Aaron Miller

Aaron Miller

Provo, UT

How many children’s lives have been saved in the last 31 years?

As a follow-up to my previous post about inventions that have saved billions of lives, here’s a fascinating analysis by Our World in Data. It looks at the decline in childhood mortality of the last 31 years.

What’s the impact? 132 million more people are alive today thanks to progress in global health.

“To make the millions who were saved by progress in global health visible, I am asking a simple question: how many more children would have died if the global child mortality rate had not declined?”

Our World in Data

FTC Bans Non-Compete Agreements. Good Riddance.

This week the FTC announced a new, nationwide rule banning non-compete agreements in employment. The agency estimates that it will “generate over 8,500 new businesses each year, raise worker wages, lower health care costs, and boost innovation.”

There are some reasonable arguments that the rule doesn’t survive legal challenges that the FTC acted beyond its power. But I do think this will inevitably mark the end of widespread use of them.

If you’re wondering how bad these can really be, read this account of a Florida lawyer, Jonathan Pollard, who’s represented employees on this very issue.

50 million Americans or more are subject to or have been subject to bogus non-compete agreements. The estimates of how many people are subject to non-compete agreements are way too low. Just because you don’t hear about non-compete agreements in a certain business or industry doesn’t mean they aren’t there. They are.

What I’ve Learned in 7 Years of Defending Poor People Against Bogus Non-Compete Agreements | Pollard Law

Volunteering Makes People Happier

Do happy people give, or does giving make people happy? Studies that link happiness to generosity sometimes measure only correlations. But this UK study from a few years ago shows that people who volunteer become happier over time as a result of their volunteering, happier enough to be equivalent to an $1,100 extra income each year, on average.

“But does volunteering make people happy, or are happy people simply more likely to volunteer? The researchers found the same results even when they accounted for participants’ initial levels of well-being before they started volunteering. In other words, people who started to volunteer became happier over time.”

How Volunteering Can Help Your Mental Health | Greater Good Science Center

New Application of Old Drug Makes Bone Marrow Donations Easier to Match

A drug that’s around 70-years-old has been repurposed to improve bone marrow compatibility for people needing a donation, improving conditions for many thousands of patients.

I have a friend who donated bone marrow a few years back and had a fantastic experience doing it. If your age is 18–40 and you live in the US, you can register as a donor here: bethematch.org

Cyclophosphamide has now enabled more patients than ever to get bone-marrow transplants —more than 7,000 last year, according to NMDP…The field has essentially surmounted the problem of matching donors, a major barrier to transplants, Ephraim Fuchs, an oncologist at Johns Hopkins University, told me. Fuchs couldn’t remember the last time a patient failed to get a blood stem-cell transplant because they couldn’t find a donor.

The Bone-Marrow-Transplant Revolution - The Atlantic

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