Category: UW Experts in the News

Quoted: “When government money is involved, the government sets the terms,” said Ken Mayer, a professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

Quoted: The scope of that rescue will narrow the government’s options in stimulating demand, says University of Wisconsin economics professor Menzie Chinn. Chinn says the best way for the feds to stimulate the economy is to support infrastructure spending via aid to cash-strapped state and local governments, because that will increase economic activity more than a tax cut would.

Quoted: Most commercially available milk is fortified with vitamin D, but most children and teens do not drink enough of it â?? four cups daily would be needed â?? to meet the new requirement, said Dr. Frank Greer, the report’s co-author.

Quoted: Stephen Ward, a media ethics professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said there is nothing so compelling in the interview that it would warrant a reversal of a commitment not to air it.

Quoted: Eliot Finkelstein, instruction coordinator at the College Library at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said animal books are the “new breed” of self-help books.

Quoted: So to fund all those massive programs, the trick is to reassure China, Saudi Arabia and other foreign lenders that the United States remains creditworthy, said Mike Knetter, dean of the Wisconsin school of business at UW-Madison.

Quoted: After a seemingly endless campaign season, the number of undecided voters is shrinking by the day. Bello is one of about 8 percent of voters nationally who call themselves undecided, said Charles Franklin, political science professor at UW-Madison and co-developer of the Web site Pollster.com

Quoted: Ken Goldstein, director of the Wisconsin Advertising Project and UW-Madison political science professor.

The project, developed with the help of UW-Madison’s Applied Population Lab, lets users study neighborhood profiles, compare neighborhoods against one another, and eventually study neighborhoods over time.

Among the choices more people are expected to have this year is a “consumer-directed plan” â?? a high-deductible option with a health-savings account.

Those plans, which started a few years ago, can be cheaper for employers and employees, especially for people with few medical needs, said Donna Friedsam, associate director for health policy at the UW Population Health Institute.

Quoted: Menzie D. Chinn, who teaches economics at the University of Wisconsin, figures consumers won’t be in a position to spend freely for five years.

Quoted: Rusties are extremely aggressive and have huge appetites. They do the most damage by eating water plants. â??The way I describe what rusty crayfish do, they are underwater lawnmowers,â? says Jeff Maxted, an invasive species research specialist with the University of Wisconsin Center for Limnology in Madison.

Quoted: “Topical honey is cheaper than other interventions, notably oral antibiotics, which are often used and may have other deleterious side-effects,” said Dr. Jennifer Eddy, a University of Wisconsin researcher who is studying whether honey helps diabetic foot ulcers.

Quoted: Youth “turnout rates remain well below that of their elders,” said Charles Franklin, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin in Madison who studies youth voting patterns. “There’s an awful lot of students whose biggest concern is the football game.”

John McCain purchased $1.25 million worth of television advertising in Michigan last week, the same week he withdrew from the state and effectively conceded defeat.

McCain’s substantial (and puzzling) ad buys from Sept. 28 to Oct. 4 are the most he has ever spent in seven days in the Wolverine State, according to a report [PDF] released Wednesday by the nonpartisan University of Wisconsin Advertising Project. Of the 15 battleground states where McCain bought ads last week, he spent more money only in Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Quoted: University of Wisconsin-Madison political scientist Charles Franklin said the turning point is the economy and that’s reflected in the latest poll numbers.

Quoted: “What’s most discouraging about this complaint was not only that everyone saw it coming but that the campaign worked,” University of Wisconsin-Madison professor Howard Schweber said.

Quoted: â??Because of Obamaâ??s fundraising advantage, his campaign is able to spend more in more states than weâ??ve seen in recent memory,â? said Ken Goldstein, the University of Wisconsin-Madison professor who directs the ad-tracking project.

Quoted: Ken Goldstein, director of the project, said advertising by both candidates is ramping up as the election approaches.

Quoted: Ken Goldstein, the University of Wisconsin-Madison professor who directs the ad-tracking project, notes that 10 of the 15 states where both sides are advertising were won by President Bush in the 2004 election. The 10 states are Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, North Carolina, New Mexico, Nevada, Ohio and Virginia.

With national and state polls showing him building a broader lead over McCain, Obama has switched to a more positive pitch. Last week, only 34 percent of his ads attacked McCain directly while virtually all of McCain’s ads attacked Obama, according to a study by the Wisconsin Advertising Project at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Election Day is closing in, and things are getting “meaner” on the political stump. That’s according to UW-Madison political scientist Ken Mayer, who says attacks are getting more bitter and personal in the race for president. Mayer says it’s not surprising though, because it’s just the natural progression of campaigns.

A new CNN/Newsweek poll has Obama leading McCain by five percentage points in the Badger State.

“In the last week and a half we’ve seen the trend go towards Obama not just in the national polls but state after state after state,” says UW Political Analyst Charles Franklin.

