Education Has Been Dumbed Down in Tax Reform

With promises of “Make America Great Again” and tax reform for “middle-class” Americans, the current federal government administration has implied that the average American would become more prosperous under this tax system. It is no surprise that most middle-class Americans view a college education as a requirement for achieving a better life. However, under the TCJA, education has not fared well, and in reality, students from many low-and moderate-income families will face reduced scholarships from elite schools, thereby reducing diversity on these campuses. Other proposed changes to education in the original tax bill, which were later removed, are also addressed as future legislative changes may revisit them

How Business Cycles Affect the Healthcare Sector: A Cross-country Investigation

The long-term relationship between the general economy and healthcare expenditures has been extensively researched, to explain differences in healthcare spending between countries, but the midterm (i.e., business cycle) perspective has been overlooked. This study explores business cycle sensitivity in both public and private parts of the healthcare sector across 32 countries. Responses to the business cycle vary notably, both across spending sources and across countries. Whereas in some countries, consumers and/or governments cut back, in others, private and/or public healthcare buyers tend to spend more. We also assess long-term consequences of business cycle sensitivity and show that public cost cutting during economic downturns deflates the mortality rates, whereas private cut backs increase the long-term growth in total healthcare expenditures. Finally, multiple factors help explain variability in cyclical sensitivity. Private cost cuts during economic downturns are smaller in countries with a predominantly publicly funded healthcare system and more preventive public activities. Public cut backs during contractions are smaller in countries that rely more on tax-based resources rather than social health insurances

Purchasing power parity for developing and developed countries: what can we learn from non-stationary panel data models?

The aim of this paper is to apply recently developed panel cointegration techniques proposed by Pedroni (1999, 2004) and generalized by Banerjee and Carrion-i-Silvestre (2006) to examine the robustness of the PPP concept for a sample of 80 developed and developing countries. We find that strong PPP is verified for OECD countries and weak PPP for MENA countries. However in African, Asian, Latin American and Central and Eastern European countries, PPP does not seem relevant to characterize the long-run behavior of the real exchange rate. Further investigations indicate that the nature of the exchange rate regime doesn't condition the validity of PPP which is more easily accepted in countries with high than low inflation

The Condensation Line of Air and the Heats of Vaporization of Oxygen and Nitrogen

The condensation pressure of air was determined over the range of temperature from 60 to 85 K. The experimental results were slightly higher than the calculated values based on the ideal solution law. Heat of vaporization of oxygen was determined at four temperatures ranging from about 68 to 91 K and of nitrogen similarly at four temperatures ranging from 62 to 78 K

Instrument Qualification of Custom Fabricated Water Activity Meter for Hot Cell Use

This report describes a custom fabricated water activity meter and the results of the qualification of this meter as described in the laboratory test plan LAB-PLN-11-00012, Testing and Validation of an Enhanced Acquisition and Control System. It was calibrated against several NaOH solutions of varying concentrations to quantify the accuracy and precision of the instrument at 20 °C and 60 °C. Also, a schematic and parts list of the equipment used to make the water activity meter will be presented in this report

Financial Development and Economic Activity in Advanced and Developing Open Economies: Evidence from Panel Cointegration.

YesThis study considers the effects of financial development on output in a panel cointegration framework, focusing on the implications of trade and financial openness. Our analysis indicates that after controlling for cross-sectional dependence, the typical relationship between finance and output does not hold in the long run. This relationship, however, is re-established once we account for economic openness. While trade openness emerges as more important for developing countries, financial openness is more important for advanced economies. In the long run, causality runs from financial development to output in the advanced economies, while in developing economies causality is bidirectional. There is no short-run causality between financial development and output, however

Testing the Stability of a Production Function with Urbanization as a Shift Factor: An Application of Non-Stationary Panel Data Techniques

Urban economists have long sought to explain the relationship between urbanization levels and output. In this paper we revisit this question and test the long-run stability of a production function with urbanization using non-stationary panel data techniques. Our results show that a long-run relationship between urbanization output per worker and capital per worker cannot be rejected for either our sample of 30 developing countries or our sample of 22 developed countries. In addition, we estimate the long-run average effects on GDPW of urbanization and capital. These results offer newer insights and potential for dynamic urban models than the simple cross-section approach

Presente de grego: como neonazistas e gregos antigos se encontraram em Charlottesville

Meses após os violentos protestos de extrema-direita contra a remoção de símbolos e estátuas associados aos estados Confederados e à escravidão, ocorridos em Charlotesville em agosto de 2017. Já em 2022, a exemplo de Bufallo, ocorreram pelo menos sete diferentes tiroteios em massa em diversas partes dos EUA onde vê-se o mesmo padrão: jovens brancos de classe média alegando defender os valores, hoje sob ameaça, de um passado greco-latino romantizado e distorcido – distorções que continuam ganhando força no Brasil. Neste artigo, Denise McCoskey analisa como a branquitude e a pureza racial vieram a ser associadas à antiguidade clássica e como, porém, os gregos e os romanos tratavam sua cultura e seu passado de formas bem mais complexas

A Review and Forecast of the Onondaga County Economy

The purpose of this paper is to review the economy of Onondaga County and to offer a forecast of its future until the year 2035. This information will be used in forming a plan to improve the quality of Onondaga Lake. Understanding the past and the forecastable future is crucial to the formation of this plan and to anyone with a stake in the county’s future economic growth. To create this review and forecast, we used the REMI model, a multi-equation model of a local or regional economy and is a tool that is widely used in studies of this kind