Dollar Increase Research Articles

Private Medicare plans' responses to benchmark changes and competition before and after the Affordable Care Act's payment cuts.

To examine how private Medicare Advantage (MA) plans responded to slower growth in federal payments after the Affordable Care Act (ACA). We used publicly available data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on MA plan subsidies ("benchmarks"), asking prices ("bids"), plan premiums, cost-sharing, and covered benefits. Data covered all counties with MA plans between 2006 through 2019. We examined plan responses to changes in benchmark subsidies by comparing changes in bids, rebates, and other outcomes between counties experiencing larger changes in benchmarks and counties with smaller changes, pre- and post-ACA. We used longitudinal fixed effects regression models to assess heterogeneity in how plans adjusted premiums and benefits across more and less competitive markets. Analyses included all counties with at least one MA plan available to individual beneficiaries. Plans targeting special populations were excluded. Average plan benchmarks fell by $89 per month post-ACA, adjusted for inflation. Plans responded similarly to benchmark subsidy decreases and increases, increasing bids by 62 cents for every dollar increase in subsidies pre-ACA (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.56 to 0.67) and decreasing them by 57 cents for every dollar reduction in subsidies post-ACA (95% CI: 0.49-0.65). However, post-ACA, plans altered less salient benefits, such as cost-sharing, by about twice as much as they had pre-ACA. Premiums changed by similar amounts before and after the ACA (-$0.07, 95% CI: from -$0.09 to -$0.06). Plans in more competitive markets responded less to payment changes than plans did in less competitive markets, suggesting the former are operating closer to marginal costs. Finally, payments to plans declined far less than projected due in part to other changes in MA policy. Plans used partial pass-through of benchmark subsidy decreases to shield beneficiaries from cuts and allocated benchmark decreases to benefits that were less salient to the average enrollee. These findings, combined with higher-than-projected payments post-ACA, may explain the continued growth in MA enrollment.

Integrating social media advertising into Giving Day fundraising

This paper explores the implementation and outcomes of a Giving Day paid social media advertising campaign conducted by California State University San Marcos (CSUSM). The objective of the campaign was to increase website traffic, donors and dollars raised. The paper highlights the importance of buy-in from leadership and the involvement of a dedicated team working within a set budget. The team utilised social media platforms, including Meta (Facebook and Instagram) and LinkedIn, for targeted advertising. A three-phase approach was adopted, focusing on raising awareness, driving traffic and converting audiences into donors. The team employed tracking methods such as Urchin Traffic Modules (UTMs) and custom links to measure the impact of the campaign. The results showed significant increases in website traffic, donors, first-time donors and dollars raised. Despite challenges related to tracking limitations and the need for extended ad duration, the team devised solutions, including implementing alternative tracking methods and extending the campaign duration. The paper also offers practical takeaways for creating paid social media advertising campaigns, emphasising the importance of research, planning, content creation, goal setting, target audience determination, tracking setup, campaign launch, monitoring and result analysis. Overall, the paper provides insights into the effectiveness of paid social media advertising in the context of a Giving Day campaign and offers strategies for optimising future campaigns.

The impact of tax expenditures on economic growth: The US experience

In the last decade, assessing the tax expenditures’ economic efficiency has grown in importance due to the increasing number of situations where stakeholders use tax benefits for personal enrichment. The problem is aggravated by the very nature of tax expenditures, which represent budget revenue losses. The expediency of tax expenditures can be proved by estimating their impact on economic growth. The paper aims to measure such impact using the case of the USA. Methodologically, the study relies on Barro’s conception of endogenous growth. The study applies econometric methods of analysis. The data for the study is taken from the Global Tax Expenditures Database (GTED), the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, and the U.S. Census Bureau for 1998–2022. The results indicate no correlation between the share of tax expenditures in a specific sphere in the total amount and their efficiency (the strength of the positive impact on GDP). For instance, the tax expenditures in commerce and housing have the greatest share (35.4 %), yet their impact is relatively weak compared to other categories of tax expenditures: 1 dollar of expenditures induces a 0.04 dollar increase in GDP. At the same time, tax expenditures in the social sphere with an insubstantial share of 2 % generate a 10 times higher return (a 0.49 dollar increase in GDP per 1 dollar of expenditures). Therefore, the structure of tax expenditures with an explicit social orientation appears to be the most preferable for the USA.

