A new pilot grant has been awarded to a collaborative team of researchers with the aim of advancing research on Alzheimers's disease and related dementias (ADRD) in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) with a focus on addressing global healt disparities.

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Dennis Culhane was quoted in the Los Angeles Times saying that the city should shift its focus from building supportive housing to providing financial assistance to homeless individuals and those at risk of homelessness, enabling them to cover their rent in the private housing market.

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"An important issue is whether AI leads to resources being allocated systematically to some groups rather than others. We need to ensure that when using AI, we are reducing health inequities by improving the effectiveness of programs without contributing to worsening health inequities," said Kevin Volpp, Penn LDI.  

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CSS Lab writes that the Common Sense Project platform, a new initiative based on research by Mark Whiting and Duncan Watts, has attracted significant media attention and over 100,000 visitors in its first week.

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Chenyi Ma and Dennis Culhane's paper explores how older adults modify their disaster preparedness behavior using concepts from the Transtheoretical Model, Social Cognitive Theory, and Protection Motivation Theory.

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Penn LDI reports that a study by Karen Lasater, Matthew McHugh, and Linda Aiken found that many COVID-19 deaths could have been prevented with adequate nurse staffing and better work envir More »

“It’s very resource intensive,” David Mandell said in WHYY, “It requires parents responding in a timely way. It requires there being staff on the school district side. More »

A study co-authored by Kevin G. Volpp, cited in Penn LDI, found that combining gamification and financial incentives significantly boosts physical activity, especially for those at high risk for cardiovascular disease. 

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Max Planck Institute highlights a study lead by Samuel Preston. The Study states that behavioral changes, like reduced smoking and increased education, accounted for 65% of improvements in U.S. adult mortality before the COVID-19 pandemic.

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The University of Pennsylvania has launched a $10 million Center for Media, Technology, and Democracy, with Duncan Watts leading research on misinformation, bias, and their impact on democracy using AI and behavioral experiments.

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“Some people came out of the COVID experience thinking like, ‘Thank God for vaccines, yay. I will stand on the barricades to make this happen for folks. More »

In an interview with Finance & Development Magazine, Olivia Mitchell discusses how supporting healthy aging and improving financial literacy will help society reap the benefits of longer lives.

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The Financial Times article featuring Duncan J. Watts challenges the common belief that misinformation is both widespread and a major threat. It emphasizes three key points: the risk of fostering cynicism, the misinterpretation of political issues, and the tendency to overstate the scope of the problem.

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“Everything that you learn about the world represents a choice that someone has made,” Duncan Watts says in The Pennsylvania Gazette. “A journalist or an editor or a publisher has made the choice to focus on something and not something else. And so what you’re reading and what you’re learning is their opinion about what you should know”

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In her 60-second lecture, Paula Fomby highlights three critical aspects of Philadelphia's diverse demography to help incoming Penn students find their community. 

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"What Do You and Philadelphia Have in Common?” Penn Arts & Sciences, August 26, 2024.

 

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“I really love teaching it. It is my specialty area, but more than that, it’s a delight to teach it this way because I really get to know the students well,” said Wendy Roth in Omnia, addressing the Sociology of Race and Ethnicity class she has offered as a first-year seminar for the past five years.

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In his op-ed featured in The Spectator, Jesus Fernandez-Villaverde highlights that the global fertility rate has dropped below the replacement level of 2.1, potentially leading to a population decline within 30 years. 

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Olivia S. Mitchell, in her Op-ed for The wall Street Journal, discusses the key considerations retirees should weigh when deciding whether to roll over their 401(k) into an IRA or leave it in their former employer's plan.
 

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"Figuring out which approaches help increase immunization, and under what circumstances, could help global public health leaders allocate resources more efficiently and ultimately improve health outcomes," said Dolores Albarracin in Penn Today.

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A new Forbes article highlights the woman who shape the way money flows in our country. Olivia Mitchell was featured for many accomplishments such as 300 articles and books, and advising governments including the U.S!

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"50 Over 50: Investment," Forbes, V Chachere, M McGrath, 

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In a candid conversation with Wharton Dean Erika James, Olivia S. Mitchell discusses her research on retirement and pension decisions and her insights from over four decades in the field.

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What I’ve Learned.” Knowledge at Wharton, August 6, 2024.

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The research done by Dolores Albarracín shows that a persons ability to spot fake news does not affect how often they seek news from partisan news sources. 

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"Study reveals impact of concern about misinformation on Americans’ media consumption habits," Penn Today, August 1, 2024.

