NESEP Archive

Abstract: The U.S. has historically relied on a robust labor force that was willing to work for arguably meager wages.  Unfortunately, the wages, which have not been satisfactorily adjusted with the increase in cost of living and inflation, have led to economic disparity and a wealth gap disproportionately affecting workers by race and gender, thereby perpetuating a cycle of poverty for those at the lowest levels on the socioeconomic ladder.

The vulnerability of those in such a financially unstable system became only too apparent during the shutdown of businesses across the country in hopes of halting the spread of the COVID-19 in the early months of 2020. For those most affected by the sudden pandemic, especially those in a lower socio-economic income level, minorities and women have been shown to be most vulnerable to financial losses, job termination, and disposable equity. Undereducated workers, limited skills, low wages, and a lack of opportunity have led many to suffer during the pandemic because employment options are limited. Historically, Blacks and Women have been paid on average just a mere percentage of what White men make in income. This equals out to trillions of dollars in losses. During the pandemic, many of these people suffered because their jobs, like in the retail or service industry, were restricted due to mandatory distancing. Being unskilled, they suffered great losses because new opportunities were not presented. There is a growing need to solve the problem of inequality so that millions do not suffer trauma due to loss.   

Keywords: Economic inequality, COVID-19, wealth gap, race and gender, socioeconomic ladder

References:

Ding, L. & Sanchez, A. (2020, April). What Small Businesses Will Be impacted by COVID-19? Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. https://philadelphiafed.org/covid-19/covid-19-equity-in-recovery/what-small-businesses-will-be-impacted 

Gould, E., Schieder, J., & Geier, K. (2016, Oct. 20). What is the gender pay gap and is it real? Economic Policy Institute. https://www.epi.org/publication/what-is-the-gender-pay-gap-and-is-it-real/

Kilgore, E. (2020, Aug. 19). Are Republicans Abandoning a Second Stimulus Check? New York Magazine. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/08/second-stimulus-check-republicans-covid-19.html

Kochhar, R. & Barroso, A. (2020, Mar. 27). Young workers likely to be hard hit as COVID-19 strikes a blow to restaurants and other service sector jobs. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/03/27/young-workers-likely-to-be-hard-hit-as-covid-19-strikes-a-blow-to-restaurants-and-other-service-sector-jobs/

Kochhar, R. (2020, April 23). The financial risk to U.S. business owners posed by COVID-19 outbreak varies by demographic group. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/04/23/the-financial-risk-to-u-s-business-owners-posed-by-covid-19-outbreak-varies-by-demographic-group/ 

LaBrecque, L. (2020, Mar. 29). The CARES Act Has Passed: Here Are The Highlights. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/leonlabrecque/2020/03/29/the-cares-act-has-passed-here-are-the-highlights/

McElhaney, K., & Smith G. (2017). Eliminating the Pay Gap: An Exploration of Gender Equality, Equal Pay, and A Company that Is Leading the Way. University of California Berkeley, Haas School of Business. https://www.icrw.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Eliminating-the-Pay-Gap-Kellie-McElhaney-and-Genevieve-Smith.pdf 

Patten, E. (2016, July 1). Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/07/01/racial-gender-wage-gaps-persist-in-u-s-despite-some-progress/

Sauter, M. (2018, Oct. 10). Faces of poverty: What racial, social groups are more likely to experience it? USA Today. https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/economy/2018/10/10/faces-poverty-social-racial-factors/37977173/

Smith, K., Freed, Z., & Knox, R. (2020, April 8). How State and Local Governments are Helping Small Businesses During The Coronavirus Pandemic. Institute For Local Self-Reliance. https://ilsr.org/how-state-and-local-governments-are-helping-small-businesses-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic-2/

Abstract: Effective health insurance policies are of the utmost importance as they shape the lives of and provide safety to billions of people worldwide. Under the broader umbrella of general health insurance, the high-deductible health plan (HDHP) is a relatively recent idea. The HDHP essentially consists of a high deductible combined with a lower premium. This study strives to find the impact of the HDHP on overall human well-being and health while assessing its effects and identifying potential benefits and drawbacks. 

The potential benefits of this plan were doubted at first; however, studies have revealed that its popularity has skyrocketed in comparison to its predecessors. HDHP users may experience a series of behavioral consequences of varying effects due to the human psyche. Grouping findings from a personal survey with historical data from other sources, analysis across various demographics demonstrate that HDHP users lead better lives. The representations in the report, implemented with the TI-SmartView TI-84 Plus emulator, illustrate that high-deductible health plans correlate with a generally positive impact on its users. 

The survey, which considered wording and response biases, confirms that the above trends are valid irrespective of nominal categorical variables such as gender, ethnicity, and age. This study attests to the fact that the HDHP, when adopted with the understanding of the behavioral aspect, can help to improve the health of society as a whole. Finally, it also suggests techniques to make sure that those who select this plan follow certain behaviors that drive positive outcomes.

Keywords: Health insurance, Human well-being, High-deductible health plan (HDHP)

References:

Appold, Karen. “High-Deductible Health Plans: a Brief History.” Managed Healthcare Executive, 22 Sept. 2015, www.managedhealthcareexecutive.com/mhe-articles/high-deductible-health-plansbrief-history.

Bovbjerg, Randall R., and Jack Hadley. “Why Health Insurance Is Important.” Urban Institute, 2 Feb. 2017, www.urban.org/research/publication/why-health-insurance-important.

Folger, Jean. “Health Savings Accounts: Advantages and Disadvantages.” Investopedia, Investopedia, 29 Jan. 2020, www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/090814/pros-and-cons-healthsavings-account-hsa.asp.

