Towards an adequate and sustainable replacement rate in defined benefit pension systems: The case of Spain

The main objective of this article is to determine, based on internal data, replacement rates for a defined benefit pension system, with two aims: the adequacy of pensions – measured in terms of the expenditure of retirees – and the sustainability of the system. For this purpose two instruments are used: the internal rate of return, and techniques based on systems of notional accounts. These figures, derived from internal data, will serve, by comparison with the replacement rate of the system, to assess whether the system tends more towards adequacy or sustainability. The system studied is that of Spain.     

注资不是解决企业资金短缺的根本出路

当前企业资金短缺的问题相当严重,解决企业资金短缺已成为当务之急.注资固然是解决资金短缺的有效途径之一.但增量的同时如不加强存量结构的调整,将出现新的增量资金再度无效和低效使用.在另一个层次上复制旧结构的局面.因此,转换机制,调整结构,加强管理是当前解决企业资金短缺的根本出路.     

洞庭湖湿地农业可持续发展研究

洞庭湖湿地农业开发历史悠久 ,农业生产水平较高 ,是我国重要的农业商品基地。分析洞庭湖湿地农业资源可持续发展的条件和湿地农业开发的现状 ,指出湿地农业开发中存在的问题 ,提出湿地农业开发利用构想 ,对实现洞庭湖湿地农业可持续发展意义重大     

深港两地客运交通衔接研究

在分析香港、深圳两地现有客运系统的基础上,根据两地人员交流的需要,从两地轨道客运系统建设、公共巴士过境换乘站建设、两地直通出租车增设等方面,对两地客运交通的衔接提出具体设想。     

市场经济与艺术消费

作为艺术的生产离不开作为艺术的消费在观念上提出生产的对象。艺术生产作为以精神创造活动为其基本内核的特殊劳动 ,必然要以艺术消费为前提。在市场经济条件下 ,艺术消费必须遵守市场的一些基本规律 ,但市场规律有时会与艺术生产和艺术消费机制发生矛盾。如何解决这一矛盾是艺术生产所面临的一个重大课题。我们相信 ,市场规律是人们在长期的社会实践中总结出来的对市场的认识和研究成果 ,只要合理适度加以运用 ,市场这只隐形手就如同它能极大地促进物质生产和物质消费一样 ,使艺术生产和艺术消费出现一个崭新的局面     

The old‐age pension law in Mexico: The promise of poverty in old age?

In 1997, Mexico replaced its main old‐age pension system with an individual capitalization system. In 2021, the first people subject to the new system will retire. Using a model that projects demographic and labour variables and using Monte Carlo simulations, the findings of this study show that in 2051 the percentage of men not having a pension will increase from 38 per cent to 59 per cent, and that of women from 44 per cent to 66 per cent. The replacement rate for the average Mexican worker will fall from 70 per cent to 30 per cent. The numbers of people in extreme poverty will increase by almost 2.8 million, representing 9.44 per cent of the population. Alternative scenarios are proposed that involve increasing the contribution rate and raising the retirement age.     

The ABCs of nonfinancial defined contribution (NDC) schemes

Nonfinancial defined contribution (NDC) pension schemes have been successfully implemented since the mid‐1990s in a number of European countries such as Italy, Latvia, Norway, Poland and Sweden. The NDC approach features the lifelong contribution–benefit link of a financial defined contribution (FDC) personal account scheme, but is based on the pay‐as‐you‐go (PAYG) format. At its start out, the PAYG commitments of the preceding defined benefit (DB) system are converted into individual personal accounts, allowing for a smooth transition from the DB to the DC format, while avoiding the very high transition costs inherent in a move from a traditional PAYG DB scheme to a fully funded FDC scheme. The NDC approach implemented by the rule book is able to manage the economic and demographic risks inherent to a pension scheme and, by design, creates financial sustainability. As in any pension scheme, the linchpin between financial stability and adequacy is the retirement age; in the NDC approach the individual retirement age above the minimum age is by design self‐selected and by incentives should increase the effective retirement age in line with population ageing. As a systemic reform approach NDC has become a strong competitor to piecemeal parametric reforms of traditional nonfinancial DB (NDB) schemes. While frequent, these reforms are far from transparent and usually too timid and too late to create financial sustainability while providing adequate pensions for the average contributor. This article offers a largely non‐technical introduction to NDC schemes, their basic elements and advantages over NDB schemes, the key technical frontiers of the approach, and the experiences of NDC countries.     

斯科特命题的反思——以西藏扎囊县拉其乡德吉新村搬迁为案例

斯科特命题是耶鲁大学的詹姆斯.C.斯科特(James C.Scott)通过对多个国家宏大社会工程进行分析所得出的一个结论,即由"国家亲自导演"的"试图改善人类命运"的大型社会工程总是失败的。德吉新村的移民搬迁同样也是一项由"国家亲自导演"的"试图改善人类命运"的大型社会工程,其目的是通过移民搬迁帮助这部分农村居民摆脱贫困的困扰。通过对德吉新村所做的田野调查进行专项研究,并对斯科特命题的逻辑进行重新审视,发现德吉新村的移民搬迁案例在一个维度上是对斯科特的逻辑的否定。     

Two separate effects of variance heterogeneity on the validity and power of significance tests of location

Heterogeneity of variances of treatment groups influences the validity and power of significance tests of location in two distinct ways. First, if sample sizes are unequal, the Type I error rate and power are depressed if a larger variance is associated with a larger sample size, and elevated if a larger variance is associated with a smaller sample size. This well-established effect, which occurs in t and F tests, and to a lesser degree in nonparametric rank tests, results from unequal contributions of pooled estimates of error variance in the computation of test statistics. It is observed in samples from normal distributions, as well as non-normal distributions of various shapes. Second, transformation of scores from skewed distributions with unequal variances to ranks produces differences in the means of the ranks assigned to the respective groups, even if the means of the initial groups are equal, and a subsequent inflation of Type I error rates and power. This effect occurs for all sample sizes, equal and unequal. For the t test, the discrepancy diminishes, and for the Wilcoxon–Mann–Whitney test, it becomes larger, as sample size increases. The Welch separate-variance t test overcomes the first effect but not the second. Because of interaction of these separate effects, the validity and power of both parametric and nonparametric tests performed on samples of any size from unknown distributions with possibly unequal variances can be distorted in unpredictable ways.     

知识经济时代的高校图书馆建设

21世纪是知识经济的时代 ,知识经济给高校图书馆带来了严峻的考验 ,也带来了良好的发展机遇。高校图书馆应抓住机遇 ,把校图书馆与系资料室一体化 ,采购系统网络化 ,从而形成高校图书馆发展的新格局