This research note describes the growth of the slave population in the United States and develops several new measures of its size and growth, including an estimate of the total number of slaves who ever lived in the United States. Estimates of the number of births and slave imports are provided in ten-year increments between 1619 and 1860 and in one-year increments between 1861 and 1865. The results highlight the importance of natural increase to the rapid growth of the U.S. slave population and indicate that approximately 10 million slaves lived in the United States, where they contributed 410 billion hours of labor. A concluding discussion highlights a few descriptive statistics historians might find useful, including the cumulative number of slaves who lived in the United States by decade and the proportion of slaves who were living at various moments in U.S. history, including shortly after the ratification of the Constitution in 1788 and at the start of the American Civil War in 1861.

Purpose: To identify how child health status differs by mother’s educational attainment for the overall US population and by race/ ethnicity and to assess whether these disparities have changed from 2000 to 2017. Design: Repeated cross-sectional data from the 2000-2017 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). Setting: United States. Participants: Children aged 1 to 17 years from a nationally representative sample of the noninstitutionalized US population (N ¼ 199 427). Measures: Reported child health status, mother’s educational attainment, child’s race/ethnicity, and control variables were measured using the NHIS. Analysis: Using logistic regression models, we assessed the relationship between maternal education and child health. Missing data were imputed. Results: Children whose mothers had less than a high school education (odds ratio [OR] ¼ 3.84, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 3.62-4.07), high school diploma or equivalent (OR ¼ 2.57, 95% CI: 2.44-2.70), or some college (OR ¼ 1.90, 95% CI: 1.80-2.00) had worse reported health status compared to children whose mothers graduated college. These associations were strongest among non-Hispanic white children, with significantly (P < .05) smaller associations observed for non-Hispanic black, Mexican origin, and other Hispanic children. The associations were smaller but persisted with inclusion of controls. From 2000 to 2017, child health disparities slightly narrowed or remained stagnant among white, non-Hispanic black, and other Hispanic children but widened for Mexican origin children (P < .05). Conclusion: Maternal education disparities in child health are wide and have persisted.

This study considers the effects of commercial airports on local economies over the post-World War II period (specifically, 1950–2010). To overcome endogeneity concerns, a pooled synthetic control event study strategy is employed on newly digitized historical aviation data to estimate treatment effects on a variety of employment, population, and wage outcomes. I find that airports have led to, on average, 3.9 percent growth in total employment (and 3.4% growth in population) per decade. Over the 30-year period for which wage and air traffic data are available, earnings per worker increased by 2%, and per-capita personal income increased by 3%, corresponding to growth rates of up to 1.2 percent per decade, respectively.

We must substantially reduce carbon emissions within a short time line, and this rapid decarbonization will cause negative economic and social impacts on workers and communities dependent upon fossil fuel extraction and use. "Just transition" often refers to addressing the needs of those communities, but an equitable transition into a low-carbon future should also take into account environmental justice communities that have suffered from disproportionate exposure to environmental hazards and that could and should benefit from job creation. This Article presents the results of a community-informed research project analyzing the challenges and opportunities of a just transition for environmental justice communities in California. Through interviews, case studies, and original data analysis, a framework for just transition policy development is presented built on four pillars: strong governmental support, dedicated funding streams, diverse and strong coalitions, and economic diversification.

In this paper, I show that the mass migration of relatively skilled workers from a developing region can encourage skill formation in their places of origin. I exploit exogenous variation in South-to-North migration during one of the largest domestic migration events in American history, the Great Migration of four million African Amer-icans (1940-1970). I instrument immigrants' location decision relying on pre-existing settlement patterns, which I establish by matching two decades of census records, and exogenous variation in domestic migration induced by World War II. The Great Migration aided in the decline of a backwards agricultural tenancy system, improved Southern black workers' returns to education, increased the relative proportion of those that held high-skill occupations, and decreased occupational segregation as explained by literacy. Throughout, I provide evidence that these observations are consistent with a canonical model of skills-biased technical change.

