Non-Environmental Cost-Benefit News

Countering the risks of terrorism imposes enormous costs. While it is impossible to remove completely the risk of terrorist attacks in the transport sector, measures designed to counter terrorism can add certainty and stability to the global economy, raise investor confidence and facilitate trade. Modelling suggests productivity losses associated with the increasing threat of terrorism can be more than offset by the positive effects of enhanced security. Nations have much to gain from cooperating to reduce the risk of terrorism.

Evanor Palac-McMiken1
Asian-Pacific Economic Literature via Blackwell www.blackwell-synergy.com
Volume 19 Issue 1 Page 60 - May 2005
doi:10.1111/j.1467-8411.2005.00158.x
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/links/doi/10.1111/j.1467-8411.2005.00158.x
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/links/doi/10.1111/j.1467-8411.2005.00158.x
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/links/doi/10.1111/j.1467-8411.2005.00158.x

It may be nearly a half-century old, but the cardiac pacemaker just keeps on ticking, pepping up desultory hearts quietly and efficiently. The advent of the implantable battery-powered pacemaker is considered one of the singular medical achievements of the 20th century.

But it's not your father's pacemaker any more. Almost without notice, the little device to regulate the heart rate has gotten some zip from 21st century electronic wizardry. These days, the newest versions of the pacemaker keep the heart beating at just the right speed with electronic leads placed on both the organ's upper chambers (the atria) and one of the lower chambers (the right ventricle). The older versions generally did their work via a single electrode placed on the right ventricle, occasionally the right atrium.

Why is this important, you may ask. It all has to do with the electrical activity of the heart and how, when it goes awry, to best mimic the natural physiology artificially with a battery-operated stimulator. Easy to say, hard to do.

For some time now, the atrial version of the pacemaker, known as the dual-chamber device, has taken over the market for the 600,000 or so patients who get a device implanted every year. Cardiologists assumed that the newer device's more physiological approach had a variety of advantages -- among them reducing the risk of heart failure and stroke and improving quality of life. They also assumed it extended life.

In fact, several large studies suggested a modest benefit for all these and others, except that life expectancy was essentially unchanged. But as the dual-chamber pacemaker was about $3,000 more expensive, the question arose as to whether the modest clinical improvements were worth the extra money.

Now, for at least one major reason that people are given pacemakers, the answer appears to be yes, as measured by a complicated formula called quality-adjusted life years gained. This problem is called sick sinus syndrome. It refers to the sinus node, the bundle of specialized cells in the right atrial wall that form the body's natural pacemaker.

The cost-benefit study was published in the Jan. 4 issue of Circulation, the journal of the American Heart Association. It found that the dual-chamber device had a greater cost-benefit advantage than a number of other interventions in cardiology. Over a projected lifetime, particularly beyond four years, it actually saved money in hospitalization and other medical costs compared with the single-chamber device.

Meanwhile, a small study published in The Lancet suggested that pacemakers could help epileptics with a high risk of sudden death, a rare outcome of epilepsy.

Twenty patients with severe epilepsy were monitored for 22 months with implanted devices that recorded heart rates. Sixteen had frequent episodes of abnormally rapid heart rates, though they were not life-threatening. The other four patients, however, had bouts of abnormally slow heart rates, which were dangerous. Those four were given pacemakers.

Although the practicality of finding those with epilepsy who are at risk of sudden death was not clear, neurologists were intrigued by the possibilities. About one in every 1,000 persons with epilepsy dies each year of what is called SUDEP, sudden unexplained death in epilepsy, and the incidence of sudden death increases with the severity of the condition. For patients whose epilepsy is severe enough to require surgery, the annual SUDEP death rate is 1 percent.

Finally, there was a byte of good news for the three million Americans living with pacemakers. The devices appear to be standing up well to the wireless age, according to a Mayo Clinic study.

Doctors there undertook the study to avoid risking danger to patients with an implanted pacemaker. They wanted to make sure that wireless networks they set up at the clinic were not affecting the sophisticated pacemaker circuitry with electromagnetic interference. All systems were "go."

To learn more about pacemakers, visit the American Heart Association (www.americanheart.org ).

www.healthcentral.com
http://www.healthcentral.com/newsdetail/408/525322.html

It takes 59 pages of graphs, mind-numbing equations and dense academic language to make the case. But the co-author of a paper on the NFL draft yesterday used simple language to comfort fans fretting over the Giants' lack of a first-round pick Saturday.

"It's not the end of the world," said Cade Massey, assistant professor of management at Duke's Fuqua School of Business. "In fact, they have a more valuable pick. We know that sounds kind of crazy."

The paper, not yet published and written with Richard Thaler of the University of Chicago, makes the argument that NFL officials routinely overestimate their ability to predict performance.

That, along with the high cost of early first-round picks in salary and trade value, means the cost-benefit ratio peaks far from the big names at the top of the draft.

At what spot on the graph do quality of player and reasonableness of price meet, according to the paper? At No. 43 overall, precisely where the Giants own their first selection.

Massey "hates" when his study is boiled down to an endorsement of the 43rd pick, the 11th in the second round, arguing it is too precise given the data's vagaries. But generally, he and Thaler "like the top half of the second round" for cost effectiveness.

