The effectiveness of COVID deaths to COVID policies: A robust conditional approach

This paper examines the effectiveness of four major COVID-19 social distancing policies, (i) shelter-in-place orders (SIPO), (ii) non-essential business closures, (iii) mandatory quarantine for travelers, and (iv) bans on large gatherings, on both COVID cases and COVID deaths. Results indicate that states are highly ineffective in producing the fraction of the population that does not have COVID-19 or the fraction of the population that does not die from COVID-19. We find that having any form of social distancing policies increases the fraction of the population not considered a positive COVID-19 case by 23.5 percentage points. Results also show that having any of the four major social distancing policies reduces the fraction of the population who has died of COVID-19 by 1.3 percentage points between March 1, 2020 and September 1, 2020; during the first 100 days, effectiveness would improve by 2.1 percentage points. Evidence suggests that there is no effective uniform national COVID-19 social distancing policy. Furthermore, conditional efficiency regressions after 100 days suggest that behavioral noncompliance and premature expiration of social distancing policies both negatively impact effectiveness. Partial regression plots suggest that bans on large gatherings and the closure of non-essential businesses were the two most impactful COVID-19 social distancing policies.

The impact of minimum wage on parental time allocation to children: evidence from the American Time Use Survey

In this study, using data from the 2003-2019 American Time Use Survey (ATUS), we investigate whether changes in the minimum wage have impacted time allocation to children among low-educated mothers and fathers. Relying on geographic and temporal variation in minimum wage changes across US states, we investigate the impacts of minimum wage increases on total time spent at home with children, time spent on primary childcare, and time spent on enriching childcare activities. Our results indicate that an increase in the minimum wage has a large positive effect on the time low-educated mothers spend on primary childcare and enriching time, with no effect among low-educated fathers. We find that Black mothers with less than a high school education see the biggest gains, with an increase in time spent on childcare and time spent on enriching childcare activities by 13.8 and 15.8 min per day, respectively, for each $1 increase in the minimum wage. We also see that single mothers' time investment is largely unaffected by minimum wage changes, suggesting that there are still considerable income constraints facing these families. Lastly, we see that less educated families with children under the age of 7 significantly increase time spent on primary childcare and enriching time from minimum wage increases, given that they may not have the ability to afford private childcare.

The efficiency of COVID cases to COVID policies: a robust conditional approach

This paper examines the efficiency of four major COVID-19 social distancing policies: (i) shelter-in-place orders (SIPO), (ii) non-essential business closures, (iii) mandatory quarantine for travelers, and (iv) bans on large gatherings. Results suggest that the average US state is highly inefficient in producing the fraction of the population that does not have COVID-19 without social distancing policies put in place. We find that having any of the four major social distancing policies increases conditional efficiency by 9.7 (9.5) percentage points in the first 100 days (full sample). This corresponds to 57 (172) fewer total COVID-19 cases per 100,000 population in the first 100 days (full sample). We also find that population density accounts for a majority of unconditional state inefficiency. Evidence suggests considerable heterogeneity in conditional efficiency improvement, indicating that no uniform national social distancing policy would have been more effective; more effective strategies would have been to target more densely populated areas. Conditional efficiency regressions suggest that bans on large gatherings were the most effective policies, with SIPOs and non-essential business closures having smaller impacts. States that implemented social distancing policies except mandatory quarantine for traveler policies were highly effective for the first 100 days, but had less effectiveness over the full sample. There is also preliminary evidence that premature revocations of social distancing policies reduced conditional efficiency, leading to COVID-19 case spikes.

No theory: an explanation of the lack of consistency in cross-country health care comparisons using non-parametric estimators

Since 2000 several papers have examined the efficiency of healthcare delivery systems worldwide. These papers have extended the literature using drastically different input and output combinations from one another, with little theoretical or empirical support backing these specifications. Issues arise that many of these inputs and outputs are available for a subset of OECD countries each year. Using a common estimator and the different specifications proposed leads to the result that efficiency rankings across papers can diverge quite significantly, with several countries being highly efficient in one specification and highly inefficient in another. Broad input-output measures that are collected annually provide consistent efficiency rankings across specifications, compared to specifications that utilize specific measures collected infrequently. This paper also finds that broad output measures that are not quality-adjusted, such as life expectancy, seem to be a suitable alternative for infrequently collected quality-adjusted output measures, such as disability adjusted life years.

Behavioral disorders in the frontal and temporal variants of frontotemporal dementia

OBJECTIVE

To compare the behavioral features and to investigate the neuroanatomic correlates of behavioral dysfunction in anatomically defined temporal and frontal variants of frontotemporal dementia (tvFTD and fvFTD).

METHODS

Volumetric measurements of the frontal, anterior temporal, ventromedial frontal cortical (VMFC), and amygdala regions were made in 51 patients with FTD and 20 normal control subjects, as well as 22 patients with Alzheimer disease (AD) who were used as dementia controls. FTD patients were classified as fvFTD or tvFTD based on the relative degree of frontal and anterior temporal volume loss compared with controls. Behavioral symptoms, cerebral volumes, and the relationship between them were examined across groups.

RESULTS

Both variants of FTD showed significant increases in rates of elation, disinhibition, and aberrant motor behavior compared with AD. The fvFTD group also showed more anxiety, apathy, and eating disorders, and tvFTD showed a higher prevalence of sleep disturbances than AD. The only behaviors that differed significantly between fvFTD and tvFTD were apathy, greater in fvFTD, and sleep disorders, more frequent in tvFTD. FvFTD was associated with greater frontal atrophy and tvFTD was associated with more temporal and amygdala atrophy compared with AD, but both groups showed significant atrophy in the VMFC compared with AD, which was not associated with VMFC atrophy. In FTD, the presence of many of the behavioral disorders was associated with decreased volume in right-hemispheric regions.

CONCLUSION

FvFTD and tvFTD show many similarities in behavior, which appear to be associated with damage to right frontal and temporal structures.

Neuroimaging in the diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia

The role of neuroimaging for the diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia (FTD) remains controversial. The modern history of imaging in the study of FTD is outlined. Also, the findings on MRI and SPECT in 15 consecutive FTD patients is noted. Both MRI and SPECT detected focal frontal involvement in nearly every single case (MRI 14/15 and SPECT 15/15). Also, the majority of patients showed asymmetry on MRI (8/15) and SPECT (12/15). This study confirms that neuroimaging is sensitive to the frontotemporal degeneration associated with FTD. Additionally, it suggests that this is often asymmetric in the relative involvement of these brain regions.