Budgetary Costs of Tax Facilities for Pension Savings: An Empirical Analysis

A wide variety of tax regimes for (occupational) private pension saving are in place around the world. Generally, pension saving is taxed at a relatively low rate, although the revenue loss due to tax facilities for pension savings and/or pension tax expenditures may differ across countries. A strong fiscal stimulus to build up pension capital will support funding. However, these tax facilities may become an expensive business for governments. This paper investigates the ex ante budgetary effects of a cash-flow tax regime for pension savings by full present-value calculations. The fiscal subsidy on pension savings in several (European) countries is often associated with the application of the cash-flow treatment of pensions under the personal income tax: pension contributions are tax exempt, capital income of pension funds is tax-exempt, and pension benefits are taxed, but usually the elderly aged 65 years and over are taxed at a relatively low rate. This form can be described as EET, with E denoting an exemption or relief from tax and T denoting a point at which tax is payable. Indeed, tax treatment of pension saving can have other forms as well. We consider a specified form of a comprehensive income tax system (TTE) as an appropriate benchmark. Using the TTE-benchmark, the ex ante budgetary cost of the current tax treatment of pension saving in countries can be quantified. We employ an empirical analysis for the Netherlands, because this country belongs, with its three pension pillars and its sound funding, to the leading group of countries in Europe with a solid pension system. Our calculations, using Income Panel Data from Statistics Netherlands for the years 1990-2003, show that current taxation on a cash-flow basis means on balance a major loss to the Treasury (compared to the benchmark). For the year 2003 we estimate a fiscal subsidy associated with the current Dutch tax rule of 1.2 to 1.5 percent of GDP, depending on the assumed rate of return on pension capital

On the use of mass-conserving wind fields in chemistry-transport models

A new method has been developed that provides mass-conserving wind fields for global chemistry-transport models. In previous global Eulerian modeling studies a mass-imbalance was found between the model mass transport and the surface pressure tendencies. Several methods have been suggested to correct for this imbalance, but so far no satisfactory solution has been found. Our new method solves these problems by using the wind fields in a spherical harmonical form (divergence and vorticity) by mimicing the physics of the weather forecast model as closely as possible. A 3-D chemistry-transport model was used to show that the calculated ozone fields with the new processing method agree remarkably better with ozone observations in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere. In addition, the calculated age of air in the lower stratosphere show better agreement with observations, although the air remains still too young in the extra-tropical stratosphere

Over meten en samenloop van juridische problemen in de delta

FDR Het institutionele en rechtsstatelijke kader van de rechtspleging - ou

Multidimensional en-face OCT imaging of the retina.

Fast T-scanning (transverse scanning, en-face) was used to build B-scan or C-scan optical coherence tomography (OCT) images of the retina. Several unique signature patterns of en-face (coronal) are reviewed in conjunction with associated confocal images of the fundus and B-scan OCT images. Benefits in combining T-scan OCT with confocal imaging to generate pairs of OCT and confocal images similar to those generated by scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (SLO) are discussed in comparison with the spectral OCT systems. The multichannel potential of the OCT/SLO system is demonstrated with the addition of a third hardware channel which acquires and generates indocyanine green (ICG) fluorescence images. The OCT, confocal SLO and ICG fluorescence images are simultaneously presented in a two or a three screen format. A fourth channel which displays a live mix of frames of the ICG sequence superimposed on the corresponding coronal OCT slices for immediate multidimensional comparison, is also included. OSA ISP software is employed to illustrate the synergy between the simultaneously provided perspectives. This synergy promotes interpretation of information by enhancing diagnostic comparisons and facilitates internal correction of movement artifacts within C-scan and B-scan OCT images using information provided by the SLO channel

Composition and evolution of volcanic aerosol from eruptions of Kasatochi, Sarychev and Eyjafjallajökull in 2008-2010 based on CARIBIC observations