The Giants apparently like it, too, at least this year. Fifty-two weeks after taking the kind of risk Massey argues against by trading for No. 1 pick Eli Manning - and paying him accordingly - they insist they are happy where they are.

Might general manager Ernie Accorsi trade up for the fourth time in five years?

"I don't really want to; I don't want to give up any choices," he said. "It's not worth it. We're happy where we are."

Might he trade down to add more choices to the four he has, the fewest in team history?

"You have to be careful," he said. "We're going to get a pretty good player at No. 43."

Pretty good might be good enough, because by signing three youthful free agents in tackle Kareem McKenzie, wide receiver Plaxico Burress and linebacker Antonio Pierce they eased the pressure to find rookies to rush into service.

The key was Burress, without whom they likely would have drafted a receiver in the second round. Instead, they could go in any of several directions.

The glaring priorities are defensive end, where there is no depth behind Michael Strahan (who is 33) and Osi Umenyiora, and cornerback, where there is no established player behind Will Allen (whose deal is up after this year) and Will Peterson. "I do think we need a corner," Peterson said.

Accorsi said the need at end could be addressed in the late-spring free-agent market. Given Strahan's age and massive contract, though, it might be time to develop a young player.

Other positions the Giants could target include linebacker, a back to groom as an eventual successor to Tiki Barber and an offensive tackle. A blocking tight end is a need, but a viable candidate is on the roster in Chris Luzar, a powerful former Jaguar.

Coach Tom Coughlin expressed no regrets about the Manning deal but added, "You'd like to have your numbers [of picks] because it's economical and it feeds your team. So we'll certainly have to do very well with the picks we do have."

The Giants gave the Chargers last year's third-round pick and this year's first-rounder (12th overall) and fifth-rounder for Manning. They also traded this year's seventh-rounder for guard Jason Whittle, so their only picks will be in the second, third, fourth and sixth rounds. Whether the Giants' bold move last April pays off in the long run, history shows they are nearly as likely to find a good player with their initial pick this year, at far less risk.

"We're not going so far as saying that teams should start passing on [first-round] picks," Massey said. "But our numbers show there is more value in the second round."

BY NEIL BEST
Newsday www.newsday.com
http://www.newsday.com/sports/football/giants/ny-spgiants204225754apr20,0,5566098.story?coll=ny-football-headlines

Combining the city and county emergency 911 dispatches will take away backup systems, increase response times, and realize little savings city officials were told Monday evening, April 11. The comments came at a public meeting of the City Council addressing the consolidation.

About two dozen people turned out. Of those, about half were police or dispatchers.

The council took no action, although council action on the matter is likely in May.

Under consideration is consolidating the city and county emergency 911 dispatch systems into one dispatch at the sheriff’s office at the new Justice Center. City officials believe the consolidation will save tax dollars, particularly because the city dispatch system will soon need expensive hardware upgrades and a fuller staff.

Monday’s meeting, which focused on public comments, followed a meeting on Thursday of the city Emergency Communications Services ad hoc Committee in the basement of the library. A report outlining the consolidation was presented at both meetings.

Seven people addressed the council on Monday.

Mary Hoeft, who has a daughter who works as a police officer in Madison, said she rode along with her daughter and saw confusion by dispatchers who did not understand the nuances of a situation.

“It’s comforting to know the dispatcher taking the call is close, very close,” she said.

She said that while the city believes the consolidation could save $165,000 per year, “That savings could come at the expense of a life.

“They’ve been working in Rice Lake for so long they know the people, the streets, every inch of it,” she said of Rice Lake’s dispatchers.

Policeman Gary Amundson said Rice Lake is a city of 8,000 serving 80,000. He said the actual annual savings would be more like $50,000-$60,000, rather than the $165,000 suggested by the city. He said that’s about $10-$12 per year for the average taxpayer.

“If we eliminate our dispatch there’s going to be a loss of services, a loss of response time,” he said.

“You have to ask yourself is it worth $10 or $12 on your taxes next year? I don’t think so,” he said.

Margaret Marsh said the matter should be put to a countywide referendum.

City dispatcher Dorothy Rudoll said Barron County is now the number one county in the state for meth cases. She said city police have found guns and meth on routine traffic stops. She said Barron County dispatchers had trouble last week with multiple dispatches involving a man caught in a silo.

She said she was concerned with what would happen if Barron County’s dispatch system went down because of weather or other reasons. Currently Rice Lake and Barron County dispatches are the backups for each other. Barron and Polk counties are also backups for each other.

“We need the redundancy of Rice Lake and Barron being backups for each other,” she said.

Rudoll, too, suggested a referendum.

Peggy Nitz was also concerned with backup systems, and asked if Barron County would charge additional taxes to offset the increased expense.

Backup systems also concerned city dispatcher Cathy Robinson. “If Barron County is down, how is Polk going to get the information to us?” she asked.

Robinson also questioned data about how many walk-ins there were at the police department. She said if people there were busy, they did not have time to mark the walk-in tally sheet.

“This is a bad idea. It’s not keeping the populace safe. The populace is here in this city,” she said.

Policeman Brian Swantz said he also worked in Menomonie where the city and county dispatches were combined. He said that worked because Menomonie was the largest city in the county, and the two facilities were in the same building.

