Abstract In this article, the writer notes that in the past few decades, rapid advancements in technology have emerged, boasting new levels of global interconnectedness. The writer points out that this globalization has sparked a revolution in information technology, dramatically and irreversibly changing both society and civilization. Globalization has brought about numerous benefits, such as the availability of information to anyone in the entire world, for a small fee. However, the writer maintains that this global interconnectedness has not come without high costs to society; it has widened the gap between the information-rich and the information-deprived. The writer discusses that it has brought about growing disparities in income, health care facilities and other measures of well being. The writer argues that globalization has come to symbolize a threat for underdeveloped nations, while economically advantaged nations have already benefited from it in ways previously thought unimaginable. This paper analyzes both the benefits and costs of globalization, and concludes with a few of the writer's own thoughts on the issue.
Outline:
Introduction
Benefits of Globalization
Costs of Globalization
Conclusion
From the Paper "Globalization has revealed many important benefits to society; for example, it has changed ideas about democracy, and global political movements have led to debt relief for poorer countries. Theorists have stated that globalization has helped hundreds of millions of people attain higher standards of living, beyond what they though imaginable a short while ago. The globalization of the economy has benefited countries that took advantage of it by seeking new markets for their exports and welcoming foreign investment. Furthermore, countries that have benefited the most have been those that took charge of their own destiny and recognized the role government can play in development rather than relying on the notion of a self-regulated market that would fix its own problems. In addition, many of the benefits of globalization come from the Internet, which has come to serve as a bridge between cultures and countries. The Internet is open to all at relatively low prices, and as a result, even some of the poorest countries have some access to the Internet."
Abstract This paper explains that the North-South problem roughly outlines a trend in developed nations, including Germany, France and the United States, for the North to be more developed than the South, thus creating a geographical basis from which income inequality can be sourced. The author points out that another influence on geographical income inequality lies in the dissimilarity in the dynamic North-South urban centers, such as the Southern cities having a greater concentration of lower income nonwhites than Northern cities as well as their differing industrial bases. The paper relates that income inequality in the United States contributes to a growing concern about the availability of both health and education services for those individuals existing at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder.
From the Paper "The economy of the South became increasingly agriculture based during its development, while the North was moving towards industrialization and manufacturing sectors. Wendy Shaw's study of the distribution of affluence and affluent communities in the United States clearly illustrates the economic inequality resulting from geography. A map displaying the 155 most affluent counties in the United States shows a tendency for such counties to be geographically centered overwhelmingly in the Washington, D.C. to Boston megalopolis."
Abstract The paper examines Aboriginal status, income, gender and social exclusion as social determinants of health that affect the Aboriginal population. The paper shows how these social determinants of health interact to ensure that the Aboriginal communities have the very worst social and economic conditions in Canada, as well as few resources. The paper outlines policy options to improve the quality of these social determinants of health and discusses the barriers to implementation of these policies.
Outline:
Introduction
Aboriginal Status
Income Pathways
Social Exclusion
Gender
Policy Options for Improvement
Barriers to Implementation of Policy Options
Conclusion
From the Paper "Aboriginal peoples live in physical, socioeconomic, and psycho-social environments which determine that they will not live healthy lifestyles and will have very poor health status. Aboriginal status refers to how Aboriginal people are classified under the Indian Act. The term 'status Indian' has a special legal meaning and involves "certain privileges to be compensated for having relinquished certain land rights" (Raphael, 2004, p. 267). As a result of colonization, Aboriginal peoples have lost land, cultural heritage, religion, and language, but mainly they have lost their autonomy. The consequences are observed in the poor physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and cultural health of these people. The nature of the socioeconomic environment ensues that the health status of these people will be poor."
A persuasive essay arguing that greater outreach and simplification efforts are necessary if the earned income tax credit (EITC) program is to have its intended economic impact.
Abstract The paper discusses how the earned income tax credit (EITC) program could contribute more significantly to the American economy. The paper first explains that a large percentage of eligible filers forego an opportunity to claim the EITC because of misunderstandings and complexity issues, while others will only file claims through professional tax preparers who receive most of the credit earnings. The paper calls for greater outreach and simplification that will result in more Americans filing claims and realizing the potential of the EITC.
