Pension reform, the stock market, capital formation and economic growth: A critical commentary on the World Bank's proposals

Proposing far-reaching reforms to pension systems, the World Bank has recently suggested that the existing pay-as-you-go systems in many rich as well as poor countries should be replaced by fully funded, mandatory, preferably private pensions, as the main pillars of the new system. It argues that these reforms will not only benefit pensioners but also enhance savings, and promote capital formation and economic development. This paper provides a critical examination of the Bank's theses and concludes that it has adopted a one-sided view of the relationships between the key critical variables. The proposed reform may therefore neither protect the old nor achieve faster economic growth.     

A note on the asymptotic optimality of a two population sequential probability ratio test

It is shown that a two population sequential probability ratio test studied by a number of recent authors in the context of sequential medical trials is asymptotically optimal.     

Contextual and ideological dimensions of attitudes toward discretionary abortion

This study examines the contextual and ideological dimensions of attitudes toward discretionary abortion using two national surveys. The abortion attitudes are dichotomized in terms of consistent opposition versus consistent support. Discriminant analysis, partial correlations, and stepwise regression procedures are used in the analysis. Findings indicate that education and attendance at religious services are the two most significant contextual dimensions and sexual permissiveness and fertility ideology are the two most significant ideological dimensions for explaining attitudes toward discretionary abortion. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

Efficient Algorithms for Determining 3-D Bi-Plane Imaging Geometry

Biplane projection imaging is one of the primary methods for imaging and visualizing the cardiovascular system in medicine. A key problem in such a technique is to determine the imaging geometry (i.e., the relative rotation and translation) of two projections so that the 3-D structure can be accurately reconstructed. Based on interesting observations and efficient geometric techniques, we present in this paper new algorithmic solutions for this problem. Comparing with existing optimization-based approaches, our techniques yield better accuracy and have bounded execution time, thus is more suitable for on-line applications. Our techniques can easily detect outliers to further improve the accuracy.This research was supported in part by NIH under USPHS grant numbers HL52567.     

A NOTE ON SAMPLE QUANTILE PROCESSES OF FINITE POPULATIONS

A representation is established for sample quantile processes of simple random samples drawn without replacement from finite populations. The result is then used to obtain weak limits of properly normalized quantile processes and their linear functions.     

ON TWO-STAGE SUCCESSIVE SAMPLING

In repeated sampling enquiries application of method of successive sampling with partial replacement of units is advantageous. In this paper use of successive sampling technique when the sampling design is multi-stage has been studied. Estimates of population mean and its variance have been obtained (a) on the second occasion, and (b) on the h-th occasion under two systems of replacement, namely (i) by retaining only a fraction p of psu's along with their sample of ssu's, and (ii) by retaining all the psu's on the second occasion, but from each psu only a fraction p of the ssu's within them is retained. A cost function suitable to the design has been illustrated, with the help of data collected from a sample survey conducted by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research.     

On the use of several auxiliary variables in estimation of current population mean in successive sampling

ABSTRACT

The present work intends to put emphasis on the role of several auxiliary variables on both the occasions to improve the precision of estimates at current occasion in two-occasion successive sampling. Utilizing the readily available information on several auxiliary variables on both occasions and the information on study variable from the previous occasion, an efficient estimation procedure of population mean on current occasion has been suggested. Optimum replacement strategy and the efficiencies of the proposed estimator have been discussed. Empirical studies are carried out, and appropriate recommendations have been put forward for practical applications.     

A modified optimal orthogonal new additive model

ABSTRACT

In this article, a new randomized response model has been proposed. The proposed model is found to be more efficient than the randomized response models studied by Singh (2010 Singh, S. (2010). Proposed optimal orthogonal new additive model (POONAM). Statistica. Anno LXX(1):73–81. [Google Scholar]). The relative efficiency of the proposed model has been studied with respect to the Singh (2010 Singh, S. (2010). Proposed optimal orthogonal new additive model (POONAM). Statistica. Anno LXX(1):73–81. [Google Scholar]) model. Numerical illustrations are also given in support of the present study.     

Relations for reliability measures of weighted distributions

Relibility measures of weighted distribution of alifeistribution have been derived Sufficientconditions on the weight function have been obtained for the weighted distribution of an IFR distribution to be IFR. Length-biased and equilibrium distributions have been discussed as weighted distributions in the reliability context.     

A new unrelated question randomized response model

In this paper, we extend the work of Gjestvang and Singh [A new randomized response model, J. R. Statist. Soc. Ser. B (Methodological) 68 (2006), pp. 523–530] to propose a new unrelated question randomized response model that can be used for any sampling scheme. The interesting thing is that the estimator based on one sample is free from the use of known proportion of an unrelated character, unlike Horvitz et al. [The unrelated question randomized response model, Social Statistics Section, Proceedings of the American Statistical Association, 1967, pp. 65–72], Greenberg et al. [The unrelated question randomized response model: Theoretical framework, J. Amer. Statist. Assoc. 64 (1969), pp. 520–539] and Mangat et al. [An improved unrelated question randomized response strategy, Calcutta Statist. Assoc. Bull. 42 (1992), pp. 167–168] models. The relative efficiency of the proposed model with respect to the existing competitors has been studied.