“If it isn’t broken, why fix it?” asked Bob Olson, who has worked for the Sheriff’s Department.

Olson said many officers began as dispatchers, and that the knowledge obtained as a dispatcher “made them much, much better on the street.”

“If this doesn’t work, what will be involved to reopen our dispatch center?” asked Councilman Bob Enderle.

Councilman Dick Pajula, chairman of the communications committee, said the success of the changeover will depend on the implementation plan.

Once the project is started, he said, “It’s got to happen. It’s got to be done right.”

“The way we’ve been running our operation can’t sustain much longer,” said police chief John Sommerfeld.

In response to concerns about backup systems, Barron County Sheriff Tom Ritchie said there were four or five areas that can be dispatched from, and that a majority of counties do not have backups. He said dispatch can be done out of squad cars if necessary, or from the emergency operations center. He said a new command post now being developed will have emergency dispatch capability.

Addressing county personnel changes necessary to combine the dispatches, he said, “We have not done an official staffing analysis.”

Ritchie said the county now has more than 20 911 calls per day, including cell phone calls. The city has about seven calls per day.

Swantz asked if the sheriff would dedicate a dispatcher or a frequency to Rice Lake. Ritchie responded that the frequency question hasn’t been addressed, but that dedicating a dispatcher was unlikely.

“We would want all dispatchers dispatching all units,” he said.

Ritchie said, too, that he didn’t think Rice Lake would be charged extra for coverage because the county does not charge other municipalities for 911 dispatch.

“The city is already paying for 20% of the Sheriff’s Department as it is,” said Mayor Larry Jarvela.

Report addresses concerns

The city communications committee approved several recommendations in a consolidation report on a 5-0 vote on Thursday. The matter is likely to come before the council for action on May 24.

At Thursday’s meeting, Ritchie said an early plan to implement a combined city-county dispatch by August wasn’t feasible, but that the county will work with the city to consolidate the two dispatches.

Recommendations approved by the communications committee on Thursday were to:

• Integrate the city and county dispatch contingent on an implementation plan.
• Establish 12-hour per day, 6- day per week coverage for “safety support” in the city, with a transition period of up to 90 days with round-the-clock coverage.
• Cooperate with the county to establish a 911 advisory committee, which includes representation from other cities and villages, to establish joint policies and procedures.
• Equip squad cars with mobile computers with a data bank centralized at the county.

The vote to approve the recommendations came after a presentation of a report, a discussion, and comments from Robinson and Rudoll.

At that meeting, Ritchie said that the projected consolidation completion date of August wasn’t realistic because the county is working on revising its data system and will soon work on an enhanced 911 cell system. Under that system, the location of incoming cell calls will be automatically available to dispatchers.

The city had originally considered combining the dispatches earlier this year, but at a previous committee meeting last fall, it became obvious that too many details remained to be resolved before consolidation could be done.

On the communications committee are Pajula, Allan Cronk, Dane Deutsch, Ann Gleichert, Dennis Holtegaard, Howard Johnson and Councilman Gary Horvat. Gleichert and Johnson were not at Thursday’s meeting.

The report, compiled by Pajula, Sommerfeld and fire chief Jim Resac, addressed several areas of concern. The authors also contacted or visited several communities that had combination dispatches.

The report said a report from the state Legislative Audit Bureau states that the best practices for dispatch centers include staffs that do not have other duties, direct dispatch, an enhanced 911 system, distinct boundaries and an oversight board.

Communities studied in the report included Marinette, which recently merged its dispatch with Marinette County. Pajula said those communities initially considered a merger not to be viable, but a new law enforcement center was built enabling the merger. He said that system includes city support staff coverage from 7 a.m.-7 p.m. and a red emergency telephone in the police station lobby, and video link to the dispatch is now being considered.

Other communities in the study were Rock County in the southeastern part of the state, Monroe County and Walworth County. Pajula said Walworth County was not successful in a merger.

Antiquated system

At Thursday’s committee meeting, city administrator Curt Snyder said if the city is to maintain a viable city dispatch it will need a system for locating cell phone calls. That technology, he said, costs about $250,000. The county dispatch is expected to receive the only grant available in Barron County to build a cell phone locator system, meaning no grant will be available for Rice Lake.

Sommerfeld, too, said that the dispatch console at the police department is obsolete. Costs of upgrading the dispatch hardware to acceptable levels over the next 5 years are expected to be about $330,000.

Snyder said city costs of combing the two dispatches are estimated at $151,000. That cost includes the installation of computers in police cars, expected to cost about $10,000 each.

Pajula said the city now needs 4.5 people to fully staff the dispatch here. “We end up taking police officers off the street to staff dispatch. In my mind, that’s the wrong model,” he said.

The police dispatch is currently staffed by two full-time dispatchers, with police officers filling in when those dispatchers aren’t available.

The cost-benefit part of the report noted that there would be no savings in the first year because of transition costs, such as putting mobile computers in cars. There would be a savings of about $165,000 per year in following years at the present staffing level. That saving would be more if the dispatch was fully staffed, rather than having its current short staff.

