Cigarette smoking and exposure to tobacco smoke are associated with premature death from chronic diseases, economic losses to society, and a substantial burden on the United States health-care system. Smoking is the primary causal factor for at least 30% of all cancer deaths, for nearly 80% of deaths from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and for early cardiovascular disease and deaths. In...

There is consensus that plant species richness enhances plant productivity within natural grasslands, but the underlying drivers remain debated. Recently, differential accumulation of soil-borne fungal pathogens across the plant diversity gradient has been proposed as a cause of this pattern. However, the below-ground environment has generally been treated as a 'black box' in biodiversity exper...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effectiveness of a lifestyle intervention (LI) in reducing work loss and disability days. METHODS One year randomized controlled trial of health plan members (n = 147) with type 2 diabetes and obesity. Members were randomized to modest-cost LI or usual care (UC). Outcomes were group differences in cumulative days either missed at work or with disability using Mann-Wh...

OBJECTIVE To estimate the potential global economic productivity loss associated with the existing burden of visual impairment from uncorrected refractive error (URE). METHODS Conservative assumptions and national population, epidemiological and economic data were used to estimate the purchasing power parity-adjusted gross domestic product (PPP-adjusted GDP) loss for all individuals with impa...

BACKGROUND In Australia, 40% of people diagnosed with cancer will be of working age (25-64 years). A cancer diagnosis may lead to temporary or permanent changes in a person's labour force participation, which has an economic impact on both the individual and the economy. However, little is known about this economic impact of cancer due to lost productivity in Australia. This paper aims to deter...

Health and productivity impacts from occupational heat stress have significant ramifications for the large workforce of India. This study profiled occupational heat stress impacts on the health and productivity of workers in select organized and unorganized Indian work sectors. During hotter and cooler seasons, Wet Bulb Globe Temperatures (WBGT) were used to quantify the risk of heat stress, ac...

The advent of the smartphone has dramatically altered how we communicate, navigate, work and entertain ourselves. While the advantages of this new technology are clear, constant use may also bring negative consequences, such as a loss of productivity due to interruptions in work life. A link between smartphone overuse and loss of productivity has often been hypothesized, but empirical evidence ...

Economists have been puzzled by the recent trends in real wage and productivity growth. While productivity has risen steadily, the popular press has lamented that real wages have failed to keep pace. Some argue that the inclusion of benefits explains the disparity. Others suggest that labor has lost much of its bargaining power with the firm, as evidenced by a decline in unionization rates, and...

The "lost decade" is a term popularly used to describe the Japanese economy of the 1990s, the period following the bursting of the country’s economic bubble. Yet even after the problems of nonperforming bank loans and damaged balance sheets were corrected in the early 2000s, growth has not been able to return to the level of the pre-bubble era. This has prompted Faculty Fellow Kyoji Fukao and h...