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THIS STUDY FINDS THAT LIFETIME CONTRIBUTIONS TO OASI BY LOW EARNERS MAKE THEM ONLY SLIGHTLY BETTER OFF THAN HAD THEY RELIED SOLELY ON SSI. THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE INTERACTION OF SSI ON OASI LEAD TO SERIOUS QUESTIONS ABOUT THE EQUITY AND EFFICIENCY OF THE CURRENT OASI-SSI SYSTEM AND THE LIKELIHOOD OF CONTINUING POLITICAL SUPPORT FOR IT.

"There are several ways to measure fatness and obesity, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. The primary measure for tracking the prevalence of obesity has historically been body mass index (BMI). This paper compares long-run trends in the prevalence of obesity when obesity is defined using skinfold thickness instead of body mass index (BMI), using data from the full series of U.S. National Health Examination Surveys. The results indicate that when one uses skinfold thicknesses rather than BMI to define obesity, the rise in the prevalence of obesity is detectable ten to twenty years earlier. This underscores the importance of examining multiple measures of fatness when monitoring or otherwise studying obesity"--National Bureau of Economic Research web site

AbstractEconomists have long been involved in public policy‐making, both as policy advisors and policy advocates. This article revisits the two questions that future Nobel Prize winner, George Stigler, posed to the economics profession in his seminal 1946 American Economic Review article urging us to speak out in the debate over the efficacy of increases in the minimum wage: (i) 'Does such legislation diminish poverty?'; and (ii) 'Are there efficient alternatives?'. I review this literature in the United States in the context of the Congressional Budget Office's answers in 2014 to these questions and what Australian policy‐makers can learn from them.