Newly released data on life expectancy across the U.S. shows that where we live matters for how long we live. A person in the U.S. can expect to live an average of 78.8 years, according to the most recent numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Researchers have created an interactive, map-based tool—the Opportunity Atlas—that can trace the root of people’s outcomes, such as poverty or incarceration, to the neighborhoods in which they grew up.
- By Rob Nicholls
Few things are more annoying than spending a large sum of money on a purchase, only to discover that someone else got the same thing for a lower price. This often happens with airfares. You go the same website, search the same airline, choose the same seat row and fare conditions, but you’re offered a different price depending on when and where you do it. Why?
Yale economist William Nordhaus has devoted his life’s work to understanding the costs of climate change and advocating the use of a carbon tax to curb global warming.
For millions of American women – both those who’ve survived assault and those who have experienced workplace harassment – seeing a man on the path to promotion despite allegations of harassment is jarring yet painfully familiar.
In the early days of industrial capitalism there were no protections for workers, and industrialists took their profits with little heed to anyone else.
There is currently a grand consensus of academics, policymakers and food campaign groups that “something must be done” to reduce food wastage. Malnutrition is real, but so too is the obesity crisis. But when everyone agrees, you can afford to be a little sceptical. Because food is about much more than just calories and nutrients...
- By Stephen Bell
In the last decade or more, economic growth has slowed across the Western world, although a belated though weak recovery has been under way since around 2017.
Racial wealth inequality was an important factor contributing to the riots in many American cities in the 1960s, but a half-century later, the issue has gotten short shrift, researchers report.
- By Kara Gavin
When low-income Michigan residents enrolled in an expanded Medicaid program, many got more than just coverage for their health needs—they also got a boost to their wallets, according to a new study.
Buried deep in a note towards the end of a recent bulletin published by the British government’s statistical agency was a startling revelation.
Sanctions are often readily called for, and assumed to be simply applied, when a country is deemed to have violated international law or behaved egregiously.
Ending world hunger is a central aspiration of modern society. To address this challenge – along with expanding agricultural land and intensifying crop yields – we rely on global agricultural trade to meet the nutritional demands of a growing world population.
Australia as a nation has never been richer. But it is now also more unequal than at any time since the early 1980s. This inequality takes many forms, not least between suburbs and neighbourhoods. And our research suggests the few celebrated examples of famous Australians who emerged from disadvantaged neighbourhoods are the exceptions to the rule for children who grow up in them.
Though the flooding from Hurricane Florence is predicted to be unprecedented, residents of the coastal North Carolina towns threatened by the storm surge know what it’s like to take on water. Some homes in these areas have been repeatedly flooded — and repeatedly bailed out by federal flood insurance.
- By Geoff Meen
House prices in London fell by 0.6% in June, according to the UK’s official statistics body, the ONS. It might not sound like much but follows years in which prices grew by an annual average 7.5% between the end of 2009 and the end of 2017.
- By Meg Holden
Vancouver residents felt a sting to their sense of urban pride when they saw the news that their city had lost to Calgary in a ranking of the world’s best cities by The Economist magazine. The magazine creates the index for their professional, globetrotting demographic.
Most recently, New Zealand announced that its 2019 budget will report on how national spending impacts on well-being. City authorities are developing “smart” approaches to measuring happiness, mobilising an ever increasing array of mobile apps and behavioural data that aim to sense, map and explain our daily happiness. For example, the Smart Dubai Office launched their Smart Happiness Index earlier in 2018, which promises to assess the performance of their city managers based on happiness gain per funds spent.
- By Sophie Mitra
GDP – or gross domestic product – is the rate at which the total value of goods and services produced in the U.S. grew. Together with unemployment and inflation, it usually receives a lot of attention as an indicator of economic performance in the U.S.
- By James Devitt
American workers’ occupational status reflects that of their parents more than previously known, a new study shows.
The findings reaffirm more starkly that the lack of social mobility in the United States is in large part due to the occupation of our parents.
Many Americans deeply believe that people should pull themselves up by their bootstraps. After all, individual responsibility is a core American value. Too much emphasis on an individual’s responsibility, however, may result in overlooking the societal and historically causes that keep racial minorities such as blacks at an economic and health disadvantage.
Scholars of international political economy, such as myself, recognize that trade hasn’t always been good for poorer Americans. However, the economic fundamentals are clear: Tariffs make things worse. Tariffs are a tax on imports. As taxes go up, so do the prices of foreign goods. Unfortunately, protecting a few narrow industries can generate much broader costs. Not least, consumers now have to pay more for everyday goods.
A college education has many funders. Federal and state governments provide support, as do the institutions of higher education themselves. And then, of course, there is the money paid by the students’ families. Improving access will require additional support from one or more of these sources.