Quoted: Douglas Laube, chair of UW-Madison obstetrics and gynecology.

Quoted: Douglas Laube, UW-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health and former president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

“I don’t like to admit it, but there are economic incentives” for doctors and hospitals to use the procedures, says Laube, who reviewed the new report before its release.

Quoted: UW-Madison political scientist Ken Mayer, who says attacks are getting more bitter and personal in the race for president. Mayer says it’s not surprising though, because it’s just the natural progression of campaigns.

Finance professor Mark Ready at the UW-Madison School of Business agreed that part of Monday’s decline resulted from problems in Europe. “The global economy is starting to look weaker than everyone had anticipated,” said Ready, academic director of the university’s Stephen L. Hawk Center for Applied Security Analysis.

“Some of the European institutions bought securities backed by U.S. mortgages, but there also have been declines in European housing markets,” Ready said.

Don Nichols, UW-Madison professor emeritus of economics and public affairs, said much of the fear revolves around the liquidity position of banks, and that has not yet been solved. Even with passage of the bailout plan, it will take time to assess which of the mortgage-backed securities the banks invested in are worth buying.

“The Treasury Department is only going to buy the good ones, not dump taxpayer money on losers,” Nichols said. “It’s going to take time to determine which have intrinsic value. So we’re in sort of a holding pattern.”

Quoted: “Given how cluttered the airwaves are with information about the economic situation . . . it’s going to be hard to move it from its trajectory unless we get blatantly new information,” said Ken Goldstein, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin.

Quoted: R. Alta Charo, a professor of law and bioethics at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. “Most IVF clinics are not hooked up to a research team and they may not be able to refer couples to a clinic who can do it for them,” she says.

Quoted: For several years, Wisconsin enjoyed a near monopoly on specialty cheeses, according to Brian Gould, a professor in the Department of Agriculture and Applied Economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Quoted: “When people settle a new area, there’s not a set accent,” said Joe Salmons, director of the Center for the Study of Upper Midwestern Cultures at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “And it takes several generations for a new accent to form. What that means is, she was raised in an environment where … Upper Midwestern influences were going to be very strong.”

Quoted: “Being very popular but among a low turnout group like the young under 30 isn’t as valuable to you in terms of votes cast as it might be to have a smaller advantage but to have it among the high turnout older groups,” said Charles Franklin, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Quoted: There is still little research on whether students ultimately absorb information better by playing games. â??I actually think reading is pretty great and can compete with video games easily,â? said Mark S. Seidenberg, a professor at the University of Wisconsin in Madison who specializes in reading research.

Quoted: Professor Ken Goldstein of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who oversees a project that studies political advertising, said both sides started the summer running hard in Michigan, but polls soured for McCain after the Wall Street collapse.

Quoted: “Economic growth has become a spectator sport for many workers,” says Laura Dresser of the Center on Wisconsin Strategy, a UW-Madison group that tracks state economic trends. “You can see it, but you can’t take it home with you.”

Quoted: “She had done a lot of interesting and surprising work” as an undergrad, says Sean Carroll, a University of Wisconsin molecular biologist and Wittkopp’s PhD advisor.

Quoted: “There are states that are pretty close in the electoral college where a small vote sure could matter,” said University of Wisconsin political scientist Barry Burden, an expert on third party candidates and their influence.

Quoted: Tom Purnell, assistant professor of linguistics at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

Quoted: Stephen Lucas, a professor of communication arts at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who studies political rhetoric.

Quoted: “There’s a lot of gun lovers here — about 40 percent of the respondents in our poll said they own a gun,” said UW Madison Prof. Charles Franklin.

Tonight’s Vice Presidential debate may see both candidates taking a cautious approach. UW Madison political scientist Charles Franklin says Delaware Senator Joe Biden is unlikely to take the gloves off, despite his vast experience edge over Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. “I think, from the Democrats’ point of view, they would rather see Palin get herself in trouble, rather than have Biden seeming to attack her” says Franklin.

Quoted: Pete Shult, of the the Wisconsin State Lab of Hygiene, oversees infectious disease testing at Wisconsin’s state laboratory.

Quoted: â??But this review certainly does seem to contradict the notion that cognitive or other short-term therapies are better than any others,â? said Bruce E. Wampold, chairman of the department of counseling psychology at the University of Wisconsin. â??When itâ??s done well, psychodynamic therapy appears to be just as effective as any other for some patients, and this strikes me as a turning pointâ? for such intensive therapy.

The media often take political polls out of context, Charles Franklin, professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said during a speech Tuesday night in Woodburn Hall.

Franklin, the co-developer of Pollster.com, spoke on â??The Shape of the Campaign: Composition and Dynamics in the 2008 Election,â? as part of a three-part series sponsored by the Institute for Advanced Study, where scholars talk about the election.