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2019-04-29
Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning;
The current study explores the relationship between participation in college service-learning (SL) experiences, in both academic courses and co-curricular programs, and post-college civic engagement. Using data from a purposeful sample of 1,066 alumni from 30 campuses who participated in the 20th Anniversary Bonner Scholars Study, we explored the extent to which SL experiences during the college years were related to civic outcomes post-graduation, particularly in terms of civic-minded orientations, volunteering, and civic action. When evaluating various attributes of SL programs (e.g., curricular, co-curricular programming, types of reflection, dialogue across difference, interactions with others), two components were particularly salient. Dialogue with others across difference was the strongest predictor of cultivating civic outcomes after college. In addition, both structured and informal reflection independently contributed to civic outcomes (i.e., civic-mindedness, voluntary action, civic action). The results suggested the Pathways to Adult Civic Engagement (PACE) model, which can be used to examine SL programming in higher education and to guide future research to understand how variations in SL program attributes influence civic outcomes years after graduation.
2019-04-01
Center for Economic and Policy Research;
This paper looks at some of the most important impacts of the economic sanctions imposed on Venezuela by the US government since August of 2017. It finds that most of the impact of these sanctions has not been on the government but on the civilian population.
The sanctions reduced the public's caloric intake, increased disease and mortality (for both adults and infants), and displaced millions of Venezuelans who fled the country as a result of the worsening economic depression and hyperinflation. They exacerbated Venezuela's economic crisis and made it nearly impossible to stabilize the economy, contributing further to excess deaths. All of these impacts disproportionately harmed the poorest and most vulnerable Venezuelans.
Even more severe and destructive than the broad economic sanctions of August 2017 were the sanctions imposed by executive order on January 28, 2019 and subsequent executive orders this year; and the recognition of a parallel government, which as shown below, created a whole new set of financial and trade sanctions that are even more constricting than the executive orders themselves.
We find that the sanctions have inflicted, and increasingly inflict, very serious harm to human life and health, including an estimated more than 40,000 deaths from 2017–2018; and that these sanctions would fit the definition of collective punishment of the civilian population as described in both the Geneva and Hague international conventions, to which the US is a signatory. They are also illegal under international law and treaties which the US has signed, and would appear to violate US law as well.
2019-02-06
Carsey School of Public Policy at The University of New Hampshire;
This brief examines demographic trends in rural America, a region often overlooked in a nation dominated by urban interests. Yet, 46 million people live in rural areas that encompass 72 percent of the land area of the United States. "Rural America" is a simple term that describes a remarkably diverse collection of people and places. It encompasses vast agricultural regions that are among the most productive in the world; sprawling exurban areas just beyond the urban fringe; successful ultra-modern industrial, energy, and warehousing complexes strung along rural interstates; regions where coal, ore, oil, gas, and timber are extracted, processed, and shipped; struggling factory towns facing intense global competition; and fast-growing recreational areas situated near scenic mountains and lakes.
2019-02-04
Center for Economic and Policy Research;
In the absence of national paid leave laws, some states have responded by creating programs that provide partial replacement of lost wages when urgent health or family needs mean workers must miss work. The three states with the longest track records are California, which implemented paid family leave in 2004; New Jersey, which implemented it in 2008; and Rhode Island, which followed in 2014. All three have had paid medical leave to address a worker's own serious illness for 70 years or more. Today, six states and the District of Columbia have enacted laws that provide workers with paid family and medical leave. Despite the existence of these state laws, both awareness and usage — especially among workers in low-paid jobs and members of minority communities — have been low.
This report examines a number of innovative projects in California, New Jersey, and Rhode Island designed to produce usable knowledge about what works — and what doesn't — in raising awareness among workers most likely to need paid family leave and least likely to know about it. It draws the lessons learned in the field and provides guidance to advocates in states with paid family and medical leave programs as they design interventions to address this challenge.
