Saturday, April 12, 2014

Links of the Week 12.4.14

1. Campbell et al. (2014), Early Childhood Investments Substantially Boost Adult Health, Science
Abstract: We report on the long-term health effects of one of the oldest and most heavily cited early childhood interventions with long-term follow-up evaluated by the method of randomization: the Carolina Abecedarian Project (ABC). Using recently collected biomedical data, we find that disadvantaged children randomly assigned to treatment have significantly lower prevalence of risk factors for cardiovascular and metabolic diseases in their mid-30s. The evidence is especially strong for males. The mean systolic blood pressure among the control males is 143 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg), whereas it is only 126 mm Hg among the treated. ...Our evidence shows the potential of early life interventions for preventing disease and promoting health.

The most striking stat from this paper: 25% of people in the control group had metabolic syndrome (a cluster of risk factors that are predictive of heart disease, diabetes and other serious ailments) compared to, incredibly, 0% in the treatment group.

2. Paul Krugman reviews Piketty's 'Capital' in the NYRB

3. A graph based on the research of Fionnuala O'Reilly, one of the MSc students here, showing the correlation between trust in others and self-reported happiness in the European Social Survey. Both are scored 1-10 but the range is trimmed here.



4. Some stirring work by another MSc student Adam Connolly - a remix of Aphex Twin and the 'Linda problem' from the audiobook version of Thinking, Fast and Slow.

No comments: