The Time Consistency of Optimal Monetary and Fiscal Policies

We show that optimal monetary and fiscal policies are time consistent for a class of economies often used in applied work, economies appealing because they are consistent with the growth facts. We establish our results in two steps. We first show that for this class of economies, the Friedman rule of setting nominal interest rates to zero is optimal under commitment. We then show that optimal policies are time consistent if the Friedman rule is optimal. For our benchmark economy in which the time consistency problem is most severe, the converse also holds: if optimal policies are time consistent, then the Friedman rule is optimal.     

Heterogeneous Effects of Child Development Accounts on Savings for Children’s Education

We examine effects of Child Development Accounts on savings for postsecondary education in a statewide experiment (N = 2,677), which automatically opened state-owned college savings accounts for treatment-group children, and encouraged their caregivers to open and save in participant-owned college savings accounts. The experiment achieves universal participation for children in the treatment group; almost all treatment-group children hold an account with more than $1,000 in college assets. Treatment participants we expect would hold their own participant-owned accounts without the intervention have $395 more in savings than their counterparts in the control group; those who are motivated by the intervention to hold a participant-owned account have mean deposits of $888. Those who are motivated by the intervention to save have mean deposits of $1,826. The intervention reduces the socioeconomic disparity in asset accumulation for children. The program has the potential to promote asset building for children’s education.     

An optimization model for economic design of sampling plans based on conforming run length considering outgoing quality

In this article, a new economical acceptance sampling model is proposed based on Taguchi loss function. The objective function of the model consists of inspection cost, scrap cost, and Taguchi loss function including producer loss and consumer loss. The expected total cost includes the loss for an inspected item plus the loss for an accepted item which has not been inspected. Decision-making is based on conforming run length. It is assumed that the quality characteristics follow normal distribution. A numerical example is solved for illustrating application of this model. Sensitivity analysis is proposed for illustrating the effect of some important parameters on the objective function. Finally, we compared the results of the proposed method with classical Dodge–Romig sampling plans tables based on average outgoing quality limit. The results confirmed the superiority of proposed model.     

The effectiveness of corporate gender equality plans in improving leave provisions for fathers in Spain

ABSTRACT

Official Spanish policy seeks greater gender equality by, among other things, encouraging men’s use of their legal rights to parental leave and requiring employers to implement equality plans. This article contains a first-ever analysis of the extent to which company equality plans are used to improve upon the legal provisions governing parental leave and whether those improvements actually encourage greater leave use by men, help to degender leave use and promote fathers’ co-responsibility for childcare. The improvements implemented by companies are analysed against a backdrop of economic crisis (2007-2016), during which public policy underwent no substantial change. An analysis of the gender equality plans in place among 107 ‘gender equality employers’ (GEEs) revealed that most included no enhancement of the existing legislation and only a few work organizations provided incentives for men to use leaves as part of their work-life balance strategies. Substantial progress in this regard can only be expected through increasing government provision of parental leave aimed at men and/or increasing government pressure on companies to encourage leave taking by men.     

On the Determinants of Defined Benefit Pension Plan Conversions

This study utilizes pension plan level 5500 data from the Department of Labor and Internal Revenue Service to investigate the determinants of traditional defined benefit plan conversion to hybrid cash balance plans during the 1990s. Incorporating the possibility of plan termination instead of plan conversion, the author finds a negative effect of plan funding status, union status, the number of total defined benefit plans at the firm, and plan contributions on the likelihood of plan conversion. The number of active participants and total defined contribution plans at the firm positively affect the probability of conversion. Plans at firms with at least one union plan were less likely to terminate. Additionally, the number of defined benefit plans at the firm and plan contributions had a negative effect on the likelihood of plan termination. Industry fixed effects were significant in all specifications.

Opting Back In: The Influence of Time at Home on Professional Women's Career Redirection after Opting Out

Limited research on professional women's labour force re‐entry after a career break (so‐called ‘opting out’) finds that women redirect away from former careers. Little is known about why this occurs. Our study, based on in‐depth interviews with 54 at‐home mothers, extends prior research to address this question. We find that among women who intended to return to work (who constitute the majority), most planned to pursue alternative careers, typically in traditionally female‐dominated professions or were uncertain about their career direction; few planned to return to their former employers. The reasons for this redirection were women's negative experiences in family inflexible occupations, skill depreciation and perceived age discrimination. Equally or more important, however, was their adaptation to new constraints and opportunities at home (such as increased involvement in mothering and community work), which engendered an aspirational shift towards new, care‐oriented professions that were lower paid and had lower status. We discuss the policy implications of these findings.     

基于多专家评估应急预案启动的RCVaR模型

何时启动应急预案是企业应对突发事件的关键点。在对相关文献资料分析的基础上,提出一套基于多专家评估的应急预案启动方法,创新性地将多专家的意见嵌入决策过程中,用RCVaR模型作为决策目标研究突发事件下应急预案的启动问题。研究发现,RCVaR价值模型能很好地处理多专家应急评估经验,能为预案的启动提供基于过程参与的决策支持。     

Bayesian life test sampling plans for the two parameter exponential distribution

In this paper we consider the determination of Bayesian life test acceptance sampling plans for finite lots when the underlying lifetime distribution is the two parameter exponential. It is assumed that the prior distribution is the natural conjugate prior, that the costs associated with the actions accept and reject are known functions of the lifetimes of the items, and that the cost of testing a sample is proportional to the duration of the test. Type 2 censored sampling is considered where a sample of size n is observed only until the rth failure occurs and the decision of whether to accept or reject the remainder of the lot is made on the basis of the r observed lifetimes. Obtaining the optimal sample size and the optimal censoring number are difficult problems when the location parameter of the distribution is restricted to be non-negative. The case when the positivity restriction on the location parameter is removed has been investigated. An example is provided for illustration.     

试论旅游规划的区域经济理论依据

制定科学合理的旅游规划必须要有正确的理论指导。试提出区域经济理论中与旅游规划紧密相关的几个指导理论 :劳动地域分工论和地域分异规律、区位论、空间结构理论 ,在旅游规划中的指导作用     

统筹城乡环境建设问题的思考

当前我国城市环境有所改善,但农村环境持续恶化。造成这种差异的原因主要是环境政策有失偏颇,环境权益不公,环境保护投入不均,城乡环境保护意识差距等,归根结底是我国长期以来的城乡二元经济结构产生的城乡二元环境。城乡环境作为一个整体,不可分割,相互影响,城乡二元环境不利于统筹城乡经济社会发展,因此,应当统筹城乡环境建设,促进城乡环境保护的一致性。具体做法是:调整环境政策,实行城乡环境保护并重政策方针;调整城乡环境资源配置,建立生态补偿制度;转移环境保护支付,加大农村环境保护投入,加大农村环境教育,提高农民环境保护意识。