Month: November 2014

This article continues a series of posts examining non-biological factors contributing to the Ebola crisis’s severity. This week, we’ll look at poverty. This may seem like a “no, duh” factor, but the effects of poverty on transmission rates extend beyond just lack of access to healthcare or lack of sanitation, two common explanations for outbreaks of disease in conditions of poverty. I found these surprising observations in the PlosOne article The Impact of Economic Crises on Communicable Disease Transmission and Control: A Systematic Review of the Evidence. + Increased cortisol levels from stress and poor nutrition can hamper immunity, worsening Continue reading Ebola: Why is it so bad? (Part 5)→

Some economists and policymakers are currently discussing what they call the “family deficit”. The amount of married couples in America is on the decline, and is having varied economic impacts on varied groups. In 1960, only 12 percent of Americans aged 25 to 34 had never married. In 2010, 47 percent of Americans aged 25 to 34 had never married. Social pressures regarding marriage have lessened since the 1960’s, with the lessening stigma of divorce and birth control becoming more accessible. Large amounts of women began to enter the workforce, those in unsuccessful relationships were able to leave and seek out new ones, and Americans on Continue reading The Family Deficit→