.

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Education:  Does Teacher Merit Pay Work? Yes.

The authors went into nine K-8 schools in Chicago Heights, a city 30 miles south of Chicago, and randomly selected teachers (who had to consent, which 93.75% did) to take part in a merit pay scheme. The students affected were overwhelmingly low-income, with 98% receiving free or subsidized lunches. Teachers in the experiment were offered $80 per percentile improvement in student test scores, for a maximum reward of $8,000, compared to a typical teacher salary of $50,000.

The authors split teachers in the study into a control group, who were not offered any rewards, a "gain" group, which was promised rewards of up to $8,000 at the end of the school year, and a "loss" group, which was given $4,000 upfront and asked to pay back any rewards they did not earn. The idea behind the latter group was that loss aversion should motivate teachers to perform better than they would if they only stood to gain more money. Additionally, the gain and loss groups were split, with a "team" group being rewarded on the basis of theirs and fellow teachers' test scores, and the "individual" group being reward only on the basis of their own scores. The conclusion: it worked, and it worked almost twice as well when the money was given at the start and then taken away:

For more, see Does Teacher Merit Pay Work? A New Study Says Yes. by Dylan Matthews, July 23, 2012 at Wonkblog.

Monday, July 30, 2012

Politics:  The Disclose Act Won't Fix Campaign Finance

... only 0.26% of Americans give more than $200 to congressional campaigns.
0.000063% of Americans —- fewer than 200 of the country's 310 million residents —- have contributed 80% of all super-PAC donations.
Last week, Senate Democrats took another run at blunting the influence of Citizens United, the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that permits unlimited contributions to independent political committees. The lawmakers voted for the Disclose Act, which would have required groups making more than $10,000 in campaign- related expenditures to disclose contributors who had donated more than $10,000. No longer would information about election spending be limited to, "This ad paid for by Americans United for a More American America."

They failed. Senate Republicans successfully filibustered the legislation. But even if the Democrats had succeeded, the Disclose Act would not have gone nearly far enough.

The power of super-PACs is not restricted to their ability to buy airtime for television ads. That's what attracts all the news coverage, but the more insidious function of super-PACs may be influencing legislation before a single dollar is spent —- by threatening to buy future airtime.

Imagine the oil industry wants a small, technical change in a law setting environmental standards. It's an issue few voters are following, or will even hear about. But it's worth billions of dollars to the industry. So oil companies establish a super- PAC and send lobbyists to every congressional office with a simple message: Legislators who support the change will receive a donation, and each legislator who votes against it will be subject to $1 million in super-PAC attack ads in their district in the last week of the campaign.

The real culprit is arguably the 1976 case Buckley v. Valeo, in which the Supreme Court held that political money is tantamount to political speech. As a result, Congress can't limit spending by campaigns. Citizens United and related court decisions made it harder to regulate spending by outside groups, which further eroded the legitimacy of the system. It is all but impossible to break politicians' dependence on big funders so long as their opponents can benefit from moneyed interests spending unlimited amounts of cash on an election.

For more, see The Disclose Act Won't Fix Campaign Finance by Ezra Klein, July 27, 2012 at Wonkblog.

Security:  Why Killing Is a Profitable Enterprise

The NRA not only dependably opposes limits on assault-rifle sales but even opposes reporting bulk sales of assault rifles. Last year, the NRA went to the mat to prevent anyone from cross-checking the names of those on the terrorist watch list against the names of those buying guns. These two actions clarify beyond argument that the safety and welfare of you and yours have simply dropped from the NRA's list of priorities. The NRA represents gun manufacturers, end of story.

For more, see Why Killing Is a Profitable Enterprise by Michael F. Mcnulty, July 27, 2012 at The Washington Post.

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Security:  Gun Control Group Gives Obama an 'F'

In 2010 ...

President Barack Obama on Monday received a failing grade from the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence for running away from gun control.

The group, which endorsed Obama in 2008, gave him an "F" on every issue it scored, including background checks, gun trafficking, guns in public, the federal assault weapons ban, standing up to the gun lobby and leadership.

... the Brady Campaign, a leading advocacy group for stricter gun laws, said Obama actually has done little to clamp down on firearms since being elected. Instead, the president has signed into law two bills that favored gun-rights supporters.

