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Presents a study on the impact both of production and transportation from changes in taxation or costs of inputs in the United States paper industry. Background of paper production; Analysis of possible variations in tax policies; Comparison of results from scenario analysis; Discussion and conclusions.

This paper studies substitution between main categories of imported pulp and paper products and between imported and domestic pulp and paper products in the US market. A restricted translog subcost function approach was employed to derive the elasticity of substitution. The results suggest that Canadian pulp and paper products are competitive and have maintained their competitiveness in the US market, and therefore, the challenges faced by the Canadian pulp and paper industry are not because of the loss of its product competitiveness but are due to other reasons such as declining demand for paper products in the United States. It seems that if the Canadian pulp and paper industry wants to retain its dominant position in the world market place, it will have to create global reach and develop new markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective Scanty and controversial information is available on the impact of macroeconomic fluctuations on smoking behaviour. No study has quantified the effects of fiscal crises on smoking prevalence. This study aimed to investigate the effects of the 2007-2008 economic crisis on smoking prevalence and number of smokers in the USA. Methods Using data from the repeated Behavioural Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) surveys in pre-crisis (2005-2007) and post-crisis (2009-2010) periods on a total of 1 981 607 US adults, we separated the expected (after allowance for the demographic growth of the US population, secular smoking prevalence trends and changes in sociodemographic characteristics) from the unexpected (assumed attributable to the economic crisis) changes in the number of smokers across different employment statuses. Results Joinpoint regression analysis revealed no significant changes in smoking prevalence trends over the period 2005-2010. The crisis resulted in an increase in the number of smokers in the US by 0.6 million. This is largely due to an unexpected decrease of 1.7 million smokers among employed and an increase of 2.4 million smokers among unemployed individuals, whose smoking prevalence also remains extremely high in the post-crisis period (32.6%). Conclusions The 2008 financial crisis had a weak effect on smoking prevalence. The pro-cyclical relationship (ie, the crisis results in a lower number of smokers) found among the employed is offset by the counter-cyclical relationship (ie, the crisis results in a higher number of smokers) found among unemployed individuals. Public health interventions should specifically target those in unemployment, particularly in hard times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective We attempted to estimate the excess annual costs that a US private employer may attribute to employing an individual who smokes tobacco as compared to a non-smoking employee. Design Reviewing and synthesising previous literature estimating certain discrete costs associated with smoking employees, we developed a cost estimation approach that approximates the total of such costs for US employers. We examined absenteeism, presenteesim, smoking breaks, healthcare costs and pension benefits for smokers. Results Our best estimate of the annual excess cost to employ a smoker is $5816. This estimate should be taken as a general indicator of the extent of excess costs, not as a predictive point value. Conclusions Employees who smoke impose significant excess costs on private employers. The results of this study may help inform employer decisions about tobacco-related policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors sought to explore the implications of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's establishment of Accountable Care Organizations (ACO). Summit participants, who discussed best practices and issues to be addressed when designing and implementing ACOs. Healthcare leaders from across the country in charge of running, developing, and/or implementing ACOs for health systems. Participants were asked to consider the challenges, benefits, and strategies to ACO implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mortgage foreclosure crisis raises legal questions as important as its economic impact. Questions that were straightforward and uncontroversial a generation ago today threaten the stability of a $13 trillion mortgage market: Who has standing to foreclose? If a foreclosure was done improperly, what is the effect? And what is the proper legal method for transferring mortgages? These questions implicate the clarity of title for property nationwide and pose a too-big-to-fail problem for the courts. The legal confusion stems from the existence of competing systems for establishing title to mortgages and transferring those rights. Historically, mortgage title was established and transferred through the "public demonstration" regimes of UCC Article 3 and land recordation systems. This arrangement worked satisfactorily when mortgages were rarely transferred. Mortgage finance, however, shifted to securitization, which involves repeated bulk transfers of mortgages. To facilitate securitization, deal architects developed alternative "contracting" regimes for mortgage title: UCC Article 9 and MERS, a private mortgage registry. These new regimes reduced the cost of securitization by dispensing