首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Are Bad Economic Times Good for Health? [A] Most people are worried about the health of the economy. But does the economy also a
Are Bad Economic Times Good for Health? [A] Most people are worried about the health of the economy. But does the economy also a
admin
2017-01-16
37
问题
Are Bad Economic Times Good for Health?
[A] Most people are worried about the health of the economy. But does the economy also affect your health? It does, but not always in ways you might expect. The data on how an economic downturn influences an individual’s health are surprisingly mixed. It’s clear that long-term economic gains lead to improvements in a population’s overall health, in developing and industrialized societies alike.
[B] But whether the current economic downturn will take a toll on your own health depends, in part, on your health habits when times are good. And economic studies suggest that people tend not to take care of themselves in boom times—drinking too much (especially before driving), dining on fat-filled restaurant meals and skipping exercise and doctors’ appointments because of work-related time commitments.
[C] "The value of time is higher during good economic times," said Grant Miller, an assistant professor of medicine at Stanford. "So people work more and do less of the things that are good for them, like cooking at home and exercising: and people experience more stress due to the severity of hard work during booms."
[D] Similar patterns have been seen in some developing nations. Dr. Miller, who is studying the effects of fluctuating coffee prices on health in Colombia, says that even though falling prices are bad for the economy, they appear to improve health and decrease death rates. When prices are low, laborers have more time to care for their children. "When coffee prices suddenly rise, people work harder on their coffee plots and spend less time doing things around the home, including things that are good for their children," he said. "Because the things that matter most for infant and child health in rural Colombia aren’t expensive, but require a substantial amount of time—such as breast-feeding, bringing clean water from far away, taking your child to a distant health clinic for free vaccinations (接种疫苗) —infant and child death rates rise."
[E] In this country, a similar effect appeared in the Dust Bowl during the Great Depression, according to a 2007 paper by Dr. Miller and colleagues in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The data seem to contradict research in the 1970s suggesting that in hard times there are more deaths from heart disease, cirrhosis (肝硬化), suicide and murder, as well as more admissions to mental hospitals. But those findings have not been repeated, and several economists have pointed out flaws in the research.
[F] In May 2000, the Quarterly Journal of Economics published a surprising paper called "Are Recessions Good for Your Health?" by Christopher J. Ruhm, professor of economics at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, based on an analysis measuring death rates and health behavior against economic shifts and jobless rates from 1972 to 1991. Dr. Ruhm found that death rates declined sharply in the 1974 and 1982 recessions, and increased in the economic recovery of the 1980s. An increase of one percentage point in state unemployment rates correlated with a 0.5 percentage point decline in the death rate—or about 5 fewer deaths per 100,000 people. Over all, the death rate fell by more than 8 percent in the 20-year period of mostly economic decline, led by drops in heart disease and car crashes.
[G] The economic downturn did appear to take a toll on factors having less to do with prevention and more to do with mental well-being and access to health care. For instance, cancer deaths rose 23 percent, and deaths from flu and pneumonia increased slightly. Suicides rose 2 percent, homicides 12 percent.
[H] The issue that may matter most in an economic crisis is not related to jobs or income, but whether the slump widens the gap between rich and poor, and whether there is an adequate health safety net available to those who have lost their jobs and insurance. During a decade of economic recession in Japan that began in the 1990s, people who were unemployed were twice as likely to be in poor health as those with secure jobs. During Peru’s severe economic crisis in the 1980s, infant deaths jumped 2.5 percentage points—about 17,000 more children who died as public health spending and social programs collapsed.
[I] In August, researchers from the Free University of Amsterdam looked at health studies of twins in Denmark. They found that individuals bom in a recession were at higher risk for heart problems later in life and lived, on average, 15 months less than those born under better conditions. Gerard J. van den Berg, an economics professor who was a co-author of the study, said babies in poor households suffered the most in a recession, because their families lacked access to good health care. Poor economic conditions can also cause stress that may interfere with parent bonding and childhood development, he said. He noted that other studies had found that recessions can benefit babies by giving their parents more time at home.
[J] "This scenario (情况) may be relevant for well-to-do families where one of the parents loses a job and the other still brings in enough money," he said. "But in a crisis where the family may have to face huge housing-cost losses and the household income is insufficient for adequate nutrition and health care, the disadvantageous effects of being born in a recession seem much more relevant."
