Urban Institute

About: Urban Institute is a nonprofit organization based out in Washington D.C., District of Columbia, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Medicaid & Population. The organization has 927 authors who have published 2330 publications receiving 86426 citations.

Can Cost-Benefit Analysis Answer Criminal Justice Policy Questions, And If So, How?

Abstract: Cost-benefit analysis (CBA) is commonly used in criminal justice research, but the results are rarely embraced with great confidence. The CBA method that is routinely applied in crime research is not a well-developed empirical method but rather an intuitive extension of economic theory appended onto an impact evaluation. Small errors resulting from common problems in evaluation, such as small sample sizes and selection effects, are magnified in the CBA framework. In particular, rare events with large costs or benefits can obscure all other program effects. Even with careful attention to these issues, CBA conducted in conjunction with an impact evaluation will, as a rule, omit critical information. Because public safety is at the core of crime control, it is critical that CBA captures the effects of crime-control policy at the community level. Moving the unit of analysis from individual to community level effects may resolve these problems.

Improving Coverage And Access For Immigrant Latino Children: The Los Angeles Healthy Kids Program

Abstract: A large number of California counties have recently taken bold steps to extend health insurance to all poor and near-poor children through county-based Children’s Health Initiatives. One initiative...

Major Surgery Needed: A Call for Structural Reform of the U.S. Corporate Income Tax

Abstract: It is widely recognized that the current U.S. corporate income tax is flawed, particularly in its treatment of foreign‐source income. These flaws are amplified by the high U.S. statutory tax rate. Unfortunately,current reform proposals fail to resolve the fundamental contradictions in the current corporate income tax structure.The current system and the reform proposals attempt to base corporate taxation on the source of the corporate income, the residence of the corporation, or a combination of those two factors. The problem is that neither source nor corporate residence can be easily defined. Any viable reform must either find an agreed‐upon way to define those terms or must restructure the tax system in a way that avoids the need to define them.In this report, we describe the challenges facing the corporate income tax and discuss two structural reform options that could address them. One option would seek international agreement on how to allocate income of multinational corporations among countries. The other option would eliminate the corporate income tax, but would tax American shareholders of publicly traded companies at ordinary income tax rates on their dividends and accrued capital gains. We discuss the benefits and limitations of each option.

When Firms Restructure: Understanding Work-Life Outcomes

Abstract: Analyses of work-life balance typically do not address the role of organizational structure but generally focus on individual worker attributes and a company's work-life policies. This paper focuses on the interrelationship among structural changes in industries and firms, managerial strategy, and jobs. This chapter appears in Work and Life Integration in Organizations and is based on our broader research on internal labor market changes over the past decade and the implications for the quality of jobs as a consequence of corporate restructuring in four industries. We find that although employer-driven restructuring is the predominant factor shaping job structure, and that changes in flexibility are usually collateral consequences rather than goals of restructuring, worker needs for job flexibility to accommodate work-life balance exert pressure on managers to structure jobs around those needs. The paper details those changes in jobs and career paths that affect the opportunities for work-life balance.

Lessons the United States Can Learn From Other Countries' Territorial Systems For Taxing Income of Multinational Corporations

Abstract: The United States has a worldwide system that taxes the dividends its resident multinational corporations receive from their foreign affiliates, while most other countries have territorial systems that exempt these dividends. This report examines the experience of four countries – two with long-standing territorial systems and two that have recently eliminated taxation of repatriated dividends. We find that the reasons for maintaining or introducing dividend exemption systems varied greatly among them and do not necessarily apply to the United States. Moreover, classification of tax systems as worldwide or territorial does not adequately capture differences in how countries tax foreign-source income.