18043 research outputs found
Sort by
Overview of Vocational Rehabilitation Data about People with Visual Impairments: Demographics, Services, and Long-Run Labor Market Trends
No full textIntroduction:
This study describes the characteristics of, services received by, and labor market outcomes of applicants with visual impairments to three state vocational rehabilitation programs. Our objective is to both document cross-state variation in vocational rehabilitation clientele and services and provide new insights on the longitudinal labor market outcomes of clients with visual impairments (i.e., blindness or low vision). This analysis is a first step in assessing the returns to vocational rehabilitation services for this population.
Methods:
We first created a unique longitudinal data set by matching administrative records on applicants who are visually impaired in state fiscal year 2007 from three vocational rehabilitation agencies to 8 years of employment data from state Unemployment Insurance programs. Using these data, we examined cross-state variation in the descriptive statistics for important client explanatory variables and vocational rehabilitation service categories. We then compared the long-term labor market outcomes of clients receiving services (treated) to untreated individuals.
Results:
We documented two important findings. First, there were substantial differences in client characteristics, services provided, and costs across the three states. Second, the long-run labor market analysis was consistent with vocational rehabilitation services having no employment effect but a positive earnings effect.
Discussion:
Labor market results indicate vocational rehabilitation services provided persistent earnings benefits. Yet the substantial cross-state heterogeneity suggests these labor market results might not be generalizable and should be interpreted with caution. We explain what was missing from this analysis and why the results should not be thought of as causal.
Implications for Practitioners:
This article gives practitioners a sense of a unique new data set on vocational rehabilitation and labor market variables for applicants with visual impairments. We highlight the importance of cross-state variation and linking vocational rehabilitation data to long-term employment measures. The question of how best to inform the efficacy of different vocational rehabilitation strategies for clients with visual impairments is left for future researchers to consider
Schools and Stimulus
No full textThis article analyzes the impact of the education funding component of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) on public school districts. We use cross-sectional differences in district-level Recovery Act funding to investigate the program’s impact on staffing, expenditures, and debt accumulation. To achieve identification, we use exogenous variation across districts in the allocations of Recovery Act funds for students with special needs. We estimate that 570,000, employment changed little to none, and debt increased by $370,000. Moreover, 70 percent of the increase in expenditures was in the form of capital outlays. Next, we build a dynamic, decision-theoretic model of a school district’s budgeting problem, which we calibrate to district-level expenditures and staffing data. The model can qualitatively match the employment and capital expenditure responses from our regres- sions. We also use the model to conduct policy experiments
Patent-Eligible Subject Matter... Still Wielding the Wrong Weapon - 12 Years Later
Get PDFI am delighted to have participated in the Second Annual Intellectual Property Redux Conference and to publish this essay. I rarely look back at my older articles, but in Fall 2018 I was asked to give a keynote address at a conference held by the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), where the organizers asked me to speak about 35 U.S.C. § 101 and patent-eligible subject matter. In preparing my remarks, I had the opportunity to refer back to one of my earliest scholarly pieces—a 2007 article entitled Ants, Elephant Guns, and Statutory Subject Matter, published in the Arizona State Law Journal.1 It turns out, over the past twelve years, the only thing that has substantially changed in that time is how I refer to the issue, now preferring “patent-eligible subject matter” to “statutory subject matter.” However, there are some recent and coming changes to patent eligibility; in this essay, I will explain how some of these new changes finally move forward the proposals I made in 2007
The Psychology of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Group-Level Perspective
No full textObjective: The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) threatened not only people’s physical health but also every aspect of their psychological well-being: from their struggle to avoid contracting the disease, to their coping with the disruption of the normal course of their lives, to the trauma they endured when the virus took the lives of those they loved. The objective of this article is to consider the group-level processes that sustain people’s physical and psychological well-being during COVID-19. Method: Applying group dynamic and group therapy theory and research, we explore why COVID-19 spread so rapidly. We also explore how people cope with prolonged social isolation, distress, and social inequities, as well as how people deal with the psychological trauma of the disease, which includes heightened levels of depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and complicated bereavement. Results: Researchers and theorists suggest that human beings are fundamentally social, and the need to gather with others is extremely important, especially during times of distress. The need to belong as well as the importance of reducing loneliness during uncertain times often encourages people to connect, despite recommendations to remain socially distant. Conclusions: Group treatment options developed by group psychotherapists are effective at reducing depression, anxiety, complicated grief, and stress. We conclude by examining the growing impact of online groups and the many ways that these groups help people improve their psychological well-being during the COVID-19 crisis
Master Presidential History in 1 Minute a Day.
No full textThis crash course in presidential history offers essential facts and fascinating trivia about every US chief executive from Washington to Trump. How many US presidents were Founding Brothers? Who decided on America\u27s gold standard? What was Lincoln\u27s nickname? Acclaimed historian Dan Roberts--host of radio\u27s A Moment in Time--takes readers on a fun and informative romp through more than two hundred years of our presidential past. With just one minute a day, you can master all the essential facts of America\u27s greatest leaders, policies, conflicts, trivia, and more! Packed with full-color photographs, paintings, and lively mini essays, Master Presidential History in 1 Minute a Day is the perfect armchair companion for history lovers and learners alike.https://scholarship.richmond.edu/bookshelf/1389/thumbnail.jp
[Introduction to] Theories of Distributive Justice: Who Gets What and Why.
