Understanding How Inequality in the Distribution of Income Affects Health

Research on the determinants of health has almost exclusively focused on the individual but it seems clear we cannot understand or improve patterns of population health without engaging structural determinants at the societal level. This article traces the development of research on income distribution and health to the most recent epidemiologic studies from the USA that show how income inequality is related to age-adjusted mortality within the 50 States. (r 520.62, p 5 0.0001) even after accounting for absolute levels of income. We discuss potential material, psychological, social and behavioral pathways through which income distribution might be linked to health status. Distributional aspects of the economy are important determinants of health and may well provide one of the most pertinent indicators of overall social well-being.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/66686/2/10.1177_135910539700200303.pd

Fathers and maternal risk for physical child abuse

This study set out to examine father-related factors predicting maternal physical child abuse risk in a national birth cohort of 1,480 families. In-home and phone interviews were conducted with mothers when index children were 3 years old. Predictor variables included the mother--father relationship status; father demographic, economic, and psychosocial variables; and key background factors. Outcome variables included both observed and self-reported proxies of maternal physical child abuse risk. At the bivariate level, mothers married to fathers were at lower risk for most indicators of maternal physical child abuse. However, after accounting for specific fathering factors and controlling for background variables, multivariate analyses indicated that marriage washed out as a protective factor, and on two of three indicators was linked with greater maternal physical abuse risk. Regarding fathering factors linked with risk, fathers' higher educational attainment and their positive involvement with their children most discernibly predicted lower maternal physical child abuse risk. Fathers' economic factors played no observable role in mothers' risk for physical child maltreatment. Such multivariate findings suggest that marriage per se does not appear to be a protective factor for maternal physical child abuse and rather it may serve as a proxy for other father-related protective factors.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/106175/1/2009-Guterman-Lee-Lee-etal.-CM.pd

Computational modeling of city formation

Although a burst of recent research in economics has examined how industries form, a majority of it considers highly simplified models. In this paper, we use computational modeling techniques to expand from traditional, simple, analytically tractable economic models to more complex two dimensional landscapes. Using the basic theories developed in earlier research, we examine what factors cause cities to emerge, including: transportation costs, the percentage of workers in a population, and the elasticity of substitution. These three factors should cause workers and firms to agglomerate, causing cities to emerge out of a scattered population. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2007Computational modeling, City formation, Evolutionary algorithms,

Prizes for basic research: Human capital, economic might and the shadow of history

Global economic trends, Basic research, Human capital, Winner-takes-all, F15, F21, O3, N4,

Dezentralisierung in den EU-Staaten und räumliche Verteilung wirtschaftlicher Aktivitäten

This article deals with the impact of fiscal decentralisation on the spatial distribution of economic activities in EU regions as well as with the effectiveness of the European Union's regional policy aiming at economic and social cohesion among its Member States. After a short discussion on concepts and measurement issues of fiscal decentralization two empirical analyses show that the level of sub-national autonomy, considering primarily decisions on local and regional tax income, tends to reduce the degree of regional production specialization in 200 NUTS2 regions while it enhances the effectiveness of the structural funds in 13 EU Member States. Copyright 2007 die Autoren Journal compilation 2007, Verein für Socialpolitik und Blackwell Publishing Ltd.