For the study, published in Safety and Health at Work, researchers explored how earned sick leave laws impact rates of reportable nonfatal illness or injury across major industry categories. They obtained annual state rates of occupational nonfatal illness or injury reports and earned sick leave policy data. They found that states that implemented earned sick leave prior to 2019 saw a marginally significant increase in the rates of illness and injury reporting across industries after these policies were introduced.

About The Study: In this cross-sectional study, U.S. drug overdose death rates entered a new wave of sustained deceleration in 2023 after 2 decades of increase. This shift may reflect changes in drug markets, treatment access, harm reduction efforts, and population-level risk. Although the decline is encouraging, persistent disparities highlight the need for targeted interventions and improved understanding of the underlying drivers. 

Households affected by high electricity prices during the energy crisis tend to be more negative towards climate policy. Research from the School of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg shows that perceived unfairness reinforces misconceptions about fuel taxes.

Deezer, a key actor in music distribution in France, has inaugurated, alongside the CNRS, the EHESS, the Universite Pantheon-Sorbonne, and Universite Paris Cite, the Mixtapes LabCom, which will study listening practices on these music streaming services. Based on a data set of unprecedented wealth, the teams will describe and understand the social and spatial diversity of listening habits and tastes. This joint research project, supported by the French National Research Agency (ANR) of up to €363 000 over 54 months, will more generally document the circulation of musical works in France and abroad, as well as the impact of music streaming services on these works.

When it comes to family leave, American fathers are left behind.

In a survey of new fathers led by scientists at Northwestern University and Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, 64% of fathers reported taking less than two weeks of leave or no leave after the birth of their child. Only 36% of dads reported taking more than two weeks of leave. The survey is the first of a state-representative sample of fathers. 

A new study by Northwestern University asks whether voters approve of politicians who use the power of their office to retaliate against corporate political speech criticizing the politician’s actions.

The researchers sought to determine whether voters would consider retaliation against a company an abuse of political power, and if voter opinion would depend on whether they had the same political party affiliation as the politician.

The researchers surveyed 1,000 adults to collect opinions on actions of increasing severity a governor could take in response to public criticism from an in-state business.

In the survey results, voters showed no difference in how they responded to no attack and the verbal rebuke by the governor. In those scenarios, partisanship was the largest factor in how people viewed the governor’s actions. 

However, when it came to retribution against the company by the governor, the drop among in-party respondents was large enough to shift them from a positive vote intention to a negative vote intention.