The Return to Caring Skills: Gender,Class, and Occupational Wages in the US

Feminist economics has contributed to the understanding of the economic importance of care work. Most studies find a wage penalty associated with caring occupations. This study extends the feminist research on care work beyond caring occupations by identifying specific caring skills and activities derived from the 2014 O*NET job-evaluation data. Four caring skills – (1) Assisting and Caring for Others, (2) Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships, (3) Service Orientation, and (4) Social Perceptiveness – were used in ordinary least-squares and quantile wage regressions for 623 occupations in the United States. Findings indicate that the return to caring and assisting skills results in a wage penalty for low-wage workers but a wage premium for workers in high-wage and male occupations. By identifying the impact of gender and class on the economic return to particular caring skills, the study broadens the understanding of care work, especially in relation to US wage inequality.     

Blowing the Whistle on Poverty Policy

This comment on Rebecca Blank's “Poverty, Policy, and Ethics: Can an Economist be Critical and Caring?” celebrates her insights but argues for an even more critical analysis of the meaning of “caring” in economic discourse.     

Who Dares to Care? (In the World of Finance)

This study argues that gendered barriers to care are limiting the progress of socially responsible investment (SRI). Anchored within the world of finance – an industry predicated on mathematical theorizing, neoclassical economic thought, and omission of relational values – the inclusion of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting, a commonly used term for nonfinancial information in SRI, in investment decision making confronts several barriers. One such barrier concerns care: who cares for what, and where. In an environment where an atomistic-individualistic ontology dominates, and a relational-values ontology is omitted, the study investigates the possibilities for ESG to have a wider uptake. It considers the changes required to align the inherently relational aspect of care within a culture of economic reasoning reliant on the exclusion of care. It concludes with suggestions for how a relational caring perspective can be incorporated to accommodate and encourage SRI in the world of financial management.     

End-of-life care in nursing homes: the high cost of staff turnover

Nursing home staff turnover results in high cost--both economic and personal--and has a negative impact on the quality of care provided to residents at the end of life. Reducing staff turnover in nursing homes would benefit both the cost to the U.S. health care system, and, most importantly, the care residents receive in the vulnerable period leading to death. There is rising pressure on nursing homes to improve their palliative and end-of-life care practices and reduce transfers to hospital for situations and conditions that can be safely managed on site. Nursing care staff deserve an investment in the specific training necessary for them to give the highest quality care to dying residents. This training should be multifaceted and include the physiological, psychological, spiritual, interpersonal, and cultural (including ethnic) aspects of dying. Empowerment with these necessary knowledge, skills, and attitudes will not only result in better care for residents but likely also will reduce the burnout and frustration staff experience in caring for residents near death.     

Building a patient-focused unit: the nurse manager's challenge

Developing a patient-focused unit is necessary to attain the highest standards of patient care. It is only when we can view our unit through the eyes of a patient that we will be able to see ourselves as others see us. Professionally, we have committed ourselves to creating caring environments that promote healing. We cannot meet this goal until we make a commitment to be patient-focused and give up being nurse-focused or facility-focused.     

On the importance of the embodiment of technology effect: A comment on Denison's growth accounting methodology

Denison has presented a powerful set of arguments as to why technology embodiment is not important. While his argument that embodiment does not appreciably raise the rate of return of new investment is correct, it leaves out the effect of obsolescence on measurement of the rate of return on all investment. Correctly handled, adjustment for obsolescence raises the estimated contribution of investment to growth. His calculations of the effect of new investment on average age ignore the increased retirement of old capital caused by new investment.     

