Keep in mind that the fiscal health of Western democracies, all other things being equal, depends on the state of their economies.

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His fire-and-brimstone words aren't unfounded: UCLA and State University of New York-Stony Brook researchers found that, all things being equal, unemployed job applicants are viewed as less competent, warm and hireable than employed folks -- whether they were fired, laid off or quit voluntarily.

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John Lott Jr. of Montana State University and the Hoover Institution discovered that, all other things being equal, public schooling appeared to be positively correlated with juvenile delinquency.

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