How Work And Living Conditions Can Kill Us (or Keep Us Healthy)

Living and working conditions are the primary causes of good health, and disease and premature death as well. Far more than eating green vegetables and going to the gym more often, living and working conditions have a big impact on health. This has been known in Canada since at least the mid-1850s and any visitor to the Public Health Agency of Canada’s website will find ample documentation of this fact.

The name of an illness can affect the level of care a person receives. Cancer sufferers experiencing fear and uncertainty may have access to cancer care centers.

High student debt levels and low salaries can make it difficult for graduates to get ahead. Even though for-profit colleges get a bad rap for being predatory and leaving students saddled with debt but no degree, a significant number of private nonprofit and public colleges have the same issues.

The past several years have seen increased calls for colleges and universities to demonstrate their value to students, families and taxpayers.

President Donald Trump’s trade policy leaves international economists like me scratching our heads.

Offers of extended warranties are increasingly becoming the norm for TVs and other relatively inexpensive goods.

Societies tend to become more unequal over time, unless there is concerted pushback. A society that fails to invest in its children, to protect its land and water, or to build a future is courting collapse. The process feeds on itself, growing like a cancer...

Following the success of the West Virginia teachers strike earlier this year that led to a 5 percent pay raise, teachers throughout the nation are rising to demand better conditions and better pay.

The VA has long been in crisis. Nevertheless, it has pioneered evidence-based medicine and, overall, gets better outcomes at lower costs than many private health care providers.

What drives people to cooperate with each other? And what characteristics lead a person to do something that will both benefit them, and those around them?

It is understood that childrens’ emotions in school are connected to their learning and academic achievement.

There are many indexes that aim to rank how green cities are. But what does it actually mean for a city to be green or sustainable?

Poverty remains a widespread problem. In the UK, 30% of children are growing up in poverty. More than half of these children are in working households, and poverty is on the rise even for children whose parents work in government-funded jobs.

Each year in the United States, approximately 5 to 7.5 million students in the nation’s K-12 schools miss a month or more of school. That means 150 to 225 million instructional days are lost every school year.

New research strongly suggests the days of high manufacturing employment in the United States, and just about every other country, are over

Children from low-income families who attend a school that offers free breakfasts do better academically in math, science, and reading, report researchers.

Skeptics may wonder, does the gender of the person who represents you in Congress really matter? Currently, only about 20 percent of all members of Congress are women - 22 of the 100 U.S. senators are female, as are 84 of the 435 members of the U.S. House.

Democratic governments regularly supply weapons to what are sometimes called “outlaw states” – oppressive regimes that violate the basic rights of their own citizens, or aggressive regimes that wrongfully threaten the security of outsiders.

On a finite planet, endless economic growth is impossible. There is also plenty of evidence that in the developed world, a continued increase of GDP does not increase happiness.

Republicans continue to use long-debunked myths about the poor as they defend lower taxes for the rich and deep cuts to the social safety net to pay for them.

The U.S. middle class has always had a special mystique. It is the heart of the American dream. A decent income and home, doing better than one’s parents, and retiring in comfort are all hallmarks of a middle-class lifestyle.

Preliminary analysis of a European-wide survey has found young people are more in favour of introducing a universal income than their older peers. 

In his recent presidential address to the American Economic Association, Nobel Laureate Bob Shiller drew attention to the importance of narratives in economics and, particularly, in financial markets.

To improve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nutrition and health we need real community consultation, improved public governance and political will. After years of neglect and a notable absence in last week’s Closing the Gap report, nutrition is finally being recognised as integral to closing the gap on Indigenous disadvantage.

Income inequality is gaining attention. The good news is that we know how to tackle it: tax global wealth, provide a universal basic income, broaden access to quality education and promote decent work.

Republicans in Congress recently released more details of their tax plan, which they say would boost economic growth and lower the burden on middle-income households. They hope to pass a bill into law by Christmas.

The issue of immigration – and whether or not to restrict it – is hotly debated. Promising stricter immigration laws was an important pillar of Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign

Chocolate lovers probably don’t want any new reasons to feel guilty about eating chocolate. But there is growing public awareness of the impact of cocoa on tropical forests, particularly in West Africa, where two-thirds of the world’s cocoa is produced.

The U.S. health care system is the most expensive in the world. So why does it underperform relative to many peer countries by most measures?

I struggle with neoliberalism – as a problematic economic system we might want to change – and as an analytical term people increasingly use to describe that system.

