Total student loan debt rose to over $800 billion in June 2010, overtaking total credit card debt outstanding for the first time. By the time this article sees print, the continually updated Student Loan Debt Clock (at 〈http://www.finaid.org/loans/studentloandebtclock.phtml〉) will show an accumulated total of roughly $1 trillion. New federal student loans for higher education amounted to $97 billion in 2009–2010: $66.8 billion to undergraduates and $31 billion to graduate students. Borrowing to finance educational expenditures has been increasing—more than quadrupling in real dollars since the early 1990s— as shown in Figure 1. The sheer magnitude of these figures has led to increased public commentary on the level of student borrowing.

Introduction: Acute leukemias (AL) have a distinct incidence pattern in Hispanics versus Caucasians, with higher rates of B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL), and lower rates of non-APL acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Despite the fact that incidence differentials between foreign- and native-born populations can inform the relative contributions of environmental and genetic factors in cancer etiology, no such investigation has been undertaken in Hispanics with AL. Methods: To better understand heritable genetic versus environmental contributors to occurrence patterns, we assessed AL incidence in a large population of California Hispanics according to birthplace. Cancer incidence data were obtained from the California Cancer Registry, part of the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program. Patients were included if they were living in California and diagnosed between 2000–2009 with AL. Population estimates were obtained from the 2000 Census Summary Files 3, and estimates by nativity were derived from the 20% Integrated Public-Use Microdata Sample of the censuses. Results: Compared to Caucasians, Hispanics had an increased incidence of B-cell ALL and APL, with incidence rate ratios (IRR) of 2.13 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.93–2.35) and 1.33 (95% CI 1.12–1.57), respectively. There was no difference in B-cell ALL incidence by nativity, with an IRR for foreign- to native-born Hispanics of 1.07 (95% CI 0.85–1.34). However, foreign-born Hispanics had a greater incidence of APL than native-born Hispanics (IRR 1.79, 95% CI 1.11–2.94). Conclusions: Our findings suggest the increased B-cell ALL incidence for foreign-born Hispanics is influenced by heritable genetic factors. Furthermore, the increased incidence of APL for foreign-born Hispanics may result from environmental exposures currently not described and which require further epidemiologic investigation.

Introduction: Health care needs of pregnant women are met by a variety of clinicians in a changing policy and practice environment. This study documents recent trends in types of clinicians providing care to pregnant women in the United States.Methods: We used a repeat cross-sectional design and data from the Integrated Health Interview Series (2000-2009), a nationally representative data set, for respondents who reported being pregnant at the time of the survey (N = 3204). Using longitudinal logistic regression models, we analyzed changes over time in pregnant women's reported use of care from 1) obstetrician-gynecologists; 2) midwives, nurse practitioners (NPs), or physician assistants (PAs); or 3) both an obstetrician-gynecologist and a midwife, NP, or PA.Results: The percentage of pregnant women who reported seeing an obstetrician-gynecologist (87%) remained steady from 2000 through 2009. After controlling for demographic and clinical variables, the percentage who reported receiving care from a midwife, NP, or PA increased 4% annually (yearly adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 1.04; P < .001), indicating a cumulative increase of 48% over the decade. The percentage of pregnant women who received care from both an obstetrician-gynecologist and a midwife, NP, or PA also increased (AOR 1.027; P < .001), for a cumulative increase of 30%.Discussion: The increasing role of midwives, NPs, and PAs in the provision of maternity care suggests changes in the perinatal workforce and practice models that may promote collaborative care and quality improvement. However, better data collection is required to gather detailed information on specific provider types, these trends, and their implications.

Using a general equilibrium model with endogenous sorting of workers into occupations based on comparative advantage, this paper derives the effects of routine-biased technical change on occupational transition patterns and wage changes of individual workers. These predictions are then tested using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) from 1976 to 2007. Consistent with the predictions of the model, occupational mobility patterns of routine workers show strong evidence of selection on ability. Workers of relatively high (low) ability are more likely to switch to non-routine cognitive (non-routine manual) occupations. Also consistent with the predictions of the model, there has been a significant increase over time in the relative wage premium in non-routine occupations. Workers staying in routine jobs therefore perform significantly worse in terms of wage growth than workers in any other type of occupation. Over long run horizons, switchers from routine to non-routine jobs also experience significantly faster wage growth than those who remain in the routine occupations.

