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Since 1970, the United States has untaken a massive – but virtually unnoticed – public works project by more than tripling its number of prisons. Roughly 70 percent have been built in rural communities. It’s a trend that will be hard to turn around, writes Texas A+M sociologist John Eason, and that may have profound consequences on efforts to end mass incarceration.
President Trump has called climate change a hoax and pledged to boost coal, oil and natural gas production. One policy that Trump may target is calculating the social damage caused by carbon pollution — a practice that federal agencies initiated, in response to a court order, during the Obama administration. Harvard Kennedy School economist Joseph Aldy, who helped develop the first estimate of the social cost of carbon, explains what it represents and how it informs environmental policy decisions.
The Republican House proposal for health care continues to capture attention nationwide, with opponents growing by the day. Georgia State University health insurance expert Bill Custer explains that the incentives are so weak that the individual insurance market could collapse in some states, while Megan Foster Friedman, a health policy analyst at the University of Michigan, details precisely
how the poor could be affected.
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The federal prison in Forrest City, Arkansas.
AP Photo/Danny Johnston
John M. Eason, Texas A&M University
The number of prisons in the US swelled between 1970 and 2000, from 511 to nearly 1,663. Here's the story of why one town in Arkansas welcomed a correction facility.
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Health + Medicine
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Megan Foster Friedman, University of Michigan
House Speaker Paul Ryan called the new health care proposal an 'act of mercy.' The bill could help the healthy and wealthy, but it is unlikely to be merciful to the poor.
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Bill Custer, Georgia State University
The Republican House plan for health care has been decried for its effect on the poor, the aged and the sick. Ultimately, though, it could affect everyone, if healthy people don't sign up.
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From our international editions
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Jameelah Omar, University of Cape Town
The growing incidence of racism on social media in South Africa suggests that there are consequences. Whether there ought to be criminal sanctions remains an ongoing debate.
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Rachael Dunlop, Macquarie University
Who is your preferred source for health advice? Gwyneth Paltrow? Pete Evans? Dr Google is new and improved and beats these guys hands down.
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Marguerite Johnson, University of Newcastle
What does it mean to be a witch today? And what is a 'binding spell' trying to achieve?
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