R -- RESEARCH PROJECT AND PAPER

Notice Date

May 24, 2001

Contracting Office

National Library of Medicine, Office of Acquisitions Management, Building 38A, Room B1N17, 8600 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, Maryland 20894

ZIP Code

20894

Solicitation Number

NLM 01-138/LTN

Response Due

June 13, 2001

Point of Contact

Liem T. Nguyen, Contract Specialist, 301-496-6546

E-Mail Address

click here to contact the contract specialist (liem_nguyen@nlm.nih.gov)

Description

The National Institutes of Health, Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR) intends to negotiate on a sole-source basis with David Meltzer, M.D., Ph.D., The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, under the authority 41 U.S.C. 253 (c)(1) and FAR 6.302-1(b)(1) for preparing a paper on "Effects of Health Disparities on Educational Investment". The purpose of this paper is to examine the idea that if life expectancy is short, it may not make sense to make investments in schooling. Alternatively, improvements in health not only help people directly by improving their health, but also help them indirectly by enhancing their incentives to equip themselves to be economically successful in the future by investing in education. This paper shall: 1) review the existing literature examining this idea; 2) test this hypothesis using cross-national data, and 3) analyze the effects of young adult mortality fro violence and AIDS on educational attainment across US cities. Dr. David O. Meltzer is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine, Department of Economics, and at the Graduate School of Public Policy Studies at the University of Chicago. Dr. Meltzer received his M.D. and Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago in 1993, and graduated summa cum laude from Yale University in 1986 with distinction in economics and in molecular biophysics and biochemistry. Dr. Meltzer also serves on the faculty of the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program, the Graduate Program in Health Administration and Policy, the Population Research Center and the Center on Aging. He is also a faculty research fellow for the National Bureau of Economic Research and has served on a panel that examining the "Future of Medicare" for the National Academy of Social Insurance and a panel examining U.S. organ allocation policy for the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Meltzer's own early work argued that reductions in mortality could promote investments in education by raising the return to those investments, a hypothesis he tested using cross-national data. 1) Dr. Meltzer's familiarity with this topic enables him to quickly review the existing literature examining this idea. 2) Dr. Meltzer's earlier work showed that mortality rates in the 1960s predicted educational enrollment in 1960 as well as economic growth and population growth through the mid-1980s; in this paper he would use more recent data to update his own analyses to see whether this pattern has continued to the present. And 3) Dr. Meltzer's earlier work calculated the effects on the rate of return to education of observed inner city mortality rates among young African-American males and observed rates of mortality from AIDS in high prevalence countries in Africa. In this required project, Dr. Meltzer can easily update his early theoretical calculations using the most recent data on inner city mortality among young African Americans, and examine the contributions of AIDS and violence to these effects on incentives to invest in education. More generally, Dr. Meltzer's research explores problems in health economics and public policy. His recent work has focused on the theoretical foundations of medical cost-effectiveness analysis, including issues such as accounting for future costs due to the extension of life and the empirical validity of quality of life assessment, which he has examined in the context of diabetes and prostate cancer. Another major area of study examines the effects of managed care and medical specialization on the cost and quality of care, especially in teaching hospitals. Dr. Meltzer is currently Principal Investigator for a randomized trial examining the use of doctors who specialize in inpatient care ("hospitalists") compared to traditional community-based physicians. Other work examines the role of mortality decline in the economic growth and demographic transition of developing countries; and the effects of FDA regulation on innovation in the pharmaceutical industry. Based on Dr. Meltzer's expertise and experience, OBSSR has determined that he is the only known source uniquely qualified to perform the required project. This procurement is being conducted under Simplified Acquisition Procedures in accordance with FAR Part 13. This notice of intent is not a Request for competitive Quotations (RFQ), nor is an RFQ available. However, all proposals received within 15 days from the date of publication of this synopsis will be considered by OBSSR. *****

Record

Loren Data Corp. 20010529/RSOL006.HTM (W-144 SN50N096)