Over the past four decades, the size of the Mexican-origin population in Nebraska has increased substantially. Mexicans −immigrants and U.S. born− represent by far the largest proportion of the Latino population in Nebraska. This report presents a historical account of the Mexican-origin population growth, outlines some current socio-demographic characteristics by nativity2 , and identifies some socioeconomic trends in the last decade.

There is a gap in existing literature in regards to the role of community in understanding the motivations of Civil War soldiers. Current historiographical studies try to apply the same motivational factors to entire states, armies, or to all Union or Confederate soldiers in general. Some historians even attempt to show that regardless of Union or Confederate, soldiers’ motivations were similar due to a shared American identity. This thesis explores a community in the mountain valleys of present-day Southwest Virginia, which stayed loyal to Richmond and the Confederacy. This case study of Montgomery County illustrates that enlistment motivations varied based on a mixture of internal and external factors distinctive to a soldier’s community; therefore, there cannot be a representative sample of the Confederate Army that covers all the nuances that makes each community unique. Enlistment was both a personal decision and one influenced by the environment. Montgomery County soldiers were the product of their community that included external factors such as slavery, occupation, and class, and internal ideological themes such as honor, masculinity, and patriotism, that compelled them to enlist in the Confederate Army in the first year of the war, April 1861 through April 1862. These men enlisted to protect their status quo when it was convenient for them to leave their home and occupation, and if they had fewer family obligations.

The role of organizations in migration has received less attention than warranted; individual choice has typically been emphasized. As an in-depth illustration, we consider refugee resettlement in the United States, post-World War II, wherein intermediary organizations play(ed) a major role. Central to this system are voluntary agencies (VOLAGs) and community organizations, but secondary migration also is critical. Attention is given to all refugees between 2000 and 2010, and in greater detail to Somalis. The latter provides deeper understanding through state refugee coordinators and case studies of Columbus, Ohio, Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Lewiston, Maine. Aside from process, it is evident that the geography of the foreign-born settlement has been altered. While refugee resettlement and subsequent migration is the example, we broaden that to argue that migration studies have neglected the derived nature of movement via intermediary organizations; directed migrations and/or similar interventions have played a significant, if not dominant, role in population redistribution; and organization-led migration should be considered in terms of general aspects, not simply as discrete case studies

The article considers the project of European Historical Population Samples Network (EHPS-Net) launched in 2011. Its developers have proposed inter- mediate data structure (IDS), which does not limit the possibilities of available national and regional data sets, but allows using their potential in cross-country stud- ies on family history, fertility, mortality and other de- mographic processes. The structure of EHPS-Net, its main activities and the current state of the project are observed. The question of Russian scholars’ participa- tion in the program as well as in the work of the new- ly established European Society of Historical Demog- raphy (ESHD) is discussed.

Objective Questions persist as to which dimensions of child mental health are most associated with parental mental health status and if these associations differ by parental gender. We assessed associations between parental psychological distress and children's mental health. Methods Pooled data from the 2001, 2002, and 2004 National Health Interview Surveys (NHIS), a nationally representative, cross-sectional survey of US children aged 4 to 17 (n = 21,314), were used. Multivariate logistic regression was performed assessing associations between parental psychological distress, measured by the Kessler 6 scale, and the extended-form Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) scales. Results Logistic regression demonstrated associations between parental psychological distress and increased likelihood of child mental health problems. Children aged 4 to 11 were more likely to have mental health problems if they had a psychologically distressed father (odds ratio [OR] 7.5, 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.324.3) or mother (OR 6.7, 95% CI 2.716.7). Children aged 12 to 17 with a psychologically distressed father (OR 4.53, 95% CI 1.1817.47) or mother (OR 3.90, 95% CI 1.3411.37) were also more likely than those without to have mental health problems. In parents of both genders, associations existed between parental psychological distress, and abnormal emotional symptoms in younger children, conduct disorder in older children, and hyperactivity in children of all ages. Conclusions Parental psychological distress appears similarly associated with adverse child mental health outcomes, regardless of parental gender. These findings corroborate limited prior research and demonstrate that associations between child mental health and parental mental illness are similar in magnitude for fathers and mothers.

