An economic evaluation of salt reduction policies to reduce coronary heart disease in England: a policy modeling study

AbstractObjectivesDietary salt intake has been causally linked to high blood pressure and increased risk of cardiovascular events. Cardiovascular disease causes approximately 35% of total UK deaths, at an estimated annual cost of £30 billion. The World Health Organization and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence have recommended a reduction in the intake of salt in people's diets. This study evaluated the cost-effectiveness of four population health policies to reduce dietary salt intake on an English population to prevent coronary heart disease (CHD).MethodsThe validated IMPACT CHD model was used to quantify and compare four policies: 1) Change4Life health promotion campaign, 2) front-of-pack traffic light labeling to display salt content, 3) Food Standards Agency working with the food industry to reduce salt (voluntary), and 4) mandatory reformulation to reduce salt in processed foods. The effectiveness of these policies in reducing salt intake, and hence blood pressure, was determined by systematic literature review. The model calculated the reduction in mortality associated with each policy, quantified as life-years gained over 10 years. Policy costs were calculated using evidence from published sources. Health care costs for specific CHD patient groups were estimated. Costs were compared against a “do nothing” baseline.ResultsAll policies resulted in a life-year gain over the baseline. Change4life and labeling each gained approximately 1960 life-years, voluntary reformulation 14,560 life-years, and mandatory reformulation 19,320 life-years. Each policy appeared cost saving, with mandatory reformulation offering the largest cost saving, more than £660 million.ConclusionsAll policies to reduce dietary salt intake could gain life-years and reduce health care expenditure on coronary heart disease

A Soft Law Mechanism for Sovereign Debt Restructuring Based on the UN Principles

The ultimate goal of sovereign debt restructuring is to restore the sustainability of public debt with high probability. But this is not happening. Since 1970, more than half of the restructuring episodes with private creditors were followed by another restructuring or default within five years — evidence inconsistent with any sensible definition of »restoration of sustainability of public debt with a high probability.« This evidence suggests that relief for distressed debtors is often insufficient for achieving the main goal of a restructuring, delaying the recovery from recessions or depressions, with large negative social consequences. The United Nations General Assembly approved in September 2015 nine principles that should guide sovereign debt restructuring processes. The UN has laid out steps in the right direction. Although in the short term the creation of a multinational statutory framework for debt crises resolution does not seem to be feasible, the UN principles provide a valuable basis for the next stages of the process. This article analyzes the usefulness of those principles. Section 2 discusses how the principles could help in improving the resolution of sovereign debt crises. Section 3 explores a possible way forward along the lines of an incremental approach

Creating a Framework for Sovereign Debt Restructuring that Works

Recent controversies surrounding sovereign debt restructurings show the weaknesses of the current market-based system in achieving efficient and fair solutions to sovereign debt crises. This article reviews the existing problems and proposes solutions. It argues that improvements in the language of contracts, although beneficial, cannot provide a comprehensive, efficient, and equitable solution to the problems faced in restructurings–but there are improvements within the contractual approach that should be implemented. Ultimately, the contractual approach must be complemented by a multinational legal framework that facilitates restructurings based on principles of efficiency and equity. Given the current geopolitical constraints, in the short-run we advocate the implementation of a “soft law” approach, built on the recognition of the limitations of the private contractual approach and on a set of principles – most importantly, the restoration of sovereign immunity – over which there may be consensus. We suggest that in a context of political economy tensions it should be impossible for a government to sign away the sovereign immunity either for itself or successor governments. The framework could be implemented through the United Nations, or it could prompt the creation of a new institution

The Education System in Mexico

Over the last three decades, a significant amount of research has sought to relate educational institutions, policies, practices and reforms to social structures and agencies. A number of models have been developed that have become the basis for attempting to understand the complex relation between education and society. At the same time, national and international bodies tasked with improving educational performances seem to be writing in a void, in that there is no rigorous theory guiding their work, and their documents exhibit few references to groups, institutions and forces that can impede or promote their programmes and projects. As a result, the recommendations these bodies provide to their clients display little to no comprehension of how and under what conditions the recommendations can be put into effect. The Education System in Mexico directly addresses this problem. By combining abstract insights with the practicalities of educational reforms, policies, practices and their social antecedents, it offers a long overdue reflection of the history, effects and significance of the Mexican educational system, as well as presenting a more cogent understanding of the relationship between educational institutions and social forces in Mexico and around the world

