Temporary Expansion Research Articles

The Effects of the 2021 Child Tax Credit on Housing Affordability and the Living Arrangements of Families With Low Incomes

Access to safe and stable housing is important for child and adult well-being. Yet many low-income households face severe challenges in maintaining stable housing. In this article, we examine the impact of the 2021 temporary expansion to the Child Tax Credit (CTC) on housing affordability and the living arrangements of families with low incomes. We employ a parameterized difference-in-differences method and leverage national data from a sample of parents who are receiving or recently received Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits (N = ∼20,500), many of whom became newly eligible for the CTC. We find that the monthly CTC reduced parents’ past-due rent/mortgages (both amounts and incidence) and their reports of potential moves due to difficulties affording rent/mortgages. The CTC increased the likelihood that parents reported a change in their living arrangements and reduced their household size, both effects driven by fewer mothers living with a partner (and not a reduction in doubling up). We find some differences in effects by race and ethnicity and earnings. Our findings illustrate that the monthly credit improved low-income parents’ ability to afford housing, gain residential independence from partners, and reduce the number of people residing in their household.

Sub-daily rainfall patterns in the mountainous regions of the Island of Tahiti: Insights from a one-year rain gauge network expansion

Study regionThe Island of Tahiti in French Polynesia (17.5°S,149.5°W), with a focus on the mountainous regions of the island interior. Study focusThe high topography of Tahiti creates an obstacle for wet air masses traveling along the surface of the South Tropical Pacific Ocean, which forces air flow uplift and triggers orographic rainfall. Although the main physical processes behind orographic rain enhancement on tropical islands were identified, the ways they shape Tahitian rain fields are still not fully understood, particularly due to a lack of observations. To address the limitations posed by this shortage of rain data, this study describes the temporary expansion of the rain gauge network of Tahiti towards the mountainous island interior, and uses the resultant dataset to investigate the spatial and temporal patterns of orographic rainfall at sub-daily resolution. New hydrological insights for the regionThe analysis of the rain gauge observations on daily and shorter time-scales leads to the identification of three main types of rainfall patterns: (1) a Dry Season Trade Winds type linked to a persistent Trade Winds Inversion (TWI) and characterized by moderate orographic rainfall in windward slopes, dry conditions in most leeward areas, and localized mid-afternoon showers in the mountains downwind of the main summit of the island; (2) a Transition Season Trade Winds type linked to atmospheric disturbances weakening the TWI, and characterized by intense orographic rainfall in windward slopes and mountains, and frequent showers in leeward areas by overshoot of the main crest; and (3) a SPCZ-related type occurring when the South Pacific Convergence Zone (SPCZ) crosses Tahiti during the wet season, and characterized by intense and widespread rainfall throughout the island with clear diurnal cycle and peak intensities recorded in the mid-afternoon.

The Consequences of the 2021 Child Tax Credit Expansion: An Introduction to the Volume

The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 temporarily transformed the Child Tax Credit (CTC) into a more generous cash benefit that was more frequently distributed to families with children in the U.S. From July to December 2021, the families of more than 90 percent of U.S. children received monthly cash payments of up to $250 per child (or $300 per young child under six); and at tax time in 2022, families received lump-sum tax refunds of up to $1,500 per child (or $1,800 per young child). Many of these families had not previously had access to the full credit because their incomes were too low. The temporary expansion was not made permanent, and the CTC returned to its pre-expansion structure in 2022. This volume evaluates the effects of the 2021 CTC expansion, and this introduction provides broad context around the expansion, elaborates on the goals for the volume, and previews the volume’s subsequent contributions.

Implications of Alternative Designs of the Child Tax Credit

The Child Tax Credit (CTC) delivers more economic benefits to children than any other federal program. Under its current design, the CTC provides a benefit of up to $2,000 per child under age 17: almost 90 percent of families with children receive at least some benefits, and families with the lowest incomes receive the least. In 2021, a temporary expansion of the program increased the maximum benefit, delivered up to half the credit as a monthly payment, and allowed families with the lowest incomes to receive the full benefit: millions of families that typically received a partial benefit saw greater economic returns, and the nation saw substantial drops in poverty and hardship. Even in a highly polarized political climate, policymakers continue to consider changes to the CTC that could reclaim some of the benefits that were observed in 2021. This article describes reform options and who would benefit most from various reform approaches.