Peculiarities of financial dollarization during martial law: case of Ukraine

The article evaluates the peculiarities of banking sector dollarization in Ukraine with the use of econometric tools and a systems approach, conducts a scenario analysis for dollarization dynamics during martial law, and develops a framework for recommendations with the consideration of long-term financial stability goals.The study finds that the inflation-targeting regime has gradually reduced the dollarization of loans and deposits, but levels remain high. During the full-scale invasion of Russia in Ukraine, the record-low levels of dollarization and NBU restrictions prevented the rapid increase in dollarization as was previously observed during economic crises. The study also finds that loan dollarization is highly dependent on deposit dollarization and that economic agents tend to choose a more stable currency during periods of high inflation and exchange rate volatility. The scenario analysis forecasts that deposit dollarization will continue to grow during the crisis period and high uncertainty, while loan dollarization will stabilize on a new, higher level.To ensure financial stability on a long-term horizon, the de-dollarization strategy should include monetary policy, vertical development of the financial market, in particular, the development of the bonds market and alternative hryvnia instruments, as well as the use of macroprudential tools.
 JEL classification: E52, E58, E63, C30, C53

The dollar index, the correlation between the dollar circulation and the dollar interest rate ——— Based on TVP-VAR, an empirical analysis of the modelr

Dollar index, dollar interest rate, and dollar circulation are the three important indicators to study the change of the dollar exchange rate, and they have a close relationship among the three. The dollar interest rate is positively correlated with the dollar index. In general, the US interest rate falls and the dollar index weakens; the US interest rate rises and the dollar index prefers trends. While the dollar circulation shows a negative correlation with the DOLLAR index. If the dollar circulation increases and the dollar depreci, the DOLLAR index will be relatively reduced, which also means that a large amount of capital overflow to foreign countries. This paper will use the TVP-VAR model to explore the correlation between the DOLLAR index, dollar interest rate and dollar circulation from the perspective of empirical analysis, and analyze it based on the impulse response diagram, and finally make a summary of the empirical results, hoping to draw some scientific and valuable conclusions.

Driven Away: The Relationship Between Gasoline Prices and Community College Student Retention

ABSTRACT Previous studies identified student-specific and institutional factors that impact community college student retention. However, few studies have examined associations between commodity prices and community college student retention. Guided by rational choice theory, we examine the relationship between annual, state-level gasoline prices and community college student retention. Using institution fixed effects and data from IPEDS, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the Energy Information Administration, we analyze 11,460 observations collected between 2006 and 2019 from 942 community colleges. We find a statistically significant relationship between gasoline prices and retention rates: one dollar increase in gasoline price per gallon is associated with a 0.918% point decrease in community college student retention rates, when accounting for institutional characteristics and local unemployment rates. Our study expands the current literature on the impact of transportation costs on student retention and argues that institutions should work to support students’ financial concerns, including gasoline prices.

Economic Booms and Recidivism

ObjectivesThis paper examines the impact of local economic activity on criminal behavior. We build on existing research by relaxing the identification assumptions required for causal inference, and estimate the impact of local economic activity on recidivism.MethodsWe use the fracking boom as a source of credibly exogenous variation in the economic conditions into which incarcerated people are released. We replicate and extend existing instrumental variables analyses of fracking on how many released offenders return to state prison seperately from aggregate crime and arrests.ResultsOur instrumental variables estimates imply that a ten thousand dollar increase in the value of per capita production is associated with a 2.8% reduction in the 1-year recidivism of ex-offenders at the county level. Improved labor market conditions, specifically an increase in wages for young adults, may explain a non-negligible fraction of the reduction in recidivism associated with economic booms. In contrast, we replicate existing work finding that fracking increased aggregate measures of crime and arrests.ConclusionIncreased economic opportunity appears to have a different impact of overall crime than on recidivism. This suggests that the relationship between economic opportunity and offending may be conditioned by local social ties. Further research examining how social connections and labor markets affect individual criminal behavior is needed.