with demonstrative formalities, but at the expense of reduced clarity of title, which raised the costs of mortgage enforcement. This trade-off benefitted the securitization industry at the expense of securitization investors because it became apparent only subsequently with the rise in mortgage foreclosures. The harm, however, has not been limited to securitization investors. Clouded mortgage title has significant negative externalities on the economy as a whole. This Article proposes reconciling the competing title systems through an integrated system of note registration and mortgage recordation, with compliance as a prerequisite to foreclosure. Such a system would resolve questions about standing, remove the potential cloud to real-estate title, and facilitate mortgage financing by clarifying property rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What is known about this topic? We discuss a recently published paper that alleges clinicians are causal agents of non-compliant billing of Medicare. What does this paper add? The paper's arguments are partially supported by unreferenced assertions, potential logical fallacies, inaccurate reporting of referenced material and unsubstantiated rhetoric. What are the implications for practitioners? Due to the lack of substantive evidence, it cannot be concluded that clinicians are the causal agents of non-compliant billing of Medicare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Between 1862 and 1878, the view of the United States government towards the nation's money was transformed. Early in the Civil War, the government got into the bank note printing business out of necessity, printing and issuing the first-ever federal currency. Over the following years, debates raged whether the national currency should be printed privately or by the government's bank note printer, the United States Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP). Matters came to a head in 1878 when Congress debated the future of the BEP. That year, in a radical departure from the past, Congress gave the Bureau of Engraving and Printing a monopoly on the production of currency, forever changing the role of the government in the nation's economy. Money, be it in the form of coin or currency, was now the exclusive province of the government – not private banks or bank note companies. This change was the result of a rare consensus between Democrats and Republicans and between the forces of the antimonopoly tradition, Greenbackism, and hard money. For various reasons, they were unanimous in believing that the government, especially Congress, should be in control of those matters affecting the monetary affairs of the country. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

With the development of the market economy, agricultural trade has become more and more significant for the development of the agricultural economy, which has triggered people's further thinking and exploration on the impact of agricultural trade on agricultural carbon emissions. This paper takes the measurement of trade implied carbon as the carbon dioxide emission index under the impact of agricultural trade and analyzes the impact of trade implied carbon and implied carbon balance on carbon emission. Taking the impact of Sino-US agricultural trade as an empirical background, this paper measures the impact of environmental changes in agricultural trade opening on China's agricultural development and its carbon emissions, so as to predict changes in China's regional agricultural carbon emissions performance. After calculation, it is found that the scale of China's exports has decreased by 0.089%, which is lower than the decline of 0.361% in the United States. The trade conflict has a significant impact on China's import and export structure. Under the scenario of mutual tariffs on agricultural products, China's exports to the United States are expected to decrease by 6.28%, while China's imports from the United States decreased by 13.02%. The Sino-US agricultural trade dispute will reduce China's carbon emissions by 0.013% and the United States' carbon emissions by 0.024%, which is related to the negative impact on the economy. Improving the performance of agricultural carbon emissions is not only the need for the green and sustainable development of the agricultural economy but also conducive to improving the international competitiveness of agricultural products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent discussions about the increasing prices of prescription drugs have focused on pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), third-party intermediaries for various types of employers and government purchasers who negotiate drug prices in health plans and thus play a crucial role in determining the amount millions of Americans pay for medications. In this position paper, the American College of Physicians expands on its position paper from 2016 by offering additional recommendations to improve transparency in the PBM industry and highlighting the need for reliable, timely, and relevant information on prescription drug pricing for physicians and patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores an increase in the discussion about extended producer responsibility (EPR) for packaging and printed paper (PPP) in the U.S. It attributes the trend to the effectiveness of EPR in increasing the country's recycling rates. The use of EPR by non-alcoholic beverage company Nestlé Waters North America in its operations is cited. The role of local governments and consumers in the success of the implementation of EPR is also discussed.