No full textAbstract
How should we design our economic systems? Should we tax the rich at a higher rate than the poor? Should we have a minimum wage? Should the state provide healthcare for all? These and many related questions are the subject of distributive justice, and different theories of distributive justice provide different ways to think about and answer such questions. This book provides a thorough introduction to the main theories of distributive justice and reveals the underlying sources of our disagreements about economic policy. It argues that the universe of theories of distributive justice is surprisingly simple, yet complicated. It is simple in that the main theories of distributive justice are just four in number, and in that these theories each offer a distinct, well-defined theoretical approach to distributive justice; yet it is complicated in that the main theories disagree at several distinct, fundamental levels, and in that it is possible to spin innumerable new theories from the elements of the four main theories.
Key Features:
Covers the four major theories of distributive justice and their leading philosophers, elucidating the attractions and drawbacks of each:
Friedrich A. von Hayek and right-liberalism;
John Rawls and left-liberalism;
Robert Nozick and libertarianism;
Gerald A. Cohen and socialism.
Explains why these four theories have come to dominate most philosophical discussions on distributive justice, highlighting the essential answer provided in each that is lacking in other theories.https://scholarship.richmond.edu/bookshelf/1388/thumbnail.jp
McCulloch v. Madison: John Marshall\u27s Effort to Bury Madisonian Federalism
Get PDFIn his engaging and provocative new book, The Spirit of the Constitution: John Marshall and the 200-Year Odyssey of McCulloch v. Maryland, David S. Schwartz challenges McCulloch’s canonical status as a foundation stone in the building of American constitutional law. According to Schwartz, the fortunes of McCulloch ebbed and flowed depending on the politics of the day and the ideological commitments of Supreme Court justices. Judicial reliance on the case might disappear for a generation only to suddenly reappear in the next. If McCulloch v. Maryland enjoys pride of place in contemporary courses on constitutional law, Schwartz argues, then this is due more to personalities and institutions of the early twentieth century than it is to any deeply rooted historical consensus about the importance of Marshall’s opinion. Nor, Schwartz insists, should we read Marshall’s opinion on the Second Bank of the United States as embracing a theory of “aggressive nationalism” and the unlimited expansion of implied congressional power. That might be a correct reading of the Constitution (Schwartz is never completely clear on this particular point), but Marshall himself muddied the issue with ambiguous language—language that left the door open to later more restrictive interpretations of federal power. The fact that scholars and judges continue to treat McCulloch as a foundational statement of constitutional power reflects a triumph of twentieth century mythology—a triumph triply problematic in that it (1) is historically misleading, (2) does not embrace a fully robust understanding of implied federal power (which Schwartz presumably prefers), and (3) relies upon the same history-centric values as conservatitve originalism (which Schwartz presumably rejects). [..
Palestinian Activism Models in the US Reclaiming, The PLO, Re-Engaging Youth
No full textHow can the PLO maintain accountability as both a national liberation movement and governing body? How might Hamas and Islamic Jihad be integrated after decades of exclusion? What models of Palestinian youth leadership can be further developed? Al-Shabaka analysts address these and other questions in this full-length report, a year-long exercise facilitated by Alaa Tartir and Marwa Fatafta
The Case for Undergraduate Research Journals
No full textThis note addresses the important role of undergraduate research journals in the undergraduate research experience. Peer review by professional researchers is identified as the most essential ingredient in establishing the relevance of these journals as venues for research dissemination. Included are examples of three such journals-Spora,SIAM Undergraduate Research Online, and theAmerican Journal of Undergraduate Research-with demonstrated success in supporting the undergraduate research experience
From Genes to Minds to Cultures: Evolutionary Approaches to Leadership.
No full textEvolutionary perspectives are part of any comprehensive explanation of leadership and, more generally, hierarchy formation in groups. This editorial describes contributions to a special issue on the theme of “The evolution and biology of leadership: A new synthesis”, and we reach four main conclusions. First, leadership has been a powerful force in the biological and cultural evolution of human sociality. Humans have evolved a range of cognitive and behavioral mechanisms (adaptations) that facilitate leader-follower relations, including safeguards against overly dominant leaders. Second, how these adaptations interact with local ecological and cultural contexts produces cultural variation in leadership preferences, and in the structure of human organizations more broadly. Third, an evolutionary perspective creates consilience between the social and natural sciences, by integrating leadership theory from diverse fields such as biology, psychology, neuroscience, anthropology, economics, and political science. Fourth, evolutionary approaches – and specifically the collection of articles in this theme issue – produce and test novel hypotheses, such as regards (i) the critical role of leadership in cooperation, (ii) the importance of contextual factors in leader emergence and effectiveness, (iii) interactions between genetic and cultural influences on leadership, and (iv) obstacles and opportunities for women leaders