[K] In the USA, there are already signs of the economy’s effect on health. In May, the market research firm Information Resources reported that 53 percent of consumers said they were cooking more than they did just six months before—in part, no doubt, because of the rising cost of prepared foods. At the same time, health insurance costs are rising. With premiums and co-payments, the average employee with insurance pays nearly one-third of medical costs—about twice as much as four years ago, according to Paul H. Keckley, executive director of the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions.
[L] In the United States, which unlike other industrialized nations lacks a national health plan, the looming recession may take a greater toll. About 46 million Americans lack health insurance, Dr. Keckley says, and even among the 179 million who have it, an estimated 1 in 7 would be bankrupted by a single health crisis. The economic downturn "is not good news for the health care industry," he said. "There may be something positive, but I think this needs pondering."
During the decade of recession in Japan, compared with those with secure jobs, the unemployed were more likely to fall ill.
选项
答案
H
解析
题目谈到日本失业人员的健康状况。文中只有H段提到日本,该段第2句表示日本在上世纪90年代,经济衰退的十年间,失业人员健康状况不佳的可能性是有稳定工作的人的2倍,twice as likely to be in poor health表明失业的人更容易生病,这与题目语义相同,故H段为本题出处。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/n2i7777K
0
大学英语四级
相关试题推荐
皮影戏(shadowplay)是中国古老的民间传统艺术。据史书记载,它始于汉代,盛于唐宋。皮影(shadowpuppet)最初由纸制成,后来改由驴皮或牛皮制作,因此而得名。皮影在中国乃至世界上都具有很高的艺术价值,被世界多国博物馆收藏。人们认为陕西的皮
ExerciseIsAllYouGetattheGymA)Whenyougotothegym,doyouwashyourhandsbeforeandafterusingtheequipment?Bring
Losingyourbellybulge(鼓起的部分)isimportantformorethanjustvanity’ssake.Excessabdominal(腹部的)fatisa【C1】______ofmanydise
Forthispart,youareallowed30minutestowriteanessaycommentingontheremark"NeverGiveUp."Youcanciteexamplestoi
Forthispart,youareallowed30minutestowriteanapplicationletter.Youshouldwriteatleast120wordsbutnomorethan1
A、Setagoodexampleforotherpeople.B、Helptoincreasepeople’senvironmentalprotectionawareness.C、Devotehimselftoprote
We’renowwitnessingtheemergenceofanadvancedeconomybasedoninformationandknowledge.Physicallabor,rawmaterials,ami
A、GetsomechangefromJane.B、Goandlookforapayphone.C、Usethewoman’sphone.D、Payforthephonecall.C本题实际上是“建议题”。答案规则
中国人用筷子是特定文化的产物。中国是个农业大国,食物多以蔬菜为主,用筷子适宜取食。中国文化推崇集体主义(collectivism),崇尚融合,体现在吃饭的方式上就是使用筷子。中国人实行合餐制(communalmeals),用餐的人在同一个盘中取食,用筷子
在云南省西北部的玉龙雪山脚下坐落着人间仙境般的丽江古城。古城里聚居的居民以纳西族同胞为主,是我国唯一的纳西族自治区。丽江从来就以它巍峨壮丽的大雪山、雄奇险峻的大峡谷、灵秀峻美的老君山、碧波荡漾的泸沽湖和多姿多彩的少数民族风情而闻名于世。人们惊讶于这里“天人
随机试题
路面抗滑性能的指标有()。
企业成长的基础是()
破伤风牙关紧闭,用针灸治疗,可取何穴
A.清热解毒B.息风止痉C.平肝明目D.行气宽中E.解表除烦苏梗的功效是
办理抵押物登记,应当向登记部门提供()。
呋喃树脂是以()为基本原料制成的高分子材料的总称。
玻璃制围棋
在资本资产定价模型假设下,当市场达到均衡时,市场组合M成为一个有效组合;所有有效组合都可视为无风险证券F与市场组合M的再组合。()
Besidesactiveforeignenterprisesanda【C1】______numberofprivateemployers,aconsequentialnewdevelopmentwasthedevelopme
Whentherateofinflationexceedstherateofreturnonthemostprofitableinvestmentavailable,thedifferencebetweenthose
最新回复
(
0
)