Ritchie said the matter hasn’t been discussed at the county level. “It’s a city issue that we’re willing to work with the city on. If they decide to move forward, we’ll absolutely do whatever we can to make it happen,” he said.-04/13/05

by Gene Prigge
Rice Lake Online www.ricelakeonline.com
28 South Main Street - Rice Lake, WI 54868 - (715) 234-2121 -
http://www.chronotype.com/article.asp?ArticleID=8328

As thousands of taxpayers rush to the post office to pay Uncle Sam by midnight, thousands of their fellow Americans are content to stay home and not pay taxes at all.

And the IRS can't do much about it.

Indeed, with 12 percent of Americans saying it's OK to cheat on taxes and the “tax gap'' — the amount of taxes owed but not paid each year — ballooning to as much as $353 billion, the IRS has fewer tax cops than a decade ago and a lower overall audit rate, less than 1 percent, than at that time.

Critics call the tax gap a “surtax” on honest taxpayers worth $2,695 per return. That's $353 billion in uncollected taxes divided by the 131 million individual tax returns filed last year.

Put another way, that $353 billion could pay the costs of Medicaid for one year. Or nearly make up the $390 billion federal budget deficit projected for fiscal 2006. Or put a big dent in the Defense Department's $417 billion bill this year.

So why isn't the IRS cracking down more on tax scofflaws? Because, for one thing, the IRS is smaller and spread more thinly than it used to be.

IRS Commissioner Mark Everson insisted recently that the agency is starting to make a comeback after congressional hearings into alleged IRS abuses led to plummeting audits and collections. Congress restructured the agency in 1998, significantly reducing its size. But while the IRS has been rebuilding, it still has a long way to go.

Consider:

• The IRS enforcement staff — revenue agents, auditors and collectors — dropped from 25,000 in 1996 to 16,000 by 2003.

• The IRS audits topped 1 million last year for the first time in five years — but that's still only half the audits it conducted in 1996.

• The IRS had 111,000 employees to handle 116 million returns in 1996. Last year there were 131 million returns filed, but only 99,000 employees.

“There aren't enough IRS employees,” said Colleen Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents most IRS workers. “The agency needs to be given the funding to do its job and close the tax gap.”

It's not just the union calling for a beefed up IRS. The IRS Oversight Board, appointed by President Bush and headed by Ray Wagner, a former Missouri Department of Revenue director, came to the same conclusion last month in its 2006 IRS budget recommendations.

“The IRS is currently trying to rebalance itself between enforcement and customer service,” he said.

His panel advocated bolstering the IRS as the revenue-producing arm of government it is, not just another agency competing for limited tax dollars.

Everson made that same point in a speech to the National Press Club in March, when he said IRS tax enforcers produced $43 billion in revenue — more than four times the agency's $10 billion budget. Audits of high-income taxpayers more than doubled between 2001 and 2004, he said. Corporation audits also are up.

However, measured against the total number of returns filed, the IRS's overall audit rate remains on the decline, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearing-ghouse (TRAC), a nonprofit research office at Syracuse University that analyzes IRS data. If audits of low-income taxpayers, known as correspondence audits, are included, the audit rate is up only slightly since 2000, TRAC said.

In the meantime, the tax gap is growing, now representing about 16 percent of federal income taxes owed each year. And that's just legal income.

The IRS doesn't even try to estimate taxes due on illegal activity. That level of compliance is slightly worse than in 1988, the last time the IRS measured the gap.

So who isn't paying their taxes?

The biggest culprits, the IRS says, are small-business owners and other self-employed persons. As a group, the self-employed pay only about 36 percent of the taxes they owe, the government estimates.

Unreported and underreported business income on individual income-tax returns accounts for as much as $99 billion of the tax gap, the agency estimates, based on an audit of 46,000 individual tax returns in 2001.

“There's a ton of money out there that's going unreported,” says Gary Rohrs, an Independence tax accountant and chairman of the IRS Service Advisory Council.

New businesses and those that are struggling are most likely to get into tax troubles, Rohrs and other accountants said.

In tough economic times, business owners may be tempted to pay bills rather than send in payroll taxes withheld from employees, Rohrs said. The IRS levies a hefty 25 percent fine for failing to pay those taxes. Faced with mounting tax debt, the business owner may decide simply to not file a return, Rohrs and other accountants said.

“We get people in here who every year who haven't filed a tax return in 12 or 15 years,” said Peter Newman, a CPA and host of KMBZ radio's “Moneyline” show. “People say, I got behind one year and I got worried the IRS was going to put me in jail.”

Newman, like many tax professionals, blames a big part of the tax gap on the complexity of the U.S. Tax Code — 18,500 pages long and counting. “There are some people who've just said, ‘I give up,' ” he said.

The cash economy also plays a big role, tax professionals said, such as the handyman who gives you a lower price if you pay in cash and a higher one if you pay by check.

“That money just goes out the door and never gets collected,” Rohrs said. “They're openly evading taxes. … Everybody seems to feel it's OK to pay in cash. Well, why would you help somebody not pay their taxes? You're having to pick up for what he doesn't pay.”

High tax rates also breed tax dodgers, said Dan Mitchell, a senior tax researcher at the Heritage Foundation. It's a cost-benefit analysis, especially if you're a small-business entrepreneur and the government's going to take half your money if you fully comply,” Mitchell argued. “Of course they're going to try to cheat.”

