A new study by Fady Mansour, the Director of the Butler Center for Research and Economic Development, and his colleague Nour Kattih of Middle Tennessee State University, investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare utilization, spending, and health measures among the U.S. population. The study, set to appear in a future issue of Research in Economics, applies data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey to a propensity score matching techniques in order to analyze the variation in healthcare outcomes due to the pandemic. The findings of the study suggest that the pandemic significantly reduced mental health status, the intensity of office, outpatient, and emergency room visits, and healthcare spending, including self-paid expenses. On the positive side, the study reports improvement in health-related quality of life for females and other groups. However, blacks, individuals with a high school diploma or less, the uninsured, and the low-income population do not report a similar improvement. According to Mansour, "The[se] findings highlight disparities during the pandemic and the need for increased efforts to promote health equity."
Officials in the Turner College's Butler Center for Research and Economic Development recently put the finishing touches on an extensive report on trends in educational programs and occupations in the Columbus area. The report also includes data on business and technology trends. According to Fady Mansour , Director of the Butler Center, there are several key takeaways from the report regarding 10 occupational gaps that currently exist in the Columbus area. First, software development occupation exhibits the biggest labor shortage, with the report adding that the TSYS School has a bachelor's degree program in information technology along with a new AI track for the bachelor's degree in computer science, both of which can qualify students for this occupation. Other educational programs are in demand, such as computer programming and cloud computing. Second, there is a gap of 30 employees per year in general and operations management. This gap could be addressed by the Turn...


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