Outline:
The Economic Benefit Impediments to Full Economic Benefit Outreach: Benefits and Shortcomings
From the Paper "Enacted in 1975, the federal earned income tax credit was the largest tax-relief effort ever directed at America's lower-income demographic. The EITC, which is targeted at individuals and families to help them offset rising living expenses, can wipe out a filer's tax liability, and often result in a refund -- even if the filer paid no taxes during the year ("It's easier than ever," No date). Throughout its 30 years of existence, the EITC has been credited with helping raise millions of Americans out of poverty, and has contributed hundreds of billions of dollars to the American economy. While the economic impact of the EITC has been mostly positive, there are still several impediments that are preventing its full value from being realized. Each year, millions of potential filers do not claim the EITC because they are under-educated on how it works or because the process is too complicated."
Abstract This paper begins with a legal definition of an employee and then goes on to explain what wage costs are from a business perspective. The paper explains how wage costs are set by the U.S. Department of Labor and then describes employee conditions for comparable workers in Mexico, which includes a look at the benefits the employees receive and how wage costs are calculated there.
From the Paper "The Legal definition of an Employee is "a person who is hired by another person or business for a wage or fixed payment in exchange for personal services and who does not provide the services as part of an independent business; Any individual employed by an employer". There are in existence three tax laws that will apply to employees. Under this law, when the person who has employed the individual has any sort of right over his employee, then he can control his working methods in any manner, including the end result expected of him, and the details of how and when and where the job is to be done. "Where the employer does not possess that right, the individual involved is an independent contractor, not an employee".
Abstract The paper discusses how social determinants of health affect health differences that are seen among people in Canada. The paper reveals that income and its distribution is an important determinant of health. The paper maintains that resources are not properly distributed and the poor are threatened by such issues as housing shortages, food insecurity and health problems.
From the Paper "Social determinants of health determine how people will have the physical, personal, and social resources to satisfy needs, cope with their environment, and fulfill their personal hopes (Raphael, 2004). Such resources include conditions of childhood and income. Health differences that are seen among people in Canada mainly result because they are from very different environments which are linked to the social determinants of health. The most important point about the social determinants of health is that they produce a cumulative effect on the likelihood of developing a wide variety of disease (Raphael, 2004)."
Abstract This paper establishes a model to elucidate how low-income heads-of-households (LIHOH) decide to purchase a home. The paper explains that after the decision is made, the model will predict the outcome for the homeowners when certain variables are changed, such as interest rates and income. The paper then establishes a hypothesis, proposes a way to prove the hypothesis using social science work done in previous studies, and then examines the outcome. Next, the paper examines what additional evidence might be collected in new quantitative studies to bolster or challenge the hypothesis. This paper also argues that the boom in housing ownership in the United States during the 1990s was largely driven by lower-cost loans, rather than changes in consumer preferences amongst lower-income heads of household. The paper points out that recent interest rate rises and changes in the job prospects of low-income earners in the US should predict a lower rate of house ownership in the future.
Outline:
Introduction
Hypothesis
Methodology
Income Expectations of Income Continuation
Previous Home Ownership
Down Payment
Interest Rates
ARM's (Adjustable Rate Mortgages)
Reverse Mortgages
Increasing Housing Prices
Non-Financial Home-Buying Incentives
Completing the Model's Assumptions
Results Analysis
Critiques of this Model
Need for Further Study
Conclusion
From the Paper "Heads of household in poor households--defined as up to two times the official US poverty level of $16,000 per household (2004) in the US, or $32,000 (DeNavas-Wait). The rate of home ownership has increased in this segment of the US population during the 1990's (Belsky E. S. and Duda 1-45). Although many LIHOH figures are clouded by the mix between Hispanic, Black and other lower-income classifications, the trend towards higher homeownership in the 1990's is clear. According to the Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances, more than 55 percent of lower-income households held debt in 2004, up from 45% in 1989."
Abstract This paper examines how most social workers, politicians and those of the general public who support the welfare state do so in part because they believe welfare programs help to reduce the rate of poverty. It looks at how a growing number of critics assert that such programs in fact fail to decrease poverty, because too small a share of transfers actually reaches the poor, or because such programs create a welfare/poverty trap, or because they weaken the economy. It proposes a study to assess the effects of social-welfare policy extensiveness on poverty rates.