Fontinelle, Amy. “How High-Deductible Health Plans Work.” Investopedia, Investopedia, 29 Jan. 2020, www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/012716/how-highdeductible-health-planswork.asp.

Gersema, Emily. “High-Deductible Health Plans Raise Risk of Financial Ruin for Vulnerable Americans, Study Finds.” USC News, University of Southern California, 5 Apr. 2018, news.usc.edu/140182/high-deductible-health-plans-raise-risk-of-financial-ruin-for-vulnerableamericans-study-finds/.

Kamal, Rabah. “How Health Spending Patterns Vary by Demographics in the U.S.” Peterson-Kaiser Health System Tracker, 18 Aug. 2016, www.healthsystemtracker.org/brief/how-health-spendingpatterns-vary-by-demographics-in-the-u-s/.

Cohen, Robin A, and Emily P Zammiti. “Products - Data Briefs - Number 317 - August 2018.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 9 Aug. 2018, www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db317.htm.

Reddy, Sheila R, et al. “Impact of a High-Deductible Health Plan on Outpatient Visits and Associated Diagnostic Tests.” Medical Care, U.S. National Library of Medicine, Jan. 2014,

Abstract: This project applies a new theory in the field of intergroup conflict known as "Gateway group theory," which posits that to decrease conflict between two groups, a third group with specific characteristics that appeal to both sides needs to be identified, enabling them to act as a medium. This group is known as a "Gateway group." With the background of the bitter digital divide and echo chambers plaguing the United States’ current political discourse, this paper sought to find the Gateway group between polar Democrats and Republicans on Twitter. 

This project data mined and examined the shared “likes” of these two populations using originally developed code and definitional parameters. Then, the study analyzed the profiles of the authors of these liked Tweets to compile an aggregated Gateway group profile that can be used to find Gateway group individuals on Twitter who have the ability to decrease conflict between Democrats and Republicans. The study found that Gateway group members exist. They are a group of Moderate Democrats. Every post that was liked by both a Democrat and Republican was also tagged and analyzed for similarities in content. It was found that 55% of all posts referenced “Trump” and 92% of those votes had a negative sentiment. Additional similarities in content were found, for example a keen interest in elections and certain Democratic candidates. This project develops an effective methodology that can be applied to any conflict on Twitter to find the Gateway group for that conflict to decrease polarity between polar groups.

Keywords: Gateway group theory, Democrat and Republican, political discourse, Twitter

References:

Bessi, A. (2016). Personality traits and echo chambers on facebook. Computers in Human Behavior,65, 319-324. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2016.08.016
Demszky, D., Garg, N., Voigt, R., Zou, J., Shapiro, J., Gentzkow, M., & Jurafsky, D. (2019).

Gaertner, S. L., & Dovidio, J. F. (2012). The Common Ingroup Identity Model. Handbook of Theories of Social Psychology,2, 439-457.  ttp://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781446249222.n48

Gaertner, S. S., Dovidio, J. F., Anastasio, P. A., Bachman, B. A., & Rust, M. C. (1993). The Common Ingroup Identity Model: Recategorization and the Reduction of Intergroup Bias.

European Review of Social Psychology,4(1), 1-26. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/14792779343000004. Goyal, S. (2005). Strong and Weak Links. Journal of the European Economic Association,
3(2/3), 608-616. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/40005003.

Hornsey, M. J., & Hogg, M. A. (2000). Subgroup Relations: A Comparison of Mutual Intergroup Differentiation and Common Ingroup Identity Models of Prejudice Reduction. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin,26(2), 242-256. doi:10.1177/0146167200264010

Pettigrew, T. F., Tropp, L. R., Wagner, U., & Christ, O. (2011). Recent advances in intergroup contact theory. International Journal of Intercultural Relations,(35), 271-280.

Zollo, F., Novak, P. K., Vicario, M. D., Bessi, A., Mozetič, I., Scala, A., . . . Quattrociocchi, W. (2015). Emotional Dynamics in the Age of Misinformation. Plos One,10(9). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0138740

Abstract: Gifted children are people who are capable of high performance in cognitive, educational, scientific, creative and artistic fields compared to their peers. But there are also gifted children who have problems with cognitive, educational, social, emotional and behavioral development. They are called twice-exceptional children. Regarding these children, who have high talents and abilities while at the same time having disabilities, is an important issue for education professionals. The present study mainly aims to compare the executive functions profile of twice exceptional children with gifted ones.To this end, 30 twice-exceptional gifted children and 30 gifted children were selected from among elementary school students in district 3 of Isfahan, Iran. Then, the two groups administered The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Fourth Edition (WISC®-IV) for assessment of the Tower Test (NEPSY) to evaluate executive functions. The research results showed that the profile and average executive function of the twice-exceptional children were lower than those of gifted children in the Tower test (NEPSY). Therefore, it is suggested to consider executive functions (planning, organization, time management, problem solving, etc.) in identifying and educating these children.

Keywords: Gifted children, twice-exceptional children, executive function

References:

[1] Dawson,P & Guara,R .(2018). Executive Skills in Children and Adolescents Third Edition: A practical Guide to Assessment and Intervention.

[2] Guilford Press Major, J. (2017). A Change Plan for Underachieving Gifted Children (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from https://digital commons.nl.edu/diss/252. Pfeiffer, S. I. (2015).

[3] Gifted students with a coexisting disability: The twice exceptional. Estudos de Psicologia (Campinas), 32 (4), 717-727.

[4] Sterenberg,R.J & Javin,L & Grigorenko,E.L. (2011) Exploration in Giftedness . Cambridge University Press