The Effects of the 2021 Child Tax Credit on Child Developmental Outcomes

Child poverty fell to historic lows in 2021, in large part due to the temporary expansion of the Child Tax Credit (CTC). We consider the possible implications of this expansion on children’s short- and long-term development. To do so, we review the available short-run evidence from the 2021 expansion and the existing research evidence on the longer-run effects of similar income transfers in childhood on child health and human capital. We conclude that the CTC likely improved child health and well-being in the short and long run, with greater impacts for poor children and modest or nonexistent effects for nonpoor children. Moreover, the effects might be more substantial for younger children and for those in places with weaker safety nets.

The Effects of the 2021 Child Tax Credit on Racial and Ethnic Inequalities in Well-Being

Evidence from the temporary expansion of the Child Tax Credit (CTC) in 2021 suggests it helped to reduce family poverty, lessen food hardship, and increase families’ financial expenditures on children across race and ethnicity. We review recent evidence on the impacts of the CTC on differences in well-being across race and ethnicity, including differences in access to the tax credit, how families used the tax credit, and the food insecurity and mental health circumstances of those families. We supplement our review of extant research with an analysis of racial income inequality using nationally representative data from the Current Population Survey: we find that the 2021 CTC expansion is associated with lowered Black–white and Hispanic–white income inequality in the bottom half of the income distribution, particularly at the 10th and 25th percentiles.

Enhancing solar steam generation in hydrogel evaporator by bio-based microfluidic component

The hydrogel-based evaporator exhibits exceptional water activation capabilities, enabling it to surpass the previously established upper limits of evaporation rates in interfacial solar steam generation (ISSG). Although hydrogels possess a pronounced affinity for water, this characteristic could result in temporary expansion and heat loss, which hinder their capacity to sustain rapid and efficient evaporation over prolonged durations. Herein, polyacrylamide-based photothermal hydrogel with customized microfluidic components achieved long-term operation. The photothermal hydrogel showed high sunlight absorbance (∼95.5%) and its surface temperature spontaneously could reach 44.1 °C under one sun simulated irradiation (1.0 kW/m2). The efficient regulation of water transport was accomplished by Nafion-modified corn straw, i.e., a microfluidic component. This hydrogel-based evaporator demonstrated an increasing evaporation rate from 2.03 to 2.42 kg/m2/h during 12 h of continuous solar illumination. Notably, the microfluidic component resulted in controlled water transport enabling programmable adjustment of the hydrogel evaporator, allowing it to be reused multiple times in practical applications around the clock. The daily potable freshwater production amount reached 7.84 kg/m2/h in outdoor seawater desalination experiments. This research provides a paradigm approach to address freshwater scarcity on a global scale by using waste biomass to fully compensate for the shortcomings of hydrogels in ISSG systems.

Cryptic insect soundscapes: Ecological sound art as a prompt for auralization

Much insect sounding is beyond the limits of typical human hearing ability. This sonic separation is exacerbated by a socialized narrative of fear and avoidance of insects in many western societies. With the use of audio technologies to expand our senses, we can embrace opportunities to get to know sensory and communicative insect sound-worlds beyond our own. Ecological sound art – sound art that has an environmentalist intent – is a tangible and accessible means of listening to these sounds. In the series Built Hidden Soundscapes, the primary author (Schonberg) composes imagined soundscapes existing solely of sounds that are beyond the limits of typical human hearing ability. In this article we introduce two compositions in this series, Reserva Florestal Adolpho Ducke and Pipeline Road. These compositions offer a temporary expansion of our aural senses that can increase listeners’ awareness of cryptic insect existences/ecologies. We suggest that this listening practice might prompt future auralization (sounding or hearing in the mind) of insect sound for the listener.

Promoting health equity through poverty alleviation policy: Factors associated with receipt of the 2021 U.S. Child Tax Credit in a nationwide sample

IntroductionThe 2021 temporary expansion of the U.S. Child Tax Credit (CTC) was a potent policy that addressed poverty as a critical social determinant of health. Yet policies can only have their intended effects if they are implemented appropriately, and it is well known that not all who were eligible for the CTC received it. In this study, we investigated which individual- and state-level factors were correlated with receipt of the 2021 expanded CTC among eligible families. MethodsWe used data from the U.S. Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey and included 76,994 CTC-eligible individuals. We used multivariable logistic regressions to evaluate individual- and state-level factors associated with self-reported CTC receipt during July–December 2021. ResultsRoughly two-thirds of the CTC-eligible sample reported CTC receipt. CTC receipt was higher among eligible individuals who were female, aged 35–44 years (relative to younger individuals), Black, and married. Receipt was also higher among those with at least some college education, two or more children, and family income above $25,000, and among recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Medicaid. For state-level factors, SNAP and Medicaid caseloads and the state earned income tax credit rate were associated with decreased receipt. ConclusionAs Congress debates whether to make the CTC expansion permanent, this study provides timely evidence to inform poverty alleviation programs to increase participation among eligible and marginalized groups and achieve health equity.