Impact of US Dollar Appreciation on Cryptocurrency Market: Evidence from Time Series Model

Since March 16, 2022, when the first federal funds rate hike was announced, federal funds rate has been raised from 0.25% to a level between 0.25% and 0.5%. Until July 27, 2022, the Fed has raised federal funds rate four times, bringing the benchmark of federal funds rate from 0.25% to a range of 2.25% to 2.5%. Against the backdrop of a downward spiral in the US economy and increased inflationary pressure, monetary policy in the US is gradually tightening. This paper selects two typical cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin and Ethereum, and uses time-series model to analyze the impact of US dollar appreciation on cryptocurrency market under the background of Fed rate hike, to fill the research gap and make suggestions for investors and policymakers. This paper concludes that US dollar appreciation would not affect Bitcoin market significantly but would negatively affect Ethereum market. Investors are supposed to be more alert to the risks of cryptocurrency market and reduce the holdings of Ethereum when US dollar index increases. For policymakers, they are suggested to increase regulation of cryptocurrency markets and prevent some malicious speculators’ attacks on the unmatured market from happening.

The effect of the global supply chain and oil prices on the inflation rates in advanced economies and emerging markets

This study investigates the effect of global supply chain pressures and crude oil prices on the consumer price index from October 1997 to February 2022 using panel linear and nonlinear autoregressive distributed lags (ARDLs, NARDLs). The results showed that the asymmetric effect of the global supply chain on the inflation rate is stronger when the supply chain increases than when it decreases in the long run for advanced economies and vice versa in emerging markets. A one standard deviation of the supply chain pressures has rebounded the inflation rate by about 1.7% and 0.71% for advanced economies and emerging markets, respectively. The findings establish that a 10 U.S. dollar increase in oil prices leads the inflation rate to rise by 0.1%–0.6% for all countries in the short run. However, the impact of the global supply chain index fits much better with the inflation rate than the oil prices in the short and long run, including the subprime crisis, such as the COVID‐19 outbreak, and the beginning of the Russo–Ukrainian conflict. Thus, the empirical results of the current study provide acumens for policymakers of advanced economies and emerging markets to consume green energy and make use of green technology and environmental innovations for counterbalancing the inflation issues induced by the higher rates of oil prices without halting the economic growth and sustainable development.

Whitelashing: Black Politicians, Taxes, and Violence

This paper provides the first evidence of the effect of tax policy on violent attacks against Black politicians. I find a positive effect of local tax revenue on subsequent violence against Black politicians. A dollar increase in per capita county taxes in 1870 increased the likelihood of a violent attack by more than 25 percent. The result is robust to controls for numerous economic, historical, and political factors. I also find counties where Black officeholders were attacked have the largest tax reversions. This provides the first quantitative evidence that Reconstruction political violence was specifically related to Black political efficacy.

