Research blog

The United Nations has designated by resolution A/RES/67/105 the 5th of September, the anniversary of the death of Mother Teresa, as the International Day of Charity.

Who gives to Charity?

The CAF World Giving index ranks over 140 nations worldwide on levels of charitable giving . It bases this on whether individuals give money, volunteer or help a stranger.

There is also a UK giving index

the financial status and income of UK charities.

This site from NCVO provides information on data from UK charities supplied by the Charities Commission. They include income and employees

What has been the impact of Covid on giving ?

the Charities Aid Foundation website is a good starting point for tracing recent news stories and research

#NeverMore - is a campaign by a coalition of Uk charity organisations to campaign for assistance and to raise the profile of charities during the Covid pandemic when they are needed more but incomes are lower. They include ACEVO, Womens Resource Centre . The site has campaign materials as well as press releases and research on the impact from the charities

Wednesday, 26 August 2020

national dog day for social scientists

26th August is National Dog day

How many dogs are there in the UK?
According to RSPCA data in 2019. Dogs are the most popular pets
26% of the UK adult population have a dog with an estimated population of 9.9 million pet dogs

According to Statista this isnt the highest percentage as Germany is the nation with the most pet dogs in Europe

This makes a growing market for pet products
Statista quotes the market for dog treats in the uk as 462 million pounds in 2018. A rise from 268 in 2007.
Perhaps this contributes to the high cost of dog ownership as they give the figure of minimum annual costs of keeping a dog ranging from 840 British pounds for a small dog to 1,260 pounds for a large dog.

The economic outcome of pet ownership for the economy as a whole may be beneficial according to this fascinating article from the Adam Smith Institute in 2018 which considers the economic savings on healthcare .This summary from CABI also gives an abstract of the findings of a companion animal economics report

To get some facts on if dog ownership try searching Pubmed for medical articles.
This systematic review on dog ownership and survival examined
Studies published between 1950 and May 24, 2019. It found Dog ownership is associated with lower risk of death over the long term, which is possibly driven by a reduction in cardiovascular mortality. Dog ownership can also be associated with more physical exercise and contact with nature
other studies have focussed on mental health, an Australian study Longitudinal evidence of the impact of dog ownership and dog walking on mental health

Thursday, 20 August 2020

VJ Day - research resources

Last week was the 75th anniversary of VJ the ending of the Second World War with Japan
Here are some recommended study resources

A good Starting point is the US government website
They have the official surrender document
They also have this blog posting which links to original photographs and other documents from the American Allied perspective

For the Uk, The Imperial war museum has some photographs of the VJ day celebrations
plus some rare colour footage of Londoners on the day

The National Archives blog has an interesting discussion, with original documents, of secret plans for British involvement in a possible invasion of Japan in 1945

Plus materials relating to the bombing of Hiroshima

Their website also has a detailed research guide covering the Second World War

Don't forget how the war ended. Hiroshima Peace Museum has an English language version for those not able to read Japanese. It includes atomic survivor oral testimonies.

Wednesday, 5 August 2020

International Cat day for social scientists!

International Cat Day is a celebration which takes place on 8 August, every year. It was created in 2002 by the International Fund for Animal Welfare.

How many people in the Uk own a cat?

get the facts from the recent PDSA annual survey in 2019

50% of UK adults owned a pet.
24% of UK adults have a cat with an estimated population of 10.9 million pet cats
however the most popular pet was a dog 26% of the UK adult population have a dog with an estimated population of 9.9 million pet

In February the Economist had a fascinating feature on countries which spent the most on their pets. USA ranked the highest. Look at the chart to see where Britain was

In 2018 the Adam Smith Institute published a fascinating and fun article on cat and dog economics which estimates way in which pet ownership can have a positive impact on health care expenditure if it reduces levels of mental anxiety in the population.

For some scientific evidence on the impact of pets on physical and mental well being try searching Pubmed

For information on cat welfare in the UK Pats Protection website has factsheets, news and information.

Thursday, 30 July 2020

Obesity is it a problem?

This week the UK government launched a strategy for tackling obesity

Search NHS evidence for access to recent government reports and strategy

Food and Drink Federation reaction

Obesity Uk response

British Dieticians response

UNICEF The State of the World’s Children 2019: Children, food and nutrition

in terms of the UK they refer to children in a swamp of obesity.

OECD has recently published a report

The Heavy Burden of Obesity The Economics of Prevention

Using microsimulation modelling, this book analyses the burden of obesity and overweight in 52 countries (including OECD, European Union and G20 countries), showing how overweight reduces life expectancy, increases healthcare costs, decreases workers' productivity and lowers GDP.

On this topic

Do people eat junk food because it is cheaper?

A systematic review of literature published in 2013

Do healthier foods and diet patterns cost more than less healthy options? A systematic review and meta-analysis of 27 studies from 10 countries did provide some evidence especially in terms of meat that healthier options were more expensive.

longitudinal study in UK found prices of healthy foods rose quicker than unhealthy on 94 items

The Growing Price Gap between More and Less Healthy Foods: Analysis of a Novel Longitudinal UK Dataset Nicholas R. V. Jones, Annalijn I. Conklin, Marc Suhrcke,

Pablo Monsivais

In 2017 the same CEDAR research centre found that cost of meeting the recommended dietary intake for fruit and vegetables, oily fish, sugars, fat, saturated fat and salt was between 3% and 17% more expensive than other alternatives.

However there have been some disputes about metrics used to calculate costs . This IEA discussion paper from 2017 found the margins were small. But as others have discussed factors such as time and access to healthy food outlets can also be key

A government report obesity and the environment found a link between the number of fast food outlets, child obesity and socio-economic background. Poorer people were likely to live near more fast food shops and to be overweight. It has an interesting map from 2016 showing the geographical spread of fast food outlets.