Gains and Gaps: Changing Inequality in U.S. College Entry and Completion

We describe changes over time in inequality in postsecondary education using nearly seventy years of data from the U.S. Census and the 1979 and 1997 National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth. We find growing gaps between children from high- and low-income families in college entry, persistence, and graduation. Rates of college completion increased by only four percentage points for low-income cohorts born around 1980 relative to cohorts born in the early 1960s, but by 18 percentage points for corresponding cohorts who grew up in high-income families. Among men, inequality in educational attainment has increased slightly since the early 1980s. But among women, inequality in educational attainment has risen sharply, driven by increases in the education of the daughters of high-income parents. Sex differences in educational attainment, which were small or nonexistent thirty years ago, are now substantial, with women outpacing men in every demographic group. The female advantage in educational attainment is largest in the top quartile of the income distribution. These sex differences present a formidable challenge to standard explanations for rising inequality in educational attainment.

Essays on Women’s Economic Advancement in the Twentieth Century United States: Dissertation Summary

The integration of women into formal labor markets was one of the most salient changes of the twentieth century. The female century, in the words of The Economist (1999), witnessed an extraordinary transformation of women\u27s opportunities and outcomes both in and outside the household. My dissertation explores both the causes and consequences of women\u27s moves from home to the labor market in the United States during three episodes of rapid change

Increasing Financial Access to Contraception for Low-Income Americans

Access to contraception is fundamental to reproductive autonomy and economic mobility for parents and their children. Today in the U.S., the cost of contraception severely limits access for those without health insurance. Although the Affordable Care Act eliminated cost-sharing for contraception for those with health insurance, substantial cost-sharing remains for uninsured individuals who seek care through Title X—a national family planning program that offers patient-centered, subsidized contraception and reproductive health services to low-income individuals. I propose two changes to Title X to increase the affordability of contraception for uninsured Americans: (1) make contraceptives free for low-income clients through a change to the guidelines issued by the Office of Population Affairs and Health and Human Services and (2) increase congressional  appropriations for the Title X program to fund this change in guidelines. Similar to the Affordable Care Act's elimination of cost-sharing for contraception for Americans with health insurance, this proposal eliminates cost-sharing requirements for contraception for uninsured, low-income Americans through the Title X program. This policy proposal is supported by highly relevant evidence from a randomized control trial conducted at Title X providers. Eliminating costsharing for contraception through Title X would increase use of preferred contraceptive methods; reduce pregnancies that are mistimed or not desired, including those ending in abortion; and generate substantial enough savings in other government spending that the program would more than pay for itself

"Momma's Got the Pill": How Anthony Comstock and Griswold v. Connecticut Shaped U.S. Childbearing

The 1960s ushered in a new era in U.S. demographic history characterized by significantly lower fertility rates and smaller family sizes. What catalyzed these changes remains a matter of considerable debate. This paper exploits idiosyncratic variation in the language of “Comstock” statutes, enacted in the late 1800s, to quantify the role of the birth control pill in this transition. Almost fifty years after the contraceptive pill appeared on the U.S. market, this analysis provides new evidence that it accelerated the post-1960 decline in marital fertility.

Reexamining the Impact of Family Planning Programs on U.S. Fertility: Evidence from the War on Poverty and the Early Years of Title X

Almost 50 years after domestic U.S. family planning programs began, their effects on childbearing remain controversial. Using the county-level roll-out of these programs from 1964 to 1973, this paper reevaluates their shorter- and longer-term effects on U.S. fertility rates. I find that the introduction of family planning is associated with significant and persistent reductions in fertility driven both by falling completed childbearing and childbearing delay. Although federally-funded family planning accounted for a small portion of the post-baby boom U.S. fertility decline, the estimates imply that they reduced childbearing among poor women by 21 to 29 percent.

Federally funded family planning programs in the United States reduce poverty in childhood and, decades later, in adulthood

The Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive mandate has been one of the most hotly debated segments of the already controversial law, but it is by no means the first time the federal government has become involved in family planning. Johannes Norling, Martha J. Bailey, and Olga Malkova examine how federally funded family planning programs begun in the 1960s and 1970s affected childhood and adult poverty rates. They find that parents’ access to affordable contraception is associated with lower poverty rates for their offspring, both during childhood and later in life

Some Effects of Faculty Status on Supervision in Academic Libraries

published or submitted for publicatio

ABE Teacher\u27s Handbook of Services Available for Adult Learners

Handbook published by the Appalachian Adult Education Center at Morehead State University in 1972 for teachers working with adult learners in Jefferson County, Alabama

Nutrition Intervention to Decrease Symptoms in Patients With Advanced Heart Failure

For a majority of patients with advanced heart failure, there is a need for complementary, non-pharmacologic interventions that could be easily implemented by health care providers to provide palliative care. Three major pathologic pathways underlying heart failure symptoms have been identified: fluid overload, inflammation, and oxidative stress. Prior research has demonstrated that three nutrients-sodium, omega-3 fatty acids, and lycopene-can alter these pathologic pathways. Therefore, the purposes of this study are to test the effects of a 6-month nutrition intervention of dietary sodium reduction combined with supplementation of lycopene and omega-3 fatty acids on heart failure symptoms, health-related quality of life, and time to heart failure rehospitalization or all-cause death. The aims of this double blind-placebo controlled study are (1) to determine the effects of a 6-month nutrition intervention on symptom burden (edema, shortness of air, and fatigue) and health-related quality of life at 3 and 6 months, and time to heart failure rehospitalization or all-cause death over 12 months from baseline; (2) compare dietary sodium intake, inflammation, and markers of oxidative stress between the nutrition intervention group and a placebo group at 3 and 6 months; and (3) compare body weight, serum lycopene, and erythrocyte omega-3 index between the nutrition intervention group and a placebo group at 3 and 6 months. A total of 175 patients with advanced heart failure will be randomized to either the nutrition intervention or placebo group