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Homelessness in the U.S. spiked 12% in 2023, primarily due to migrant influxes and overwhelming shelter systems. Dennis Culhane wrote in The Signal chronic issues and inadequate housing programs, especially as unsheltered homelessness on the West Coast, pose severe health risks and highlight the need for more federal support.

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Read all about Penn at the 2024 ASA Conference, as well as recap the Summer Institute in Computational Social Science led by Xi Song. Keep and eye out for the extra large section of researcher updates! Plus, a Penn discount code for the IAPHS conference.

READ HERE:

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Zuberi detailed everything from childhood experiences, academic interests, hardships, and education. Be sure to check out the article to get the full story!

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" Four academic journeys explored," Penn Today, July 18, 2024.

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“Let’s be honest, saving is no fun. People don’t get ‘utils’ (or utility) out of saving. They get utils out of spending.” said Mitchell

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"How Behavioral Factors Shape Retirement Wealth,"  Knowledge at Wharton, S Parameshwaran, July 15, 2024.

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Kevin Volpp writes in JAMA Health Forum that the Food Is Medicine initiative by the American Heart Association aims to tackle health issues related to diet by offering subsidized healthy foods. By integrating behavioral economics strategies, these programs could be more effective and better received, ultimately improving health equity and access to food.

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The programs are heavily focused on health and health care disparities and advancing the needs of underrepresented groups in health services, population health, and clinical epidemiology.

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"Young Scholars Arrive at 2024 AcademyHealth Research Meeting," Penn LDI, H Levins, June 29, 2024. 

 

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Read all about PARC @ AcademyHealth and the latest news and publications from our Research Associates - and catch up on Dorothy Roberts keynote at the recent symposium on Genetic Ancestry and Perceptions of Race.

READ HERE.

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Come check out the AcademyHealth Annual Research Meeting hosted June 29th - July 2nd in Baltimore Maryland. Many of our PARC researchers have papers and posters being presented! We have gathered everything here for your convenience.

 

 

 

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“The debates offer a real-time, high-stakes environment to observe and analyze how media outlets present and potentially skew the same event,” says Watts. The Media Bias Detector organizes all the info you might need regarding how topics are covered through different well known sources. 

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According to the study by Lasater, McHugh, and Aiken hospitals with a one to four nurse to patient ratio fared better during COVID-19. Additionally, each additional patient added to a nurses workload increased chances of death by 20 percent.

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Lasater and Aiken found that risk of death for patients admitted into a fully staffed hospital was significantly lower than patients in an understaffed hospital. 

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"Hospital Nursing Resources Tied to COVID-19 Survival,Microsoft Start,  L Solomon, June 24, 2024.

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In a time when Philly's overall population has decreased, he points to welcoming immigrants as a key strategy for re-invigorating the city's growth. Parrado also suggests that the ebb and flow of young professionals in - and out - of the city isn't bad news.

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"Philadelphia Lost More Than 50,000 Residents During the Pandemic. Now What?" Philadelphia Magazine, S Smith, June 22, 2024.

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Xi Song details how intergenerational mobility declined in the United States after World War II but then dives further to explore the diversity of experiences for different groups. She discusses the trends in mobility as broken down by race, immigration status, and gender. 

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The research shows Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) are linked to aging and affluence and have replaced infectious diseases and malnutrition as the dominant causes of ill health and death in much of the world including India. The present study examines rising rates of two NCDs heart disease and diabetes. More »

The research uses data from the Malawi Longitudinal Study of Families and Health to examine the relationship between mortality and fertility in Malawi - specifically the impact of individual-specific subjective mortality expectations on fertility choice.

READ THE PAPER.

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“Hospitals use respite care to get indigent patients off their books, and then they’re often discharged back into homelessness,” said Culhane

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"For an Older Homeless Population, a New Type of Care," The New York Times, J DeParle, June 10, 2024. 

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“Since the 2016 U.S. presidential election, many thousands of papers have been published about the dangers of false information propagating on social media,” says Watts. “But what this literature has almost universally overlooked is the related danger of information that is merely biased. That’s what we look at here in the context of COVID vaccines.” 

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Duckworth talks about many complicated human emotions such as self control and temper. Check out the full episode with Kelly Corrigan now!

Check out the episode here.

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Congrats to our PSC and PARC Research Associates who have been awarded 2024 Penn Global Research and Engagement Grants. The program prioritizes projects that bring together leading scholars and practitioners across the University community and beyond to develop new insight on significant global issues in key countries and regions around the world, a core pillar of Penn’s global strategic framework.
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“As the ways we categorize race and ethnicity change, so will epidemiological patterns,” said Montoya-Williams, “Studying these changes will allow us to better understand and address disparities in preterm birth.”