BackgroundSurvey data indicate that individuals with disabilities in the United States often experience less advantageous economic and social resources than individuals without disabilities. Furthermore, they often reside with other individuals with disabilities in the same household. However, less is known about resource availability when multiple child and adult household members have a disability.ObjectiveWe use child-level data from the 2000 Census to examine the relationship between aggregation of disability in households with children and education, labor force participation, poverty level, and inadequate housing.MethodsWe utilize tabular analysis and KruskalWallis tests to examine how resources in education, employment, income, and housing adequacy compare for children with disabilities who are the only member of their household with a disability, children with disabilities who live in a household with at least one other member with a disability, children without disabilities who live in a household where no other member has a disability, and children without disabilities who live in a household where at least one other member has a disability.ResultsAmong children without a disability, 86% live in a household in which no other member has a disability. Among children with a disability, 53% live in a household in which no other adult or child has a disability. Poverty, inadequate housing, and low adult education were more than two times more likely and adult unemployment over five times more likely in households with multiple members with disability versus households without disability.ConclusionThere is a high prevalence of aggregation of adults and children with disability in households of children with disability. These households have substantially fewer resources than households who do not have children or adults with disabilities.

The objective of this study is to estimate Hispanic/non-Hispanic (nH)-white health disparities and assess the extent to which disparities can be explained by immigrant status and household primary language. The 2007 National Survey of Childrens Health was funded by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, and conducted by Centers for Disease Control and Preventions National Center for Health Statistics as a module of the State and Local Area Integrated Telephone Survey. We calculated disparities for various health indicators between Hispanic and nH-white children, and used logistic regression to adjust them for socio-economic and demographic characteristics,primary language spoken in the household, and the childs immigrant status. Controlling for language and immigrant status greatly reduces health disparities, although it does not completely eliminate all disparities showing poorer outcomes for Hispanic children. English-speaking and nonimmigrant Hispanic children are more similar to nH-white children than are Hispanic children in non-English speaking households or immigrant children. Hispanic/nH-white health disparities among children are largely driven by that portion of the Hispanic population that is either newly-arrived to this country or does not speak primarily English in the household.

Nearly three decades of research into the so-called Hispanic/Latino Paradox has failed to generate a convincing explanation for this ervasive epidemiological phenomenon (Markides and Eschbach 2005). Despite having lower levels of material wealth and fewer years of education than non-Hispanic whites in the United States, most Hispanic groups exhibit lower death rates at most adult ages (Markides and Coreil 1986; Sorlie et al. 1993; Hummer et al. 2000; Abraido-Lanza et al. 1999; Elo, Turra, et al. 2004). The National Center for Health Statistics released the first ever Hispanic life tables in 2010, showing a substantial survival advantage relative to non-Hispanic whites (Arias 2010). While a mortality advantage has been observed among many different Hispanic subgroups (Hummer et al. 1999, 2000), the specific reasons for the advantage remain unclear in the literature. Some recent research suggests that health behaviors are essential to understanding the overperformance of Hispanics with respect to health and longevity. Singh and Siahpush (2002) show that Hispanics have substantially lower mortality than non-Hispanic whites from cancers and respiratory diseases, which are commonly associated with smoking. They also find lower reported smoking prevalence among Hispanics. Abraido-Lanza et al. (2005) likewise find that Hispanics have a generally better behavioral profile than non-Hispanic whites. Blue and Fenelon (2011) directly calculate the burden of cigarette smoking among Hispanics and non-Hispanics whites using three indirect estimation techniques, they find that a majority of the longevity advantage of Hispanics compared with non-Hispanic whites can be attributed to lower mortality from smoking among Hispanics.However, the Hispanic mortality advantage is not a characteristic of all Hispanics. First, foreign-born Hispanics exhibit a large advantage, while US-born Hispanics show a health and mortality profile more similar to non-Hispanic whites (Palloni and Arias 2004). Second, Hispanics have the largest advantage at the lowest levels of education (Turra and Goldman 2007). College educated Hispanics and non-Hispanic whites have very similar health performance. Ostensibly this is because whites have a rather steep educational gradient in mortality while Hispanics, especially immigrants have a relatively flat gradient (Goldman et al. 2006). The proximate reasons for this ethnic difference in gradient steepness are not yet identified. Since the size of the Hispanic mortality advantage varies widely by education, any explanation should be able to account for this educational pattern. In this paper, I examine the contribution of smoking to the educational pattern in Hispanic and non-Hispanic white mortality. I use a large, nationally-representative survey to calculate smoking attributable-risk for three population subgroups in the United States: non-Hispanic whites, Mexican-Americans, and all other Hispanics.