2019-01-30
Carsey School of Public Policy at The University of New Hampshire;
Sexual harassment in the workplace is a serious problem affecting workers across the United States and in New Hampshire. Nationwide, approximately four in ten women and more than one in ten men have been victims of workplace sexual harassment in their lifetimes. Research shows that such harassment has lasting economic, health, and family-related consequences for victims and their families: it increases victims' job exits and financial stress, alters career paths, and has deleterious consequences for mental and physical health, including depression, anger, and self-doubt
2018-11-20
Open Society Foundations;
In this report, whistleblowers from eight European countries describe what they experienced after they took a stand. Additionally, civil society experts weigh in on how the EU can craft policies to better protect whistleblowers. The question of how to define whistleblowing—does it apply to sexual harassment, can NGOs be considered whistleblowers, and so on—is also explored.
The report ultimately recommends an EU-wide directive on whistleblowing, which it argues would give whistleblowers the protection they need to step forward. The report also argues that a multi-level, multi-stakeholder approach would emphasize the value of whistleblowers and the crucial role they play in a healthy open society.
2018-11-01
Carnegie UK Trust;
Quantifying kindness, public engagement and place presents findings from the first ever quantitative survey on kindness in communities and public services. The data reveals a reassuring and yet complex picture of kindness in the UK and Ireland, with generally high levels of kindness reported, but at the same time variations in experiences between jurisdictions and across social groups.
The research also sheds light on how people describe the place they live in, revealing that two in five people in the UK self-identify as living in a town; and provides insights into people's sense of control over public services, and how they perceive and act upon various methods of public engagement.
The data was collected by Ipsos MORI, on behalf of the Carnegie UK Trust; surveys were run with representative random sampling of approximately 1,000 people in each of the five legislative jurisdictions in the UK and Ireland
2018-10-01
American Association of University Women;
Updated regularly with the most current statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Census Bureau, this report is a common-sense guide that provides key facts about the gender pay gap in the United States. Topics covered in the report include: the definition of the pay gap and its history; the pay gap in each state; the pay gap by age, race/ethnicity, and education; guidance for women facing workplace discrimination; and resources for fair pay advocates.
2018-09-25
Oxfam GB;
The UK Modern Slavery Act 2015 requires organizations with a turnover of at least £36m to make a public statement on steps they are taking to identify and prevent modern slavery in their operations and supply chains. Oxfam GB advocated for this policy development, and this statement relates to steps taken in relation to our own operations and supply chains. Our first statement in 2016 gave detailed information about our policies and processes to demonstrate transparency on this challenging issue and to encourage other companies to be transparent. This statement is an update on progress against the two-year commitments that we made in that first statement.
2018-09-13
Oxfam;
New Oxfam research shows that four pharmaceutical corporations -- Abbott, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, and Pfizer -- systematically hide their profits in overseas tax havens. This activity could deprive developing countries of more than $100 million every year -- money that is urgently needed to meet the health needs of people in these countries -- while charging very high prices for their products. Tax dodging, high prices, and political influencing by drug companies exacerbate the yawning gap between rich and poor, between men and women, and between advanced economies and developing ones.
This report shows how corporations can use sophisticated tax planning to take advantage of a broken system that allows multinational corporations from many different industries to avoid taxes.
2018-09-12
Oxfam GB;
New Oxfam research shows that four pharmaceutical companies -- Abbott, Johnson & Johnson, Merck and Pfizer -- systematically hide their profits in overseas tax havens. They appear to deprive developing countries of more than $100m (around £80m) every year -- money that is urgently needed to meet the health needs of people in these countries -- while charging very high prices for their products. In the UK, these four companies may be underpaying around £125m of tax each year. These corporations also deploy massive lobbying operations to influence trade, tax and health policies in their favour and give their damaging behavior greater apparent legitimacy. Tax dodging, high prices and political influencing by pharmaceutical companies exacerbate the yawning gap between rich and poor, between men and women, and between advanced economies and developing ones.
2018-09-11
General Association of Economists from Romania;
In this study, the sustainability of social security policies in EU countries was analyzed by panel data method with multiple structural breaks under cross-sectional dependence for the 1990-2013 periods. The existence of cointegration was tested by Basher and Westerlund (2009) method and series were found to be cointegrated. Cointegration coefficients were estimated by AMG method and it was determined that social security policies are sustainable in a weak form in these countries; when the social security systems' expenditure is increased by 1%, revenues are increased by 0.86% and revenues of the system cannot compensate the expenses. Austria has the highest rate of sustainability of the social security system while Ireland and Finland have the lowest rates.
