for numerous physiological and pathological conditions in which RNS accumulate

Microdistribution of Magnetic Resonance Imaging Contrast Agents in Atherosclerotic Plaques Determined by LA-ICP-MS and SR-μXRF Imaging

Purpose: Contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has the potential to replace angiographic evaluation of atherosclerosis. While studies have investigated contrast agent (CA) uptake in atherosclerotic plaques, exact CA spatial distribution on a microscale is elusive. The purpose of this study was to investigate the microdistribution of gadolinium (Gd)- and iron (Fe) oxide-based CA in atherosclerotic plaques of New Zealand White rabbits. Procedures: The study was performed as a post hoc analysis of archived tissue specimens obtained in a previous in vivo MRI study conducted to investigate signal changes induced by very small superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (VSOP) and Gd-BOPTA. For analytical discrimination from endogenous Fe, VSOP were doped with europium (Eu) resulting in Eu-VSOP. Formalin-fixed arterial specimens were cut into 5-μm serial sections and analyzed by immunohistochemistry (IHC: Movat’s pentachrome, von Kossa, and Alcian blue (pH 1.0) staining, anti-smooth muscle cell actin (anti-SMA), and anti-rabbit macrophage (anti-RAM-11) immunostaining) and elemental microscopy with laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) and synchrotron radiation μX-ray fluorescence (SR-μXRF) spectroscopy. Elemental distribution maps of Fe, Eu, Gd, sulfur (S), phosphorus (P), and calcium (Ca) were investigated. Results: IHC characterized atherosclerotic plaque pathomorphology. Elemental microscopy showed S distribution to match the anatomy of arterial vessel wall layers, while P distribution corresponded well with cellular areas. LA-ICP-MS revealed Gd and Fe with a limit of detection of ~ 0.1 nmol/g and ~ 100 nmol/g, respectively. Eu-positive signal identified VSOP presence in the vessel wall and allowed the comparison of Eu-VSOP and endogenous Fe distribution in tissue sections. Extracellular matrix material correlated with Eu signal intensity, Fe concentration, and maximum Gd concentration. Eu-VSOP were confined to endothelium in early lesions but accumulated in cellular areas in advanced plaques. Gd distribution was homogeneous in healthy arteries but inhomogeneous in early and advanced plaques. SR-μXRF scans at 0.5 μm resolution revealed Gd hotspots with increased P and Ca concentrations at the intimomedial interface, and a size distribution ranging from a few micrometers to submicrometers. Conclusions: Eu-VSOP and Gd have distinct spatial distributions in atherosclerotic plaques. While Eu-VSOP distribution is more cell-associated and might be used to monitor atherosclerotic plaque progression, Gd distribution indicates arterial calcification and might help in characterizing plaque vulnerability