A measurement of dollarization

Purpose- Dollarization refers to the use of foreign currency instead of domestic currency by citizens as a result of macroeconomic instabilities. Generally, due to the instability caused by inflation, the local currency loses its functions as a unit of account, a store of value, and in the last stage, a medium of exchange. Partial dollarization is the fulfillment of any of the three functions of money by a foreign currency. The purpose of this study is to measure the dollarization level of the Turkish economy between 2000 and 2022 (a 23-year period). This study employs the most comprehensive definition of portfolios of Turkish Lira and foreign currency to measure the degree of asset and liability dollarization. This study measures the dollarization degree of the Turkish economy by using the composite dollarization index developed by Reinhart et al., (2003). Methodology- The composite dollarization index based on the definition by Reinhart et al., 2003, has two components; asset dollarization and liability dollarization. This study measures the level of dollarization by using Reinhart's definition of the Turkish economy between 2000 and 2022. We construct the asset dollarization as a ratio of the foreign currency portfolio to the total portfolio. Liability dollarization is defined as the sum of the ratio of foreign currency credit to the total credit, the ratio of the domestic debt in foreign currency to the total domestic debt, and the ratio of total external debt to the GDP. The composite dollarization index is the sum of asset dollarization and liability dollarization. Findings- The dollarization in bank deposits rose to 57%in 2001 and then dropped to 27% in 2010. The dollarization in bank deposits has started to rise again since 2013. The increase in dollarization in bank deposits has accelerated since 2021. It reached 70% by the middle of 2022. Asset dollarization has a similar path to the dollarization in bank deposits. The level of the asset dollarization is generally lower than the level of the deposit dollarization for all years examined. The liability dollarization also follows a similar path. As the degree of asset dollarization increases, the degree of liability dollarization also increases. Finally, the composite dollarization index has been rapidly increasing since 2010. Conclusion- As discussed extensively in the literature, the degree of dollarization is an important indicator of a healthy economy. The literature supports that there is a strong link between the degree of dollarization and macroeconomic indicators. When economic instabilities are on the screen, the use of a stable foreign currency instead of domestic currency increases. Some previous studies measured the dollarization by considering only asset dollarization or only liability dollarization may have deficiencies in the comprehensive definition of dollarization. Therefore, a comprehensive measurement of dollarization should better consider both the assets and liabilities of the balance sheets. The empirical findings of this study indicate that the degree of dollarization has been increasing since 2013 and the rate of increase accelerated especially after 2021 based on the comprehensive dollarization index constructed. Keywords: Dollarization, Turkish economy, composite dollarization index, inflation, macroeconomic instabilities JEL Codes: E31, F31, G01

From Repression to Resistance to Resurgence: The 2022 Education Workers Strike in Ontario

From Repression to Resistance to Resurgence:The 2022 Education Workers Strike in Ontario Steven Barrett (bio) The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), through its Ontario School Board Council of Unions (OBSCU) is the exclusive bargaining agent for approximately 55,000 Canadian Union of Public Employees members in the elementary and secondary school board systems in Ontario. OBSCU members include education assistants, school library workers, administrative assistants, custodians and tradespeople, early childhood educators, child and youth workers, instructors, nutrition service workers, school safety monitors and social workers working in schools and in school board offices. OBSCU bargains with the Council of Trustees' Association (CTA), which is the central designated employer bargaining agent representing all school boards across Ontario. In addition, under the legislation governing collective bargaining in the school board education sector1, the government itself is a direct party to all central collective agreement terms, including wages and other compensation items. This flows from the government's role as the sole source of funding for public education school boards in Ontario. In their previous round of bargaining, CUPE members were subject to legislated government wage controls (known as Bill 124) imposing 1 percent compensation increases for a three-year period. That collective agreement was schedule to expire 31 August 2022. OBSCU commenced collective bargaining with the School Boards and the government in the summer of 2022. Under the guidance of its leadership - including its President, Laura Walton - OBSCU engaged in intensive organising and mobilising of its membership in support of a significant wage increase amounting to $3.25 an hour for each of four years. In percentage terms, the overall increase sought by OSCU was approximately 11.7 percent in each of the four years of the proposed collective agreement. The union also engaged in a public campaign in support of its proposed increase, emphasising the relatively low near-poverty level wages of many of its members, and explaining that it sought a fixed dollar increase so that lower wage workers would receive a proportionately higher percentage increase than higher paid workers. Moreover, CUPE emphasised that over the past decade, its' members wages had fallen significantly behind inflation. CUPE also sought improved benefits funding, enhanced job security, and additional funding to increase overall staffing levels. For its part, even before the outset of bargaining, the main government spokesperson, Ontario Minister of Education Stephen Lecce, consistently stated that the government was committed to keeping students in school without disruption for the entire school year. Referring to the fact that Ontario students had lost the most time to school in-person closures during the COVID-19 pandemic than students anywhere else in Canada, Lecce repeatedly insisted that he and his government, led by Premier Doug Ford, would do everything in his power to keep students in school. This was a none too subtle threat to prevent strikes in the sector, notwithstanding the legislative collective bargaining scheme in place which was premised on the right to strike. Progress at the bargaining table, where negotiations began in June 2022, was virtually nonexistent. The Crown initially proposed wage increases of 2 percent for any employee earning below a $40,000 annual threshold, and 1.5 percent for anyone above that level, as well as sick leave concessions. As a result, in late September, CUPE took a strike vote, which is a legal requirement prior to engaging in legal strike action in Ontario. Turnout for the strike vote was very high, with over 45,000 members participating, and with members voting overwhelmingly in favour of strike action (96.5 percent). The government's response was to reiterate that it would do whatever it takes to keep students in class, and that the union should not force their hand by threatening to go on strike. Under the legislation governing collective bargaining in the education sector, CUPE was required to give a five-day notice in advance of commencing a lawful strike. CUPE gave this notice on 30 October 2022, so that the strike would commence on 4 November 2022. This is the point at which the determination of CUPE and the education workers it represents to exercise their right to strike ran into the Ontario Conservative...