Outline
Discussion
Pros of Raising Income Taxes to Redistribute Income to the Poor
Cons of Lowering Taxes and Reducing the Amount Available for Income Redistribution.
Pros of Reducing Income Taxes
Cons of Reducing Income Taxes
Proposals
Ways of Funding Social-Insurance (Welfare) Programs
Conclusion
From the Paper "Reducing the amount of transfer payments ultimately will increase levels of both poverty and the maladies that are associated with it. Infant and child mortality, increased crime, lack of participation in society in general, and increased medical expenses born ultimately by society can all be the results of decrease social spending (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities web site). To quote a study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: ?Social insurance programs moved 1.4 million children out of poverty. Federal taxes, including the Earned Income Tax Credit, (EITC), lifted another one million children out of poverty. It is striking that taxes were nearly as effective as social insurance programs in moving children out of poverty because taxes alone would be expected to increase rather than reduce poverty."
Looks at the problems associated with providing health care for pregnant African-American women and some ways to accurately assess the need for health care.
4,900 words (approx. 19.6 pages), 15 sources, 2002, $ 178.95
Abstract There is a need to investigate the correlation between the level of income that is held by the individual and the degree of health care offered to them in order to assess whether the care offered is insufficient. This paper provides a study of thirteen questions (fictitious) that was given to one hundred and fifty pregnant, unwed, teenaged African- Americans in order to determine these factors. The results allowed researchers to investigate the degree of health care needed in communities with a high concentration of this category of women, and the fees that such services should require.
Abstract This paper reviews and discusses the healthbenefits of eating foods containing docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). The paper reports that research has proven DHA to not only be essential for the functional development and growth of an infant's brain, but that it is also vital for the preservation of an adult's normal brain functioning. According to the paper, sources of DHA include fatty fish such as tuna, salmon and mackerel.
Table of Contents:
I.Introduction
Propositions Presented
II. Literature Review
Other Studies
III. Reviews Relate
Benefits Confirmed
From the Paper "Associated risks for eating fish include potential effects of extremely high methylmercury intake, however, chronic exposure to low levels are not solidly grounded regarding health effects. Women of childbearing age, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, need to avoid eating shark, swordfish, King mackerel and golden bass and only eat up to 12 ounces per week of other fish and shellfish. It is recommended that women of childbearing age do not eat more than 6 ounces of Albacore tuna each week."
"In practice, fish consumption, particular oily fish and shellfish, reduces CHD mortality and is noted to likely improved neurological functioning. Potential risks from dioxin, mercury and PCB contamination are outweighed by DHA's probable benefits."
Tags: Mother's, milk, health, benefits, DHA, deficiencies, myocardial, infarction, fish
Abstract This paper explains that the ethical issue involves whether it is better if fewer Americans profit with a greater amount of health resource allocation or if the majority benefit to a lesser degree for equity in health care benefits. The author evaluates the rights-based Utilitarian theory that states the "happiness" of the greatest number of individuals can be applied to the clinical ethics perspective of health care rationing, thus taking an Aristotelian position that the decision maker should base his or her ethical values on patient well-being rather than established guidelines prepared by others external to the case. The paper concludes that, by rationing heath care, civil rights are violated in that health is being placed at risk; therefore, the policy of omitting that which could potentially save someone's life lacks in ethical justification.
From the Paper "In addition to the ethical debate surrounding rationing, there exists a major conflict with the essay's argument. The essayist writes, "The miracles of medicine have outpaced the ability"to pay for them,? discriminating against advancing medical technologies that he views as unnecessary if less medical care is provided. If ?innovation grows faster than our ability to pay for it,? is his justification to support rationing, then he is also advocating reducing expenditures in the medical research and development field, forcing us into a medical standstill. Given this to be the case, then medical rationing could work nicely since there would be fewer technologies to argue over providing to patients."
Abstract This paper explains that the State Child Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) is a program formulated and implemented by both federal and state governments to assist poor working families, who cannot afford private health insurance. The paper then points out SCHIP is not immune to various issues that threaten its efficacy as a federal and state program. The paper then goes on to discusses these issues involving SCHIP, together with proposals for the enhancement of the current policy. Moreover, the paper investigates prospects for the future of SCHIP, specifically those involving fiscal and economic factors that would determine the capacity of SCHIP to help federal and state governments provide health care assistance. The paper includes charts and an annotated bibliography.