Recessions lead to short-term job loss, lower levels of happiness and decreasing income levels. There is growing evidence that workers who first join the labour market during economic downturns suffer from poor job matches that have sustained detrimental effect on their wages and career progression. This paper uses a range of US and UK data to document a more disturbing long-run effect of recessions: young people who leave school in the midst of recessions are significantly more likely to lead a life of crime than those graduating into a buoyant labour market. These effects are long lasting substantial.

Only 44 percent of workers in the United States have access to a retirement plan at work.. Except for those workers with defined benefit plans, most middle class U.S. workers will not have adequate retirement income. 55 percent of near-retirees will only have Social Security income at age 65.

Existing literature demonstrates disagreement over the relationship between hate crime and terrorism with some calling them close cousins, whereas others declare them distant relatives. We extend previous research by capturing a middle ground between hate crime and terrorism: extremist hate crime. We conduct negative binomial regressions to examine hate crime by non-extremists, fatal hate crime by far-rightists, and terrorism in U.S. counties (1992-2012). Results show that counties experiencing increases in general hate crime, far-right hate crime, and non-right-wing terrorism see associated increases in far-right hate crime, far-right terrorism, and far-right hate crime, respectively. We conclude that hate crime and terrorism may be more akin to close cousins than distant relatives.

In the 1950s and 1960s there was an unprecedented marriage boom. In the 1970s the marriage boom was followed by a marriage bust. Some argue that both phenomena are cohort effects, while others argue that they are period effects. Using American census micro-data this study estimates an age-period-cohort model of first marriage in 1925-79 to test the major period and cohort theories of the marriage boom and bust. Although there were also cohort influences, the results of this study indicate that the marriage boom was mostly a period effect. More specifically, the hypothesis that the marriage boom was mostly a response to rising wages is shown to be consistent with the data. Unidentified cohort influences, however, account for much of the marriage bust, at least until 1980.

This dissertation explores how migration responds to economic conditions, particularly differences in responsiveness for various segments of the population. After a brief introduction and motivation of my work in Chapter One, Chapter Two estimates the responsiveness of households’ interstate migration to origin state labor market conditions and surrounding state labor market conditions. Each percentage point increase in origin state unemployment insurance claims leads to a 3.2 percent increase in household’s propensity to migrate interstate and each percentage point increase in the unemployment insurance claims rate of surrounding states reduces interstate migration propensity by 5.2 percent. I then examine how this responsiveness varies by demographics and how it has changed over time. I determine that the responsiveness of migration to labor market conditions is weaker for several groups at high poverty risk, including less educated, non- employed and rural households and households with children present. I also show that between the early 1980s and mid 1990s labor market conditions became a smaller factor in household migration decisions, but since then labor market conditions have gained in importance. While Chapter Two examines short-run migration responsiveness, Chapter Three explores the size of the long-run outflow (or inflow) of skilled labor occurring in local areas in response to economic conditions, amenities and other area characteristics. I estimate the extent of this brain gain and brain drain within localities in the United States between the early 1990s and late 2000s, describing both absolute changes (percentage growth in the stock of educated individuals) and relative changes (growth in the share of educated individuals). For each of three measures of brain gain estimated, I show substantially more positive flows of educated individuals towards local areas with strong initial economic conditions. I also show that non-metropolitan areas are more likely to experience all three measures of brain drain. I present evidence that nonmetropolitan areas’ inability to attract and retain educated individuals stems primarily from labor market disparities including the urban-rural wage differential.

Objective To assess risks for acute adverse events and pregnancy complications in pregnant women following monovalent 2009 H1N1 inactivated influenza (MIV) vaccination. Methods Within the Vaccine Safety Datalink, we compared rates of pre-specified medically attended events (MAE) occurring within 42 days of MIV vaccination to those occurring in matched cohorts that at the same gestational age were either unvaccinated or received seasonal trivalent inactivated influenza (TIV) vaccine. Using generalized estimating equation method, with a Poisson distribution and log link, we calculated adjusted incident rate ratios (AIRR). Results Among 9349 women receiving MIV in any trimester, only one MAE occurred 03 days following MIV, an allergic reaction. No cases of GuillainBarr syndrome, Bell's palsy, or transverse myelitis occurred 142 days after MIV. Compared to women receiving TIV and to unvaccinated women, risks for acute MAEs were not increased following MIV for any outcome. Hyperemesis was the most common adverse event in the MIV, TIV, and unvaccinated groups, occurring at a rate of about 4% over a 42-day period in all groups. Over a 42-day window, among all groups, incident gestational diabetes occurred at a rate of 3% and thrombocytopenia occurred at a rate of approximately 0.3%. Among women receiving MIV during pregnancy, increased risks for these and other less common obstetric events were not detected. Conclusion In this large cohort of pregnant women no acute safety signals were identified within 6 weeks of receipt of MIV.