This article has two purposes. First, it explores the ideas of vulnerability, precariousness, and resilience as they apply to people, housing, neighborhoods, and metropolitan areas. People might be more vulnerable to shocks or strains,we propose, if they are members of racial/ethnic minorities, recent immigrants, non-high school graduates, are children or over 75 years old, disabled, recentveterans, living in poverty, or living in single-parent households. Housing may be more precarious, we propose, when it is rented, multi-family, manufactured, crowded, or subject to overpayment. The article goes on to document therelationships between potential personal or household vulnerability and potentially precarious housing conditions. Microdata from the 20052007 American Community Survey suggest that an important minority of peoplehave multiple vulnerabilities; these vulnerabilities associate with residence in precarious housing. We suggest that policy be directed toward precarious situations most likely to afflict the most vulnerable populations, especially single-parent households and immigrants.

We study the selection and earnings assimilation of Mexican immigrants in theirtraditional and newer destinations. Our analysis shows that during 2001-2009, recently arrived Mexican men living in the newer destinations were two percentage points more likely to be employed, 10 percentage points (38%) more likely to be working in construction, and had a 4 to 5% higher average wage than recently arrived Mexican men in the traditional destinations. Recently arrived Mexican women were four percentage points more likely to be employed in the newer destinations, but their wages were statistically the same as those of recently arrived Mexican women at the traditional destinations. Longitudinal analysis shows that during the study period the real wage of Mexican immigrants at traditional destinations increased 1-2% a year; wage growth of Mexicans at the newer destinations was mostly statistically insignificant.Mexicans in the traditional destinations also exhibited greater residential stability: internal migration, non-follow up in the longitudinal data and predicted return migration were higher among immigrants at the newer destinations than among immigrants at the traditionaldestinations. Predicted return migration was also found to be selective on past earnings among men, but not among women. For men, a 10 percentage point increase in predicted probability of return migration was associated with a 0.3 to 0.5% lower wage in the year prior to return.

This 28-year retrospective analysis of 19802008 U.S. Census data found increases in Ohios physicians, minority physicians, ages, work hours, and a consistent shortage of physicians in rural underserved areas. Ohio was below the national ratios of physicians per 100,000 people, with less than 6% of physicians in non-metropolitan areas. In 1980, only 13% of physicians were females. By 2008, about 31% of physicians were females. In 1980, less than 21% of physicians were members of an ethnic minority group, and this figure rose to 29% in 2008. The proportion of African American physicians approximately doubled, from less than 3% in 1980 to about 6% in 2008. To ensure the adequate capacity of the future physician workforce, physician demography should approximate the population served. Long-term investment in the rural practice environment is recommended for attracting and retaining rural practice physicians. Increasing the hiring of physician assistants can support the development of an integrated rural primary care workforce.

U.S. teachers have long been neglected in the history of education in spite of their important roles in education. Clifford calls this neglect a “virtual invisibility of teachers.”1 Hence, it is not surprising to encounter immense difficulty in tracing the social class origins of teachers in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This task is of great importance, however, because it allows one to understand the circumstances surrounding the individuals that entered the profession, to speculate on the quality of teaching, and to form an idea about class bias, intentional or not, inculcated by teachers in classrooms. Research on the social class origins has been done for a century, as discussed in the next section. However, most of the research missed the broad picture of the profession. Some attention was paid to students in one college or normal school in one state even if few teachers attained such a high level of education at the time. In fact, a serious attempt was made to collect nationally representative data of teachers, but the data are severely biased. Of course, anecdotal evidence for the origins is scattered . . .