Pandemic Job Separation and Psychological Distress: Modeling Chains of Adversity

Although recent studies have linked pandemic unemployment with poorer mental health, the mechanisms underlying this association remain understudied. In this paper, we develop a mediation model to explain why pandemic job separation might undermine mental health. Using national data from the 2021 Crime, Health, and Politics Survey (n = 1,258), we test the indirect effects of pandemic job separation on psychological distress through several mechanisms. Mediation analyses reveal compound indirect effects of pandemic job separation on psychological distress through the primary pathway of financial strain and the secondary pathways of social support, self-esteem, mastery, religious struggles, and sleep disturbance. Absent the indirect effect of pandemic job separation through financial strain, we would have failed to observe any simple indirect effects through the other proposed mechanisms. Formal moderated mediation analyses also indicate that our observed indirect effects are invariant to subgroup differences in current employment status, education, and household income. In short, our indirect effects are observed for those respondents who were able to regain employment, those with college degrees, and those with the most financial resources. Our results suggest that the temporary expansion of public assistance has been insufficient to offset widespread unemployment and financial hardship during a global pandemic.

Assessing public support for social policy in times of crisis: evidence from the Child Tax Credit during the COVID-19 era in the United States

Abstract The 2021 American Rescue Plan included the temporary expansion of the Child Tax Credit (CTC)—the largest individual income tax credit program in the United States—for most families with children. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, how did the public perceive this social policy benefit for families, especially in relation to other traditional social programs? By focusing on the CTC, an understudied policy area, and presenting original survey data, this paper first shows that, while the majority of respondents favored the CTC, levels of support for these benefits were lower than support for other social programs. Second, the paper suggests that, compared to older people and people with disabilities, Americans view families as part of the “undeserving” population. Third, by presenting panel data, we show that there is no change in levels of CTC support even among recipients of these benefits. Overall, these findings shed light on important challenges to the development and implementation of family policy in the USA, as well as the possibility of recalibrating the US liberal welfare state.

음성서(音聲署)의 성립 과정과 원형적 구조 재고 - 우륵(于勒) 관련 기사를 실마리로 삼아 -

According to the article on Ureuk (于勒) recorded in 'Akji' (樂志, music section) of Samguksagi (三國史記), there is the statement that King Gasil (嘉室王) had invented gayageum (plucked zither) after seeing musical instruments of ‘Tang (唐).’ It is clear that this statement could only appear after 618 when the Tang Dynasty was founded. Moreover, it is after September 644 that Silla's hyeon (prefecture) can be placed in Seongyeol-hyeon, which is the hometown of Ureuk. Since the name of Seongyeol-hyeon does not appear in the 'Jiriji' of the Samguksagi, it seems that the place name of Seongyeol-hyeon was used before 685 when the basic town name of the 'Jiriji' of the Samguksagi was decided. From the perspective of organizing music-related literature, if the writing of this document is regarded as Eumseongseo (音聲署), it seems that the birth of this record is related to 651, the point at which it was officially said that daesa (大舍) was placed in Eumseongseo.
 In that article, it is also found that gyego (階古) and juji (注知) were recorded as daenama (大奈麻, the 10th grade in the 17-grade system of Silla) while mandeok (萬德) as daesa (12th grade). However, in that mandeok 's official position corresponds to daesa of the Eumseongseo and a structure in which two superiors are located at the top can be found, it is believed that the prototype of the organization Eumseongseo was found even around the 550s, which is almost 100 years from 651. What had changed around 651 was that Silla music was documented, historicized, and systematized, judging from the point at which it was presumed that an article related to Ureuk in 'Akji' was written, as inferred earlier.
 In addition, paying attention to the fact that there are at least two people at the top of daesa , it is inferred the situation when the minister of Eumseongseo was jang (長) before being reorganized into gyeong (卿) in 687. In this regard, attention was paid to Seongcheon (星川), who appeared in 664. Considering the context of the narrative in which this character appears, Seongcheon is considered to be a character corresponding to daenama and has something in common with the cases of gyego and juji . Considering that the official position of gyeong in Eumseongseo corresponds to geupchan (級飡, 9th grade) to achan (阿飡, 6th grade), it is thought to give a clue that this is reorganized from jang to gyeong , and the position of the official has risen. It is believed to thank to the process of documentation, historicization, and systematization mentioned above. Therefore, gyeong of Eumseongseo, which was initially promoted thanks to the temporary expansion of music-related business, was able to maintain its prestige not only in the short term but also in the long term, thanks to such historical trends.

