31,680 research outputs found
Second Wind: Workers, Retirement, and Social Security
In this report, Second Wind: Workers, Retirement, and Social Security, we hear from American workers about how they view retirement in our new economy, what they hope for -- and what they fear. Workers describe a vision that is not the work-free retirement for which their parents long. Rather, it is a work-filled retirement focused on fulfilling personal goals and contributing to the economy and to society. The survey finds that workers expect little support or help from government or employers in surmounting the barriers they face to their vision of a successful retirement. Workers express tepid support for corporate pension and retirement plans, and little confidence in Social Security and Medicare. In evaluating the Presidential candidates and their positions on Social Security and retirement, workers are remarkably unimpressed. Still, while Americans are willing to go it alone into old age, they hold out hope for change, for government and employers to step up their efforts to address the needs and desires of an aging workforce
Policymakersâ Horizon and Trade Reforms
Does policymakers\' horizon affect their willingness to support economic reforms? Voting in the U.S. Congress provides an ideal setting to address this question. Differences between the House and Senate, in which members serve two-year and six-year mandates respectively, allow to examine the role of term length; the staggered structure of the Senate allows to compare the behavior of different \"generations\" of senators and study the impact of election proximity. Considering all major trade liberalization reforms undertaken by the U.S. since the early 1970\'s, we find that Senate members are more likely to support them than House members. However, inter-cameral differences disappear for third-generation senators, who face re-election at the same time as House members. Considering Senate votes alone, we find that the last generation is more protectionist than the previous two and this result holds both when comparing different senators voting on the same bill, as well as individual senators voting on different bills. Inter-generational differences disappear instead for senators who hold safe seats or have announced their retirement, indicating that the protectionist effect of election proximity is driven by legislators\' fear of losing office.Term Length, Election Proximity, Trade Reforms
The political economy of neo-liberalism in Italy and France
There are many apparent similarities between the current political and economic situations of France and Italy. The mainstream view is that at least part of the neo-liberal strategy could be a solution to the economic problems of both variants of the European model of capitalism. However, the difficulties met by the implementation of these strategies by Sarkozy and Berlusconi lead to believe that the success or failure of neo-liberalisation has less to do with its (lack of) macroeconomic merits than with the stability of the socio-political alliances that support it. In this respect, France and Italy are markedly different. This paper shows that even if the "hard core" of the neoliberal social bloc is roughly the same in both countries, this core constitutes a minority of the electorate ; a neoliberal strategy must therefore rely on an extended social coalition, which might not be similar between countries. The Great Recession revealed part of the structural characteristics that set both countries apart. The aim of this article is to show that the consideration of the different socio-political alliances found in each country can help to understand how Italy and France ended up on different economic trajectories.Institutions, model of capitalism, neoliberal reforms, political crisis.
Loose Party Times: The Political Crisis of the 1850s in Westchester County, New York
On November 7, 1848 William H. Robertson rose early and rushed to the post office in Bedford, a town in Westchester County, New York. The young lawyer was brimming with excitement because two weeks earlier, the Whigs in the county?s northern section had nominated him as their candidate for the New York State Assembly. Only twenty-four years old and a rising legal star, Robertson hoped that holding political office would launch his nascent career. After casting his ballot at the Bedford Post Office, Robertson paid a visit to Sheriff James M. Bates, his political manager, to await the election results. Robertson?s intelligence, collected a week before Election Day, that ânews from every part of the district is favorable,â proved accurate. The Whig attorney heard later that evening that he had defeated his Democratic opponent, with 57% of the vote. To celebrate, Robertson and Bates feasted on âchickens, turkeys, oysters, and Champaignâ before retiring around midnight at Philer Betts? Hotel. The following afternoon, they boarded the 3:00 PM train from Bedford to the county seat of White Plains, seventeen miles south. There, the two triumphant Whigs gossiped and caught up with their counterparts from Westchester?s usually Democratic southern section. Hearing of their friends? overwhelming victories surprised Robertson, leading him to exclaim, âThe Whigs have carried almost everything!â Indeed, the Whigs had swept every elective office in Westchester County. [excerpt
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Social Security Reform
President Bush has highlighted Social
Security reform as a top priority during his
second term. The President has not presented
a detailed plan for reform. Rather, he has put
forth guidelines for Congress to consider in
the development of legislation to create personal accounts within a program in need of
âwise and effective reform.â The President
has acknowledged that other changes would
be needed to address the systemâs projected
long-range funding shortfall. In recent years,
reform ideas have ranged from relatively
minor changes to the current pay-as-you-go
social insurance system to a redesigned program based on personal savings and
investments modeled after IRAs and 401(k)s
Job Stability Among U.S. University Presidents
This paper examines job duration among U.S. university presidents from 2001 to 2006. Using data from the American Council of Educationâs Survey of American College Presidents, this analysis finds that public university presidents are approximately 50 percent more likely to leave office than are their private university counterparts. This turnover translates into average job spells that are approximately 20 percent shorter for public university presidents. This job instability appears primarily to be driven by the higher propensity for public university presidents to leave one institution to become president at another institution
Paradoxes, Enigma and Professorship: An interview with Francis Landy on the occasion of his retirement from the University of Alberta (University of Alberta Religious Studies Spring Newsletter 2014)
An interview with Francis Landy on the occasion of his retirement from the University of Albert
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