Associations Between Local Health Department Expenditures on Foundational Capabilities and PHAB Accreditation Standards Scores.

ContextFoundational Capabilities (FC) are the public health (PH) infrastructure areas that are essential for local health departments (LHDs) to support a “minimum package” of programs and services that promote population health. Despite being a critical component of LHD programs, FC are chronically underfunded, and studies specific to the relationship between LHD FC expenditures and their performance—the LHDs' ability to provide essential PH programs and services to their community—have not been previously reported. Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) accreditation is a nationally recognized accreditation program for PH agencies. PHAB accreditation assesses LHDs' performance against sets of standards that are based on the 10 essential PH services. Alignment between FC and the PHAB standards presents a means for assessing LHD FC expenditures relative to their performance in PHAB accreditation standards.ObjectivesWe examined the association between LHD total FC expenditures, as well as FC funding allocation patterns, and performance score on selected PHAB accreditation standards.MethodsWe used Bayesian regression methods to estimate the coefficients for the aggregate performance score, and performance scores on individual PHAB standards.ResultsAnalyses showed that a dollar increase in total FC expenditures is associated with a 0.2% increase in the aggregate performance score in selected PHAB standards as well as the performance score on most of the standards examined. LHDs that allocated FC budgets more evenly across FC programs were found to be more likely to have higher scores.ConclusionsInvestment in FC could improve LHD performance scores in PHAB accreditation standards and support LHDs' capability for improving community health outcomes. Allocating available FC resources across the various FC programs could support better LHD performance, as indicated by accreditation scores. This study contributes to advancing the understanding of public health finances in relation to performance and could help guide effective LHD resource allocation.

The El Valor de Nuestra Salud clustered randomized controlled trial store-based intervention to promote fruit and vegetable purchasing and consumption

BackgroundModifying the environment to promote healthy foods is a population-based approach for improving diet. This study evaluated the outcome effectiveness of a food store intervention that used structural and social change strategies to promote fruits and vegetables. It was hypothesized that intervention versus control store customers would improve their consumption of fruits and vegetables at 6 months.Trial designClustered randomized controlled trialMethodsSixteen pair-matched stores were randomized to an intervention or wait-list control condition. With the research team’s support, intervention stores modified the availability, accessibility, and promotion of fruits and vegetables, including augmenting produce displays within the store and building employees’ capacity to place and promote fruits and vegetables throughout the store (Phase 1), followed by the delivery of a customer-directed marketing campaign for 6 months (Phase 2). From months 7 to 12, stores were encouraged to maintain strategies on their own (Phase 3). Customer-reported daily fruit and vegetable consumption (cups/day) were collected by blinded research assistants at three time-points (baseline, 6 months and 12 months post-baseline) from 369 participating customers (an average of 23/store). Secondary outcomes included customer-reported fruit and vegetable purchasing and other behaviors.ResultsThe study retained the 16 stores and most customers at 6 (91%) and 12 (89%) months. Although significant differences were not observed in the overall sample for vegetable consumption, male customers of intervention versus control stores consumed significantly more fruit daily at 6 months [mean (standard deviation) cups at baseline and six months; intervention: 1.6 (1.5) to 1.6 (1.5) vs. control: 1.4 (1.2) to 1.1 (0.8)]. However, this difference was not observed at 12 months, or among females. There was an overall increase in dollars spent at the targeted store in the intervention versus control condition among male versus female customers at 6 months; however, no change was observed in the percent of dollars spent on fruits and vegetables at the targeted store. Frequency of shopping at the targeted store did not modify intervention effects.ConclusionsStructural and social change interventions can modify customers’ behavior in the short-term. Future research should consider methods for achieving longer-term changes, and potential generalizability to other products (e.g., energy-dense sweet and savory products).Trial registrationNCT01475526