Lower tax rates have been shown to increase compliance, even without tax simplification, he noted.

The public's sense of whether taxation is fairly applied also plays a role in compliance, said John O. Fox, who teaches tax policy at Mount Holyoke College and has written two books on the subject.

“It's the exception rather than the rule that two households of the same size and income pay the same taxes,” Fox said.

But Wagner credits the IRS with some recent improvements, citing an annual taxpayer attitudes survey his board conducts.

In the national survey, the number of Americans who think it's all right to cheat on their taxes “a little here or there” or even “as much as possible” held steady at about 12 percent from 1999 to 2002. In 2003, it spiked to 17 percent.

“One in five taxpayers now believes that it's acceptable to cheat on their taxes,” the board wrote in its 2004 report. “Their ranks are growing, especially among younger taxpayers.”

In last year's survey, however, the number shrank to pre-2003 levels.

“I really do think that has a therapeutic effect on people's willingness to pay all the taxes that they owe,” Wagner said.

Meanwhile, Everson, the IRS commissioner, has said the agency is making great strides, such as improving its telephone service. More than half of all individual returns will be e-filed this year. And the IRS Web site is becoming popular, surpassed recently only by Web pages of celebrities such as Paris Hilton, Clay Aiken, Pamela Anderson, Britney Spears and a poker game.

The tax agency's new mantra, Everson said, is “service plus enforcement equals compliance.”

But if you're one of those tax scofflaws, you'll probably want to avoid the IRS's enforcement side, advised Robert McQuain, a Kansas City tax attorney.

Once the agency has you in its sights, you're in trouble, McQuain said. The IRS can take your house, your car, your bank account and most of your paycheck — all without ever asking a judge.

“No other creditor in the world can do that,” he pointed out.

The IRS also has 10 years to collect its debt from you. After 8½ years, he said, it will begin its final push, garnisheeing your wages and leaving you as little as $254 a week.

“In terms of a creditor, they are the toughest there is,” he said.

by Gregory S. Reeves, (816) 234-4366 or greeves@kcstar.com.
The Kansas City Star www.kansascity.com
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/business/11396859.htm

This paper models the relationship between income and reported well-being using latent class techniques applied to panel data from twelve European countries. Introducing both intercept and slope heterogeneity into this relationship, we strongly reject the hypothesis that individuals transform income into well-being in the same way. We show that both individual characteristics and country of residence are strong predictors of the four classes we identify. We expect that differences in the marginal effect of income on well-being across classes will be reflected in both behavior and preferences for redistribution.

by Andrew Clark, Fabrice Etile, Fabien Postel-Vinay, Claudia Senik, et al.
The Economic Journal
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/servlet/useragent?func=showIssues&code=ecoj
March 2005.Vol.115, Iss. 502; pg. C118
Subjects: Social classes, Standard of living, Quality of life, Studies, Personality traits, Correlation analysis, Income, Economic theory
Classification Codes 1220 Social trends & culture, 9175 Western Europe, 9130 Experimental/theoretical, 1130 Economic theory
http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=808195151&sid=2&Fmt=2&clientId=13371&RQT=309&VName=PQD
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/links/toc/ecoj/115/502

The Effects of a Mother's Return to Work Decision on Child Development in the UK
by Paul Gregg, Elizabeth Washbrook, Carol Propper, Simon Burgess

The Economic Journal Feb 2005.Vol.115, Iss. 501; pg. F48
Subjects: Effects, Child development, Mothers, Employment, Studies, Demographics, Statistical analysis, Mathematical models
Classification Codes 1220 Social trends & culture, 9130 Experimental/theoretical, 9175 Western Europe
http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=807880641&sid=3&Fmt=2&clientId=13371&RQT=309&VName=PQD

The last 20 years has seen a huge increase in employment among mothers in the first year after giving birth in the UK. We examine whether early maternal employment has an adverse effect on child outcomes. We analyse rich data from a cohort of children born in the UK in the early 1990s and examine the impact of early maternal employment on three outcome variables measuring child cognitive development between four and seven years of age. We also explore whether the effect varies with the mother's educational attainment, lone parent status or the type of replacement non-maternal childcare used.

Maternity leave, early maternal employment and child health and development in the US
by Lawrence M Berger, Jennifer Hill, Jane Waldfogel.
The Economic Journal. London: Feb 2005.Vol.115, Iss. 501; pg. F29
Subjects: Maternity & paternity leaves, Polls & surveys, Child development, Studies, Health, Causality, Statistical analysis
Classification Codes 9130 Experimental/theoretical, 1220 Social trends & culture, 9190 United States, 6400 Employee benefits & compensation
http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=807878961&sid=3&Fmt=2&clientId=13371&RQT=309&VName=PQD

This paper uses data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to explore links between mothers' returns to work within 12 weeks of giving birth and health and developmental outcomes for their children. OLS models and propensity score matching methods are utilised to account for selection bias. Considerable associations between early returns to work and children's outcomes are found suggesting causal relationships between early returns to work and reductions in breastfeeding and immunisations, as well as increases in externalising behaviour problems. These results are generally stronger for mothers who return to work full-time within 12 weeks of giving birth.