For more, see Gun Control Group Gives Obama an 'F' by Michael O'brien, January 19, 2010 at The Hill.

Mind:  The 11 Ways That Consumers Are Hopeless at Math

A good description is at The 11 Ways That Consumers Are Hopeless at Math by Derek Thompson, July 6, 2012 at The Atlantic.

Friday, July 27, 2012

Well-Being:  National Vacation Policies

For more, see The Only Advanced Country Without a National Vacation Policy? It's the U.S. by Derek Thompson, July 2, 2012 at The Atlantic.

Health:  Software Emulates Lifespan of Entire Organism

Wow.

Scientists at Stanford University and the J. Craig Venter Institute have developed the first software simulation of an entire organism, a humble single-cell bacterium that lives in the human genital and respiratory tracts.

The scientists and other experts said the work was a giant step toward developing computerized laboratories that could carry out many thousands of experiments much faster than is possible now, helping scientists penetrate the mysteries of diseases like cancer and Alzheimer's.

For more, see In First, Software Emulates Lifespan of Entire Organism by John Markoff, July 20, 2012 at NYTimes.com.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Politics:  How Super Pacs Are Saving Mitt Romney

Republican-aligned super PACs and other outside conservative groups have spent more than $144 million on general election ads in swing presidential states, a huge outlay of cash that has allowed former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney to not only combat but exceed heavy early ad spending by President Obama.
Taken together, the Romney campaign and the panoply of Republican outside groups have spent $179 million on swing state advertising so far in the general election, while Obama and his aligned outside groups have shelled out $128 million.

For more, see How Super Pacs Are Saving Mitt Romney by Chris Cillizza and Aaron Blake, July 24, 2012 at The Washington Post.

Well-Being:  Does More Money Really Bring Happiness?

Americans anticipated they would feel twice as happy if their salaries more than doubled. But when researchers polled participants at two different income levels, they found that people making more than twice as much were only 9% happier than those making the original amount.
The "price of happiness" has made news before—-it's how much people need to make per year to feel happy and fulfilled. According to a recent Marist poll, that magic number falls somewhere between $50,000 and $75,000.

Respondents to the poll who made more than $50,000 were more satisfied with their lives when it came to factors ranging from friends, to health, to how they spent their time. More than general lifts in salary (like getting a raise from $35,000 to $40,000, or even $60,000 to $65,000), that specific number was the happiness tipping point: "$50,000 is the mark where you start to see significant differences," researcher Susan McCulloch told LearnVest.

For more, see Does More Money Really Bring Happiness?, July 19, 2012 at Fox Business.

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Economics:  The Amazing Global Optimism Gap: 1 More Way China Is Totally Weird

In the United States, 68% respondents reported a good personal economic situation versus but 31% reported a good national economic situation. Our 37% gap isn't even the biggest in the English speaking world: Only 15% of British people are optimistic about their economy, four times worse than the 64% that consider their personal finances strong.

Here is the world's optimism gap. Only in China and Egypt are people more optimistic about the country than their personal situation.

For more, see The Amazing Global Optimism Gap: 1 More Way China Is Totally Weird by Derek Thompson, July 12, 2012 at The Atlantic.

Mind:  Why Do You Get Tired After Taking a Test?

Although the average adult human brain weighs about 1.4 kilograms, only 2% of total body weight, it demands 20% of our resting metabolic rate (RMR)

For more, see Why Do You Get Tired After Taking a Test? by Veronique Greenwood, July 18, 2012 at 80beats.

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Health:  The Laziest Countries in the World

Countries in darker colors had greater recorded inactivity, defined as failing to reach 30 minutes of moderate activity a day.

For more, see A Graph of the Laziest Countries in the World (Hooray! We're Not #1) by Derek Thompson, July 18, 2012 at The Atlantic.

International:  Foreign Policy is Where Obama Shines

It won't help him win many votes this year, but it should be noted that Barack Obama has been a good foreign policy president. He, Vice President Joseph Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the rest of his team have created a style of policy making that is flexible, incremental and well adapted to the specific circumstances of this moment. Following a foreign policy hedgehog, Obama's been a pretty effective fox.

For much more, see Where Obama Shines by David Brooks, July 19, 2012 at NYTimes.com.