An Analysis of Puerto Rico’s Debt Relief Needs to Restore Debt Sustainability

Puerto Rico’s economy has been suffering a recession for more than a decade. The recession has led to a debt and economic crisis. The lack of opportunities has resulted in migration outflows that affect the lives of thousands of families and leave a higher burden on those who stay. Overall, the current macroeconomic dynamics is destabilizing the lives of nearly 3.5 million U.S. citizens in Puerto Rico. Reversing this dynamic requires appropriate macroeconomic and debt policies. The collapse of economic activity has made the full payment of public debt unfeasible. Our study’s main goal is to offer insights for designing a plan of action for resolving Puerto Rico’s current debt crisis. The design of a restructuring proposal must note that the relationship between debt restructuring and fiscal policies exhibits bi-directional causality. On one hand, absent macroeconomic policies that expand the aggregate demand, Puerto Rico will not recover; and if the economy does not recover, Puerto Rico will not be able to pay its creditors without imposing severe damages on its nearly 3.5 million residents. On the opposite direction of causality, a larger debt reduction would imply that the territory would have more resources for expansionary macroeconomic policies, making the recovery more feasible and full repayment of the restructured debt more likely. Our contribution is thus twofold. First, we examine the macroeconomic implications of Puerto Rico’s Fiscal Plan that has been approved for fiscal years 2017-18 to 2026-27, as it is a crucial element for a computation of Puerto Rico’s debt restructuring needs. Second, we perform a Debt Sustainability Analysis (DSA) that incorporates the expected macroeconomic dynamics implied by the Fiscal Plan in order to compute Puerto Rico’s restructuring needs

Introduction

This is an introduction to "Too Little, Too Late: The Quest to Resolve Sovereign Debt Crisis". Sovereign debt crises are becoming, once again, frequent. In some cases, the costs to the citizens of those countries facing such crises have been enormous. Deficiencies in the mechanisms for resolving such crises cast a pallor over countries that are not yet in a crisis but worry that they might become so; and indeed, the high costs and uncertainties associated with debt restructuring dampen cross-border capital flows and force especially developing countries and emerging markets to pay higher interest rates than might be the case if there were better ways of resolving these debt problems.There have been several important academic studies addressing various aspects of frameworks for sovereign debt restructuring and the advantages and disadvantages of these mechanisms relative to the private contractual approach. In light of the recent events and progress in our understanding of the issues, these studies need to be updated. This book fills in this gap by providing a collection of essays from top academic economists, lawyers, and practitioners in the field, providing guidance on the most critical questions. (Many of these ideas were presented as part of an ongoing series of conferences held at Columbia University on frameworks for sovereign debt restructuring.

Wheelchair Tire Change

This project consists of a rear wheel wheelchair lift to be designed and created by a Cal Poly senior project team. This project was created for injured veteran Ms. Landeen who has the trouble of tracking mud into her house because of dirty wheelchair tires. The project was presented by the non-profit organization The Quality of Life Plus (QL+) Program. Much like when you remove your shoes coming into your home, Ms. Landeen needs a way to exchange her outdoor wheels for her clean indoor wheels. The expected outcome of this project is a fully functioning device that will safely and effectively allow Ms. Landeen to independently change her tires. The following report details the problem given, background research on current products, initial analysis to define the problem, the ideation process performed by the team, concept and prototype designs, design iteration, manufacturing, design verification, and testing of the final design prototype

Análisis del alivio de deuda necesario para restaurar la sostenibilidad de la deuda de Puerto Rico

La economía de puerto rico ha estado en recesión durante más de una década. Esta recesión ha producido una crisis de deuda y económica en Lgeneral. La falta de oportunidades ha redundado en flujos migratorios que afectan la vida de miles de familias y hacen la carga más pesada para los que se quedan. En general, la dinámica macroeconómica actual está desestabilizando la vida de unos 3.5 millones de ciudadanos estadounidenses en Puerto Rico. Contrarrestar esta dinámica requiere políticas adecuadas, tanto macroeconómicas como para el manejo de la deuda.El colapso de la actividad económica ha hecho inviable el pago completo de la deuda pública. La meta principal de nuestro estudio es ofrecer una perspectiva para desarrollar un plan de acción con vistas a resolver la actual crisis de la deuda de Puerto Rico. El diseño de una propuesta de reestructuración debe tener en cuenta que la relación entre la reestructuración de la deuda y las políticas fiscales implica una causalidad bidireccional. Por un lado, sin políticas macroeconómicas que expandan la demanda agregada, Puerto Rico no se recuperará, y si la economía no se recupera, Puerto Rico no podrá pagar a sus acreedores sin imponer daños graves a sus casi 3.5 millones de residentes. En la dirección causal opuesta, una mayor reducción de la deuda implicaría que el territorio contaría con más recursos para políticas macroeconómicas expansivas, con lo cual se haría más viable la recuperación y más probable el pago completo de la deuda reestructurada.Nuestro estudio realiza principalmente dos contribuciones. En primer lugar, examinamos las implicaciones macroeconómicas del Plan Fiscal de Puerto Rico que ha sido aprobado para los años fiscales desde 2017-18 hasta 2026-27, ya que es un elemento crucial en el cómputo de las necesidades de reestructuración de la deuda de Puerto Rico. En segundo lugar, presentamos un Análisis de Sostenibilidad de la Deuda (ASD) donde se incorpora la dinámica macroeconómica esperada que implicaría la implementación del Plan Fiscal a fin de computar las necesidades de reestructuración de Puerto Rico.Fil: Gluzmann, Pablo Alfredo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas. Departamento de Ciencias Económicas. Centro de Estudios Distributivos Laborales y Sociales; ArgentinaFil: Guzman, Martin Maximiliano. Columbia University; Estados Unidos. Universidad de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Stiglitz, Joseph E.. Columbia University; Estados Unido