Table of Contents:
Abstract
Statement and Significance of the Health Policy
Related Issues and Consequences, Including Groups Supporting/Opposing the Policy
Proposals for Enhancing, Changing, or Eliminating the Health Policy
Prospects for the Future of the Health Policy
Author's Position While Critiquing the Health Policy
From the Paper "The importance of public health care coverage becomes more apparent when the situation is viewed from the perspective of low-income children who lack private coverage. These children are shown to have persistently lagged behind children with public or private coverage when their status of health is assessed based on any measure of access to care. Since poor children have no access to preventive and primary health care, there is great and apparent disparity in the children's health status."
Abstract This paper discusses the health care crisis in the United States. The paper notes that health care costs have been rising beyond the rate of inflation for quite some time, and many Americans are starting to realize the severity of the issue. The paper examines the causes of the problem and discusses solutions that will help to minimize it. To analyze the situation, the paper looks at economic literature and then applies this economic framework to the current policies that affect the health care market. The paper continues by using the same framework and analyzes alternative policies and institutions and recommends a set of policies to best address the issue. The paper is illustrated with graphs and tables.
Outline:
Introduction
Literature Review
Class Probability
Insurable and Uninsurable Risks
Sub-Classification of Risks
Moral Hazard of Insurance
Analysis of Current Policies and Institutions
The AMA
Moral Hazard of Health Insurance and the Problem of Sub-classification
Incentives to Use Health Insurance
Public Health Insurance
Analysis of Alternative Policies and Institutions
Limiting the Market Power of the AMA
High Deductible Health Insurance
Health Savings Accounts
Conclusion
From the Paper "The purpose of insurance is to pool a particular risk among a group of individuals so as to reduce the amount of risk facing any one individual. Risk can be defined as the uncertainty about a particular negative outcome occurring in the future. If the perceived risk is financial in nature, then an individual may choose to pay a fraction of the cost into an insurance pool, thereby eliminating the possibility of incurring the cost in its totality."
Tags:income-elastic, economic, framework, a, risk, based, insurance, pool
An overview of the planning and organization of health care services and a discussion of the health services programs available to the different populations.
Abstract This paper discusses how the organization of health care systems has progressed over time as advances in medicine and technology have occurred. It looks a how the advent of multi-hospital systems, HMO?s, and the like, have developed in response to the changing demographics of the population and in response to the changing health care needs of the population as technological advances have wiped out previously debilitating sickness.
Outline
Introduction
Overall Health Care System: Analysis of Development
Social Factors Influencing Health Care
The Future of Health Care
Conclusion
From the Paper "One important idea to consider when discussing the administration of health care services is the perceived need by the public for such services. The concept that the availability of health care services creates a demand for health care and need is important to consider. New technological advances have perhaps implanted in the minds of physicians and patients the need to treat disease that may have otherwise been ignored. One important factor to consider in planning health program administration is evaluating the utilization of health care services. The function of health planners is to identify areas of greatest need or highest potential demand in communities for health care delivery organizations."
Abstract This paper examines how the health care reforms instituted under the past two presidencies have failed to address the problems of uninsured Americans in the United States. The first part of this paper examines the long road to health care reforms. It pays special attention to the thorny issue of universal insurance and the trends towards the privatization of health care. The next part of the paper then focuses specifically on the field of nursing. It looks at how health care reforms have changed the nature of a nurse's job, increasing both the level and difficulty of a nurse's workload. These changes also have significant implications for the quality of patient care in health care facilities and the rise in the number of self-care practitioners in the United States.
From the Paper "Many nurses also report a rise in patient acuity. The privatization of healthcare has resulted in a new mindset in the medical workplace, one that requires hospitals to limit admissions to only "the sickest patients for the shortest possible stays" (Sochalski and Aiken 1999:1). In addition to the increase in the number of patients, nurses are also managing an increased number of patients who are much more ill and who require more attention. As a result, the level and difficulty of a nurse's workload has significantly increased."