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Healthcare:  Medicaid Patients Aren't Using the Emergency Department for Routine Care

Policymakers frequently point to Medicaid patients high use of the emergency room for routine care as one factor driving up health-care costs.

There's just one problem with that claim: A new study finds it's not true.

The majority of Medicaid visits to the emergency room are for urgent or serious issues, according to research published Wednesday by the Center for Studying Health System Change.

Both those covered by Medicaid and those on private insurance use the emergency department at the same rate for both emergency and non-urgent care.

For more, see Study: Medicaid Patients Aren't Using the Emergency Department for Routine Care by Sarah Kliff, July 11, 2012 at Wonkblog.

Mind:  What's the Temperature Today? Your Answer Depends on Your Political Beliefs

Researchers looked at three years of surveys on the weather, divided them up by zip code, and compared residents' answers to the actual weather in each area. It turned out that people correctly observed trends in weather events, such as floods and droughts. But on average, their perceptions of temperature trends had nothing to do with the actual climate. Instead, the best predictor of people's answers was cultural affiliation.

Strong individualists, whose dislike of rules makes them opposed to environmental regulations, believed that temperatures were the same, while egalitarians, who prioritize their group identities, were more likely to state that temperatures had increased. Because we have incorporated belief in climate change into our political and cultural identities—-and temperature is strongly associated with global warming—-the need to maintain our identities skews our perception of reality.

For more, see What's the Temperature Today? Your Answer Depends on Your Political Beliefs by Sophie Bushwick, July 21, 2012 at 80beats.

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Politics:  Romney Trails on Most Issues



For more, see Obama Holds Lead; Romney Trails on Most Issues, July 12, 2012 at Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Diversion:  xkcd's Visual Field

From Visual Field by Randall Munroe, July 12, 2012 at XKCD.com.

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Healthcare:  Will Medicaid Expansion Costs Break States' Backs?

What would happen to state budgets if all states went ahead with the Medicaid expansion? The Congressional Budget Office says that it would increase state spending on the program by $73 billion by 2022—-the equivalent of a "2.8% increase in what states would have spent on Medicaid from 2014 to 2022 in the absence of health reform," the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities explained.

For more, see GOP Governors Say Medicaid Costs Are Already Breaking States' Backs. Are They Right? by Suzy Khimm, July 3, 2012 at Wonkblog.

Taxes:  States Face Tough Choices Even as Downturn Ends

... the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a nonprofit research organization in Washington associated with Citizens for Tax Justice, which advocates a more progressive tax code, issued a report this year that found that the states with high income tax rates had outperformed those with no income tax over the past decade when it came to economic growth per capita and median family income.

For more, see States Face Tough Choices Even as Downturn Ends by Michael Cooper, July 10, 2012 at NYTimes.com.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Government:  State to State Federal Money Transfers

E.g., the reddest states receive much more from the Feds than they give ...

For more, see The Dollar Union: Could We Boot Alabama? Should New York Secede? by Derek Thompson, June 25, 2012 at The Atlantic.

Mind:  Intrade's Weaknesses

About Intrade which is a website which allows members to trade futures (bet) on the outcomes of events ...

But the [Intrade] crowd was not everywhere wise. For one thing, many of the betting pools on Intrade and Betfair attract relatively few traders, in part because using them legally is cumbersome. (No, I do not know from experience.) The thinness of these markets can cause them to adjust too slowly to new information.

And there is this: If the circle of people who possess information is small enough —- as with the selection of a vice president or pope or, arguably, a decision by the Supreme Court —- the crowds may not have much wisdom to impart. "There is a class of markets that I think are basically pointless," says Justin Wolfers, .... "There is no widely available public information."

For more, see When the Crowd Isn't Wise by David Leonhardt, July 7, 2012 at NYTimes.com.

Friday, July 6, 2012

Technology:  Apple's Revenue by Product

For more, see No, the iPhone Isn't the Most Disruptive Product in History by Derek Thompson, June 30, 2012 at The Atlantic.

Healthcare:  The Backlash Begins: States Start Opting Out of Medicaid Expansion

Florida will reject healthcare coverage of a million of it's poorest citizens even though it is free for the first three years and eventually costs only $2,000 each if Rick Scott's number is right.