The Economic Journal http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/servlet/useragent?func=showIssues&code=ecoj
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/links/toc/ecoj/115/501

Americans love clear highways and are willing to pay billions of dollars for the chance that they might one day see what one looks like. Congress has done their best to bring this dream to fruition, and recently passed a $284 billion highway bill as proof of their dedication.

The highway bill they passed is a 1,132 page mammoth that contains something for almost everyone in the nation. In fact, the legislation contained 4,128 political earmarks at a total cost of $12.4 billion. Nearly every member of the House got a few projects for their district, and the bill’s authors cashed in big.

Some of these projects that received earmarked funds are important, such as the $2 million for the rebuilding of the Brent Spence Bridge in Cincinnati. But there’s one earmark tucked into the bill that will make your head spin. In our ten years of congressional oversight, we rate this as one of the worst examples of corporate welfare we’ve ever seen.

First, think about the following question. If there is one company that is so big, so rich, and so powerful that it should never get a federal dime, who would you name? A short list that might spring to mind would include GM, ExxonMobil, Microsoft and a few others. Did you think about Wal-Mart? If so, you get our gold star.

In our mind, there is no one that is less deserving of federal support than Wal-Mart, yet it gets $37 million from Uncle Sam in the transportation bill. Last year, Wal-Mart made $20,000 profit every minute of every day for a total of $10.3 billion dollars on the year. Other retail giants didn’t do nearly so well: Target’s profit per minute was $6,084, and Costco’s profit per minute was $1,711.

Here are the details. The federal highway bill contains $37 million for widening and extending the road in Bentonville, Arkansas that is the main access point to the headquarters of Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

Republican Representative John Boozman (R-AR), whose district includes Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s headquarters, was largely responsible for getting the earmark. He proposed an amendment to the highway bill to exempt retailers, such as Wal-Mart, from federal truck driving rules. To get this amendment to go away, Rep. Don Young (R-AK) offered Boozman an additional $34 million for the road in his final revisions to the bill.

Wal-Mart says the project will make it easier for their workers to get to their jobs. The company has grown at a much faster rate than the street has been improved they say. We’re trying to empathize, but the bottom line is that Wal-Mart is the largest company in the world, and they should be able to afford their own road.

To put it in perspective, Wal-Mart’s one project comprised 35% of all Arkansas earmarks. One Arkansas Highway Commissioner that represents northwest Arkansas told the Associated Press that the $37 million is too much to spend on one project when the state has so many other priorities.

As the largest, most profitable corporate giant in the world, Wal-Mart should not get a penny of taxpayer money. If they need a new road, they can build it themselves, and let Uncle Sam send the money to someone who really needs and deserves it.

For more information, contact Keith Ashdown at (202)-546-8500 ext. 110 or keith@taxpayer.net
Taxpayers for Common Sense www.taxpayer.net
651 Pennsylvania Ave, SE | Washington, DC 20003 | 1-800-taxpayer | fax: 202-546-8511
Vol. X No. 12
http://www.taxpayer.net/TCS/wastebasket/transportation/2005-4-11WalMartWelfare.htm

Walk around any casino parking lot in Indiana, Michigan or West Virginia and it's impossible to miss all the cars with Ohio and Kentucky license plates.

From Warren County in Ohio to Kenton County in Kentucky, thousands of residents travel every year to bet on games they can't play at home. The exodus proves a point that even gambling opponents no longer dispute:

Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky make up one of the strongest potential casino markets in America. The region has the population, river and interstate access that inspires casino developers and keeps opponents on constant guard.

Most local residents, regardless of their views on gambling, expect to see casinos or racetrack slot machines here within five years, a new Enquirer/WCPO poll finds.

"It's the best spot in the country to bring casinos, no question about it," says Jerry Carroll, a Kentucky developer who would like to build one himself. "You put a casino along the riverfront or along the I-75 corridor in Northern Kentucky, and you couldn't build it big enough."

Plenty of politicians and business leaders now share Carroll's view, if not his enthusiasm.

Supporters in Ohio and Kentucky claim that nearly $1 billion a year could be raised in gambling taxes for their financially struggling states. The mayors of Cincinnati and Cleveland want casinos in their cities, and horse track owners want slot machines at the tracks.

Momentum is so high that opponents in both states are rallying to stall any moves to legalize gambling beyond the bingo, horse racing and lottery already allowed. The last thing this area needs, they say, are casinos to create more crime, corruption and family dysfunction.

"We're going to work harder than we ever have," says Rev. Nancy Jo Kemper, leader of Kentucky's 800,000-member Council of Churches.

No matter where they stand, however, few doubt that casinos here would draw big crowds and money. Among the reasons:

The success of three casino boats along the Ohio River in nearby southeast Indiana. They reported bringing in $735 million last year, making the area the 12th richest casino market of 48 in America. Gamblers leave more money at the Argosy Casino & Hotel in Lawrenceburg than at any other boat in the country.

Proximity to the Ohio River and Interstates 75 and 71. The river makes casino boats a possibility in Cincinnati or Kentucky, and the interstates could provide easy access to land-based casinos for millions of travelers. Developers already have targeted sites.

The popularity of legal gambling. Ohioans spend $2 billion and Kentuckians spend $725 million on the lottery every year. Horse racing has been popular in both states for decades, and countless charities rely on casino nights and bingo to pay their bills. Nearly 350,000 people from Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky visit casinos in Indiana or Illinois every year, according to Harrah's Entertainment Inc.

