[...]We consider two puzzles about the local safety netand New York City. First, why do big cities, and particularlyNew York, engage in so much more redistribution thansmall towns? The broad question (the connection betweencities and redistribution) is the topic of the companionpaper to this one...

Chronicling the history of science and health popularisation in the United States, John C. Burnham sees a decline from the Victorian “men of science” to a situation in the mid-1980s where what passed as the popularisation of science consisted of little more than a litany of unrelated facts....

Furthering equity as an achievable public policy objective is based on theability to assess needs accurately, and distribute resources accordingly.The purpose of this paper is to plot the development of the formulaegoverning resource allocation in education, health and social housingand to chart...

This paper uses evidence from the US to examine the impact ofadolescent illegal consumption and violent behaviour on later lifechances. Specifically, we look at the effect of such behaviour by youngmen in late adolescence on productivity and household formation tenyears on. We find that alcohol...

In the past decade there has been a minor revolution in how local services are funded.Those delivering the services now have their own budgets. How these budgets arecalculated – how Whitehall pulls the purse strings – are now central issues in social policy.In a new book, CASE members...

This paper explores these issues further by reconsidering the link between democracy and health using panel data from a cross-section of countries. The data show a strong (conditional) correlation between life expectancy and democracy. This relationship is strongest for the decades of the 1960s...

A vast literature has examined the impact of family income on the health anddevelopment outcomes of children. One channel through which increasedincome may operate is an improvement in a family’s ability to provide food,shelter, clothing, books, and other expenditure-related inputs to a...

At the end of 2008, the Government set in motion a Strategic Review of Health Inequalities in England chaired by Sir Michael Marmot. It is to report in December 2009. As part of its work, it set up various Task Groups to collect evidence and suggest policy options. The Task Group on Social...

The analysis in this paper focuses on the impact of health on the savings andconsumption decisions of the elderly. In principle, there are at least five alternativechannels through which health may affect consumption and savings. Ill health mayaffect both consumption capacities and needs while...