5/18
Penn in the News
A round-up of Penn mentions in local, national, and international media.
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Penn In the News
Imagining a justice-based health system
Jennifer Prah Ruger of the School of Social Policy & Practice was interviewed about health inequity in the time of the coronavirus. “We need to recognize, now more than ever, given this latest pandemic, that [science] is a major area for investment going forward,” she said.
Penn In the News
Congress addresses housing crunch amid coronavirus pandemic
Research led by Dennis Culhane of the School of Social Policy & Practice was cited. The study found that it would cost more than $11 billion to create enough housing units to support homeless people under the current conditions.
Penn In the News
One California mayor has tried universal basic income. His advice for Trump: ‘Think big’
Amy Castro Baker of the School of Social Policy & Practice said those who received experimental basic income stipends spent 40% of the funds on food, highlighting the degree of food insecurity Americans have lived with since the 2008 recession.
Penn In the News
Coronavirus paid sick leave bill ‘does not go far enough’ and leaves many workers unprotected, economists warn
Ioana Marinescu of the School of Social Policy & Practice spoke about the role of paid sick leave in preventing the spread of COVID-19. “Not paying sick leave may allow some businesses to stay afloat, instead of laying off everybody and therefore lowering employment,” she said. “But on the other hand this would spread the epidemic more, further compromising the economy and threatening the same businesses.”
Penn In the News
Coronavirus cash: Is now the time to ‘go big’ with a basic income relief package?
Amy Castro Baker of the School of Social Policy & Practice spoke about the cash-assistance program proposed by the Trump administration. “There has been a body of research that’s being built up in the policy space for a long time around the idea of cash transfers,” she said. “We know that’s the most efficient way to respond to natural disasters.”
Penn In the News
Seattle’s aging and ill homeless population in shelters is particularly vulnerable to coronavirus
Dennis Culhane of the School of Social Policy & Practice spoke about health risks for the aging U.S. homeless population. “We are already up to our knees in this elderly homeless phenomenon,” he said. “Obviously the coronavirus just amplifies the fact that we have this very vulnerable elderly group.”
Penn In the News
This is how we’ll live when the government gives us all a basic income
Ioana Marinescu of the School of Social Policy & Practice compared the effects of a system of universal basic income to the lives of lottery winners, who often receive their winnings in installments. “Whether in the U.S. or Sweden, most of [the winners] kind of keep doing what they were doing before but feel more comfortable. Most people keep working, take a bit more vacation, feel more financially secure, and that’s about it,” she said. “It suggests that the changes are not enormous, except for the fact of feeling more financially secure.”
Penn In the News
Can $500 a month change a city? Stockton tests universal basic income
Amy Castro Baker of the School of Social Policy & Practice discussed her research on a basic-income experiment in Stockton, Calif.
Penn In the News
Standardized tests like SAT and ACT favor students with family wealth
Ezekiel J. Dixon-Román of the School of Social Policy & Practice wrote an opinion piece about standardized testing. “While the SAT has been characterized as a ‘wealth test,’ wherein student performance tracks with family income, families’ accumulated assets are rarely measured in association with college admissions tests,” he wrote. “There is good reason to consider this factor more closely.”
Penn In the News
Andrew Yang injected Silicon Valley’s favorite economic idea into the Democratic debate. Silicon Valley isn’t so happy about that
Amy Castro Baker of the School of Social Policy & Practice said universal basic income is looking increasingly possible now that it’s been embraced by the tech world. However, she cautioned, “if we move forward, but without the science of knowing how to best implement, we could create other forms of inequality.”