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Biomedical subjects

D E Bloom

Publications and source records attributed to D E Bloom.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Something to be done: treating HIV/AIDS. River Path Associates.

Largely because of disparities in access to drug treatment and care, AIDS morbidity and mortality have fallen in the developed world but continue to rise among developing countries. Achieving more equitable access to AIDS drugs is hindered by high drug prices, technical complexities related to the provision of health care, and conflict among stakeholders. Recognition that health is vital to the prospects of the emerging global society must be combined with new mechanisms to help all stakeholders work together cooperatively. Tiered drugs pricing should be coupled with investment in health services. An independent "Global Task Force," able to act as an "active think tank," could build consensus about the way forward.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗

A moment in time: AIDS and business.

Business has transformed the planet. But this gives it new responsibilities. People now expect business leaders to lead--and not just respond when things go wrong. HIV/AIDS is a global problem, with over 16.3 million people now thought to have died of the disease (Global Summary of HIV/AIDS Epidemic, UNAIDS, December 1999). Without action now, the pandemic will worsen, health services will come under relentless pressure and the number of people dying will increase exponentially. So why should business sit up and take notice? First: money. AIDS is slowly strangling many businesses and economies--and in a global market, everyone eventually suffers. Without profit, there is no business--so the business community needs to act to protect its bottom line. Second: people. Over 80% of those dying are in their 20s, 30s, and 40s. Businesses are losing workers and customers, and human networks that have taken decades to build. Third: imagination. Business is inventive, creative and fast-moving. It has the opportunity to use these strengths for the benefit of the wider community. It's time to pit business ideas (and some money, too) against the threat of AIDS. The course of the AIDS epidemic is not inevitable. The world's businesses have the skills and intensity to make a measurable difference, especially if they find public sector and NGO partners with whom they share a vision. A focused, coordinated, results-driven effort will hit AIDS hard. The HIV virus moves fast (and is mutating all the time). Business has the opportunity to make a difference. It must grasp this opportunity. And grasp if fast.

Commerce↗

The changing labour market position of Canadian immigrants.

"This paper uses pooled 1971, 1981, and 1986 Canadian census data to evaluate the extent to which (1) the earnings of Canadian immigrants at the time of immigration fall short of the earnings of comparable Canadian-born individuals, and (2) immigrants' earnings grow more rapidly over time than those of the Canadian born. Variations in the labour market assimilation of immigrants according to their gender and country of origin are also analysed. The results suggest that recent immigrant cohorts have had more difficulty being assimilated into the Canadian labour market than earlier ones, an apparent consequence of recent changes in Canadian immigration policy, labour market discrimination against visible minorities, and the prolonged recession of the early 1980s." (SUMMARY IN FRE)

Acculturation↗

The influence of nonmarital childbearing on the formation of first marriages.

We document a negative association between nonmarital childbearing and the subsequent likelihood of first marriage in the United States, controlling for a variety of potentially confounding influences. Nonmarital childbearing does not appear to be driven by low expectations of future marriage. Rather, it tends to be an unexpected and unwanted event, whose effects on a woman's subsequent likelihood of first marriage are negative on balance. We find that women who bear a child outside marriage and who receive welfare have a particularly low probability of marrying subsequently, although there is no evidence that AFDC recipients have lower expectations of marriage. In addition, we find no evidence that stigma associated with nonmarital childbearing plays an important role in this process or that the demands of children significantly reduce unmarried mothers' time for marriage market activities.

Adolescent↗

Projecting the number of new AIDS cases in the United States.

"This paper reviews the two leading methods used to project the number of AIDS cases: back calculation and extrapolation. These methods are assessed in light of key features of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and of data on the epidemic; they are also assessed in terms of the quality of the projections they yield. Our analysis shows that both methods have tended to overproject, often by sizable amounts, the number of AIDS cases in the United States....A new method for projecting AIDS cases is proposed that exploits knowledge about the process generating AIDS cases and that incorporates readily available information about rates of new HIV infection.... Relative to the method of extrapolation, this method projects 22,000 fewer new AIDS cases for 1995 (a 36% difference). This method also projects that intravenous drug users will replace homosexual/bisexual men as the dominant transmission category for AIDS."

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗

Benefits and costs of HIV testing.

