Two More New NBER papers

Two more new papers from the National Bureau of Economic Research provide some contrarian grist: One finds that a California law mandating a certain nurse-patient staff ratio had no measurable effect on patient safety or outcomes. Another, by Jacob Vigdor and Helen Ladd of Duke University, finds: "the introduction of home computer technology is associated with modest but statistically significant and persistent negative impacts on student math and reading test scores. Further evidence suggests that providing universal access to home computers and high-speed internet access would broaden, rather than narrow, math and reading achievement gaps."