The Child Tax Credit and Family Well-Being: An Overview of Reforms and Impacts

The Child Tax Credit (CTC) has become an increasingly important element of the U.S. safety net. We discuss the structure of the CTC and its effects on childhood poverty and other indicators of well-being during its three distinct phases: prior to the 2021 American Rescue Plan (ARP) expansion, during the expansion, and after the expansion’s expiration. We also examine recent efforts to establish state-level CTCs. We show that, in 2020, roughly one in three children were ineligible for the full CTC because it is tied to family earnings. The temporary expansion under the ARP extended full CTC eligibility to nearly all of these children, thus moving more than three million children out of poverty in the expansion months. State-level analyses show how states could establish CTCs that reduce child poverty rates by half, either as a complement to an expanded federal CTC or in the absence of a continued federal expansion.

Association of Expanded Child Tax Credit Payments With Child Abuse and Neglect Emergency Department Visits

Poverty has long been associated with a higher risk for child maltreatment, and recent research suggests that income support policies are associated with reduced child abuse and neglect. However, income supports tied to employment cannot separate the associations of income from those of employment. To estimate the short-term association of universal and unconditional income payments to parents with child abuse and neglect. In this cross-sectional study, variation in the timing of the 2021 expanded child tax credit (CTC) advance payments was used to determine whether receiving unconditional income is associated with child abuse and neglect. A fixed-effects approach was used to compare child abuse and neglect before and after payments were made in 2021. The study compared 2021 trends with the same period in 2018 and 2019, during which no CTC payments were made. Participants were pediatric emergency department (ED) patients identified as experiencing child abuse or neglect at a level I pediatric hospital system in the Southeastern US from July through December 2021. Data were analyzed from July to August 2022. Timing in the disbursement of the expanded CTC advance payments. Daily child abuse and neglect-related ED visits. During the study period, there were 3169 ED visits related to child abuse or neglect. The 2021 advance payments of the expanded CTC were associated with fewer child abuse and neglect-related ED visits. There was a decrease in these ED visits in the 4 days following the advance CTC payments, although the reduction was not significant (point estimate, -0.22; 95% CI, -0.45 to 0.01; P = .06). There were significant reductions in such ED visits among male children (point estimate, -0.40; 95% CI, -0.75 to -0.06; P = .02) and non-Hispanic White children (point estimate, -0.69; 95% CI, -1.22 to -0.17; P = .01). These reductions did not persist, however. These findings suggest that federal income supports to parents are associated with immediate reductions in child abuse and neglect-related ED visits. These results are important for discussions of making the temporary expansion of the CTC permanent and are applicable to income support policies more broadly.

POETICS OF REUSE OF THE HISTORICAL HERITAGE: THREE CASE STUDIES OF EPHEMERAL ARCHITECTURE IN VENICE

The archetype of the vessel, declined ontologically as heterotopia and etymologically as trait d’union of a community, becomes the pretext to propose the restoration of Venice’s citizenship through a “poetics of reuse”. The relationship between ephemeral architecture and historical heritage is analysed according to the three criteria identified by Pierre Pinon. The concept of reutilisation is declined through building materials. Reconversion is identified through examples of radical change of use of historic military buildings. Reappropriation is associated with the temporary expansion of the potential of public space through architectural installations. Case studies corresponding to each category are identified, and from the primary sources the three-dimensional redesign of these projects is contextualised in the historical surroundings, in order to deduce considerations regarding the relationship between the two frameworks. Since the case studies are very extensive and rather heterogeneous, the novelty lies in the transversal reading approach that returns the Biennale’s magnificent centenary activity directly to the city and its inhabitants, subverting the negative connotation that cultural tourism has acquired on the island. The research aims to create an atlas of ephemeral architecture, define a taxonomy and draw up a document containing guidelines for future experiences of ephemeral architecture in the city.

No Evidence The Child Tax Credit Expansion Had An Effect On The Well-Being And Mental Health Of Parents.

