Category: Business conditions

  • Report: Affordable Care Act Remaking U.S. Health Sector

    18 March 2015. As the U.S. approaches the fifth anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, a new report from consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers highlights five major trends transforming the country’s health care sector, including creation of 90 new companies. The report, “Healthcare reform: Five trends to watch as the Affordable Care Act turns five,” is available…

  • Making Bootstraps: A Mid-Career Break to Boost Wage Growth

    Summary 15 March 2015. Finding a solution to stubborn wage stagnation in the U.S. has so far eluded policy makers, with most ideas aimed at lower-pay workers, such as raising the minimum wage. A remedy needs to be found for working people at all wage levels. One solution to consider is providing workers with a…

  • Report: U.S. Edge in Advanced Industries Slipping

    5 February 2015. A new report from Brookings Institution says the United States is losing ground to overseas competitors in critical advanced industries that hold the key to the country’s long-term economic future. The study by the Washington, D.C. think tank was discussed in a forum today with six CEOs of U.S. companies and the…

  • Report from Turkey: Transformation to Ignorance

    A visit to a high school for science in Turkey reveals a plan by Turkey’s government to shut down a tutoring program for low-income children, apparently to punish political rivals. 25 November 2014. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (pronounced AIR-doo-wan) of Turkey made news this month, when he told a meeting of visiting Islamic clergy from…

  • Patents, Start-Ups Increase in 2013 at U.S. University Labs

    10 September 2014. The numbers of patents filed, licensing income, and start-ups generated by research at U.S. universities last year all increased, according to an annual survey conducted by the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM), the organization of university staff responsible for research commercialization. The survey covers 202 responding institutions of 299 contacted, or…

  • PBS to Air Documentary on Vaccine Attitudes and Disease

    4 September 2014. Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) will air a documentary next week on the changing public attitudes toward vaccines and their effects on the growing occurrence of communicable diseases in the U.S. The show, Vaccines — Calling the Shots premieres on PBS as part of the NOVA series of science documentaries on Wednesday 10…

  • Analysis Uncovers Biotech Commercialization Bottlenecks

    21 August 2014. The path from scientific discovery in an academic lab to the marketplace is rarely a straightforward process, with researchers and entrepreneurs often facing detours and delays keeping new biomedical technologies in limbo for years at a time. Those are the conclusions of faculty at Georgia Institute of Technology’s business school that studied…

  • Panel: Federal Science Cuts Hurt U.S. Competitiveness

    9 July 2014. A panel of research executives from 10 universities in the U.S. told of the harmful impact of Federal spending cuts on science in the past few years, which the panelists said reduces the country’s ability to compete in world markets. The roundtable discussion at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. was…

  • 1.1M Health Center Patients Left Uninsured in Opt-Out States

    9 May 2014. A new report estimates some 1.1 million clients of community health centers will be left without health insurance in U.S. states that choose not to expand Medicaid, as permitted under the Affordable Care Act. The report was prepared by the School of Public Health at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. A…

  • Report: Climate Consensus Solid, Sudden Damage Risk Real

    18 March 2014. A new report from American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) underscores the the near-unanimous consensus by scientists that human-caused climate change is happening, and the risks of abrupt and unpredictable damage are increasing. A panel of 10 climate scientists, with partners in the business community, issued the report yesterday. The…