How Do Retirees Value Life Annuities? Evidence from Public Employees

Economists have long been puzzled by the low demand for life annuities. To shed new light on this puzzle, we study payout choices in the Oregon Public Employees Retirement System, where each retiree must choose between a lump sum and a life annuity. Notably, the average life annuity we study is better than actuarially fair when compared to the lump sum and 85% of retirees choose the life annuity. Whether and how retirees respond to variation in the value of life annuity payments depends crucially on the source of variation. We find strong evidence that demand responds to variation in retiree characteristics. In contrast, we find little evidence that demand responds to plausibly exogenous variation in annuity pricing, which is economically meaningful but less salient. Finally, we find robust evidence that demand for the lump sum increases with recent equity market returns and other salient measures of investor sentiment.

Seeing farmers' markets: Theoretical and media perspectives on new sites of exchange in New Zealand

In this paper we explore the extent to which a reciprocal relationship exists between contemporary theorisation about farmers' markets in geography and the rapidly expanding public discourse surrounding these sites of exchange in New Zealand. Activities branded as farmers' markets are seen widely as local phenomena of systemic significance for the understanding of evolving geographies of production, consumption and exchange. As something ‘new’ on the landscape, farmers' markets also attract attention in the media. An electronic database of significant print media contributions over the period 1995 to 2007 provides the empirical basis for an assessment of the extent to which theorisation and the public discourse address common themes. Our analysis indicates that, while the economic and social constructions in both the research literature and the media database share common themes, strong contrasts in ways of ‘seeing’ farmers' markets are apparent. We note the predilection in the print media to present the nature and purpose of farmers' markets through the personal experiences and ‘stories’ of participants. There is a tendency to focus on the appeal of markets to the consumers who form the readership base. The theorised alterity of the farmers' market, either in terms of production methods or motivations for consumption, is not reflected strongly in media reports, and this raises questions about ‘over-theorisation’ in the academic literature. Our aim is to promote reflection in both the editorial offices of the media and in the academy by documenting the nature of these contrasting views

Pass the Ball: Enforced Turn-Taking in Activity Tracking

We have developed a mobile application called Pass The Ball that enables users to track, reflect on, and discuss physical activity with others. We followed an iterative design process, trialling a first version of the app with 20 people and a second version with 31. The trials were conducted in the wild, on users' own devices. The second version of the app enforced a turn-taking system that meant only one member of a group of users could track their activity at any one time. This constrained tracking at the individual level, but more successfully led users to communicate and interact with each other. We discuss the second trial with reference to two concepts: social-relatedness and individual-competence. We discuss six key lessons from the trial, and identify two high-level design implications: attend to "practices" of tracking; and look within and beyond "collaboration" and "competition" in the design of activity trackers

Harmonic Scale Transformations

My artwork derives from a project to delineate the transformations certain types of harmonic musical scales undergo as the sizes of their generating intervals vary over the space of the octave

The toxicity of some oxygen heterocycles.

Microspectrophotometry has been used to evaluate the distribution of some selectively inducible species of microsomal cytochrome P-450 in the rat liver lobule. Centrilobular increases in cytochrome P-450 concentration evoked by pretreatment with phenobarbitone or isosafrole contrasted markedly with the periportal induction produced by 3-methylcholanthrene. Lobular and lobar variations in drug-metabolising enzyme activity were measured, and their significance is discussed. Some oxygen-containing heterocyclic compounds were evaluated for their acute toxicity in rats. Several furans and methylenedioxyphenyls produced a classical hepatotoxic response, with fatty degeneration and necrosis. Benzofuran administration resulted in a clinical and ultrastructural picture of intrahepatic cholestasis, but without demonstrable stagnation of bile flow. Renal toxicity followed pretreatment with benzofuran or safrole, and diminution of splenic erythropoiesis occurred after the injection of various furans or methylenedioxyphenyls. Benzofuran, dibenzofuran and trans-stilbene oxide were potent inducers of hepatic microsomal epoxide hydrolase activity, corresponding with an increase in a polypeptide band of 48000 MW upon SDS gel electrophoresis. These compounds also induced a band of about 52000 MW. Pretreatment with furan or benzofuran caused a loss of microsomal cytochrome P-450, the latter with a concomitant increase in haem oxygenase activity. Dibenzofuran induced haem oxygenase, but did not lower cytochrome P-450 concentrations. Many of the effects of benzofuran were potentiated by pretreatment with inducers of cytochrome P-450. Administration of trans-stilbene oxide or methylenedioxyphenyls increased hepatic cytochrome P-450 levels; the latter also increased a polypeptide band of 53000 MW on gel electrophoresis. Possible mechanisms of toxicity of some oxygen heterocycles, particularly benzofuran, are discussed in the light of the interrelationship of these endoplasmic reticulum protein changes. Tritiated benzofuran was excreted by the rat in considerable quantities in both urine and faeces. Radioactivity was detected in several tissues, and was retained in the spleen one week after pretreatment. Chromatographic analysis suggests that a major route of benzofuran metabolism may involve cleavage of the furan ring

George Simpson (ca. 1787-1860)

Sir George Simpson, overseas Governor-in-Chief of the Hudson's Bay Company, is remembered chiefly for his success in integrating the field operations of the rival Hudson's Bay and North West Companies after their union in 1821. No explorer himself, he assisted, albeit reluctantly, John Franklin's first sortie into the Arctic and, more willingly, subsequent Admiralty expeditions. He was also responsible for organizing Company-mounted exploration and searches in the North. ... In 1844, Simpson chose a Company clerk, Dr. John Rae, to head another sortie to the Frozen Ocean. In 1846 Rae led a small party to brilliant exploring success in the northeast corner of the continent. In an 1854 Company-organized foray, Rae discovered the first relics of the lost Franklin expedition. Throughout the long search for Franklin, the Company - under Simpson's direction - assisted such Admiralty expeditions as Dr. John Richardson's with material and personnel, and mounted its own searches, such as James Anderson's 1855 journey. ..

Letter from John Chalmers to James B. Finley

An acknowledgement of the news that Finley plans to visit Washington City. Chalmers assumes that Finley will come by stage and agrees to have accommodations available for him. Abstract Number - 62https://digitalcommons.owu.edu/finley-letters/1060/thumbnail.jp