The prescription drug market in the United States relies on competition to keep prices reasonable. Although many policies have been implemented to spur competition and decrease costs for patients, these policies may be outdated and should be redesigned and updated to achieve success in the current prescription drug market. In this paper, the American College of Physicians (ACP) proposes that new policies should be implemented to prevent market manipulation, help lower-cost alternatives make it to the market faster, and ensure a robust and competitive market for generic and biosimilar drugs. The ACP believes these changes will have a meaningful effect on patients without shifting costs to other areas of the health care system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Telemedicine-the use of technology to deliver care at a distance-is rapidly growing and can potentially expand access for patients, enhance patient-physician collaboration, improve health outcomes, and reduce medical costs. However, the potential benefits of telemedicine must be measured against the risks and challenges associated with its use, including the absence of the physical examination, variation in state practice and licensing regulations, and issues surrounding the establishment of the patient-physician relationship. This paper offers policy recommendations for the practice and use of telemedicine in primary care and reimbursement policies associated with telemedicine use. The positions put forward by the American College of Physicians highlight a meaningful approach to telemedicine policies and regulations that will have lasting positive effects for patients and physicians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the twenty-first century, voter choice and the broader political debate are within the reach of those that can access and channel the vast streams of user data that are generated online. How digital platforms utilize personal user data to influence the outcome of democratic processes has become a central issue that liberal democracies must confront. The paper explores whether competition law has a role to play when it comes to addressing this intersection of Big Tech, data, and democracy. It first sets out the democratic roots of competition or antitrust law in the United States and the European Union. From these, the paper deduces that competition law cannot remain inactive when it comes to maintaining a democratic society in the face of the abilities of Big Tech to influence democratic processes and outcomes. The paper then goes a step further and asks what role competition law could play in this regard. Should democratic values simply be reflected in the procedural set-up of antitrust law, or is there a role for democratic values in the substantive provisions as well? And if so, does antitrust law's focus on keeping market power in check suffice to fulfill its role in a democratic society, or does this role require the law to specifically target antidemocratic market behavior as anticompetitive harm? In navigating these questions, the paper contributes to the ongoing debate on political antitrust and sets out an ambitious research agenda on how to carry this discussion forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the summer of 1861, the United States embarked on its first widespread use of paper money: the Demand Notes of 1861. Although their convertibility into gold ended at the end of that year, they remained acceptable for tariff payment at a par with gold coin while they were gradually replaced with paper money that did not share this provision, the Greenbacks. We present daily observations of exchange rates between the Notes, Greenbacks, and gold for the extended period during which they simultaneously circulated. These exchange rates substantiate our revisionist notion that the Notes were replaced because the tariff provision prevented them from generating sufficient seigniorage for wartime needs. ( JEL E42, N12, N22) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With its long coastline, vast exclusive economic zone (EEZ), skilled labor force, advanced technology, and one of the largest seafood markets in the world, the United States could be a major marine aquaculture producer of fish, mollusks, crustaceans, and marine algae. Despite all its promise, U.S. marine aquaculture production is tiny relative to its potential. The constraints often cited are lack of social license, an inefficient and uncoordinated permitting system, and the absence of supportive government programs similar to those enjoyed by terrestrial agriculture. National commissions have noted these constraints for more than 30 years. The paper first outlines key policy drivers prompting a reevaluation of US marine aquaculture policy (human health and nutrition, climate change, and market disruptions caused by the coronavirus) and then focuses on three critical policy goals that could contribute to expanding U.S. seafood farming: improve public understanding and acceptance, enhance the efficiency and timeliness of the aquaculture permitting process, and expand economic incentives to foster aquaculture development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International research and collaboration has been a part of the National Cancer Institute's (NCI) mission since its creation in 1937. Early on, efforts were limited to international exchange of information to ensure that US cancer patients could benefit from advances in other countries. As NCI's research grant portfolio grew in the 1950s, it included a modest number of grants to foreign institutions, primarily in the United Kingdom and Europe. In the 1960s, the development of geographic pathology, which aimed to study cancer etiology through variations in cancer incidence and risk factors, led to an increase in NCI-funded international research, including research in low- and middle-income countries. In this paper, we review key international research programs, focusing particularly on the first 50 years of NCI history. The first NCI-led overseas research programs, established in the 1960s in Ghana and Uganda, generated influential research but also struggled with logistical challenges and political instability. The 1971 National Cancer Act was followed by the creation of a number of bilateral agreements with foreign governments, including China, Japan, and Russia, to support cooperation in technology and medicine. Although these agreements were broad without specific scientific goals, they provided an important mechanism for sustained collaborations in specific areas. With the creation of the NCI Center for Global Health in 2011, NCI's global cancer research efforts gained sustained focus. Because the global cancer burden has evolved over time, increasingly impacting low- and middle-income countries, NCI's role in global cancer research remains more important than ever. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The specific information provided in this paper offers a descriptive history regarding the attempts of Southern Methodist University (SMU) to be "modern" through tracing the institution's movement from one playing field to another. Like other southern universities, SMU started football and built an on-campus stadium of concrete and steel believing their legitimacy as an institution could be enhanced through providing football as a product for consumption. However, SMU is unique among many of its contemporaries because soon after building an on-campus facility, it decided to move off campus in the pursuit of greater name recognition and revenue. Collectively, such efforts were recognized as helping to make SMU the "educational surprise of the decade, if not the century," following its opening in 1915. The modernization of SMU football stadia involves construction and renovation of facilities from Armstrong Field (1915) to Gerald J. Ford Stadium (current). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Attempts to answer the question of who should own scientific papers. History of scientific publishing; How electronic communication has effected ways in which results are distributed; The assertion that scientists, administrators, and federal science policymakers must reconsider how results of publicly-funded research are best disseminated; Mentions the United States Copyright Act of 1976; Matching scientific research goals to public policy goals; Articulating the public benefits of research publication.