In 1997 the US established the Child Tax Credit (CTC), which offers payments to parents of dependent children to help defray child-rearing costs. In 2021 a temporary expansion to the CTC increased the size of payments, extended payments to families with low or no earnings, and distributed payments monthly instead of annually. Quasi-experimental evidence from the US and experimental evidence from low- and middle-income countries shows that moderate-to-large cash transfers improve subjective well-being and mental health. We estimated the CTC's expansion's effects on the subjective well-being and mental health of adult recipients, using data from the Understanding America Study, a nationally representative survey with more than 7,000 respondents and more than 2,700 unique respondents with children. We found no evidence that the CTC expansion had a significant short-term impact on measures of life satisfaction, anxiety, and depression symptomology among adult recipients. We speculate that the null effects may be due to the expansion's temporary nature.

TRANSNATIONAL EDUCATION DEVELOPMENT IN CHINA: A REVIEW

The emergence of China as one of the biggest host countries of TNE in the past decades has been indispensable to the progressive TNE policies in China. This paper systematically reviews Chinese TNE policy changes and conceptually analyses six distinctive phases of TNE policy development. It suggests a changing pattern of cautious TNE relationship with western countries to the enthusiastic establishment of TNE institutions and programs across China, followed by tightened TNE review and targeted development of TNE disciplines and models, leading to a guided TNE promotion with the Belt and Road countries in recent years and temporary expansion of TNE recruitments in the current pandemic China. The paper argues that TNE policy changes always keep pace with the strategic development of China as evidenced in the current focus of a dual-way TNE of ‘draw-in’ and ‘going-out’.

Impact of Expanding Telephonic Codes in a State Medicaid Program During COVID-19.

Background: The recent pandemic caused by the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) resulted in declaration of a national emergency (NE) in March 2020. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services quickly responded with temporary expansion of telehealth coverage policies. Aim: To determine the impact of implementing a temporary telephonic code set in a state Medicaid population by comparing the utilization patterns of telehealth claims before and after a NE announcement. Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study conducted with the Arizona Medicaid program, the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS). Data include telehealth claims submitted to AHCCCS between January and May 2020 by contracted managed care organizations. Results: Approximately 2.3 million telehealth claims were analyzed in this study. Utilization of the audio-visual (A/V) modality increased 1,610% and telephonic visits increased 408% compared with pre-NE. Compared with pre-NE, three provider type groups increased their utilization of telephonic visits from 1.8% to 50.8% as a result of the temporary telephonic set post-NE. Rural counties had higher rates of telephonic modality adoption, whereas urban counties adopted the A/V modality more readily. Ten telephonic codes constituted 87% of all telehealth claims, with the majority of those codes used for behavioral health and established office visit types. Conclusion: The telephonic modality was adopted more frequently in rural areas and the A/V modality in urban areas. There were several new provider types utilizing telehealth as a result of the temporary telephonic code set implementation.

Militarizaciya gosudarstvennyh finansov i usilenie nalogovogo bremeni v SShA v poslevoennoe vremya

The article describes how public finances served as one of the tools of the monopolies’ struggle for maximum profit, a tool for increasing exploitation of workers, aggression, militarism and war. The general crisis of capitalism, the arms race in the 1950s was used by the monopolistic bourgeoisie of the United States as the most important means to maximize profits. The arms race led to a temporary expansion of overall demand, despite the increasing impoverishment of the working classes, based on a huge increase in demand for military goods and demand created by taxes and other government revenues. Inflation and the release of excess money into circulation, in turn, became a factor in further price increases.

A Note on Industrial Relations Code, 2020.

In this note, we assess the newly introduced Industrial Relations Code (IRC) 2020. First, we compare the provisions in IRC 2020 with its predecessor, Industrial Disputes Act (IDA) 1947, and the amendments to IDA 1947 in 1976 and 1982 regarding the employment protection provisions against layoffs, retrenchments, and closures. We find that IRC 2020 merely restored the factory-size threshold to the initial IDA amendment 1976 level of 300 or more workers to which IDA 1947 originally applied from 100 or more workers as notified in the 1982 IDA amendment. We calculate the effect of the threshold-size change on the workers and factories on the firms registered under the Factories Act 1948 2(m). We find from the ASI 2017–2018 data that an estimated 7.07% of the factories and 15.97% of the workers will be affected due to the change in the threshold size introduced through IRC, 2020. Finally, we conclude by discussing the current relevance of the employment protection legislation during the pandemic time and the need for discretionary usage and temporary expansion of coverage of employment protection provisions under the IRC if warranted.