Work from home (WFH) becomes the new norm in the COVID-19 pandemic. Whether the WFH norm will fade or accelerate after the stay-at-home mandate ends is unknown. The study builds a theoretical framework based on utility maximization theory subject to a “contagion” agglomeration parameter and argues that WFH is a rational choice for small businesses. We compiled an up-to-date real-time daily and weekly multifaceted data set tracking WFH propensity from March 20 through July 28. Our empirical analysis estimated a variety of fixed-effects panel data models, populationaveraged generalized linear panel-data models with the generalized estimating equation (GEE) approach, and two-level mixed-effects panel-data models. After controlling for the local pandemic, economic, and demographic factors, we find that, (1) after the stay-at-home order ended, WFH rate got higher; (2) small businesses in states with higher WFH rate are more likely to have higher increases in operating revenue, better cash flow and lower chances of temporary closure. Our robust empirics confirm our theory and hypotheses and demonstrate WFH as a potential force that expedited the “creative destruction” into a new efficient work paradigm.

This thesis analyzes the impartiality of the policy effect of Section 2001(a) of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“ACA”). Section 2001(a) amended the Social Security Act expanding Medicaid eligibility to those making up to 138% of the federal poverty line. To do so, this thesis focuses on the population making 100-138% of the federal poverty line and four different groups of states. These groups were non-expansion states (states where Medicaid was never expanded under Section 2001(a) of the ACA), traditional expansion states (states where Medicaid was expanded as intended by Section 2001(a) (i.e. beginning on January 1, 2014)), and two groups of “delayed expansion” states: 2015-expansion states, and 2016 expansion states. The research questions which this paper addresses are: 1. Were certain groups or demographics of the population in the 100-138% of the Federal Poverty Level effected differently by the Medicaid expansion policy of the ACA under Section 2001(a)? 2. Did a state’s temporal decision to expand Medicaid result in a substantial difference between the same demographic in a different group of states? 3. If either of the previous two questions are answered in the affirmative, did certain demographics behave differently across groups with respect to Medicaid participation? I find the legislative action of Section 2001(a) affected no demographic significantly differently than another. I also find that there is no substantial difference in Medicaid adoption between groups depending on expansion date if a state expanded Medicaid. In my findings, there is a puzzling trend occurring in the black and Hispanic demographics in delayed expansion states. These two demographics have decreases in the proportion occurring post-implantation in delayed expansionary environments. It is a puzzling trend I observe only occurs in the delayed expansion groups and only in the black and Hispanic demographics. I offer a specific explanation to why this may happen.

I document a significant decline in the share of entrepreneurs among US households over the last three decades. Most of this decline is accounted for by a drop in the share of entrepreneurs among college graduates. Using a standard entrepreneurial choice model with two skill groups-high-and low-skill individuals-I then argue that the decline is the outcome of two technological forces that increased the returns to high-skill labor: the skill-biased technical change and the decrease in the price of capital. I find that these two forces account for three-quarters of the decline in the share of entrepreneurs.

Unemployment rates for workers 55 and older exceeded those of mid-career workers for the length of the pandemic — the first time since 1973 such an unemployment gap has persisted for six months or longer.Older workers lost jobs faster and returned to work slower than mid-career workers, creating an unemployment gap of 1.1 percentage points between older workers’ sixmonth average unemployment rate of 9.7% and mid-career workers’ rate of 8.6%.

What factors are associated with state government preemption of local government policies? This research asks whether state courts limit local authority in areas in which local preferences differ from the state’s, and whether this is conditioned by the level of autonomy the state grants the local government. Using a newly constructed data set of 404 local governments that had local ordinances challenged in state courts between the years 1996 and 2017, we find that local governments with citizen ideological preferences that differ from the state are less likely to have an ordinance preempted by the courts when the level of local autonomy given by the state is high. Thus, institutions like home rule provide local governments with certain legal protections from challenges to local authority.