It hardly needs saying, but there are changes afoot in the political economy of the world. Where there is globalisation, there are globalisation protestors. This is nothing new, but it is becoming mainstream.

The latest iPhone is going on pre-sale today for the eye-watering price of around A$1,800 for 256GB (approx $1400 US). But who on earth would pay that, and why is Apple charging so much? The answer comes down to behavioral economics.

A new study out today has found increasing education by 3.6 years – similar to the length of a university undergraduate degree

If you could take a test that would reveal the diseases you and your family might be more likely to get, would you want to do it?

Almost all parties agree that the health care system in the U.S., which is responsible for about 17 percent of our GDP, is badly broken.

So far, policymakers have tried to reduce costs by tinkering with how care is delivered. But focusing on care delivery to save money is like trying to reduce the costs of house fires by focusing on firefighters and fire stations.

Tests that purport to measure your intelligence can be verbal, meaning written, or non-verbal, focusing on abstract reasoning independent of reading and writing skills. 

In 1930, the economist John Maynard Keynes predicted that technological change and productivity improvements would eventually lead to a 15-hour workweek.

Is it too much to expect people to talk calmly and reasonably about tax changes? Yes. Yes, it is too much. The rocket-fuelled fury of the worried taxpayer is a constant feature of tax culture for good reasons.

During the presidential campaign, Donald Trump promised to boost the economy both by cutting taxes and investing more money in infrastructure.

With school starting, parents wonder what they can do to help their children succeed. Almost everyone knows that reading books with young children is important, and it is.

Public support for single-payer health care has been rising in recent months amid failed Republican efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.

In the wake of the devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma, it was reported that up to 80% of home damages were not insured.

Since Hurricane Irma put Florida in its sights, there have been thousands of reports of price gouging on everything from water to gasoline.

Most Americans with jobs work “at-will”: Either party may terminate the arrangement at any time for a good or bad reason or none at all. Employers owe their employees nothing in the relationship and vice versa.

In the 1990s, economists indulged heady hopes that globalisation would raise all boats via unfettered free market activity. 

My work focuses on answering pressing questions about the health of older adults after disasters, such as the one I responded...

Like many experts on American poverty relief, I don’t see why that punitive strategy makes sense.

“A crippling problem.” “A total epidemic.” “A problem like nobody understands.” These are the words President Trump used to describe the opioid epidemic ravaging the country during a White House listening session in March.

Having only a few people with most of the wealth, motivates others. This theory is actually wrong according to research.

Disability is often incorrectly assumed to be rare. However, global estimates suggest than one in seven adults has some form of disability.

Two seemingly unrelated national policy debates are afoot, and we can’t adequately address one unless we address the other.

Ample research indicates that the growing problem of wealth and income inequality could stunt U.S. economic growth and undermine our democracy while stirring political polarization.

Children’s oral vocabulary – their knowledge of the sounds and meanings of words – is strongly positively associated with their reading all the way through school.

The Taylor Report, the UK government’s recent major review of modern work, paid particular attention to the “gig economy”.

An agreement to address migrant and refugee crises worldwide, which the UN General Assembly adopted in September 2016, has been described by many in the United Nations as nothing short of a miracle.

The announcement from Volvo that all of its new models from 2019 will include an element of electric vehicle technology was a PR coup for the Swedish car maker.

India recently tried to reduce the use of cash in its economy by eliminating, overnight, two of its most widely used bills in what was called demonetization.

A number of recent articles in the corporate press around the country highlight the ongoing dilemma the capitalist class faces in dealing with the persistent and rising homelessness problem.

Every year, policymakers across the U.S. make life-changing decisions based on the results of standardized tests. These high-stakes decisions include, but are not limited to, student promotion to the next grade level, student eligibility to participate in advanced coursework, eligibility to graduate high school and teacher tenure.

Farmers are used to looking into the future. Their livelihoods depend on taking a decent guess about everything from the weather to market forces.

As the Senate prepares to modify its version of the health care bill, now is a good time to back up and examine why we as a nation are so divided about providing health care, especially to the poor.

It is easier than ever to buy stuff. You can purchase almost anything on Amazon with a click, and it is only slightly harder to find a place to stay in a foreign city on Airbnb.

The year is 2030. You’re in a business school lecture hall, where just a handful of students are attending a finance class.

Much has been made of the distress and discontent in rural areas during the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Few realize, however, this is also felt through unequal health.

