Studies have quantified excess mortality in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic relative to pre-COVID-19 US death rates. However, even before the pandemic, US residents died at younger ages than people in other wealthy nations, particularly from drug overdoses, suicides and cardiometabolic disorders. In a new working paper published in medRxiv, Jacob Bor and […]
Social networks are a key ingredient in the process of economic development. A large literature has established that social networks influence individual behavior and outcomes in myriad ways, but the bulk of this literature has focused on social interactions in the context of microfinance groups. To date, little is known about how social networks can […]
By Emanne Khan Family planning and access to contraception protect the well-being of mothers and children by reducing the risks of unintended pregnancy, infertility, infant mortality and sexually transmitted diseases. Unmet need for family planning is a major issue in low- and middle-income countries, with the Guttmacher Institute estimating that a staggering 225 million women […]
Intervals of less than 24 months between pregnancies and births can adversely affect maternal and child health, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa. While studies suggest that improving access to family planning services may also improve women’s contraceptive use and reduce fertility, high-quality evidence of the effect of family planning interventions on longer-term fertility and birth spacing […]
Vaccination against COVID-19, including the recommended booster shot, is a critical line of defense against severe illness, hospitalization and death. Communities with low vaccination rates may be particularly vulnerable to future waves of COVID-19. While vaccine uptake in Massachusetts is high relative to the US average, a number of eligible individuals remain unvaccinated and an […]
By Vidhu Priya Mukundan This month, the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) annual meeting will gather in-person for the first time in in Davos, Switzerland since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Forum’s aim of leading the world towards sustainability and inclusivity has been magnified by the pandemic, the causalities of which are still being […]
By Emanne Khan In Spring 2022, the Human Capital Initiative (HCI) hosted two research seminars with visiting scholars who presented new findings and received feedback from fellow experts on study design and methodology. The mission of HCI is to advance interdisciplinary research on the role of human capital in human development to inform policy solutions […]
Family, as the most basic social institution in the world, has been of longstanding interest to researchers and policymakers alike. Studies of family structure in developed societies have predominantly examined kinship and intrafamilial ties within nuclear family settings, with an extensive literature devoted to marital and parent–child relationships. In contrast, relationships within nonnuclear family structures […]
By Emanne Khan Since 1993, India has experienced two competing dynamics. That year, the national government passed the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act, which includes among its provisions that village councils (panchayats) must reserve no less than one-third of seats for women. While the amendment legally granted women an unprecedented level of political representation, long-standing social […]
Since India passed the 1993 Constitutional Amendment mandating quotas for women in government, a critical mass of women have entered local politics. The law was rightly celebrated, but also gave rise to a belief that while women are de jure elected to local office, their husbands de facto run the state. This belief has had […]