Background. By defining what is “normal,” appropriate, expected, and unacceptable, social norms shape human behavior. However, the individual-level mechanisms through which social norms impact population-level trends in health-relevant behaviors are not well understood. Aims. To test the ability of social norms mechanisms to predict changes in population-level drinking patterns. Method. An individual-level model was developed to simulate dynamic normative mechanisms and behavioral rules underlying drinking behavior over time. The model encompassed descriptive and injunctive drinking norms and their impact on frequency and quantity of alcohol use. A microsynthesis initialized in 1979 was used as a demographically representative synthetic U.S. population. Three experiments were performed in order to test the modelled normative mechanisms. Results. Overall, the experiments showed limited influence of normative interventions on population-level alcohol use. An increase in the desire to drink led to the most meaningful changes in the population’s drinking behavior. The findings of the experiments underline the importance of autonomy, that is, the degree to which an individual is susceptible to normative influence. Conclusion. The model was able to predict theoretically plausible changes in drinking patterns at the population level through the impact of social mechanisms. Future applications of the model could be used to plan norms interventions pertaining to alcohol use as well as other health behaviors.

Following its implementation in mid-2012, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals served as both a temporary reprieve from deportation for many undocumented youth in the United States and as a doorway to post-secondary education and careers beyond. However, for DACA recipients and other undocumented individuals living in the majority of U.S. states, cost of attendance and tuition remained a major impediment. This three-part quantitative study engages in a post-DACA analysis of the effect of state tuition equity policies on enrollment of likely undocumented students. Focusing on the period between mid-2012 and end of 2016, the study involves a range of bivariate and multivariate statistical tests to identify and assess differences in enrollment and persistence over time based on multiple publicly accessible government datasets including both individual and institutional data on enrollment and persistence (continued enrollment in subsequent year) in post-secondary (tertiary) education. The subparts of this study analyze enrollment data from individuals and academic institutions in California, Florida, Indiana, Missouri, New Jersey, Texas, and Washington. Overall, the study found statistically significant increases in enrollment in states that changed in-state tuition subsidy policies during the DACA-era,2 but did not find increased likelihood of student persistence in policy change states.

This document describes the definitions and methods behind the Emergency Rental Assistance Priority Index, which is displayed in our “Where to Prioritize Emergency Rental Assistance to Keep Renters in Their Homes” digital feature. The index estimates the level of need in a census tract by measuring the prevalence of low-income renters who are at risk of experiencing housing instability and homelessness. To do this, it examines neighborhood conditions and demographics. The index is intended to reflect the housing instability risk that has resulted from historical and COVID-19 risk factors and is designed to prioritize the distribution of resources among populations in need during the pandemic in a way that promotes equity. We created the index as part of the Framework for an Equitable COVID-19 Homelessness Response, a partnership of leading housing and homelessness organizations formed to provide local homeless and housing assistance systems with guidance on how to use federal funding for an equitable emergency response to and long-term recovery from COVID-19.

Background: Child labour is common in low- and middle-income countries. Although child labour is widespread in Pakistan, no data are available on the health of child labourers. Aims: This study aimed to assess the food security, food intake and nutritional status of child labourers aged 5–14 years working in lower Sindh, Pakistan. Methods: Child labourers aged 5–14 years working in agriculture, manufacturing industry, hotels and restaurants, domestic work and migrant child labourers working in vegetable markets were recruited using a respondent-driven sampling technique. Sociodemographic and nutrition information was obtained by an interviewer questionnaire. The children’s height and weight were measured to assess stunting (height-for-age z scores less than –2) and wasting (weightfor-height z scores less than –2). Results: A total of 634 child labourers were included: 184 worked in agriculture, 120 in industry, 67 in hotels and restaurants, 63 in domestic work and 200 were migrant child labourers. Overall, 15.5% of the children were stunted and 30.0% were wasted. The prevalence of stunting was highest in children working in agriculture (27.2%) and the prevalence of wasting was highest in migrant child workers (35.0%). About half the children (51.1%) were suffering from food insecurity. Food inadequacy was mainly in consumption of vegetables/potatoes (98% of the children had inadequate intake), legumes (97%), fruits (96%), meat/ poultry (95%) and milk/dairy products (82%). Conclusion: The nutritional status and food insecurity of the child labourers of Pakistan are comparable with the general population, highlighting the grave situation of the country with regard to food security.

