Politics and the distribution of federal funds: Evidence from federal legislation in response to COVID-19.

COVID-19 relief legislation offers a unique setting to study how political representation shapes the distribution of federal assistance to state and local governments. We provide evidence of a substantial small-state bias: an additional Senator or Representative per million residents predicts an additional 670 dollars in aid per capita across the four relief packages. Alignment with the Democratic party predicts increases in states' allocations through legislation designed after the January 2021 political transition.

Do health insurers innovate? Evidence from the anatomy of physician payments.

One of private health insurers' main roles in the United States is to negotiate physician payment rates on their beneficiaries' behalf. We show that these rates are often set in reference to a government benchmark, and ask how often private insurers customize their fee schedules away from this default. We exploit changes in Medicare's payments and dramatic bunching in markups over Medicare's rates to address this question.

In the Shadow of a Giant: Medicare's Influence on Private Physician Payments.

We analyze Medicare's influence on private insurers' payments for physicians' services. Using a large administrative change in reimbursements for surgical versus medical care, we find that private prices follow Medicare's lead. A $1.

Who pays for public employee health costs?

We analyze the incidence of public-employee health benefits. Because these benefits are negotiated through the political process, relevant labor market institutions deviate significantly from the competitive, private-sector benchmark. Empirically, we find that roughly 15 percent of the cost of recent benefit growth was passed onto school district employees through reductions in wages and salaries.

Do Physicians' Financial Incentives Affect Medical Treatment and Patient Health?

We investigate whether physicians' financial incentives influence health care supply, technology diffusion, and resulting patient outcomes. In 1997, Medicare consolidated the geographic regions across which it adjusts physician payments, generating area-specific price shocks. Areas with higher payment shocks experience significant increases in health care supply.

Duloxetine in the prevention of relapse of major depressive disorder: double-blind placebo-controlled study.

Background: Relapse rates may be as high as 50% in people with major depressive disorder (MDD) previously treated to remission.

Aims: Duloxetine, an inhibitor of serotonin and noradrenaline reuptake that is licensed in Europe, the USA and elsewhere for the treatment of depressive episodes, was evaluated with regard to its efficacy, safety and tolerability in the prevention of relapse of MDD.

Method: Adult out-patients with MDD received duloxetine (60 mg daily) for 12 weeks (n=533).

Androgen receptor in the oviduct of the turtle, Trachemys scripta.

Circulating androgens reach high concentrations in females of some reptiles and amphibians. We are testing the hypothesis that androgens can act directly in female reptilian reproductive tissues, via the androgen receptor. In this study, we sought to determine if androgen receptors are present in the oviduct of the turtle, Trachemys scripta, using radioligand-binding assays and immunological assays.