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Souths study concluded from interviews that there is major feeling of distrust towards emergency departments. This could be from ancestral or personal experiences with healthcare. These both could affect the patients feelings before they even make it to the door. 

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Many workers with student loans found that saving for retirement is extremely difficult. With Secure 2.0 however, as workers pay off their student loans, their employers could match those payments with contributions to retirement accounts. Mitchell, a co-author of the National Bureau of Economic Research's study on Secure 2.0, said "My guess is that many large employers will find it useful in attracting and retaining scarce talent, but smaller firms might not."

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In the Women in Economics podcast, Olivia Mitchell discusses how the prospects of early retirement are fading fast with rising life expectancy, challenges facing pension systems, and more.

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Fears of discrimination, the high cost of health care and possible deportation are causing some Latino immigrants in Philadelphia to delay or forego prenatal care. Montoya-Williams expresses concern for the immigrants who cannot receive the care needed. 

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This newsletter includes congratulations for our spring graduates, a wrap up of the 2024 PARC Aging Retreat, upcoming events, news, and more!

 

 

 

 

 

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After meeting John MacDonald, Maya Moritz, a criminology doctoral student, was inspired to investigate the correlation between murals and crime rate.

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Linda Aiken, Co-Director of Magnet4Europe, shares highlights of the 2024 conference. Research presented at the conference showed that hospital conditions can be improved, and in doing so have great results.

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"Magnet4Europe Celebration Conference 2024: A Milestone in Healthcare Excellence," Magnet4Europe, J Kleine & L Aiken, May 23, 2024.

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Poets and Quants quoted one of her students saying that "Professor Low’s class is one of the most impactful that I’ve taken at Wharton. It has prompted the most (and some of the most thought-provoking) conversations with classmates/friends/family outside of the classroom and provided me with new frameworks for evaluating societal structures and practices. Professor Low is also very skilled at holding the attention of the lecture hall.

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“You don’t want people to think that everywhere is so dangerous in a way that it’s not,” said MacDonald, “On the other hand, you don’t want people to think that, oh, this is just somebody else’s problem. It’s not happening in my neighborhood.”

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Dolores Albarracín, was featured in Penn Today for her research on determining change in human behavior. Albarracín and her team strive to find the science behind behavior change to determine the best ways to promote benefits in our daily lives.

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Researchers study how households have changed over time and the effect this has on our daily lives.

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Just a friendly reminder, the PARC Aging Retreat is happening this Friday! Take a look at the retreat program to see the agenda for the day.
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The Academy aims to tackle serious challenges in order to advance common goals. Albarracín among 5 others, has been elected into the honorary society.

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“We see financial literacy much like other kinds of education. It takes time to learn financial concepts and to apply them, and sometimes it takes money so that you can hire someone or take a course or what have you. " Mitchell says.

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Culhane commented on the urgency of the homeless crisis, as well as provided his take on the problem.

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“In general, the U.S. supports parents and caregivers less than many other countries,” Dr. Coe said, “which has numerous and lasting intergenerational effects on health and wealth.”

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The American Association for the Advancement of Science consists of 500 researches honored for their scientific achievements. Congrats Dolores

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Many African American citizens are Charleston can not trace their lineage back beyond a few generations. However with the help of Schurr, DNA tests reveal much more information regarding their past.

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In his recent article Mandell explains the changes in Methadone treatments since the COVID-19 pandemic. Before the pandemic, getting treatment was an inconvenience. However with the implementation of take home treatment, there have been many pros and cons that Mandell explores. 

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"Methadone treatment has been reformed for the better. States shouldn’t go back to the old ways," STAT, R Arden & D 

Mandell.

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Fomby's new article goes through the statistics of marriages especially how marriages effect the children involved. 

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A worldwide increase in life expectancy and decrease in fertility rates led the World Health Organization to predict in 2022 that the proportion of the world’s population over 60 years old will nearly double between 2015 and 2050, from 12 to 22 percent. Related difficulties include providing health and long-term care needs, finding treatments for cognitive diseases like Alzheimer’s, and addressing health disparities in aging.

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The study co-authored by Venkataramani found that lower-wage workers did not receive much economic benefit at all.

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"Doctors, Nurses, and Managers Received Wage Hikes After Medicaid Expansion While Lower-Paid Workers Did Not," Penn LDI, M Meline, April 4, 2024.

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This PRB article examines new research on the impact of socioeconomic status on aging - a study by PENN PSC's Courtney Boen is among those cited.

READ THE STUDY HERE:

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The comprehensive list uses Mitchell's findings to dive deeper into what retirees wish they could have done sooner.

