scholarly journals THE FERTILITY DECLINE IN THE UNITED STATES: SCHOOLING AND INCOME

2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (6) ◽  
pp. 1584-1612 ◽  
Author(s):  
Casper Worm Hansen ◽  
Peter Sandholt Jensen ◽  
Lars Lønstrup

This study investigates the determinants of the fertility transition in the United States from 1850 to the end of the 20th century. We find a robust negative relation between years of schooling and fertility. The magnitude of our baseline estimate suggests that the rise in schooling accounts for about 60% of the US fertility decline. In contrast, we find no evidence of a robust relation between income per capita and fertility. This pattern corroborates theories stressing the importance of human capital investments in generating a transition from high to low fertility.

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. 3007-3032 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard R. Rushforth ◽  
Benjamin L. Ruddell

Abstract. This paper quantifies and maps a spatially detailed and economically complete blue water footprint for the United States, utilizing the National Water Economy Database version 1.1 (NWED). NWED utilizes multiple mesoscale (county-level) federal data resources from the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), the US Department of Transportation (USDOT), the US Department of Energy (USDOE), and the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to quantify water use, economic trade, and commodity flows to construct this water footprint. Results corroborate previous studies in both the magnitude of the US water footprint (F) and in the observed pattern of virtual water flows. Four virtual water accounting scenarios were developed with minimum (Min), median (Med), and maximum (Max) consumptive use scenarios and a withdrawal-based scenario. The median water footprint (FCUMed) of the US is 181 966 Mm3 (FWithdrawal: 400 844 Mm3; FCUMax: 222 144 Mm3; FCUMin: 61 117 Mm3) and the median per capita water footprint (FCUMed′) of the US is 589 m3 per capita (FWithdrawal′: 1298 m3 per capita; FCUMax′: 720 m3 per capita; FCUMin′: 198 m3 per capita). The US hydroeconomic network is centered on cities. Approximately 58 % of US water consumption is for direct and indirect use by cities. Further, the water footprint of agriculture and livestock is 93 % of the total US blue water footprint, and is dominated by irrigated agriculture in the western US. The water footprint of the industrial, domestic, and power economic sectors is centered on population centers, while the water footprint of the mining sector is highly dependent on the location of mineral resources. Owing to uncertainty in consumptive use coefficients alone, the mesoscale blue water footprint uncertainty ranges from 63 to over 99 % depending on location. Harmonized region-specific, economic-sector-specific consumption coefficients are necessary to reduce water footprint uncertainties and to better understand the human economy's water use impact on the hydrosphere.


2020 ◽  
Vol 80 (2) ◽  
pp. 311-350
Author(s):  
Price V. Fishback

The growth of American governments in the twentieth century included large increases in funds for social insurance and public assistance. Social insurance has increased far more than public assistance, so “rise in the social insurance state” is a far better description of the century than “rise in the welfare state.” The United States has increased total spending in these areas as much or more as have European countries, but the U.S. spending has relied less heavily on government programs. In the U.S. states largely determine the benefits for many of the public assistance and social insurance programs, leading to large variation in the benefits across the country. I develop estimates of these benefits across time and place and compare them to the poverty line, manufacturing earnings and benefits, state per capita incomes in the US, as well as GDP per capita in countries throughout the world.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Özlem Taşseven ◽  
Naci Yılmaz

The main objective of this study is to investigate the short and the long run relationships between bilateral export performance of China to United States using variables such as the real exchange rate of dollar to yuan, the growth of per capita US GDP, the growth of per capita Chinese GDP. The annual data covers the period between 2001 and 2018. The Johansen testing approach to cointegration is performed in the estimation process. The causalities among the variables in the model are determined based on the estimated models. The empirical results reveal that the variables of interest are cointegrated. Real exchange rate has no significant effect on Chinese exports to the US, whereas the growth of per capita US GDP and the growth of per capita GDP of China have positive and significant effects. Our findings suggest that United States should concentrate on the growth of both two countries rather than focusing on the low level of Chinese domestic currency.


Author(s):  
Azad Kabir ◽  
Raeed Kabir ◽  
Jebun Nahar ◽  
Ritesh Sengar

The objective of the study was to evaluate the risk factors associated with lower COVID-19 vaccination rates in the United States. The study evaluated the effect of red-blue political affiliation and the effect of the US state's average educational aptitude score and per capita income on states' vaccination rates. The study found that states with concomitantly lower income along with lower educational aptitude scores are less vaccinated while the states with higher income have higher vaccination rates even among those with lower educational aptitude scores. These findings stayed significant after adjusting for red-blue political affiliation where states with red political affiliation have lower vaccination rates. Further study is needed to evaluate how to stop online misinformation among states with low income and low educational aptitude scores; and whether such an effort will increase overall vaccination rates in the United States.