基于生产函数的铁路移动装备投资效益评价

基于修正的生产函数构建了铁路移动装备投资效益评价模型,测算了1995—2009年我国铁路移动装备的投资效益。得出如下结论:用于购置铁路移动装备的资金每增加1%,铁路运输效益产出将增加9.6%;铁路移动装备年均新增投入占铁路资本投入总额的11.16%,其贡献率占铁路资本贡献率总额的26.38%,因此其扩张性贡献效益明显。     

金融发展、投资扩张模式与中国的资本回报率*

本文从理论上分析了金融发展对资本回报率的影响机理，并使用中国省际数据进行了实证验证，得出的主要结论有：中国的资本回报率由2008年之前的平稳期进入到大幅度下降期，但区域间趋同趋势明显；中国金融发展不足与发展过度问题并存，其对资本回报率的影响也因地区不同而出现了明显差异，在投资扩张系数较高的地区存在着“金融失效”现象，在投资扩张系数较低的地区存在着“金融诅咒”现象，在投资扩张系数居中的地区存在着“结构失调”现象；政府干预会加剧金融发展的不利影响，但该作用在不断减弱；资本积累对技术进步促进作用的缺失，是资本存量对资本回报率产生负向影响的重要原因；劳动力增强型技术进步不仅促进了资本回报率的提升，还延续了投资驱动型增长的时期；技术进步是中国资本回报率提升的重要动力。     

When caring stops, staffing doesn't matter: part II

Response to a column on caring and staffing struck a cord with Nursing Economic$ readers worldwide. Measuring caring is complicated and a healthy debate exists over how exactly to do it. The extraordinary work of Dr. Jean Watson is an excellent resource for understanding how to measure and monitor caring. Beneath the instruments for measuring caring sits foundational work that can help us clarify and understand the topic of caring and just where it sits in our philosophies, intentions, patient care models, and care delivery systems.     

The economics of standardized patient education materials with veteran patients

With an increasing number of veterans seeking care, it becomes imperative that the resources within the system are used efficiently and effectively and in a manner that maintains access, safety, and quality of care. Veterans who are able to manage their own care may utilize provider services less frequently, thereby increasing access for others who require more care. The objective of this quality improvement study was to determine the effectiveness of providing a standardized self-management textbook of health information with the intent that it would decrease demand on primary care providers' time for minor health care issues. This initial quality improvement study clearly demonstrated the potential of the return on investment and the subsequent potential for increased access for veteran patients, appropriate use of limited resources, and improved patient outcomes. It also clearly demonstrated the value of interaction with the veterans to educate them about their care and the increased satisfaction individualized attention to their needs creates. That finding alone has a greater value than just economics.     

人口老龄化视角下家庭照料与城镇女性就业关系研究

随着我国人口老龄化,女性在家庭劳动与职业劳动之间的角色冲突日益凸显。文章利用1991-2009年"中国营养与健康调查"(CNHS)数据及面板数据分析和工具变量方法,实证检验了老人家庭照料责任对城镇女性职业劳动参与决策的影响,以期为女性就业、养老政策的制定提供科学依据。研究发现,照料老人显著降低了女性的劳动参与率,尤其是长时间、高强度的照料活动。与无照料责任的女性相比,与父母(公婆)同住、有照料责任的女性劳动参与率将下降0.215;高强度照料活动对女性劳动参与的影响更大,劳动参与率将下降0.695。     

Challenging the Human Capital Orthodoxy: The Education-Productivity Link Re-examined*

The human capital orthodoxy has it that education is an investment, not only for the individual undertaking it but also for society when it devotes scarce resources to it The return to society on that investment is seen mainly in terms of the enhanced productive contribution made by more-educated workers. The measure of that greater contribution most often used by economists is the extra earnings the more-educated on average receive This paper re-examines the available evidence of links between education and productivity (and between earnings and productivity) and finds it to be inconclusive.     

Public sector retirement systems: what does the future hold?

Public pension plans will continue to search for cost-sharing retiree health care solutions and may shift to a defined contribution emphasis. Fiduciary responsibility will be highlighted in view of controversial plan changes, government budgetary constraints, scrutinized investment return assumptions, potential labor shortages and increased shareholder activism.     

Migration and intention to return: entrepreneurial intentions of the diaspora in post-conflict economies

This article examines the intentions of the diaspora to return to their homeland and engage in entrepreneurial activity. We focus on post-conflict economies where the development potential of return migration is significant. Our article demonstrates that the entrepreneurial intentions of returning diaspora are affected by their level of trust and perceptions of risk in institutions at home. Through a survey of diaspora returning to Kosovo, the paper finds that business experience has a negative relationship on probability to return, but it has a positive relationship on entrepreneurial intentions. However, those with professional and qualified jobs are more likely to have intentions to return, but less likely to have entrepreneurial intentions. The paper contributes to academic research on the central importance of institutions to post-conflict development, demonstrating that by enhancing the institutional environment investment can be attracted home.     