This paper studies the links between housing policies and aggregate energy use in the U.S. I connect two strands of literature on cities–that cities vary in their per capita energy use and in terms of housing supply elasticity–to measure the e↵ects of location choice and housing consump- tion on aggregate energy use. I build a dynamic spatial equilibrium model of U.S. metropolitan areas, accounting for local heterogeneity in housing demand and supply. Importantly, I decompose the supply restrictions into those naturally-occurring and those policy-induced. After matching the model to data on housing prices, construction activity, and building den- sity, I conduct policy simulations to quantify the e↵ect of various housing policies on energy use. Results indicate that removing the federal tax sub- sidy for housing would result in a lower aggregate energy use, as would increasing land use regulations in high energy use locations. The primary channel is reducing the amount of housing consumed per person, and the secondary channel is in reallocating population from ine

We use a newly assembled sample of 1,528 regions from 83 countries to compare the speed of per capita income convergence within and across countries. Regional growth is shaped by similar factors as national growth, such as geography and human capital. Regional convergence rate is about 2 % per year, comparable to that between countries. Regional convergence is faster in richer countries, and countries with better capital markets. A calibration of a neoclassical growth model suggests that significant barriers to factor mobility within countries are needed to account for the evidence.

T he Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) was enacted on March 23, 2010, and has important implications for stroke care. The ACA is a comprehensive reform, although the signature component is the expansion of health insurance primarily by expanding Medicaid eligibility and by providing subsidies for consumers to purchase private insurance in online marketplaces called exchanges. Although many ACA provisions went into effect with its passage or have been phased in during the past several years, the Medicaid expansion and insurance exchanges went into effect more recently in January 2014. In this article, we begin by describing the working-age stroke population. We then discuss the health insurance provisions of the ACA, which largely target the working-age stroke population, and implications for racial/ ethnic and geographic disparities. We then focus on how the ACA may affect stroke prevention, treatment, and postacute care (PAC). We conclude by discussing how health system reform under the ACA could affect patients with stroke. Stroke Among Working-Age Americans Working-age Americans, those aged 19 to 64 years, are experiencing stable or increasing stroke incidence even as overall stroke incidence is decreasing over time. 1,2 Although racial and ethnic stroke disparities are present overall, the largest disparities are found among working-age Americans. 1,2 To provide national estimates of stroke hospitalizations and insurance status among the working-age population, we used data from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample, a nationally representative sample of hospitalizations (for detailed methods, see online-only Data Supplement). In 2010, ≈230 000 or 37% of all stroke hospitalizations were among patients aged <65 years. Of the working-age stroke hospitalizations, 20% were among patients who had Medicaid and 14% were among uninsured. Disparities in stroke hospitalizations and insurance status, particularly among blacks, are striking. First, hospitalizations among the working age are more frequent in blacks (26.5%) than would be expected on the basis of their population representation in the under 65 population (12.5%; Figure 1). 3 Stroke hospitalizations in working-age blacks (10.1% of all stroke hospitalizations) comprise a greater proportion of all stroke hospitalizations than those aged >65 years (8.3% of all stroke hospitalizations), a striking finding given the increase in stroke risk with advancing age. In addition, racial and ethnic minorities comprise 60% of Medicaid hospitalizations and 54% of the uninsured hospitalizations among the working-age population (Figure 2). Among working-age blacks, 17% of stroke hospitalizations are among uninsured individuals and 27% are among Medicaid recipients. These proportions are similar in Hispanics where 18% of stroke hospitalizations are among the uninsured and 30% are among Medicaid recipients. Limitations to the race/ethnic comparisons should be noted given that 4 states or 11% of the hospitalizations do not provide race/ethnic data in the 2010 Nationwide Inpatient Sample and thus were excluded from the race/ethnic analyses. Using data from the 2012 National Health Interview Survey, similar patterns are seen among community-dwelling stroke survivors in the United States (for detailed methods, see online-only Data Supplement). Of the 3.17 million community dwelling adult stroke survivors represented in National Health Interview Survey, 1.29 million (41%) are <65 years of age. Sixty-six percent of working-age stroke survivors are non-Hispanic white, 24% are black, and 10% are Hispanic, whereas 16% are uninsured and 26% are Medicaid recipients. Disability is common among working-age stroke survivors. Fifteen percent of working-age stroke survivors need help with activities of daily living (bathing, dressing, eating, getting around inside their home), and 25% need help with instrumental activities of daily living (everyday household chores, doing necessary business, shopping, or getting around for other purposes). The ACA has important implications for all phases of stroke care, given that a significant proportion of working-age patients with stroke are uninsured at the time of their stroke and a significant proportion of stroke survivors remain uninsured. The online-only Data Supplement is available with this article at http://stroke.ahajournals.org/lookup/suppl/