The United States offers two markedly different subsidy structures for private health insurance. When covered through employer-based plans, employees and their dependents benefit from the exclusion from taxable income of the premiums. Individuals without access to employer coverage may obtain subsidies for Marketplace coverage. This paper seeks to understand how the public subsidies embedded in the privately financed portion of the U.S. healthcare system impact the payments families are required to make under both ESI and Marketplace coverage, and the implications for finance equity. Using the Household Component of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS-HC) and Marketplace premium data, we assess horizontal and vertical equity by calculating public subsidies for and expected family spending under each coverage source and using Lorenz curves and Gini and concentration coefficients. Our study pooled the 2018 and 2019 MEPS-HC to achieve a sample size of 10,593 observations. Our simulations showed a marked horizontal inequity for lower-income families with access to employer coverage who cannot obtain Marketplace subsidies. Relative to both the financing of employer coverage and earlier Marketplace tax credits, the more generous Marketplace premium subsidies, first made available in 2021 under the American Rescue Plan Act, substantially increased the vertical equity of Marketplace financing. While Marketplace subsidies have clearly improved equity within the United States, we conclude with a comparison to other OECD countries highlighting the persistence of inequities in the U.S. stemming from its noteworthy reliance on employer-based private health insurance. • United States uses employer and individual private health insurance coverage. • No recent investigations of horizontal and vertical equity of U.S. private coverage. • Analysis of Gini coefficients and Lorenz curves suggests regressivity. • Public policies including insurance subsidies can reduce inequities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides several announcements as of August 2013, including the Symposium on the Nineteenth-Century Press, the Civil War, and Free Expression's call for papers, the recipients of the Museum of the Confederacy's book award and the Southern Labor Studies Association's financing of the Robert H. Zieger Prize.

In the aftermath of the 2016 presidential election, fewer themes have received more attention from scholars and public commentators than political polarization. However, given the recent focus on tension and conflict in contemporary American society, the present also seems an especially appropriate moment to investigate those fundamental structures that have successfully worked in the opposite direction to bind and stabilize the American polity. The goal of this paper is precisely this task, and to emphasize the centrality of one particular structure that has played such a stabilizing function: the political parties. Parties are often invoked in discussions of political polarization. However, I focus on the significant role of political parties in articulating narratives of affiliation that effectively bind disparate social groups together into cohesive political coalitions, and that encourage popular fidelity to the overarching constitutional system. In doing so, 1 connect recent scholarship on the role of political parties in our constitutional system with a very extensive literature in constitutional law focused on themes of fidelity and popular commitment to the Constitution. This paper seeks to demonstrate four primary points: first, I will identify some core themes of Jacksonian Democratic and Whig party ideology--especially with respect to their views on the economy and the composition of American society. Second, I will illustrate how those themes have remained prominent facets of modern-day Democratic and Republican party ideologies since at least the early 1990s. Third, building upon this prior discussion, l will provide a more systematic mapping of Jacksonian Era concepts onto presentday party politics in Part VI. I will also offer some speculation on how presentday party ideologies may evolve and intersect with some of the most contentious constitutional legal questions confronting the polity, including each party's views on certain individual rights and on the proper role of the federal judiciary. Ultimately, I hope to offer some clarity on how party narratives may evolve from the present context of the Trump presidency. Finally, I will address narratives of party affiliation from a more normative-legal perspective. Specifically, I will articulate and defend the use of a certain type of narrative of constitutional fidelity--rooted in contemporary legal theory and the work of Jack Balkin, but oriented more empathically toward party politics--that may have broad appeal in contemporary American politics: namely, a narrative of redemption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many features of the U.S. political economy arise from the interactions between large political and economic institutions, and yet we know little about the nature of their interactions and the power distribution between these institutions. In this paper, we present a detailed analysis of networks of U.S.‐based organizations, where edges represent three different kinds of relationships, namely owner–owned (ownerships), donor–donee (donations), and service provider–payee (transactions). Our findings suggest that in the ownerships network, the financial organizations form the core, and banking organizations hold strategic locations in the network. In the transactions network, the government organizations and agencies form the core, and defense‐related organizations form the backbone. In contrast, with the donations network, no specific domain of organizations forms either the core or the backbone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic crises can be analyzed as part of the economic cycle and from different theoretical perspectives. The article considers economic crises or recessions, in general, as capitalism's own mechanisms to alleviate its contradictions and restore, at least partially, the previous accumulated imbalances. The period 1970 to 2020 covers eight economic crises, some of which determine changes in the internal structure, economic policy trends and the functioning of the U.S. economy, as the main center of the world economy. The purpose of this paper is to examine the set of economic crises of the last fifty years