Is the pragmatic response to International Monetary Fund quotas and credit limits favourable?

Under the International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s recently developed pragmatic response, the amount a member can borrow is not determined by its quota. We consider two pragmatic responses that produce a Pareto improvement, compared with the IMF rule: one mandated by the IMF and the other related to the trade of the additional credit limit in the market. Both these responses indicate that the additional credit limit on top of the IMF rule should be positive (negative) for a country whose investment return is larger (smaller) than the average investment return across all IMF member developing countries. The rule for the IMF credit limit does not reflect the demand for credit, which induces inefficiency. The first pragmatic response, which has an appropriately small negotiation and distribution cost per unit incurred by the IMF, may dominate the second one.     

The impact of lifestyle health risk on the bottom line: a case study

As the Lifestyle Advantage study continues, HPS expects to follow the utilization trends for a consistent group of participants and nonparticipants, maintaining full confidentiality. Several key issues will be addressed in the process: As the participation rate increases, will the claims payment gap between participants and nonparticipants be reduced? Can a company hope to see a return on an investment in a health promotion program? If so, over what period of time? Finding answers to these questions will contribute to the larger issues of long-term health care cost containment and health care reform.     

Racial/Ethnic disparities in high return investment ownership: a Heckman selection model

This study investigates racial/ethnic differences in high return investment ownership in the U.S. Households with low levels of financial assets might not be able to meaningfully make investment choices, so a Heckman two-stage selection model was used to separate the minimum asset level status from the allocation decision, specifically in whether households owned at least one high return investment. We found that households with White respondents were more likely than households with Black and Hispanic respondents to have adequate financial assets for investment. Conditional on having adequate financial assets, and controlling for household characteristics and financial literacy, White households were more likely to own high return investments than Black, Hispanic and Asian/other households. Policies to nudge households to invest some wealth in high return investment assets would benefit minority households.     

Rate of return on venture capital investment in China

The rate of return on venture capital investment of venture capital (VC) firms in China has been attracting increasing attention. We use robust multinomial regression models to analyze 56 exit projects of venture capital investment from 1999 to 2003 in China. The results show that the returns of state-owned VC firms are lower than those of non state-owned VC firms. Furthermore, the returns of the VC firms located in Shanghai and Shenzhen are higher than those in other regions. The capital scale of VC firms is negatively correlated with the rate of return. In addition, some variables, such as business duration, investment scale, investment duration and exit vehicle, are probably unrelated to rate of return on venture capital investment in China.     

Global imbalances and asymmetric returns to US foreign assets: fitting the missing pieces of the US balance of payments puzzle

The issue of whether the US earns a persistently higher return on its foreign direct investment (relative to returns to foreign-owned direct investment in the US) has received considerable attention but little closure in the ‘global imbalances’ debate. Measuring the rate of returns to US direct investment abroad and foreign direct investment in the US we find higher returns to US foreign direct investment relative to its foreign counterparts in the US. Given the evidence indicating higher returns to US direct investment overseas, we link the irresolution in the contemporary literature regarding the existence of these returns to the unsettled debate over the origin of global imbalances. Reviewing the macro-financial literature on global imbalances, we find a failure to acknowledge that the US current account deficit is, in part, the outcome of transnational production networks in a global economy under-pinned by dollar hegemony. Given the growth in US multinational supply chains, we argue that the US trade deficit is consistent with asymmetric returns to US direct investment and that the sustainability of these return differentials rests on the stability of the status quo.     

The costs of behavioral health care coverage

Psychiatric and chemical dependency conditions can have significant financial implication for plan sponsors, but a variety of mechanisms are available to control these costs. The application of appropriately designed and implemented benefit designs in combination with managed behavioral health care protocols can have a significant return on investment for the plan sponsor.