"Florida will opt out of spending approximately $1.9 billion more taxpayer dollars required to implement a massive entitlement expansion of the Medicaid program," Florida Gov. Rick Scott's office said in a Sunday evening statement.
The Affordable Care Act would have extended Medicaid to cover everyone who earns less than $14,500, regardless of whether they have children or not. That expansion, to cover higher earners, would have covered 951,622 Floridians, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation report.

For more, see The Backlash Begins: States Start Opting Out of Medicaid Expansion by Sarah Kliff, July 2, 2012 at Wonkblog.

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Society:  The Old and Uneducated Watch the Most TV

For more, see The Old and Uneducated Watch the Most TV by Catherine Rampell, June 26, 2012 at Economix.

Mind:  The Right Way to Bribe Kids

In this study, economists offered students of different ages money or trophies just before they took a test. Sometimes, the students got the reward first with the possibility that it could be revoked for bad performance. Sometimes, the students were only shown the reward after. So what did the economists find? Four really cool things.

First, they found that money works, and the amount of money really matters. Students were reportedly willing to exert significantly more energy at $80-an-hour, but not at $40-an-hour. (Authors: "As far as we know, ours is the first study to demonstrate that student responsiveness to incentives is sensitive to the size of the reward.").

Second, they learned that the rewards were most powerful when they were framed as losses rather than gains (i.e.: "Here is $20. If you fail, I'm taking it away.") The technical term for this is loss aversion and it's endemic. We're more protective of money we have -- or think we have -- than we are aggressive about seeking money we don't have.

Third, they learned that "non-financial incentives," like trophies, worked best with young people.

Fourth, they learned that rewards provided with a delay -- "we'll get you that check in a month!" -- did very little to improve performance. The power of hyperbolic discounting is strong with these ones.

For more, see Freakonomics Goes to School and Teaches Us the Right Way to Bribe Kids by Derek Thompson, June 19, 2012 at The Atlantic.

Monday, July 2, 2012

Healthcare:  Six Charts to Explain Health-Care Polling

For more, see Six Charts to Explain Health-Care Polling by Scott Clement, June 28, 2012 at The Washington Post.

Education:  Texas Republican Party Calls for Abstinence Only Sex Ed, Corporal Punishment in Schools

Early this month, Texas Republican delegates met in Fort Worth to approve their 2012 platform, notable parts of which take aim at the state's education system.
The position causing the most controversy, however, is the statement that they oppose the teaching of "higher order thinking skills" -- a curriculum which strives to encourage critical thinking -- arguing that it might challenge "student's fixed beliefs" and undermine "parental authority."

For more, see Texas Republican Party Calls for Abstinence Only Sex Ed, Corporal Punishment in Schools by Laura Hibbard, June 27, 2012 at The Huffington Post.

From the platform itself ...

Knowledge-Based Education —- We oppose the teaching of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) (values clarification), critical thinking skills and similar programs that are simply a relabeling of Outcome-Based Education (OBE) (mastery learning) which focus on behavior modification and have the purpose of challenging the student's fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority.

Regulation:  Barclays Fined for Manipulation of Libor

Barclays will pay $450 million to U.S. and British regulators to settle allegations that it rigged the interbank lending rate known as Libor, marking the first resolution in a sweeping investigation of the world's largest banks.

Libor, the London interbank offered rate, is a standard interest rate for loans between banks that serves as a benchmark for more than $360 trillion in lending to businesses and consumers.

The British bank admits to scheming to manipulate rates to increase profits and hide the reality of its distress during the financial crisis. Regulators suspect Barclays did not act alone, but was part of a larger conspiracy to set artificially low rates for Libor and the Euro interbank offered rate, or Euribor.

About a dozen financial institutions, including Bank of America, HSBC and JPMorgan, submit data to set the daily Libor rate. That information is collected on behalf of the British Bankers' Association by Thompson Reuters, which calculates the averages and devises the Libor rate.

Critics of the system say there is not enough transparency in how banks set their daily rates, which leaves the process wide open to fraud.

"This is an example of how letting the market regulate itself doesn't work," said attorney Brett Kappel of Arent Fox. "Given that the private sector has proven itself to be vulnerable to fraud, the next logical step would be to have the Libor rate determined by a government body."

For more, see Barclays Fined for Manipulation of Libor by Danielle Douglas, June 27, 2012 at The Washington Post.