Faculty & Research Has Mortality Risen Disproportionately for the Least Educated? Sept 2021 By Christopher J. RuhmAdam Leive Has Mortality Risen Disproportionately for the Least Educated? We examine whether the least educated population groups experienced the worst mortality trends at the beginning of the 21st century by measuring changes in mortality across education quartiles. We document sharply differing gender patterns. Among women, mortality trends improved fairly monotonically with education. Conversely, male trends for the lowest three education quartiles were often similar. For both sexes, the gap in mortality between the top 25 percent and the bottom 75 percent is growing. However, there are many groups for whom these patterns are reversed – with better experiences for the less educated – or where the differences are statistically indistinguishable. Link to Case Areas of focus Health Policy Social Equity Christopher J. Ruhm Christopher J. Ruhm is a professor of public policy and economics at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Ruhm’s recent research has focused on the role of government policies in helping parents with young children balance the competing needs of work and family life, and on examining how various aspects of health are produced – including the growth and sources of drug poisoning deaths in the United States, the rise in obesity and the relationship between macroeconomic conditions and health. Read full bio Related Content Christopher J. Ruhm Estimated Prevalence of and Factors Associated With Clinically Significant Anxiety and Depression Among US Adults During the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic Research How much did clinically significant anxiety and depression increase among US adults during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic? In this survey study of more than 1.4 million respondents in the US Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey, responses to a screening question calibrated to a 4-item Patient Health Questionnaire score of 6 or greater suggested that aggregate prevalence of clinically significant anxiety and depression increased only modestly overall among US adults in 2020 compared with 2017 to 2019. The Opioid Crisis, Health, Healthcare, and Crime: A Review Of Quasi-Experimental Economic Studies Research This study reviews quasi-experimental studies that examine the relationship between opioids and health and healthcare, and crime outcomes in the U.S. Ruhm Named SEA Distinguished Fellow News Chris Ruhm, Batten professor of public policy and economics, has received a Distinguished Fellow Award from the Southern Economic Association in recognition for his “substantial record of exceptional scholarly achievement and long-term involvement and service to the association.” Batten Showcase 2022: Family and Medical Leave Policies in the US: Where We Are and How We Got Here ft. Chris Ruhm News In this lecture, professor of public policy and economics at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, Chris Ruhm, discusses family medical leave policy in the United States. Ruhm looks at where we are now, how we got here and how to move forward. Adam Leive Health Insurance Design Meets Saving Incentives: Consumer Responses to Complex Contracts Research To lower health care costs, Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) offer tax incentives encouraging people to trade off current consumption against future consumption. This paper tests whether consumers use HSAs as self-insurance over the life cycle. Wage Insurance and Labor Market Trajectories Research Wage insurance provides income support to displaced workers who find reemployment at a lower wage. This group of scholars study the effects of the wage insurance provisions of the US Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program using administrative data from the state of Virginia. What they find suggests that wage insurance eligibility increases short-run employment probabilities and that wage insurance and TAA training may yield similar long-run effects on employment and earnings. Armed with Humor, Batten Student Named Among Nation's Top Four Army ROTC Cadets News The Navy Federal Credit Union has selected Batten student Jacob Shapero (MPP '21) as one of four Army ROTC All-Americans nationwide. Q&A: Do Work Requirements Aid Those on Public Assistance? Batten Professor Says No. News Adam Leive, Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Economics at the Batten School, questions the effectiveness of work requirements in public assistance.
Christopher J. Ruhm Christopher J. Ruhm is a professor of public policy and economics at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Ruhm’s recent research has focused on the role of government policies in helping parents with young children balance the competing needs of work and family life, and on examining how various aspects of health are produced – including the growth and sources of drug poisoning deaths in the United States, the rise in obesity and the relationship between macroeconomic conditions and health. Read full bio
Estimated Prevalence of and Factors Associated With Clinically Significant Anxiety and Depression Among US Adults During the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic Research How much did clinically significant anxiety and depression increase among US adults during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic? In this survey study of more than 1.4 million respondents in the US Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey, responses to a screening question calibrated to a 4-item Patient Health Questionnaire score of 6 or greater suggested that aggregate prevalence of clinically significant anxiety and depression increased only modestly overall among US adults in 2020 compared with 2017 to 2019.
The Opioid Crisis, Health, Healthcare, and Crime: A Review Of Quasi-Experimental Economic Studies Research This study reviews quasi-experimental studies that examine the relationship between opioids and health and healthcare, and crime outcomes in the U.S.
Ruhm Named SEA Distinguished Fellow News Chris Ruhm, Batten professor of public policy and economics, has received a Distinguished Fellow Award from the Southern Economic Association in recognition for his “substantial record of exceptional scholarly achievement and long-term involvement and service to the association.”
Batten Showcase 2022: Family and Medical Leave Policies in the US: Where We Are and How We Got Here ft. Chris Ruhm News In this lecture, professor of public policy and economics at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, Chris Ruhm, discusses family medical leave policy in the United States. Ruhm looks at where we are now, how we got here and how to move forward.
Health Insurance Design Meets Saving Incentives: Consumer Responses to Complex Contracts Research To lower health care costs, Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) offer tax incentives encouraging people to trade off current consumption against future consumption. This paper tests whether consumers use HSAs as self-insurance over the life cycle.
Wage Insurance and Labor Market Trajectories Research Wage insurance provides income support to displaced workers who find reemployment at a lower wage. This group of scholars study the effects of the wage insurance provisions of the US Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program using administrative data from the state of Virginia. What they find suggests that wage insurance eligibility increases short-run employment probabilities and that wage insurance and TAA training may yield similar long-run effects on employment and earnings.
Armed with Humor, Batten Student Named Among Nation's Top Four Army ROTC Cadets News The Navy Federal Credit Union has selected Batten student Jacob Shapero (MPP '21) as one of four Army ROTC All-Americans nationwide.
Q&A: Do Work Requirements Aid Those on Public Assistance? Batten Professor Says No. News Adam Leive, Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Economics at the Batten School, questions the effectiveness of work requirements in public assistance.