Working-class citizens have been numerically underrepresented in policy making institutions throughout most of America's history. Little is known, however, about the political consequences of this enduring feature of our democratic system. This essay examines the relationship between legislators' class backgrounds and their votes on economic policy in the House of Representatives during the 20th century. Like ordinary Americans, representativesfrom working-class occupations exhibit more liberal economic preferences than other legislators, especially those from profit-oriented professions. These findings provide the first evidence of a link between the descriptive and substantive representation of social classes in the United States.

Reverse mortgages o er holder homeowners, many of whom are \house-rich and cash-poor," enhanced liquidity and insurance against extreme longevity and severe home price declines. That most older homeowners decline to use reverse mortgages (or other mortgage debt) is commonly blamed on high fees and interest rates. Around the recent home price cycle peak, strategic use of the most popular US reverse mortgage HECM line of credit would have generated a positive risk-neutral expected value for owners with plausibly optimistic expectations about price growth and interest rate movements.

We study motivations for the globalization of capital markets by examining the role of geography in the financing of U.S. railroad investment from 1866 to 1913. The selected industry and period provide a natural experiment to study the first globalization wave due to the relative underdevelopment of contemporary U.S. financial markets, the dramatic change in global communication technology, the enormity of capital investment needs, and the unique geography specific nature of railroad assets. We observe an intense level of foreign listing activity in the European markets of Amsterdam, Frankfurt, and London on a scale much larger than that studied in more recent work. We find strong cross-regional variation in foreign listing frequency and its effects. Our evidence suggests that differences in capital constraints have a profound impact on geographic distribution of foreign listing activity.

We examine the labour market experience of the UK and the US in the recessions of the early 1920s and the early 1930s and the subsequent recoveries. These were deep recessions,comparable to that of 2008-9, but the recoveries were very different. In the UK the recovery of the 1920s was incomplete but that of the 1930s was rather less protracted than in the US. By contrast the US experienced very strong recovery in the 1920s but weaker recovery from the much deeper recession of the 1930s. A key ingredient to understanding these patterns is the interaction between economic shocks and labour market institutions. Here we survey the large literature on interwar labour markets to identify the key elements that underpinned labour market performance. We find that developments in wage setting institutions and in unemployment insurance inhibited a return to full employment in interwar Britain while inthe US, New Deal legislation impeded labour market adjustment in the 1930s. We conclude with an assessment of the policy responses to labour market crises in the past and in the present.

Although Mexicans is the largest immigrant group in the United States, the percentage of skilled Mexicans, is comparatively very low. Moreover, most of these skilled immigrants who have achieved at least a college education do not perform professional occupations. This research has two main objectives: 1) analyze the effects of the economic crisis on the employment situation of skilled Mexican immigrants in the U.S., and 2) identify the sociodemographic characteristics of skilled Mexican immigrants who hold professional occupations before and during the economic crisis. Using data from the American Community Survey, this research analyzed the impact of the economic crisis, which began in 2007, on the occupational status of skilled Mexican immigrants in the United States through descriptive statistics. The occupational situation of skilled Mexican immigrants was compared to the rest of skilled immigrants in the U.S. in the period before the crisis (in 2006) and during the crisis of 2010. The study results show that between 2006 and 2010, skilled Mexican immigrants slightly increased their participation in professional occupations, while the percentage of the skilled unemployed Mexicans increased significantly. It was also noted that the crisis affected mostly men, and that the human capital they possessed failed to provide skilled Mexican immigrants with the level of labor protection in the crisis.

This book is an undergraduate text that introduces students to commonly-used statistical methods in economics. Using examples based on contemporary economic issues and readily-available data, it not only explains the mechanics of the various methods, it also guides students to connect statistical results to detailed economic interpretations. Because the goal is for students to be able to apply the statistical methods presented, online sources for economic data and directions for performing each task in Excel are also included.

This article discusses other post-employment benefit(OPEB) finances and changes governments are considering or implementing to make their retiree health care programs fiscally sustainable.

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