Casino companies are ready.

Harrah's recently partnered with Turfway Park horse racing track in Florence. Columbus-based Scioto Downs track is owned by MTR Gaming Group Inc., which owns Mountaineer Race Track & Gaming Resort in Chester, W.Va.

Raceway Park horse track in Toledo soon will be owned by Argosy Gaming Co., which operates the Indiana boat. When a $2.2 billion deal closes later this year as expected, Argosy will be sold to Penn National Gaming, a major gambling company that owns or manages nine casinos, four racetracks and six off-track wagering facilities nationwide.

Bill Yung, president of Columbia Sussex Corp., the Fort Mitchell-based company that owns six casinos nationwide, says Northern Kentucky could easily support four casinos right now.

"They would do great," Yung says. "We're right across from a big city here in Northern Kentucky. That's where a lot of gamblers would come from."

Harrah's agrees. "Certainly, because of the size of the Cincinnati market, it would make sense for our company to be there," spokesman David Strow says. "We are in an excellent position to participate should legalized gambling ever happen."

Long-standing resistance

Anti-gambling forces understand the enthusiasm. In 2003, Americans made more trips to casinos than to professional baseball games, zoos and aquariums combined, according to the American Gaming Association.

But the local potential alone is not enough to bring casinos to Ohio or Kentucky anytime soon.

Opposition in both state capitals and long-standing resistance in rural counties are considerable. Ohio voters shot down ballot initiatives on casinos in 1990 and 1996, and top state officeholders continue to oppose casinos. Kentucky's legislature quit for this year without taking any action on gambling.

Even so, a majority of Kentuckians said in a statewide poll in February that they want slot machines at racetracks.

And in Ohio, a new Enquirer survey finds that most state lawmakers would put casinos or slot machines up for a statewide vote this fall - if details on spending the profits could be worked out.

As in other states, money is driving the debate.

Proponents say Ohio casinos could bring in more than $500 million a year for schools, tax cuts or other uses. Kentucky casinos could create $400 million annually in new taxes in that state, according to some estimates.

Argosy officials forecast a $1 billion-a-year market in southeast Indiana once improvements are made on the three boats there.

The money would come from people like Michelle Lee of Lima, Ohio, who travels across state lines to gamble at Argosy.

Every day, customers start arriving in early afternoon and keep coming all evening. Before they leave, they gamble away hundreds of thousands of dollars on slot machines and table games.

"When you see these crowds and the long lines, it makes you wonder: Why doesn't Ohio have gambling?" says Lee, leaving Argosy one recent night. "There's no sense in seeing all this money going to Indiana."

But casinos are a gamble.

Economists say their benefits often are outweighed by hidden costs, such as compulsive gambling and reduced spending at other local businesses.

"The notion that somehow we're all going to gamble ourselves to economic salvation is just false," says Earl Grinols, an economist and the author of Gambling in America: Costs and Benefits. "It's a bogus argument."

A sense of momentum

Most adults in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky now favor legalizing casino gambling in this region, according to the Enquirer/WCPO poll. But voters here won't have the final say. Statewide initiatives likely would be needed to legalize casinos, and the last attempt in Ohio nine years ago lost in all 88 counties.

History, however, shows states have gradually embraced gambling in the three decades since Atlantic City pioneered major casinos outside of Nevada. Today, the $600 billion-a-year gambling industry touches every state except Utah and Hawaii. See the growth of gambling in the U.S..

More than 400 land-based and riverboat casinos operate in 11 states. Indian tribes run casinos or bingo halls in 25 states. And in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, churches rely on charitable bingo, poker tournaments and casino-style gambling at summer festivals as a good way to raise cash.

Kentucky and Ohio also are among 40 states with lotteries, one of the most popular forms of legal gambling in America. Ohio has had a lottery since 1974; Kentucky started playing in 1989.

Lotteries sometimes serve as a precursor to casino gambling.

"That's always the camel's nose in the tent," says John Wolf of the Indiana Coalition Against Legalized Gambling. "Once you change the constitution in the state (to allow gambling), the politicians latch onto it because it's a quick fix for revenue sources."

Sometimes, pressure from neighboring states can hasten legalization. Mississippi opened a casino in 1992, and Louisiana followed in 1993. Louisiana feared losing tax dollars as residents gambled next door at Gulf Coast and Mississippi River casinos.

That's part of the argument in Ohio and Kentucky today. Except for Kentucky, Ohio is surrounded by states that allow either casinos or slot machines at racetracks. Kentucky gamblers can, and do, gamble in adjacent Indiana, Illinois and West Virginia.

Ohio Rep. Lou Blessing, a Colerain Township Republican, wants slot machines at racetracks to keep the money here.

"I'm not so concerned what the money is spent on. I just want to make sure it stays in Ohio," Blessing says.

Economic pitfalls

Gary Anders, an Arizona economist who has studied casinos, says gambling supporters should be careful what they wish for.

Casinos make economic sense, he says, if most of the gamblers come from elsewhere. But if the market is saturated and everyone lives close to a casino, the state is just taxing its own people in another way.