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"5 Biggest Regrets of Retirees (Hint: Claiming Social Security Too Early Is One of Them)" The Globe And Mail, March 30, 2024.

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Mitchell discusses how early retirement is becoming difficult to achieve as life expectancy steadily climbs and the pension system is falling short.

LISTEN OR READ HERE: Women in Economics: Olivia Mitchell on Retirement Reality

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The article written by MacDonald, focuses on social science as well as identifying root causes that form many social issues.

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"The Precautionary Principle," Vital City, J MacDonald, March 27, 2024.

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Penn Today features the Population Studies Center as the co-sponsor for the Symposium on Immigration Policy, and Chenoa Flippen as the event host. 

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Mitchell explained that “This lack of financial literacy then translates into greater financial regret among older women” 

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Duckworth was described by "Having spent years studying the best ways to Nudge people with choice-preserving but psychologically wise interventions to help them make better decisions." 

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"Cass Sunstein on Nudging, Sludge, and the Power of ‘Dishabituation’," Knowledge At Wharton, A Basiouny, March 25, 2024."

 

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Pauly and Burns say that strategies across private equity investment have largely stayed consistent. However, the investigators say there’s “less public information on firm performance” today. So, they argue, the current “brouhaha” should be tempered by past experience.

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The study found that increased incarceration rates had a noticeable effect on the birth weight of newborns. Both Boen as well as Venkataramani found that incarceration rates do have a direct impact on the overall health of the population.

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Penn SAS News features Irma Elo for being appointed as Tamsen and Michael Brown Presidential Professor. 

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Take a look at the Penn Population Studies Newsletter for upcoming events, new PARC research associates, and researchers featuring in news articles. 

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“Nurses want to leave their jobs when care conditions are poor and those same unfavorable care conditions are not good for patients either,” said Linda Aiken in EuroNews.Health. Aiken then explains how the pandemic has effected our healthcare system long term.

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Penn LDI features a study by Eugenia South that gathers personal experiences to aid the dismantling of structural racism in medicine. 

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Penn LDI features the new study by Rachel Werner and Norma Coe, that examined data on over 2 million Medicare beneficiaries who had knee or hip replacements, among the most common surgeries. More »

“Financial education is most effective when there is a rigorous curriculum, a specific course devoted to personal finance (rather than embedding these concepts into other classes), and trained teachers,” said Olivia Mitchell in a MarketWatch artic More »

“A goal would be for employers to offer more access and, when possible, encouragement to learn and implement important financial lessons during the worklife,” Olivia Mitchell said in MarketWatch.

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Penn Today and Knowledge at Wharton features Angela Lee Duckworth for her new study on that found that breaking down a commitment to volunteer 200 hours per year for a nonprofit into smaller subgoals increased the amount of time More »

Holger Sieg, who has also been a National Bureau of Economic Research research affiliate in public economics and political economy since 2000, focuses his research on public and urban economics, as well as the political economy of state and local governments.

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"Holger Sieg Named Baird Term Professor of Economics," Penn Arts & Sciences, February 29, 2024.

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Penn Today and Annenberg School for Communication highlights Tukufu Zuberi at the 2nd Annual W.E.B. Du Bois Lecture in Public Social Science, discussing Du Bois’ contributions to the field and to humanity.

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Kevin Volpp, the principal investigator of PMHH and director of the Penn Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics, explains how the program works and who is eligible in Penn Medicine News.

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Mark Pauly in MedpageToday explains how popular branded drugs are sold at prices nearly three times lower, on average, in Canada. However, due to purity concerns, the FDA has long forbidden the import of these drugs.

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Knowledge at Wharton features executive director of Wharton’s Pension Research Council Olivia Mitchell joining the show to discuss why retirement gets better with annuities.

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The new  Penn Population Studies Newsletter highlights researches in the news, awards received by researchers, new working papers, and some exciting events coming up. 

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Mother Jones quotes Dorothy Roberts on coerced home searches. Roberts says "Coerced home searches, invasion of families’ privacy, and threatening parents with child removal are integral aspects of a system designed to disrupt the most marginalized communities in America." 

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The Atlantic features Olivia Mitchell in an article discussing what companies owe retirees. 

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"What Companies Owe Retirees." The Atlantic, L Kelley, February 20, 2024. 

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Penn Today highlights a new study by Eugenio Paglino, Irma Elo, and Samuel Preston on the relation between natural and Covid-19 deaths. 

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Take a look at the Penn Population Studies Newsletter for upcoming events, recent publications by PSC and PARC research associates, and researchers featuring in news articles. 