Schwab Charitable reports record high DAF grantmaking for 2021

Schwab Charitable, one of the country's largest administrators of donor‐advised funds, reported that its donors awarded 945,000 grants totaling a record $4.4 billion to some 114,000 charities in 2021, marking a 20% increase in dollars granted to charities and a 14% increase in the number of grants to charities compared with 2020.

The relationship between Social Determinants of Health (SDoH) and death from cardiovascular disease or opioid use in counties across the United States (2009\u20132018)

BackgroundDeath from cardiovascular disease (CVD) has been a longstanding public health challenge in the US, whereas death from opioid use is a recent, growing public health crisis. While population-level approaches to reducing CVD risk are known to be effective in preventing CVD deaths, more targeted approaches in high-risk communities are known to work better for reducing risk of opioid overdose. For communities to plan effectively in addressing both public health challenges, they need information on significant community-level (vs individual-level) predictors of death from CVD or opioid use. This study addresses this need by examining the relationship between 1) county-level social determinants of health (SDoH) and CVD deaths and 2) county-level SDoH and opioid-use deaths in the US, over a ten-year period (2009–2018).MethodsA single national county-level ten-year ‘SDoH Database’ is analyzed, to address study objectives. Fixed-effects panel-data regression analysis, including county, year, and state-by-year fixed effects, is used to examine the relationship between 1) SDoH and CVD death-rate and 2) SDoH and opioid-use death-rate. Eighteen independent (SDoH) variables are included, spanning three contexts: socio-economic (e.g., race/ethnicity, income); healthcare (e.g., system-characteristics); and physical-infrastructure (e.g., housing).ResultsAfter adjusting for county, year, and state-by-year fixed effects, the significant county-level positive SDoH predictors for CVD death rate were, median age and percentage of civilian population in armed forces. The only significant negative predictor was percentage of population reporting White race. On the other hand, the four significant negative predictors of opioid use death rate were median age, median household income, percent of population reporting Hispanic ethnicity and percentage of civilian population consisting of veterans. Notably, a dollar increase in median household income, was estimated to decrease sample mean opioid death rate by 0.0015% based on coefficient value, and by 20.05% based on effect size.ConclusionsThe study provides several practice and policy implications for addressing SDoH barriers at the county level, including population-based approaches to reduce CVD mortality risk among people in military service, and policy-based interventions to increase household income (e.g., by raising county minimum wage), to reduce mortality risk from opioid overdoses.

Differentiated Excise Taxation in the Beer Market

This paper studies excise tax policy that applies different tax rates to differentiated products. We propose a general method, from the revealed preferences perspective, that allows the identification of the policy maker’s unobserved preferences when setting excise tax rates. We use it to evaluate excise beer tax policy in the Canadian province of Ontario, which differentially taxes local craft beer and large manufacturers’ beer. We identify the government’s preferences over the total surplus and net externalities associated with the production and consumption of different types of beer products. The results show that the government believes the positive externality associated with the production of local craft beer, outweighs the negative externality associated with its consumption, whereas it goes the other way around for large manufacturers’ beer. This means that the government’s subjective per-litre cost of reducing the equilibrium consumption through local craft beer is significantly higher than through the large manufacturers’ beer. The observed gap in excise taxes is aligned with the discrepancy in the percentage decreases in equilibrium quantities of two types of beer with respect to a dollar increase in own excise tax, respectively, given different beer market sizes. We also identify the increasing share of local craft beer consumption with respect to household income as a unique source of the regressiveness of the differentiated excise taxes. The regressiveness does not seem large in terms of the extra tax payment imposed on lower-income households even though the regressiveness of the effective tax rate itself is not insignificant.

