The Minimum Wage, Bargaining Power, and the Top Income Share

Much of the argument in support of the minimum wage is its ability to lift workers out of poverty. But the minimum wage also has the potential to influence the relative bargaining power between (non-union) workers and firms and historically this was one of its main purposes. In this paper, we review how the minimum wage can improve workers’ bargaining position. We use a state-level panel data set that exploits differences in the minimum wage at the state level to show that higher minimum wages, along with unionization rates and higher top marginal tax rates, are successful in reducing overall income inequality, mainly by reducing the share of income going to the top 1% of the income distribution

Do Lower Top Marginal Tax Rates Slow the Income Growth of Workers?

Top marginal tax rates are positively correlated with the pretax income growth of the bottom 90 per cent — those who are not subject to the top rates. To explain this correlation, this paper presents and tests a model in which executives can increase firm profitability by (i) increasing the firm\u27s level of technology and (ii) decreasing labor costs. In the model, higher marginal tax rates may reduce pretax inequality by increasing the average income growth of workers. This hypothesis is tested by examining the effect of top marginal tax rates on (unobserved) relative bargaining power between labor and firms and, therefore, on the income growth of workers in the USA. Bargaining power, in both the theoretical and the empirical models, is proxied by private‐sector unionization and use of offshore labor resulting in higher imports

Do we need to rethink guidance on repeated interviews?

Within the legal system, children are frequently interviewed about their experiences more than once, with different information elicited in different interviews. The presumed positive and negative effects of multiple interviewing have generated debate and controversy within the legal system and among researchers. Some commentators emphasise that repeated interviews foster inaccurate recall and are inherently suggestive, whereas others emphasise the benefits of allowing witnesses more than one opportunity to recall information. In this article we briefly review the literature on repeated interviewing before presenting a series of cases highlighting what happens when children are interviewed more than once for various reasons. We conclude that, when interviewers follow internationally recognised best-practice guidelines emphasising open-questions and free memory recall, alleged victims of abuse should be interviewed more than once to ensure that more complete accounts are obtained. Implications for current legal guidelines concerning repeated interviewing are discussed

Going positive: The effects of negative and positive advertising on candidate success and voter turnout

Given the depth of research on negative advertising in campaigns, scholars have wondered why candidates continue to attack their opponents. We build on this research by considering real-world campaign contexts in which candidates are working in competition with each other and have to react to the decisions of the opposing campaign. Our results suggest that it is never efficacious for candidates to run attack ads, but running positive ads can increase a candidate’s margin of victory. These results are conditioned by two factors: candidates must both stay positive and out-advertise their opponent. Second, the effects of positive advertising are strongest in areas where the candidate is losing or winning by a large margin—areas where they might be tempted to not advertise at all

Inequality and the American classroom:: Experiential strategies for teaching social justice

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of a mixed format, experiential course on changes in Honors students’ attitudes about various issues of inequality.  Methodology: Students enrolled in the course (N = 75), taught during the 2016 Presidential election, were asked about their opinions on a variety of inequality topics using a pre-test and post-test survey, with the post-test survey including questions on how perceptions of inequality had changed over the course of the semester.  Findings and implications: Results indicate that some students became more self-aware of their position in society and were less sure that people in general, and they themselves in particular, would be responsible for their own hard work. Importantly, students were less likely to believe that people faced fair and equal opportunities in the labor market and their overall level of support for unions increased during the semester. Most students agreed that the outside speakers, a key component of the course, provided new information on various aspects of inequality and impacted their overall perceptions of inequality. However, students were much less agreed on how they felt both about the future of the country and the future of inequality

The Psychological and Physiological Effects of Music on Athletic Performance

Please view abstract in the attached PDF file

Survivorship support in head and neck cancer: American Head and Neck Society survey

BackgroundThe value of supporting cancer survivors beyond formal treatment has become increasingly recognized among clinicians who care for patients with head and neck cancer.MethodsA survey was developed by the American Head and Neck Society (AHNS) Survivorship Committee and distributed to members of the AHNS electronically.ResultsThe survey was distributed to 1403 AHNS members, with 202 responses (14.4%). Among survivorship topics, respondents were most likely to address detection of recurrence/second primary malignancies (97.5%), dysphagia (93.1%), and thyroid function (90.1%) with their patients; they were least likely to address sleep disturbance/apnea (27.7%) and body and self‐image issues (29.7%.) Less than half provide patients with a written treatment summary (43.1%) or follow‐up care plan (36.9%).ConclusionsThese results highlight the need for improved survivorship care planning and offer an opportunity for the development of educational and survivorship research in head and neck cancer care.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154907/1/hed26066_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154907/2/hed26066.pd

Effectiveness of less than three doses of quadrivalent human papillomavirus vaccine against cervical intraepithelial neoplasia when administered using a standard dose spacing schedule: Observational cohort of young women in Australia

AbstractBackgroundOptimised two-dose human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine schedules are now endorsed for young adolescents by the World Health Organization. Limited data are available about effectiveness of <3 doses using a standard dose schedule.MethodsDeterministic data linkage was undertaken between the Victorian Cervical Cytology Registry and National HPV Vaccination Program Register to determine quadrivalent HPV vaccination status and incidence of cervical pathology among vaccine eligible women (aged 26 years or younger in 2007) screened in Victoria, Australia between April 2007 and December 2011. Proportional hazards regression was used to estimate hazard ratios (HR) adjusted for age, socioeconomic status and area of residence. Women were stratified into those vaccinated before or after first screen.ResultsAny number of doses (1, 2 or 3) were associated with lower rates of high grade and low grade cytology diagnoses as long as doses were given before screening commencement (one dose HR high grade 0.44 (95% CI 0.32–0.59), one dose low grade 0.48 (95% CI 0.40–0.58); two doses HR high grade 0.63 (95% CI 0.50–0.80), HR low grade 0.52 (95% CI 0.44–0.61); three doses HR high grade 0.53 (95% CI 0.47–0.60), HR low grade 0.73 (95% CI 0.68–0.78)). Three doses of vaccine, but not fewer, were associated with reduced risk of high grade histologically confirmed abnormality in this cohort, regardless of whether vaccination occurred before or after screening (HR before 0.71 (95% CI 0.64–0.80), HR after 0.87 (95% CI 0.82–0.93)). Secondary analyses censoring end points occurring within 1, 6, 12, or 24 months of final vaccine dose suggested an increasing effect of partial vaccination courses over time.ConclusionOur data suggest that less than three doses of quadrivalent HPV vaccine provides some protection against cervical intraepithelial neoplasia, even when measured within 5 years in a population including those who were sexually active at the time of vaccination