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Hawaii Public Radio features Dorothy Roberts talking about the death of a 10-year-old Oʻahu girl, who officials say was abused and starved by her legal guardians. 

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Penn Today features Courtney Boen as the thesis advisor of Taussia Boadi. Their research looks at the relationship between adverse childhood experiences, birth outcomes, and resilience in Black women.

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Penn LDI highlights that Wharton Healthcare Analytics Lab will be collaborating with Kevin Volpp, and his team at the Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics to integrate dynamic adaptation and personalization into clinical trials. 

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Penn Today features Atheendar Venkataramani for finding that black adults across the U.S. suffer from sleep problems following exposure to news about unarmed black individuals killed by police during police encounters.

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Postdoctoral fellow Helene Purcell co-authored a paper along with Justine Herve and Sneha Mani

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Min Kim writes a paper on Financial Literacy, Portfolio Choice, and Wealth Inequality.

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Medpage Today features Linda Aiken talking about the late Claire Fagin. She says she was a "nurse visionary with the savvy to make things happen". 

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"Nurse Community Mourns 'Trailblazer' Claire Fagin, PhD, RN." Medpage Today, S Firth, February 6, 2024. 

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Penn Medicine features Atheendar Venkataramani's research that found statistically significant decreases in sleep duration among Black adults, after exposure to deaths of unarmed Black individuals during police encounters.

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The article featuring Atheendar Venkataramanis' study in The New York Times shows that black people were consistently more likely to report harmfully low levels of sleep after such a killing th More »

Penn Today highlights research associate Dorothy Roberts addressing the question on civil rights being enough, during the 23rd annual Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Lecture in Social Justice. 

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Knowledge at Wharton features Duncan Watts for his study on quantifying individual and collective common sense. 

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"What Is Common Sense?" Knowledge at Wharton, N Magubane, January 30, 2024. 

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Check out the first Penn Population Studies Newsletter of 2024. This newsletter showcases researchers featured in the news, upcoming events such as PARC aging chats and the aging retreat, updates on the PSC Colloquium Series, and information on the Quartet Pilot Research Project Competition.

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Penn Today features research associate Duncan Watts for his study on individual and collective common sense. 

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"The Commonalities of Common Sense." Penn Today, N Magubane, January 23, 2024. 

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Penn Today highlights PARC and PSC research associates Hans-Peter Kohler and Iliana V. Kohler for the two-and-a-half decades of research in Malawi. As the country’s life expectancy has risen, the Malawi Longitudinal Study of Families and Health has shifted its current and future research to aging.

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“Coaches try to break goals down to a point that the first levels of goal achievement are almost guaranteed… Psychologists call this goal gradients—the idea that people work much harder to achieve goals that are seen as being in reach.” Kevin Volpp said in Time.

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Parents quotes research associate Paula Fomby on contraceptive methods. 

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"American Families Will Shrink in the Near Future, New Study Says." Parents, B A Mayer, January 19, 2024. 

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MarketWatch quotes Olivia Mitchell, stating that individuals experiencing loneliness or depression are significantly more susceptible to falling victim to fraud.

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Penn LDI features Courtney Boen's research, which illuminates the health consequences of a Racialized Society and explores potential strategies for mitigation. 

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Annenberg School for Communication highlights a new report by Dolores Albarracín on identifying effective ways to halt the spread of misinformation online, including debunking and “prebunking".

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Penn LDI highlights Dolores Albarracín shedding light on a new factor in understanding how people think of climate change: exposure to record-breaking heat.

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“We’ve substantially caught up, which is incredible. It’s actually an amazing feat.” said Alison Buttenheim in The Atlantic regarding falling rates of vaccination in children.

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Knowledge at Wharton highlights Olivia Mitchell's study making a case for deferred income annuities with some equity exposure in defined contribution plans.

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The New York Times features research associate Dennis Culhane for his study on modern homelessness. 

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“What really kills you is when they tell you it will arrive on Monday, but it arrives on Friday,” says Fernández-Villaverde in The Wall Street Journal, regarding supply chain shock post-pandemic. 

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Penn LDI highlights health policy research blogs featuring PARC and PSC associates. 

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"LDI Research Blogs That Caught Your Attention in 2023." Penn LDI, K Kamara & M Bolas, January 3, 2024. 

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Penn LDI showcases attention-grabbing news articles that spotlight some of the PARC and PSC research associates. 

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"LDI News That Caught Your Attention in 2023." Penn LDI, H Levins, January 3, 2024. 

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Responding to the release of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) 2023 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress that cited a “record level” of homelessness. More »