Miscellaneous material to start your week.
- Justin Wolfers discusses new research showing how location has a dramatic effect on the future of young children. And it's particularly striking that the negatives of moving seem to outweigh any positive effects of a surrounding neighbourhood for older children - suggesting that if there's any truth to the theory that poverty is merely a stage on the way to relative wealth for a meaningful number of families, then those families may systemically be in the worst circumstances when it does the most harm.
- Meanwhile, Denis Campbell reports on how austerity has cost lives in the UK. Kelly Crowe writes about user comments on discount drug cards which serve largely to highlight the lack of any consistent prescription drug availability in Canada. And Ryan Meili rightly argues that any talk of improving or revitalizing a neighbourhood needs to involve improving conditions for the people who are there - not driving them out for the benefit of others.
- Sara Mojtehedzadeh starts a series on precarious work in Ontario by contrasting the total commitment expected of part-time employees against the nonexistent prospect of work offered by retail employers. And while Anand Giridharadas reports on one possibility to smooth out incomes for people facing precarious work, the concept of a business extracting a fee for a more predictable income is hardly one we should prefer to an effective social safety net.
- On that front, Bill Curry discusses new polling showing that Canadians widely support a strengthened Canada Pension Plan.
- Finally, Carol Goar offers a reminder that there's still a long way to go in pursuing gender equality around the globe - and that in fact matters have been getting worse in Canada over the past couple of decades.
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