The benefits and costs of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) testing in employment settings are examined from two points of view: that of private employers whose profitability may be affected by their testing policies and that of public policy-makers who may affect social welfare through their design of regulations related to HIV testing. The results reveal that HIV testing is clearly not cost-beneficial for most firms, although the benefits of HIV testing may outweigh the costs for some large firms that offer generous fringe-benefit packages and that recruit workers from populations in which the prevalence of HIV infection is high. The analysis also indicates that the testing decisions of unregulated employers are not likely to yield socially optimal economic outcomes and that existing state and federal legislation related to HIV testing in employment settings has been motivated primarily by concerns over social equity.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗

Modeling American marriage patterns.

"This article investigates the application of the three-parameter, Coale-McNeil marriage model and some related hyperparameterized specifications to data on the first marriage patterns of American women. Because the model is parametric, it can be used to estimate the parameters of the marriage process for cohorts that have yet to complete their first marriage experience. Empirical evidence from three surveys is reported on the ability of the model to replicate and project observed marriage behavior. The results indicate that the model can be a useful tool for analyzing cohort marriage data and that recent cohorts are showing relatively strong proclivities to both delay and forego marriage. Consistent with earlier work, the results also indicate that education is a powerful covariate of the timing of first marriage and that race is a powerful covariate of its incidence." Data are from the U.S. Current Population Survey for 1976 and 1985 and Cycle III of the National Survey of Family Growth for 1982.

Americas↗

The evolution of AIDS economic research.

This paper reviews the progress made by economists in their research on the AIDS epidemic. Three main conclusions are drawn. First, the direct economic impact of AIDS in the U.S. (i.e. personal medical care costs and foregone earnings due to morbidity and premature mortality) is not likely to be large on a national level through the early 1990s, although its impact will be large in certain regions of the country. Second, the large direct impact in certain regions implies that the epidemic may have serious economic repercussions that extend beyond the health sector of the economy. This raises a number of important research issues, many of which economists have not yet begun to address. Third, all of the key ingredients for conducting effective research on several of these important new issues - theory, data, and empirical methods - are currently available. This last conclusion is illustrated by an analysis of the labor market impact of the AIDS epidemic.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗

The economic impact of AIDS in the United States.

This analysis of several previous studies of the cost of AIDS suggests that the lifetime cost of medical care per patient will not exceed +80,000, an amount similar to the cost of treating other serious illnesses. If current projections of future AIDS cases are accurate, the cumulative lifetime costs of 270,000 cases diagnosed between 1981 and the end of 1991 will not exceed +22 billion. This amount is small compared with total U.S. medical spending. The economic impact of AIDS on San Francisco, New York, and some other cities, however, is likely to be more serious. The AIDS epidemic will also highlight the financial problems of Americans who face large medical bills without adequate insurance.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗

Age patterns of women at marriage, cohabitation, and first birth in India.

The purpose of this paper has been to examine the age patterns of Indian women at marriage, cohabitation, and first birth. This task is complicated by features of the Indian marriage institution that differentiate it from the institution of marriage in Western cultures. It is also complicated by the diversity of Indian marriage customs and by the possibility that Indian marriage patterns have changed over time. Nevertheless, our analysis of survey data for two districts in south central India support the following conclusions: Marriage and childbearing have been and continue to be universal. The timing of marriage and childbearing, which showed only a small increase over a fairly long period of time, appears more recently to be undergoing some changes in the direction of longer delays. The significant rural-urban differences in marriage and fertility timing are at least partly the result of the greater impact of education on age at marriage, cohabitation, and first birth in urban areas than in rural areas. Observed characteristics such as religion and education explain more variation in women's marriage and fertility timing in urban areas than in rural areas (i.e., education seems to generate new social norms that tend to displace norms derived from tradition. The incidence of childhood marriages and two-stage marriages has been on the decline, causing the small but noticeable rise in age at marriage to exceed somewhat the increase in age at cohabitation. Age patterns of marriage in India do not closely resemble Western patterns, although age patterns of cohabitation and first birth do. And socioeconomic variables appear to explain less variation in marriage and fertility timing within local communities than across communities. Most important, the results highlight the need for more recent and richer data on marriage and fertility behavior in India. In particular, they strongly suggest that marriage patterns in India are now in the midst of major changes. This conclusion is similar to that reached by Caldwell, Reddy, and Caldwell (1983), who adopted a more qualitative approach to analyzing marriage change than ours, but whose observations are also more recent than ours. Through the collection and analysis of more recent and geographically widespread data, we can begin to assess more fully the nature and magnitude of the demographic changes under way and speculate on their implications for population growth, economic development, and the formulation of public policy in India.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Adolescent↗