Kazakhstan's Pension System: Pressures for Change and Dramatic Reforms

Five years ago, Kazakhstan embarked on a dramatic reform of its pension and social security system in order to move from an unsustainable public defined benefit ("solidarity") system to one of defined mandatory contributions (accumulative system). While assessment of long-run success is premature, early results have exceeded expectations. This paper considers the reform's rationale and initial impact: Why did the Government of Kazakhstan decide to introduce a new pension system? What advantages did the state perceive? Was the Government's decision appropriate, and what alternatives existed? The paper also analyzes pension reform issues that have yet to be fully resolved.

Disability in Kazakhstan : an evaluation of official data

In order to answer the questions of (a) what is the true pattern of disability in Kazakhstan; (b) whether the incidence of disability is decreasing; and (c) what is the life expectancy of Kazakhstan's disabled, this paper attempts first to create an historical picture of disability in Kazakhstan by analyzing government population statistics and studying the evolution of disability determination procedure in the former Soviet Union and independent Kazakhstan. Doing so is not a trivial task, as there has been almost no systematic research, either in Russian or English. The paper concludes that the optimistic official picture of disability patterns in Kazakhstan is almost certainly inaccurate. The paper details that the quality of official disability data is high, and much can be learned from the patterns. However, changing definitions and strictness of enforcement make time series comparisons problematic, and the improvements in adult disability recorded are inconsistent both with trends for children, and with mortality trends. Rather, the authors note that barriers for applying disability benefits have increased and incentives to report disabilities have decreased markedly in the past 15 years, so that it is virtually certain that there is substantial hidden disability.Population Policies,Disease Control&Prevention,Disability,,Social Protections&Assistance

Fertility and Marriage in Kazakhstan's Transition Period: Implications for Social Security Policy

Seven years ago, Kazakhstan embarked on a dramatic reform of its pension and social security system in order to move from an unsustainable public defined benefit ("solidarity") system to one of defined mandatory contributions (accumulative system). While much has been written on the financial implications for individual contributors, and on macro budgetary impacts, there has been no examination of how changing demographic structure is likely to affect the size of vulnerable pools. This paper explores the impact of these changes, and links demographic structure to economic performance. Focusing on changes in nuptiality (marriage) and fertility, we conclude that demographic structural shifts will increase overall system risk, but that current trends are favorable.

Pension Reform in Central Asia: An Overview

Seven years ago, Kazakhstan embarked on a dramatic reform of its pension and social security system in order to move from a public defined benefit ("solidarity") system to one of defined mandatory contributions (accumulative system). At the same time, Kyrgyzstan embarked on a move to a notional defined contribution (NDC) system that has made little progress. Today, major reforms are being planned in both Uzbekistan and Tajikistan as well. This paper surveys the reforms that have taken place, discusses the planned reforms, and places them in the underlying fiscal and demographic contexts of the various countries in the region.

The dependent correlation between soil multifunctionality and bacterial community across different farmland soils

IntroductionMicroorganisms play a critical role in soil biogeochemical cycles, but it is still debated whether they influence soil biogeochemical processes through community composition and diversity or not. This study aims to investigate variation in bacterial community structure across different soils and its correlation to soil multifunctionality. Soil samples were collected from five typical farmland zones along distinct climatic gradients in China.MethodsThe high-throughput sequencing (Illumina MiSeq) of 16S rRNA genes was employed to analyze bacterial community composition in each soil sample. Multivariate analysis was used to determine the difference in soil properties, microbial community and functioning, and their interactions.ResultsCluster and discrimination analysis indicated that bacterial community composition was similar in five tested soil samples, but bacterial richness combined with soil enzyme activities and potential nitrification rate (PNR) contributed most to the differentiations of soil samples. Mantel test analysis revealed that bacterial community composition and richness were more significantly shaped by soil nutrient conditions and edaphic variables than bacterial diversity. As for soil multifunctionality, soil microbial community level physiological profiles were little affected by abiotic and biotic factors, while soil enzymes and PNR were also significantly related to bacterial community composition and richness, in addition to soil N and P availability.ConclusionCumulatively, soil enzymes’ activities and PNR were greatly dependent on bacterial community composition and richness not diversity, which in turn were greatly modified by soil N and P availability. Therefore, in the future it should be considered for the role of fertilization in the modification of bacterial community and the consequent control of nutrient cycling in soil

Measurement of the cross-section of high transverse momentum vector bosons reconstructed as single jets and studies of jet substructure in pp collisions at √s = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper presents a measurement of the cross-section for high transverse momentum W and Z bosons produced in pp collisions and decaying to all-hadronic final states. The data used in the analysis were recorded by the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider at a centre-of-mass energy of √s = 7 TeV;{\rm Te}{\rm V}$and correspond to an integrated luminosity of$4.6\;{\rm f}{{{\rm b}}^{-1}}$. The measurement is performed by reconstructing the boosted W or Z bosons in single jets. The reconstructed jet mass is used to identify the W and Z bosons, and a jet substructure method based on energy cluster information in the jet centre-of-mass frame is used to suppress the large multi-jet background. The cross-section for events with a hadronically decaying W or Z boson, with transverse momentum${{p}_{{\rm T}}}\gt 320\;{\rm Ge}{\rm V}$and pseudorapidity$|\eta |\lt 1.9$, is measured to be${{\sigma }_{W+Z}}=8.5\pm 1.7$ pb and is compared to next-to-leading-order calculations. The selected events are further used to study jet grooming techniques

Observation of associated near-side and away-side long-range correlations in √sNN=5.02 TeV proton-lead collisions with the ATLAS detector

Two-particle correlations in relative azimuthal angle (Δϕ) and pseudorapidity (Δη) are measured in √sNN=5.02  TeV p+Pb collisions using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The measurements are performed using approximately 1  μb-1 of data as a function of transverse momentum (pT) and the transverse energy (ΣETPb) summed over 3.1<η<4.9 in the direction of the Pb beam. The correlation function, constructed from charged particles, exhibits a long-range (2<|Δη|<5) “near-side” (Δϕ∼0) correlation that grows rapidly with increasing ΣETPb. A long-range “away-side” (Δϕ∼π) correlation, obtained by subtracting the expected contributions from recoiling dijets and other sources estimated using events with small ΣETPb, is found to match the near-side correlation in magnitude, shape (in Δη and Δϕ) and ΣETPb dependence. The resultant Δϕ correlation is approximately symmetric about π/2, and is consistent with a dominant cos⁡2Δϕ modulation for all ΣETPb ranges and particle pT

Search for pair-produced long-lived neutral particles decaying to jets in the ATLAS hadronic calorimeter in ppcollisions at √s=8TeV

The ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN is used to search for the decay of a scalar boson to a pair of long-lived particles, neutral under the Standard Model gauge group, in 20.3fb−1of data collected in proton–proton collisions at √s=8TeV. This search is sensitive to long-lived particles that decay to Standard Model particles producing jets at the outer edge of the ATLAS electromagnetic calorimeter or inside the hadronic calorimeter. No significant excess of events is observed. Limits are reported on the product of the scalar boson production cross section times branching ratio into long-lived neutral particles as a function of the proper lifetime of the particles. Limits are reported for boson masses from 100 GeVto 900 GeV, and a long-lived neutral particle mass from 10 GeVto 150 GeV