Women and the Economy 2010: 25 Years of Progress But Challenges Remain

[Excerpt] This report, which includes annual data from 1984 through 2009, provides a comprehensive overview of women’s economic progress over the last twenty-five years and highlights the additional work left to be done. The role of women in the American economy is of indisputable importance. The future of the American economy depends on women’s work, both inside and outside the home

Addressing Long-Term Unemployment After The Great Recession: The Crucial Role Of Workforce Training

[Excerpt] With almost five unemployed workers for every job opening, the economy is not yet creating enough jobs to make a significant reduction in unemployment. Yet employers report that they are having difficulty finding skilled workers for key positions, despite the high ratio of unemployed workers to job openings. Helping workers build new skills and search more effectively for positions that are a good match for their skillset can help to address the mismatch. But to address the high rate of long-term unemployment, this report finds that policymakers will need to simultaneously spur job creation while also investing in education and training programs that can prepare workers for new employment opportunities

Understanding the Economy: Long-Term Unemployment in the African American Community

[Excerpt] This report provides an in-­‐depth look at unemployment, including long-­‐term unemployment, among African American or black workers. Since 1972, when the Bureau of Labor Statistics started tracking unemployment rates by race, it has become clear that the overall unemployment rate for the United States has masked the depth of the unemployment problem within the African American community. This report is the first in a series of Joint Economic Committee reports examining the unemployment situation among different demographic groups. It shows that while African American workers have historically faced rates of unemployment and long-­‐term unemployment higher than the overall rate, the unemployment problems in the African American community were exacerbated during the Great Recession. Additionally, a larger percentage of African Americans are currently marginally attached or have dropped out of the work force, relative to the population as a whole. Understanding the employment challenges facing the African American community is just one important part of the process of devising effective policies to reduce unemployment for workers in all demographic groups. Longer durations of unemployment and higher unemployment rates could be symptomatic of a mismatch between skills and available jobs and may require more targeted policy actions to correct. Unemployment among teenagers is especially troubling, as economists have found that spells of unemployment among youth may lead to lower future wages and poorer career trajectories. Thus, in addition to reducing the unemployment rate, policymakers must also consider ways of limiting the long-­‐term impact of the recession on workers who have been unemployed for extended periods of time to make sure that these workers can move into employment

Comprehensive Health Care Reform: An Essential Prescription for Women

[Excerpt] The status-quo health insurance system is serving women poorly. An estimated 64 million women lack adequate health insurance. Over half of all medical bankruptcies impact a woman. For too many women and their families today, quality, affordable health care is out of reach. Women are more vulnerable to high health care costs than men. Several factors explain why. First, women’s health needs differ from men’s, so women are obliged to interact more regularly with the health care system – regardless of whether they have adequate insurance coverage or not. Second, women are more likely to be economically vulnerable and therefore face devastating consequences when faced with a mounting pile of medical bills. The inability of the current system to adequately serve women’s health care needs has come at great expense. One recent study estimates that women’s chronic disease conditions cost hundreds of billions of dollars every year. The following brief provides an overview of the basic facts regarding women’s insurance cov-erage, and the consequences of our broken health insurance system on women’s health – both physical and financial. Specifically: &#; Over one million women have lost their health insurance due to a spouse’s job loss during the current economic downturn. &#; As a consequence of single mothers’ job loss, the Joint Economic Committee estimates that at least 276,000 children have lost health insurance coverage. &#; Women between the ages of 55 and 64 are particularly vulnerable to losing their health insurance benefits because of their husbands’ transition from employer-sponsored coverage to Medicare. &#; Younger women are particularly vulnerable to lacking adequate health insur-ance coverage. &#; 39 percent of all low-income women lack health insurance coverage &#; The health consequences of inadequate coverage are more severe for women than for men. &#; While the financial burden of inadequate health insurance coverage weighs heavily on all Americans, uninsured and under-insured women suffer more se-vere economic consequences than do men. The comprehensive health care reform proposals offered by the Obama Administration and currently taking shape under the leadership of Democrats in the House and Senate include numerous provisions that are critical to providing quality, affordable health care for all Americans, both women and men. Many of these solutions are a key part of the prescription for easing the burden on America’s women, for whom the status quo health care system is a failure.Joint_Economic_Committee_Prescription_for_Women.pdf: 111 downloads, before Oct. 1, 2020

Counter-intelligence in a command economy

This article provides the first thick description of the counter-intelligence function in a command economy of the Soviet type. Based on documentation from Soviet Lithuania, the article considers the KGB (secret police) as a market regulator, commissioned to prevent the disclosure of secret government business and forestall the disruption of government plans. Where market regulation in open societies is commonly intended to improve market transparency, competition, and fair treatment of consumers and employees, KGB regulation was designed to enforce secrecy, monopoly, and discrimination. One consequence of KGB regulation of the labour market may have been adverse selection for talent. Here it is argued that the Soviet economy was designed to minimize costs

