January 07, 2018

From Journal of Health Economics:

This paper presents a new stylized fact about the relationship between income and childhood vaccination. It shows vaccination rates first rise but then fall as income increases. This pattern is observed in WHO country-level panel data, and in US county-level panel and individual-level repeated cross-section data. This data pattern suggests that both low and high-income parents are less likely to follow the standard vaccination schedule, and that such behavior is reflected in the vaccination rate at the population level.

From The Guardian (Sally Rooney on The Aeneid):

In anticipation of Emily Wilson’s much-discussed translation of Homer’s Odyssey – the first ever English version by a female translator – I’ve been rereading Sarah Ruden’s magnificent translation of Virgil’s The Aeneid. As a reader with next to no knowledge of classical mythology, I approached The Aeneid just as I would a contemporary poem or novel – and, despite my ignorance, I was rewarded with a rich and affecting portrait of, among other things, the memorably doomed love affair between Aeneas and Dido. In Ruden’s translation at least, it’s hard not to feel for Virgil’s remote mythic figures as breathing, living human beings too.

From The Guardian (Sally Rooney on BBC Radio 4's Saturday Review):

The BBC Radio 4 show Saturday Review is the calmest listening experience I can imagine. It consists solely of host Tom Sutcliffe and a rotating panel of guests discussing cultural goings-on. Often the conversations will focus on new art exhibitions or theatrical productions in the UK, none of which I can ever go and see because I don’t live there. Since I almost never have any opinion on the show’s content, and I have no reason whatsoever to take sides when the guests politely disagree, the podcast takes on a relaxing quality for me. I often listen to it while doing the washing-up.

From The Economist:

Having children outside marriage is almost the norm. Fully 48% of English and Welsh babies were born to unmarried mothers in 2016, up from 8% in 1970.

From The Economist:

A once universal institution has become the mark of having made it, both romantically and economically.