Introduction: Prescription costs are rising, and many patients with chronic illnesses have difficulty paying for prescriptions. Missing or delaying medication because of financial concerns is common; however, the effects of cost-related nonadherence (CRN) on patient outcomes have not been described. Our objective was to de determine if CRN is associated with higher all-cause and disease specific mortality among patients living with diabetes and cardiovascular disease in a representative sample of US adults. Methods: We ascertained CRN, vital status, and cause of death for 39,571 patients with diabetes, 61,968 patients with cardiovascular disease, and 124,899 patients with hypertension in the 2000 through 2014 releases of the National Health Interview Survey. We used adjusted Cox proportional hazards models to estimate associations between CRN and all-cause mortality and CRN and disease specific mortality. Results: On average, 15% of the sample reported CRN in the year before interview. After adjusting for confounders, CRN was associated with 15% to 22% higher all-cause mortality rates for all conditions (diabetes hazard ratio [HR] = 1.18; 95% CI, 1.1–1.3; cardiovascular disease [CVD] HR = 1.15; 95% CI, 1.1–1.2; hypertension HR = 1.22; 95% CI, 1.2–1.3). Relative to no CRN, CRN was associated with 8% to 18% higher disease-specific mortality rates (diabetes HR = 1.18; 95% CI, 1.0–1.4; CVD HR = 1.09; 95% CI, 1.0–1.2; hypertension HR = 1.08; 95% CI, 0.9–1.3). Conclusion: Relative to full adherence, CRN is associated with higher mortality rates for patients with diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and hypertension, although associations may have weakened since 2011. Policies that increase prescription affordability may decrease mortality for patients experiencing CRN.

There were a record 44.8 million immigrants living in the U.S. in 2018, making up 13.7% of the nation’s population. This represents a more than fourfold increase since 1960, when 9.7 million immigrants lived in the U.S., accounting for 5.4% of the total U.S. population. For facts on Latinos in the United States, see our profile on U.S. Hispanics. For details on our regional grouping of countries, see our “Countries by regional classification” document.

What are the characteristics of workers in jobs likely to be initially affected by broad social distancing and later by narrower policy tailored to jobs with low risk of disease transmission? We use O * NET to construct a measure of the likelihood that jobs can be conducted from home (a variant of Dingel and Neiman, 2020) and a measure of low physical proximity to others at work. We validate the measures by showing how they relate to similar measures constructed using time use data from ATUS. Our main finding is that workers in low-work-from-home or high-physical-proximity jobs are more economically vulnerable across various measures constructed from the CPS and PSID: they are less educated, of lower income, have fewer liquid assets relative to income, and are more likely renters. We further substantiate the measures with behavior during the epidemic. First, we show that MSAs with less pre-virus employment in work-from-home jobs experienced smaller declines in the incidence of 'staying-at-home', as measured using SafeGraph cell phone data. Second, we show that both occupations and types of workers predicted to be employed in low work-from-home jobs experienced greater declines in employment according to the March 2020 CPS. For example, non-college educated workers experienced a 4ppt larger decline in employment relative to those with a college degree.

Background: The Saudi healthcare system is mainly staffed by foreign doctors who constitute about 73% of the total medical workforce. But, the high rate of turnover among these foreigners had deposited an additional unbearable cost and threatens the stability of the provided healthcare services in the country. Objectives: This study was conducted to explore the professional and personal challenges that were experienced by foreign medical doctors while working in one of the major governmental tertiary-care hospitals in Riyadh city. The study also seeks to explore the factors that could influence or motivate their retention. Methods: A qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews was conducted on January 2018. A total of 16 foreign doctors were recruited purposefully using a maximum variation sampling strategy. The interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using thematic analysis technique. Results: Three primary themes have been emerged based on the data analysis: (1) Work-related challenges such as; communication and discrimination challenges. (2) Living-related challenges such as; supportive services and restricted movement challenges. (3) Factor motivating retention such as providing good children education, offering flexible traveling regulations, and providing professional development opportunities. Conclusions: The findings of this study have indicated that there are more important motivators than money for improving the retention of foreign doctors in the country. Several policy actions have been recommended to maintain their essential role. For example; implementing an ethical code to protect them from receiving deceptive hiring information, developing a specialized pocket dictionary to overcome language barriers, embracing “workforce diversity management” techniques to minimize discrimination at institutional level, and finally it is also recommended to include the foreign doctors' family needs and other living related challenges in any future retention strategies.

