The impact of assisted housing developments on concentrated poverty

Abstract

The common wisdom is that assisted housing developments have both a direct and an indirect impact on concentrated poverty. The indirect effects are based on the notion that the negative stereotypes associated with such developments spill over into the surrounding neighborhoods, causing people who can leave to do so or avoid the neighborhood and leaving behind only the more disadvantaged segments of society. An increase in concentrated poverty in the neighborhood surrounding the development results. Prior studies, relying on aggregated data, are consistent with this thesis. The overwhelming majority of the statistical models in my study, however, found these relationships to be spurious. Once individual and macrolevel characteristics were controlled for, the relationships disappeared.

These findings imply that assisted housing developments will not typically contribute to concentration of poverty in surrounding neighborhoods and suggest that much of the negative reaction to assisted housing developments is unwarranted.     

Ebstein Anomaly and Sudden Childhood Death

A 13‐year‐old girl is reported who died suddenly and unexpectedly in her sleep from previously undiagnosed Ebstein anomaly. At autopsy, there was dilatation of the right atrium with marked dilatation of the right auricle and apical displacement of the tricuspid valve into the right ventricular cavity with atrialization of the upper portion of the right ventricle. There were also prominent dysplastic changes in both the septal and posterior leaflets of the tricuspid valve with thickening of the valve and fusion of leaflets to the wall of the ventricle. Histology of the myocardium showed focal, minor microscopic areas of interstitial fibrosis with marked fibrous dysplasia and thickening of the tricuspid valve. Lethal arrhythmias occur in this condition because of the geographical relationship of the conduction system to the abnormal anatomical structures. As adolescents who died suddenly are often minimally symptomatic, cases will rarely present de novo to forensic autopsy.     

No-fault cerebral palsy insurance: an alternative to the obstetrical malpractice lottery

Sixty percent of malpractice premiums paid by obstetricians go to cover suits for alleged birth-related cerebral palsy (CP). Yet substantially less than half of that money goes to CP victims, and less than 10 percent of children with CP receive any compensation at all from tort suits. This paper proposes a system that would compensate all children born with CP for most handicap-related expenses, in exchange for which the children would be foreclosed from bringing suits alleging birth-related malpractice. Malpractice would be policed by a state board, which would investigate all CP cases. This proposal would be more equitable than current systems. It would also be less expensive, since it would avoid costly litigation and decrease the cost of obstetrical malpractice insurance.