ANALISIS FAKTOR EKSPOR KENDARAAN CBU RODA EMPAT DAN ENAM DI INDONESIA TAHUN 2015 – 2019

The industrial sector can develop with government policies and trade between countries. Industrialization plays an important role in improving the quality of human resources and optimally utilizing natural and other resources. To analyze the effect of government policies partially on exports of four- and six-wheeled CBU vehicles in Indonesia from 2015 to 2019. The purpose of this study is to analyze the effect of the rupiah exchange rate against the US dollar partially and simultaneously on exports of four and six-wheel CBU vehicles in Indonesia in 2015. 2015 to 2019. The type of data used is quantitative data, with the data source being secondary data. The analysis technique used in this study uses multiple linear regression analysis techniques. The results of this study indicate that simultaneously government policy variables, exchange rates, and world oil prices have a significant effect on the value of Indonesia's CBU exports in 2014-2019, and partially government policy variables and world oil prices have a positive and significant effect on Indonesia's CBU exports. While the exchange rate variable has a negative and significant effect on Indonesian CBU. This means that if the exchange rate of the rupiah against the dollar increases or the strengthening of the value of the dollar against the rupiah will cause a decrease in the price of exported goods, the value of export goods will also decrease.

Prevalence of cognitive dysfunction and its risk factors in children with chronic kidney disease in a developing country

BackgroundChronic kidney disease (CKD) is associated with cognitive dysfunction. Cognitive function in children with CKD residing in developing countries has not been previously reported.MethodsThis cross-sectional study included children aged 6–18 years with CKD stages 2–5D and kidney transplant. Cognitive function was assessed by WISC-V for children from 6–16 years of age. In adolescents 17–18 years of age, WAIS-III was used. Factors associated with cognitive dysfunction were identified using multivariable regression analysis.ResultsThirty-seven children with median age 13.9 (11.3–15.7) years were recruited. The median full-scale intelligence quotient (FSIQ) was 83.0 (71.0–95.0). Below-average cognitive function (FSIQ <90) was identified in 24 children (64.8%), 24.3% of whom had cognitive impairment (FSIQ <70). Most children (94.6%) scored lower than average on at least 1 cognitive domain. Kidney replacement therapy (p = 0.03) and low family income (p = 0.02) were associated with below-average cognitive function in multivariable logistic regression analysis. Children who left school and low family income were significantly associated with cognitive function. The FSIQ of children who had left school was 12.94 points lower than the educated group (p = 0.046). In addition, every 10,000 Thai Baht (approximately 330 United States dollars) increase in family income correlated with 1.58 increase in FSIQ (p = 0.047).ConclusionCognitive dysfunction was commonly found in children with CKD. Socioeconomic factors, particularly school attendance and family income, were associated with cognitive dysfunction. Cognitive evaluation is suggested for children with CKD who have socioeconomic risk factors.Graphical abstract“A higher resolution version of the Graphical abstract is available as Supplementary information.”

HCBS Service Spending and Nursing Home Placement for Patients With Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias: Does Race Matter?

We examined the extent to which home and community-based services (HCBS) spending affected the likelihood of nursing home (NH) placement among black and white HCBS users with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD). The study population included new HCBS users with ADRD between 2010 and 2013 (N = 1,046,200). We found that a one hundred dollar increase in monthly HCBS spending was associated with a 0.3 percentage points decrease in the NH placement rate among Whites, but a 0.3 percentage points increase in the NH placement rate among Blacks. The overall NH placement rate was 68.2% and 56.7% for Whites and Blacks, respectively. A higher HCBS spending was associated with a decreased likelihood of NH placements for Whites but not for Blacks. It is important to understand how states' HCBS expansion efforts influence Blacks and Whites with ADRD so that resources can be tailored to communities with different race-mix.