3,541 research outputs found
The Welfare of Children During the Great Depression
This paper examines the impact of New Deal relief programs on demographic outcomes in major U.S. cities during the 1930s. A five-equation structural model is estimated that tests the effect of the relief spending on infant mortality, non-infant mortality, and fertility. For 111 cities for which data on relief spending during the 1930s were available, we collected annual data that matched the relief spending to the demographic variables, socioeconomic descriptions of the cities, and retail sales, which serve as a proxy for the level of economic activity. Relief spending directly lowered infant mortality rates to the degree that changes in relief spending can explain nearly one-third of the decline in infant mortality during the 1930s. Relief spending also raised general fertility rates. Our estimates suggest that the cost of saving an infant life during this period ranged from $2 to 4.5 million dollars (measured in year 2000 dollars). This range is similar to that found in modern studies of the effect of Medicaid and is within the range of market values of human life.
Births, Deaths, and New Deal Relief during the Great Depression
This paper examines the impact of New Deal relief programs on infant mortality, noninfant mortality and general fertility rates in major U.S. cities between 1929 and 1940. We estimate the effects using a variety of specifications and techniques for a panel of 114 cities for which data on relief spending during the 1930s were available. The significant rise in relief spending during the New Deal contributed to reductions in infant mortality, suicide rates, and some other causes of death, while contributing to increases in the general fertility rate. Estimates of the relationship between economic activity and death rates suggest that many types of death rates were pro-cyclical, similar to Ruhm's (2000) findings for the modern U.S.. Estimates of the relief costs associated with saving a life (adjusted for inflation) are similar to estimates found in studies of modern social insurance programs.
A Model Ground State of Polyampholytes
The ground state of randomly charged polyampholytes is conjectured to have a
structure similar to a necklace, made of weakly charged parts of the chain,
compacting into globules, connected by highly charged stretched `strings'. We
suggest a specific structure, within the necklace model, where all the neutral
parts of the chain compact into globules: The longest neutral segment compacts
into a globule; in the remaining part of the chain, the longest neutral segment
(the 2nd longest neutral segment) compacts into a globule, then the 3rd, and so
on. We investigate the size distributions of the longest neutral segments in
random charge sequences, using analytical and Monte Carlo methods. We show that
the length of the n-th longest neutral segment in a sequence of N monomers is
proportional to N/(n^2), while the mean number of neutral segments increases as
sqrt(N). The polyampholyte in the ground state within our model is found to
have an average linear size proportional to sqrt(N), and an average surface
area proportional to N^(2/3).Comment: 8 two-column pages. 5 eps figures. RevTex. Submitted to Phys. Rev.
MUBs inequivalence and affine planes
There are fairly large families of unitarily inequivalent complete sets of
N+1 mutually unbiased bases (MUBs) in C^N for various prime powers N. The
number of such sets is not bounded above by any polynomial as a function of N.
While it is standard that there is a superficial similarity between complete
sets of MUBs and finite affine planes, there is an intimate relationship
between these large families and affine planes. This note briefly summarizes
"old" results that do not appear to be well-known concerning known families of
complete sets of MUBs and their associated planes.Comment: This is the version of this paper appearing in J. Mathematical
Physics 53, 032204 (2012) except for format changes due to the journal's
style policie
Entropy of Folding of the Triangular Lattice
The problem of counting the different ways of folding the planar triangular
lattice is shown to be equivalent to that of counting the possible 3-colorings
of its bonds, a dual version of the 3-coloring problem of the hexagonal lattice
solved by Baxter. The folding entropy Log q per triangle is thus given by
Baxter's formula q=sqrt(3)(Gamma[1/3])^(3/2)/2pi =1.2087...Comment: 9 pages, harvmac, epsf, uuencoded, 5 figures included, Saclay
preprint T/9401
Folding of the Triangular Lattice with Quenched Random Bending Rigidity
We study the problem of folding of the regular triangular lattice in the
presence of a quenched random bending rigidity + or - K and a magnetic field h
(conjugate to the local normal vectors to the triangles). The randomness in the
bending energy can be understood as arising from a prior marking of the lattice
with quenched creases on which folds are favored. We consider three types of
quenched randomness: (1) a ``physical'' randomness where the creases arise from
some prior random folding; (2) a Mattis-like randomness where creases are
domain walls of some quenched spin system; (3) an Edwards-Anderson-like
randomness where the bending energy is + or - K at random independently on each
bond. The corresponding (K,h) phase diagrams are determined in the hexagon
approximation of the cluster variation method. Depending on the type of
randomness, the system shows essentially different behaviors.Comment: uses harvmac (l), epsf, 17 figs included, uuencoded, tar compresse
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