Prior to the passage of the 17th Amendment, senators were selected by state legislators, a measure designed to remove them from fluctuations of popular whim. By 1913, reformers, having assailed members of the Senate as insular to the changing needs of their constituents, pressed for fundamental, structural reform, including direct popular elections. But few works have assessed the nature of senatorial campaigns under the indirect regime. I research contemporaneous newspaper coverage and personal correspondences of individual senators to better glean their levels of sensitivity to re-election pressures — a significant qualitative contribution to the discourse. And I measure the extent to which a state’s political conditions influenced the tendency for senators to engage in public appeals for popular support. Senatorial elections were already pseudo-democratic before 1913, experiencing an emergent element of popular legitimacy as public sentiment meaningfully informed the process and conduits for public accountability were expanding. In stark contrast to prevailing perceptions, senators were keenly sensitive to electoral pressures. By cultivating popular support, they regularly tried to bolster their positions vis-a-vis powerful party leaders, state legislators, and pivotal decision-makers. But the strategy was risky as well, for a poor showing in the November elections invited intra-party challenges. Ultimately, my dissertation tells a story of how parties adapted to changing conditions to remain politically viable and survive in a new age, granting concessions to the electorate which were designed to promote greater popular participation whilst maintaining overall control over the process. The crusade for reforming the senatorial selection method was conducted on behalf of reformers who sought to redress perceived inequalities and dysfunction in the system. Debates over the balance between democratic self-government and the importance of whom Jonathan Rauch term “the middlemen” continue to percolate, colorizing the dispute within the Democratic Party over the role of superdelegates and efforts to abolish the Electoral College. And my research explores the intersection of democratic reforms and racialized politics with the adoption of the invidious “white primary” in South Carolina and the factors which gave rise to the race-baiting, populist demagogue Benjamin Tillman — the precursor to modern-day populists and illiberal democracies.

This dissertation consists of two empirical studies in public and labor economics. In the first chapter, I estimate the effects of the Child and Dependent Care Credit (CDCC) on paid child care participation and parents’ labor market outcomes. In the second chapter, I estimate the effects of time limits in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program on access to financial resources as proxied by welfare use, labor supply, income, and participation in other safety net programs. I: The Effects of Child Care Subsidies on Paid Child Care Participation and Labor Market Outcomes: Evidence from the Child and Dependent Care Credit The Child and Dependent Care Credit (CDCC), a tax credit based on taxpayers’ income and child care expenses, reduces families’ child care costs. The nonrefundable federal CDCC is available to working families with children younger than 13 years old in all states, and nearly half of states supplement the federal credit with their own child care credits. The Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act expanded the federal CDCC in 2003, and this led to differential increases in CDCC generosity across states and family sizes. I document CDCC eligibility and expenditures over time and across income and demographic groups. Using data from the March Current Population Survey, I find that a 10 percent increase in CDCC benefits increases annual paid child care participation by five percent among households with children younger than 13 years old. I also find that CDCC benefits increase labor supply among married mothers. Increases in labor supply among married mothers with very young children suggest that CDCC benefits may generate long-run earnings gains. II: The Effects of Welfare Time Limits on Access to Financial Resources: Evidence from the 2010s The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996 established the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program within the United States. TANF mandated 60-month lifetime time limits for federal cash assistance dollars. Because states reserve the right to set their own stricter or more generous time limits, the 60-month lifetime limit did not bind in many cases. In recent years, however, several states imposed TANF time limits for the first time or made existing time limits more stringent. Using administrative and survey data, I find that stricter time limits decrease annual TANF participation by 24 percent and annual transfer income by four percent. Consistent with binding TANF work requirements and increases in employment among those on the welfare caseload, stricter time limits tend to decrease employment and earnings among single mothers in states without generous TANF programs at baseline. Decreased TANF generosity diminishes these families’ access to financial resources.