in a panoramic manner, to evaluate them as part of the process of major economic transformations and associated economic policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multiple chronic conditions (MCC) reduce quality of life and are associated with high per capita health care spending. One potential way to reduce Medicare spending for MCC is to identify counties whose populations have high levels of spending compared to level of disease burden. Using a nationally representative sample of Medicare Fee-for-Service beneficiaries, this paper presents a method to measure the collective burden of several chronic conditions in a population, which the authors have termed the concentration of chronic conditions (CCC). The authors observed a significantly positive linear relationship between the CCC measure and county-level per capita Medicare spending. This area-level measure can be operationalized to identify counties that might benefit from targeted efforts designed to optimally manage and prevent chronic illness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policy Points: Historically, reforms that have increased the duration of job‐protected paid parental leave have improved women's economic outcomes. By targeting the period around childbirth, access to paid parental leave also appears to reduce rates of infant mortality, with breastfeeding representing one potential mechanism. The provision of more generous paid leave entitlements in countries that offer unpaid or short durations of paid leave could help families strike a balance between the competing demands of earning income and attending to personal and family well‐being. Context: Policies legislating paid leave from work for new parents, and to attend to individual and family illness, are common across Organisation for Economic Co‐operation and Development (OECD) countries. However, there exists no comprehensive review of their potential impacts on economic, social, and health outcomes. Methods: We conducted a systematic review of the peer‐reviewed literature on paid leave and socioeconomic and health outcomes. We reviewed 5,538 abstracts and selected 85 published papers on the impact of parental leave policies, 22 papers on the impact of medical leave policies, and 2 papers that evaluated both types of policies. We synthesized the main findings through a narrative description; a meta‐analysis was precluded by heterogeneity in policy attributes, policy changes, outcomes, and study designs. Findings: We were able to draw several conclusions about the impact of parental leave policies. First, extensions in the duration of paid parental leave to between 6 and 12 months were accompanied by attendant increases in leave‐taking and longer durations of leave. Second, there was little evidence that extending the duration of paid leave had negative employment or economic consequences. Third, unpaid leave does not appear to confer the same benefits as paid leave. Fourth, from a population health perspective, increases in paid parental leave were consistently associated with better infant and child health, particularly in terms of lower mortality rates. Fifth, paid paternal leave policies of adequate length and generosity have induced fathers to take additional time off from work following the birth of a child. How medical leave policies for personal or family illness influence health has not been widely studied. Conclusions: There is substantial quasi‐experimental evidence to support expansions in the duration of job‐protected paid parental leave as an instrument for supporting women's labor force participation, safeguarding women's incomes and earnings, and improving child survival. This has implications, in particular, for countries that offer shorter durations of job‐protected paid leave or lack a national paid leave entitlement altogether. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Based on single cross-sectional data, prior research finds evidence of “transportation assimilation” among U.S. immigrants: the length of stay in the U.S. is negatively correlated with public transit use. This paper revisits this question by using repeated cross-sectional data, and examines the trend of transportation assimilation over time. Methods and results: Using 1980, 1990, 2000 1% census and 2010 (1%) American Community Survey, I examine the relationship between the length of stay in the U.S. and public transit ridership among immigrants. I first run regressions separately in four data sets: I regress public transit ridership on the length of stay, controlling for other individual and geographic variables. I then compare the magnitudes of the relationship in four regressions. To study how the rate of transportation assimilation changes over time, I pool the data set and regress public transit ridership on the length of stay and its interactions with year dummies to compare the coefficients across surveys. Results confirm the conclusion of transportation assimilation: as the length of stay in the U.S. increases, an immigrant’s public transit use decreases. However, the repeated cross-section analysis suggests the assimilation rate has been decreasing in the past few decades. Conclusions: This paper finds evidence of transportation assimilation: immigrants become less likely to ride public transit as the length of stay in the U.S. increases. The assimilation rate, however, has been decreasing over time. This paper finds that the rate of public transit ridership among new immigrants upon arrival, the geographic distribution of immigrants, and the changing demographics of the U.S. immigrants play roles in affecting the trend of transportation assimilation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Previous research shows that when changes in national commodity and income tax rates affect labor supply decisions differently, relative rates can be altered to increase welfare. In the U.S., 40 states impose both a sales and income tax; however, the reliance varies widely. This paper uses a computable general equilibrium model to examine tax policy changes in Colorado. The findings suggest that the revenue neutral changes to income and sales tax rates can affect both the level of economic activity and the distribution of income. When labor force participation is highly sensitive to income tax rate changes—which this paper suggests is the case—progressive changes to Colorado's tax policy changes can both reduce inequality and increase output and employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]