Large volcanic eruptions impact significantly on climate and lead to ozone depletion due to injection of particles and gases into the stratosphere where their residence times are long. In this the composition of volcanic aerosol is an important but inadequately studied factor. Samples of volcanically influenced aerosol were collected following the Kasatochi (Alaska), Sarychev (Russia) and also during the Eyjafjallajökull (Iceland) eruptions in the period 2008–2010. Sampling was conducted by the CARIBIC platform during regular flights at an altitude of 10–12 km as well as during dedicated flights through the volcanic clouds from the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in spring 2010. Elemental concentrations of the collected aerosol were obtained by acceleratorbased analysis. Aerosol from the Eyjafjallajökull volcanic clouds was identified by high concentrations of sulphur and elements pointing to crustal origin, and confirmed by trajectory analysis. Signatures of volcanic influence were also used to detect volcanic aerosol in stratospheric samples collected following the Sarychev and Kasatochi eruptions. In total it was possible to identify 17 relevant samples collected between 1 and more than 100 days following the eruptions studied. The volcanically influenced aerosol mainly consisted of ash, sulphate and included a carbonaceous component. Samples collected in the volcanic cloud from Eyjafjallajökull were dominated by the ash and sulphate component (~45% each) while samples collected in the tropopause region and LMS mainly consisted of sulphate (50–77 %) and carbon (21–43 %). These fractions were increasing/decreasing with the age of the aerosol. Because of the long observation period, it was possible to analyze the evolution of the relationship between the ash and sulphate components of the volcanic aerosol. From this analysis the residence time (1/e) of sulphur dioxide in the studied volcanic cloud was estimated to be 45±22 days

Effects of Antenatal Glucocorticoid Therapy on Hippocampal Histology of Preterm Infants

Objective: To investigate if antenatal glucocorticoid treatment has an effect on hippocampal histology of the human preterm newborn. Patients and Methods: Included were consecutive neonates with a gestational age between 24 and 32 weeks, who were born between 1991 to 2009, who had died within 4 days after delivery and underwent brain autopsy. Excluded were neonates with congenital malformations and neonates treated postnatally with glucocorticoids. The brains were routinely fixed, samples of the hippocampus were stained with haematoxylin and eosin and sections were examined for presence or absence of large and small neurons in regions of the hippocampus. Additional staining with GFAP, neurofilament and vimentin was performed to evaluate gliosis and myelination. The proliferation marker Ki67 was used to evaluate neuronal proliferation. Staining with acid fuchsin-thionin was performed to evaluate ischemic damage. Results: The hippocampi of ten neonates who had been treated with antenatal glucocorticoids showed a lower density of large neurons (p = 0.01) and neurons irrespective of size (p = 0.02) as compared to eleven neonates who had not been treated with glucocorticoids. No difference was found in density of small neurons, in myelination, gliosis, proliferation or ischemic damage. Conclusion: We found a significantly lower density of neurons in the hippocampus of neonates after antenata

Is it the Income Distribution or Redistribution that Affects Growth?

Hervorming Sociale Regelgevin

Composition and evolution of volcanic aerosol from eruptions of Kasatochi, Sarychev and Eyjafjallajökull in 2008-2010 based on CARIBIC observations

Large volcanic eruptions impact significantly on climate and lead to ozone depletion due to injection of particles and gases into the stratosphere where their residence times are long. In this the composition of volcanic aerosol is an important but inadequately studied factor. Samples of volcanically influenced aerosol were collected following the Kasatochi (Alaska), Sarychev (Russia) and also during the Eyjafjallajökull (Iceland) eruptions in the period 2008–2010. Sampling was conducted by the CARIBIC platform during regular flights at an altitude of 10–12 km as well as during dedicated flights through the volcanic clouds from the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in spring 2010. Elemental concentrations of the collected aerosol were obtained by acceleratorbased analysis. Aerosol from the Eyjafjallajökull volcanic clouds was identified by high concentrations of sulphur and elements pointing to crustal origin, and confirmed by trajectory analysis. Signatures of volcanic influence were also used to detect volcanic aerosol in stratospheric samples collected following the Sarychev and Kasatochi eruptions. In total it was possible to identify 17 relevant samples collected between 1 and more than 100 days following the eruptions studied. The volcanically influenced aerosol mainly consisted of ash, sulphate and included a carbonaceous component. Samples collected in the volcanic cloud from Eyjafjallajökull were dominated by the ash and sulphate component (~45% each) while samples collected in the tropopause region and LMS mainly consisted of sulphate (50–77 %) and carbon (21–43 %). These fractions were increasing/decreasing with the age of the aerosol. Because of the long observation period, it was possible to analyze the evolution of the relationship between the ash and sulphate components of the volcanic aerosol. From this analysis the residence time (1/e) of sulphur dioxide in the studied volcanic cloud was estimated to be 45±22 days