"When gambling becomes ubiquitous, you are basically cannibalizing yourself," Anders says. "It only works when you import customers from other states."

Five years ago, Detroit opened three casinos in hopes of boosting tourism and keeping local gamblers from spending their money across the Detroit River, at Casino Windsor in Canada.

The Detroit casinos have succeeded in keeping $100 million a year in taxes but have failed to generate much tourism: At least 80 percent of Detroit casino customers are from metro Detroit.

"You're shifting money around from other parts of the economy," says William Thompson, who studies gambling and teaches at University of Nevada Las Vegas.

He says social problems such as crime, bankruptcies and lost productivity further erode the advantages of casinos. A federal commission in 1999 estimated the social costs of gambling at $5 billion a year nationwide.

"No matter how you want to cut it, gambling fails a costs-benefits test," economist Grinols says.

But national studies have reached many different conclusions, and the negatives attributed to gambling are hard to pin down because they also are tied to swings in the economy.

Gambling supporters say the combination of more jobs, tax revenue and entertainment trumps the negatives.

"Yeah, I'd like to get some tax money from it," Cincinnati Mayor Charlie Luken said last year, after counting Ohio license plates at Argosy and declaring it's time for a casino here. "But more importantly, I'm interested in the attraction that will bring people downtown, create jobs and help the economy."

Dan Horn dhorn@enquirer.com
The Cincinnati Enquirer http://news.enquirer.com
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050410/NEWS01/504100313/1056/rss02

A statewide study on the economic benefits of community colleges suggests they return money to their communities and improve overall quality of life.

The study was conducted last fall by the firm CCbenefits Inc. as part of the community college system’s response to lawmakers who requested educational accountability. Ken Boham, president of Caldwell Community College & Technical Institute (CCC&TI), said the study was presented to the General Assembly earlier this year, then released to the various boards of trustees. It was recently released to the media and public.

“We gave the General Assembly some comprehensive information about impacts the system has on the state of North Carolina,” Boham said. He served as president of the statewide system a year ago and was one of the driving forces behind launching the study. The study not only analyzed impact over the whole state, it was narrowed by region as well. For instance, CCC&TI received separate data on the impacts in both Caldwell and Watauga counties, where it has campuses.

“We’ve always felt the system is certainly a good bargain,” Boham said. “Based on anecdotal evidence, we felt it, we knew it, and there were a number of indicators to say that. This is the first time we’ve been able to put it into numbers.”

Boham said the “bottom line” was that for every dollar invested in the community college system, the community and state receive $14.3 in benefits.

“It’s a good economic engine in Catawba and Watauga counties,” he said. “It’s an investment in both counties as well. It’s value-added when you look at the payoff down the road to students, and what they’re investing in return in the period of time they’re in the work force.”

Boham said not only is community college a good investment for communities, but also for the students themselves. He said the payback period for a graduate, the point at which the money spent on education equals the extra income earned through a higher educational or training level, was fewer than seven years. When measured over the typical 30-year working career, that means extra income accrues substantially.

CCC&TI employed 268 full-time and 425 part-time faculty in 2002, the fiscal year of the study. That amounted to a payroll of $3.1 million in Watauga. Faculty spent about $1.4 million in the county.

According to the study, former students contribute an estimated $14.8 million worth of added income to the regional economy after they graduate.

The survey also revealed that taxpayers expect their investment in community colleges to result in higher lifetime earnings for students and social savings from lifestyle changes that lead to reduced crime, welfare and unemployment, and improvements in health. Boham said this is borne out by data that show employers in the CCC&TI service region will see health-related employee absenteeism drop by over 3,300 worker days per year, and the community college experience will yield 11 fewer smokers and 23 fewer alcohol abusers. That will also result in savings in insurance premiums and Medicaid and Medicare withholdings.

“We’re talking about quality of life,” Boham said. “Health-related absenteeism declines as students become more attuned to health issues and take a different view.”

Boham said that in a cost-benefit analysis, the data shows not only savings but future benefits, with an estimated $2.1 million in social-related savings. “The students are getting more than they put in, and the taxpayers are getting more than they’re putting in,” he said. “It would definitely be an opportunity lost if we didn’t have a community college.”

The study suggested the community college system led to 34 fewer people being incarcerated, with a resulting social savings of $317,000, with victim costs declining by $350,000. Welfare rolls will drop by 92 people in the service area, and 38 fewer people will draw unemployment benefits, amounting to a total taxpayer savings of $770,000 per year.

About 70 percent of students who attend CCC&TI remain in the area, the study found, nearly 30 percent of them residing in Watauga County, which contributes to the local tax base. Additional skills lead to higher earning potential, and a two-year community college degree will generate the graduate an estimated quarter of a million dollars over the course of a career more than if they had only a high school diploma. For every year they attend, students earn an additional $3,400 per year in their chosen field. That reflects a 21-percent rate of return if calculated on the same basis as historical investments in stocks and bonds.

Boham said the data can be used not only to lobby the General Assembly for continued support, but to show positive results to foundations and private donors who might contribute to the community college system.

by Scott Nicholson nicholson@wataugademocrat.com
The Watauga Democrat www.wataugademocrat.com
http://www.wataugademocrat.com/2005/0404web/caldwellcollege.php3