EFSA CEF Penal (EFSA Panel on Food Contact Materials, Enzymes, Flavourings and Processing Aids), 2014. Scientific Opinion on Flavouring Group Evaluation 212, Revision 2 (FGE.212Rev2): α,β-Unsaturated alicyclic ketones and precursors from chemical subgroup 2.6 of FGE.19

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The Dark Side of Transfer Pricing: Its Role in Tax Avoidance and Wealth Retentiveness

In conventional accounting literature, ?transfer pricing? is portrayed as a technique for optimal allocation of costs and revenues amongst divisions, subsidiaries and joint ventures within a group of related entities. Such representations of transfer pricing simultaneously acknowledge and occlude how it is deeply implicated in processes of wealth retentiveness that enable companies to avoid taxes and facilitate the flight of capital. A purely technical conception of transfer pricing calculations abstracts them from the politico-economic contexts of their development and use. The context is the modern corporation in an era of globalized trade and its relationship to state tax authorities, shareholders and other possible stakeholders. Transfer pricing practices are responsive to opportunities for determining values in ways that are consequential for enhancing private gains, and thereby contributing to relative social impoverishment, by avoiding the payment of public taxes. Evidence is provided by examining some of the transfer prices practices used by corporations to avoid taxes in developing and developed economies

A systematic review, evidence synthesis and meta-analysis of quantitative and qualitative studies evaluating the clinical effectiveness, the cost-effectiveness, safety and acceptability of interventions to prevent postnatal depression

Background: Postnatal depression (PND) is a major depressive disorder in the year following childbirth, which impacts on women, their infants and their families. A range of interventions has been developed to prevent PND. Objectives: To (1) evaluate the clinical effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, acceptability and safety of antenatal and postnatal interventions for pregnant and postnatal women to prevent PND; (2) apply rigorous methods of systematic reviewing of quantitative and qualitative studies, evidence synthesis and decision-analytic modelling to evaluate the preventive impact on women, their infants and their families; and (3) estimate cost-effectiveness. Data sources: We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, Science Citation Index and other databases (from inception to July 2013) in December 2012, and we were updated by electronic alerts until July 2013. Review methods: Two reviewers independently screened titles and abstracts with consensus agreement. We undertook quality assessment. All universal, selective and indicated preventive interventions for pregnant women and women in the first 6 postnatal weeks were included. All outcomes were included, focusing on the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), diagnostic instruments and infant outcomes. The quantitative evidence was synthesised using network meta-analyses (NMAs). A mathematical model was constructed to explore the cost-effectiveness of interventions contained within the NMA for EPDS values. Results: From 3072 records identified, 122 papers (86 trials) were included in the quantitative review. From 2152 records, 56 papers (44 studies) were included in the qualitative review. The results were inconclusive. The most beneficial interventions appeared to be midwifery redesigned postnatal care [as shown by the mean 12-month EPDS score difference of –1.43 (95% credible interval –4.00 to 1.36)], person-centred approach (PCA)-based and cognitive–behavioural therapy (CBT)-based intervention (universal), interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT)-based intervention and education on preparing for parenting (selective), promoting parent–infant interaction, peer support, IPT-based intervention and PCA-based and CBT-based intervention (indicated). Women valued seeing the same health worker, the involvement of partners and access to several visits from a midwife or health visitor trained in person-centred or cognitive–behavioural approaches. The most cost-effective interventions were estimated to be midwifery redesigned postnatal care (universal), PCA-based intervention (indicated) and IPT-based intervention in the sensitivity analysis (indicated), although there was considerable uncertainty. Expected value of partial perfect information (EVPPI) for efficacy data was in excess of £150M for each population. Given the EVPPI values, future trials assessing the relative efficacies of promising interventions appears to represent value for money. Limitations: In the NMAs, some trials were omitted because they could not be connected to the main network of evidence or did not provide EPDS scores. This may have introduced reporting or selection bias. No adjustment was made for the lack of quality of some trials. Although we appraised a very large number of studies, much of the evidence was inconclusive. Conclusions: Interventions warrant replication within randomised controlled trials (RCTs). Several interventions appear to be cost-effective relative to usual care, but this is subject to considerable uncertainty. Future work recommendations: Several interventions appear to be cost-effective relative to usual care, but this is subject to considerable uncertainty. Future research conducting RCTs to establish which interventions are most clinically effective and cost-effective should be considered