2016 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 26-39
Author(s):  
V. Varnavskii

The article considers the main trends and factors of US economic growth. Economic and technological reasons for slowdown of US Gross Domestic Product (GDP), GDP per capita and productivity are discussed. The author focuses on the estimates of key macroeconomic indicators published by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Bureau of Labor Statistics and other government agencies for analyzing historical growth and identifying factors contributions. Also, the article discusses points of view on the potential factors for continued economic growth in the future, including the statistics and calculations of the American economists. It is shown that the United States is nowadays facing fundamental problems of productivity, not just a cyclical downturn. A number of disturbing tendencies in the US economy, such as negative trends in both labor productivity and multifactor productivity (MFP) emerged well before the economic and financial crises of 2008 (Great Recession). As the author note, the US has entered into a period of relatively low GDP growth rate in comparison with 1990 – early 2000s. A reduction also occurred in the growth rate of GDP per capita, labor productivity and other indicators. Special attention is addressed to the roles of the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). Since mid-1990 the large-scale investments into the ICT provided a great portion of US economic growth and productivity. However, in the last 10 years the contribution of ICT to productivity growth noticeably reduced from its maximum value in 1995–2004. Nonetheless, it remains sizable and still contributes about one-fifth of the GDP growth and more than 40% of the growth in labor productivity. The author’s general conclusion is that, despite the existing problems in economic growth, United States remains the world’s most productive economy and the largest market for ICT goods and services. This is likely to continue encouraging the nation’s economic growth and productivity, although at a slower pace.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua D. Madera ◽  
Amanda E. Ruffino ◽  
Adriana Feliz ◽  
Kenneth L. McCall ◽  
Brian J. Piper

AbstractBackgroundThe United States (US) opioid epidemic is a persistent and pervasive public health emergency as it continues to claim the lives of Americans through addiction and overdose. There have been sustained efforts to reverse this iatrogenic crisis over the past decade. This study analyzed the changes in prescription opioid distribution for pain and identified regional differences between 2010 and 2019.Methods and FindingsOpioid production data was obtained from the DEA’s annual production quotas. Total opioid production has decreased 41.5% from 2013 (87.6 morphine mg equivalent metric tons) to 2019 (51.3). Opioid distribution from 2010 to 2019 was collected for ten prescription opioids (codeine, fentanyl, hydrocodone, hydromorphone, meperidine, methadone, morphine, oxycodone, oxymorphone, and tapentadol) from the US Drug Enforcement Administration’s Automation of Reports and Consolidated Orders System. Regional variance was expressed as the ratio of the 95th to 5th percentiles of opioid distribution per state, corrected for population. The peak year for all ten prescription opioids was identified, individually, as between 2010 and 2013, except for codeine (2015). There was a 51.96% overall decrease in opioid distribution per capita with the largest decrease in Florida (−61.61%) and smallest in Texas (−18.64%). The largest quantities of opioid distribution were observed in Tennessee (520.70 morphine mg equivalent or MME per person) and Delaware (251.45) in 2011 and 2019. The smallest was Nebraska (153.39) in 2011 and Minnesota (90.49) in 2019. The highest to lowest state ratio of total opioid use, corrected for population, was sizable in 2011 (5.25) and 2019 (2.78). Similarly, the mean 95th/5th ratio was relatively stable in from 2011 (4.78 +0.70) and 2019 (5.64+0.98). The 95th/5th ratio in 2019 was greatest for methadone (10.23) and oxymorphone (10.09) and smallest for morphine (2.20) and fentanyl (2.12). Southern states (e.g MS, TN, AL, AK, DE, and NC) had the highest per capita distribution for eight of the ten opioids in 2019. The strength of the correlation between per capita hydrocodone and codeine, and hydromorphone and codeine increased significantly from 2011 to 2019ConclusionsThis study found a decline in total production and distribution for ten prescription opioids during the last half-decade. However, distribution was non-homogeneous at a state level. Analysis of regional differences revealed a three-fold difference in the 95th:5th percentile ratio between states which was unchanged over the past decade. Future research focused on identifying factors contributing to the observed regional variability could prove valuable to understanding, and potentially remediating, the pronounced disparities in prescription opioid use in the US.


Author(s):  
Evelyn L. Lehrer

This article explores the role of religion in human capital investments and the family in the United States, based on analyses of microlevel data. The economic perspective views an individual's religious affiliation as affecting economic and demographic behavior because the norms and teachings of various faiths influence the perceived benefits and costs of numerous decisions that people make over the life cycle, including choices regarding the pursuit of investments in secular human capital, cohabitation, marriage, divorce, family size, and employment. These decisions are closely interrelated, so when religious teachings directly influence any one of them, all others are indirectly affected. Consistent with existing structures of perceived benefits and costs, several religious groups in the United States exhibit patterns of economic and demographic behavior that differ significantly from those of mainline Protestants. A higher level of religious participation can affect economic and demographic behavior by accentuating the effects of affiliation. The article also examines patterns of non-marital sex and divorce among conservative Protestants and discusses the role of religion in the second demographic transition in the United States.


Author(s):  
Steven Hurst

The United States, Iran and the Bomb provides the first comprehensive analysis of the US-Iranian nuclear relationship from its origins through to the signing of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2015. Starting with the Nixon administration in the 1970s, it analyses the policies of successive US administrations toward the Iranian nuclear programme. Emphasizing the centrality of domestic politics to decision-making on both sides, it offers both an explanation of the evolution of the relationship and a critique of successive US administrations' efforts to halt the Iranian nuclear programme, with neither coercive measures nor inducements effectively applied. The book further argues that factional politics inside Iran played a crucial role in Iranian nuclear decision-making and that American policy tended to reinforce the position of Iranian hardliners and undermine that of those who were prepared to compromise on the nuclear issue. In the final chapter it demonstrates how President Obama's alterations to American strategy, accompanied by shifts in Iranian domestic politics, finally brought about the signing of the JCPOA in 2015.


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