Assessing a minimum pension guarantee for the voluntary IPS in Turkey

The returns from individual account pension plans are subject to fluctuations in capital markets. This increases income uncertainty for the beneficiary and exposes individuals to the risk of fluctuations in the economy in general and the stock market in particular. A minimum pension guarantee is a way to avoid this pitfall by providing a minimum annuity regardless of the actual investment performance of individual accounts. In this article, we present a cost analysis of a minimum benefit guarantee mechanism for the voluntary Individual Pension System in Turkey. We examine the cost estimates and the probability of providing guaranteed payments under various economic and demographic assumptions.     

The sustainability of China’s Urban Employees’ Pension Programme: A case of getting old before getting rich?

This article examines the sustainability of China’s Urban Employees’ Pension Programme – the main component in China’s overall old‐age support system. It looks at the sustainability of the programme generally and, in particular, at case studies of two areas (Tianjin municipality and Guangxi province) to highlight both the extent of regional variations and the common challenges facing Chinese policy‐makers. It discusses a number of key issues that should assist policy‐makers to address the challenge of population ageing. It concludes that the challenge facing China is no more severe than that already faced by other countries in Europe and Asia. Moreover, the ageing of the population is not uniform across the regions of China. Consequently, those areas where the demographic shift is more advanced will provide some opportunity for policy experimentation. Given the experience to date of slow progress on various aspects of pension policy reform, the article suggests that it seems unlikely that paradigmatic change will be significant. Nonetheless, the study suggests a range of parametric policy measures that China should consider. The challenge facing China’s policy‐makers is to ensure that China gets old and rich at the same time.     

Births,debts and mirages: The impact of the Higher Education Contribution Scheme (HECS) and other factors on Australian fertility expectations

This paper uses survey data to examine the effect of the income-contingent charge mechanism, the Higher Education Contribution Scheme (HECS), and other demographic and attitudinal variables on fertility expectations in Australia over the recent past. HECS requires former Australian students to fund some of the costs of higher education through the repayment of interest-free loans made by the Australian government. Its defining characteristic is that repayments only occur when and if students future incomes exceed a particular level. Since its introduction in 1989, media and other populist commentary has suggested that HECS has had unanticipated effects on behaviour. Most recently, attention has focused on the effects of HECS on fertility, with some arguing that university graduates are delaying births, and having fewer children, because of their HECS debts. This paper demonstrates that the introduction of HECS has had no discernible impact on Australian fertility rates, nor on the number of children that people expect to have. However, education, age and a number of attitudinal factors are associated with significant differences in fertility expectations.     

基于EDA的计算机组成原理实验教学方案——以湖南工程学院为例

为了提高计算机组成原理实验课的教学效果,培养学生创新能力,在我校现有实验设备的基础上,引入EDA技术,对计算机组成原理实验教学方案进行重新设计,提出了一种基于EDA的计算机组成原理实验教学方案,并对实验教学方案进行实施与评价。评价结果显示了该教学方案可以提高学生学习成绩,增强学生学习效果。     

新媒体环境下高职院校传媒与管理专业人才培养的思考

经营管理人才是当今传媒产业发展最迫切、需要量最大的人才,也是传媒市场的主体人才。高职院校应根据市场需求,及时调整人才培养方案,科学设置课程,以培养高素质技能型传媒经营管理人才。     

关角隧道大变形处理技术

关角隧道全长32.645 km,为目前国内在建的最长的单线铁路隧道。隧道通过区岩性极其复杂,沉积岩、岩浆岩、变质岩三大岩类均有出露,断裂构造极为发育,通过大小不等断层共17条,其中二郎洞断层束长达2 355 m,且具有一定的高地应力。受复杂地质的影响,关角隧道施工中发生了不同程度的大变形,最大变形达到了505 mm,现场对发生变形段采取了横撑、长锚杆、径向注浆、二次支护等措施进行加强,对未开段采取了加强初期支护、双层初期支护、调整初期支护曲率等措施来抑制变形并取得了成功。     

北京奥林匹克公园中心区地下交通联系通道地面建筑设计的思考

北京奥林匹克公园中心区地下交通联系通道地面建筑由于位置突出、功能要求苛刻,故方案选定十分慎重。本文通过分析上述方案设计过程,对如下几个理论问题进行了探讨：①通道地面建筑的主要类型和特点;②建筑设计一般原则在通道地面建筑设计中的具体运用,提出实现功能是设计的出发点,坚持不断创新是设计的核心,解决设计理念与实践的矛盾是设计的最基本原则;③结合园林景观设计理论,强调了通道地面建筑与周边环境的协调关系。文章目的是探讨建筑设计理论应如何具体指导设计实践。     

Reforming pensions: Principles, analytical errors and policy directions

This article, sets out a series of principles for pension design rooted in economic theory: pension systems have multiple objectives, analysis should consider the pension system as a whole, analysis should be framed in a second-best context, different systems share risks differently, and systems have different effects by generation and by gender. That discussion is reinforced by identification of a series of widespread analytical errors — errors that appear in World Bank work, but by no means only in World Bank work: tunnel vision, improper use of first-best analysis, improper use of steady-state analysis, incomplete analysis of implicit pension debt, incomplete analysis of the impact of funding (including excessive focus on financial flows, failure to consider how funding is generated, and improper focus on the type of asset in trust funds), and ignoring distributional effects. The second part of the article considers implications for policy: there is no single best pension design, earlier retirement does little or nothing to reduce unemployment, unsustainable pension promises need to be addressed directly, a move from pay-as-you-go towards funding in a mandatory system may or may not be welfare improving, and implementation matters — policy design that exceeds a country's capacity to implement it is bad policy design. We illustrate the ranges of designs of pension systems that fit the fiscal and institutional capacity constraints typical at different levels of economic development. The potential gains from simplicity imply that a country capable of implementing an administratively demanding plan does not necessarily gain from doing so. New Zealand has a simple pension system through choice, not constraint.     

以农民满意度为视角的新型农村合作医疗制度研究——基于湖南省中方县的问卷调查

通过对湖南省中方县的实地调研,运用有序Logistic回归模型,从农民对新型农村合作医疗满意度这一方面分析了新型农村合作医疗在中方县的运行状况,提出了通过降低报账起点、扩大新型农村合作医疗的覆盖面、简化报账手续和改善定点医院条件可以增强农民对新农合的满意度的观点,并通过均数比较分析,证实了报销组与未报销组人群在新农合的满意度、新农合的覆盖面、新农合的报账起点和新农合的付款时间这四个变量中有显著差异,认为,扩大受益面可以显著提高农民对新农合满意度,以期今后不断完善新型农村合作医疗制度.     

关于推动我国森林认证立法的思考

森林认证是目前全球新兴的一种森林发展机制,管理和指导森林认证在我国的开展已势在必行.我国政府在森林认证的研究和推广方面做了大量的工作,并在一定程度上取得了显著的成效.然而要想科学有序的推动我国的森林认证,必须结合我国国情,针对森林认证的相关事项进行立法,以此来应对林业可持续发展中市场失灵的现象.同时,森林认证立法对于完善我国法律制度、加强公众环保意识等方面所起的作用同样具有深远的意义.