It’s been a busy – and controversial – year for Wonder Woman. In October 2016, the United Nations made a curious appointment: Wonder Woman would be the global organisation’s new Ambassador for Women’s Empowerment

After states suffer significant job losses, college attendance drops among the poorest students of the next generation, a new study suggests.

One in eight Australians will never get Year 12 qualifications. Some, but not all of these people, make up the one in eight Australians who will be disengaged from full-time work, study or training for most of their lives.

The revolution in driverless vehicles will make many jobs obsolete. In the US alone, it is estimated that driverless vehicles will wipe out 4.1m jobs.

The notion of a “job for life” has ceased to exist for most workers in the UK. Companies are shifting the burden of earnings risk to the employee, increasing their use of zero-hours contracts.

Here’s how Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney has tried to justify the Trump administration’s bid to cut or scrap many safety net programs:

There is little doubt that the challenging, turbulent and uncertain times faced by the UK’s university sector in 2016 are set to continue well into 2017

Government spending on the military yields fewer jobs, dollar for dollar, than spending on domestic programs such as health care, energy, infrastructure, and education, according to new a new study.

Wonder Woman is an unsettling superhero. More so than her male counterparts, she resists easy classification: she’s neither an alien or a billionaire – nor has she been exposed to some chemical to obtain her powers.

President Donald Trump recently ordered an air strike on Syria, fueled in part by moral outrage at images of babies being injured and killed by airborne toxins.

Puerto Ricans are searching for solutions to the island’s worst economic and social crisis in a long time.

I was beyond frustrated. I felt extremely hopeless. I believed that I had zero options, despite the fact that I could no longer remain in the same physical or mental state. My bills had piled up so much I was about to get evicted. I had to do something. I got into my uninsured car and drove myself back to the E.R.

Today thousands of empty suburban malls dot the American landscape.

Commentators tend to agree on two main reasons for the rise and presidential victory of Donald Trump.

This is the real-world economy for a living Earth that we must learn to structure and manage to provide a safe space for humanity.

With the passage of the Republicans’ health care act, the House of Representatives seems to be saying that coming up with a plan to insure Americans really wasn’t all that hard after all.

Inequality in America is on the rise. Income gains since the 1980s have been concentrated at the top.

It was not always a crime to enter the United States without authorization.

In 2001, Texas-based energy giant Enron shocked the world by declaring bankruptcy. Thousands of employees lost their jobs, and investors lost billions.

President Donald Trump has directed the United States Department of Education to evaluate whether the federal government has “overstepped its legal authority” in the field of education. This is not a new issue in American politics.

Coca-Cola and Nestlé have recently closed facilities, and Starbucks is bracing for a global shortage of coffee – all due to effects from climate change.

Research shows that the human brain is biased in favour of making safe choices. This is part of the drive behind “securitisation”, where the financial sector turns risky debt into “safe” debt by pooling assets together or carving out the safe bits.

'Declines in absolute mobility have been a systematic, widespread phenomenon throughout the United States since 1940,' the authors of the new study write.

Inequality is the defining social, political and economic phenomenon of our time. Just 1% of the world’s population now holds over 35% of all private wealth

Ruling against 'zero-rating' prevents 'Big Telecom from exploiting data caps to pick and choose winners and losers online'

As a neonatologist, I worry about patients with pulmonary hypertension. This unforgiving disease, sometimes seen after premature birth, can end with sudden death from constricting blood vessels in the lungs.

Donald Trump is proposing a 14.1 percent cut in the I.R.S.’s budget next year. This is incredibly dumb, for four reasons...

Persistently high rates of income or wealth inequality are bad for social cohesion, political inclusion and crime. The evidence for this is overwhelming.

We can be forgiven, especially this time of year, for questioning a decision our predecessors made just over a century ago. In the 1910s, Americans decided to make personal and corporate income taxes a permanent feature of the US economy.

Social scientists have long known that the rich are not exactly model citizens.

Teachers don’t just leave their jobs because of low pay and retirement, new research shows. Their perceptions of a broken education system also contribute.

When my father-in-law struggled in school in a mill town along the Ohio River, his parents suggested that he head across the bridge and work in the steel mill. It was a path that once created stable lives for many Pittsburghers.

You may not be aware that in the NHS there are people with roles that are like doctors and nurses, but they are neither. Depending on your view, these people can be either “super nurses” or “sub-doctors”. But do they work?

Tax day is here once more, and tens of millions of Americans will rush to file their income taxes by this year’s deadline of April 18 (rather than April 15 for a variety of reasons).