Using a three-essay approach, I focus on two issues related to the labor market: the effect of changes in regulatory costs on informal sector employment, and the role of endogeneity in the relationship between education and earnings. In the first essay, I analyze the implications of regulatory costs on skill-based wage differences and informal sector employment. I use a two sector matching model with exogenous skill types for workers where firms have sector-specific costs and work- ers have sector-specific bargaining power. In general, there are multiple equilibria pos- sible for this model. I focus on the equilibrium that best resembles the situation in the developing countries of sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asia. My results show that government policies which reduce regulatory costs decrease unemployment, earnings inequality, and the fraction of skilled workers in the informal sector. The different types of regulatory costs affect the skill premium differently and non-monotonically. In the second essay, I test the hypothesis of linearity in returns to education in the Mincer regression with endogenous schooling and earnings. I estimate the marginal rate of return to education using a polynomial model and a semiparametric partial linear model based on the standard Mincer regression. To perform the ana- lysis, I use a control function approach for IV estimation with spousal and parental education as instruments. Results suggest that estimates not accounting for endogen- eity understate returns at the tails of the education spectrum and overstate returns for education levels between middle-school and college. In the third essay, I empirically test the claim of Mookherjee and Ray (2010), based on a theoretical model of skill complexity, that “the return to human capital is endogenously nonconcave.” I estimate the functional form of returns to education for India using a semiparametric partial linear model based on the standard Mincer regression. Marginal returns are estimated to test the nonconcavity of the functional form under both exogenous and endogenous schooling assumptions. My results show that the marginal rate of return declines during primary education and increases until high school, followed by stable returns for college and higher studies. However, the test of robustness of the functional form based on uniform confidence bands fails to reject the presence of nonconcavity in returns to education for India. This lends support to the claim of Mookherjee and Ray (2010).

This study assesses the experience with the WC that was in effect from 2007 to 2013 and suggests elements for a possible redesign that are consistent with the goals of rewarding and stimulating work, reducing hardship, strengthening the tax base and offsetting regressivity. Recommendations for a redesigned WC tax program included in this report are the first step in crafting a tax credit that supports Puerto Rico's working families.

This paper examines the effect of water-borne lead exposure on infant mortality in American cities over the period 1900-1920. Variation across cities in water acidity and the types of service pipes, which together determined the extent of lead exposure, identifies the effects of lead on infant mortality. In 1900, a decline in exposure equivalent to an increase in pH from 6.675 (25th percentile) to 7.3 (50th percentile) in cities with lead-only pipes would have been associated with a decrease in infant mortality of 7 to 33 percent or at least 12 fewer infant deaths per 1,000 live births.

The study is aimed at exploring the relationship between migration, religious affiliation and marriage patterns. Drawing on the examples of three religious groups in the USA, i.e. United Brethren (Moravians), Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) and Unification Church (Moonies) the paper seeks to answer the following questions: What were the consequences of religious migrations for family formation? How did marriage migration fit into religious patterns? What sanctioned options existed for adult migrant not in heterosexual relations? How did religious affiliation interact with national belonging? All groups fell outside the mainstream of religious practice of their day with Utopian visions that related at least somewhat to marriage patterns. All promoted family formation along religious lines and in so doing downplayed other categories of identity such as ethnicity or nationality.