Effects of Legal and Unauthorized Immigration on the U.S. Social Security System

Immigration is having an increasingly important effect on the social insurance system in the United States. On the one hand, eligible legal immigrants have the right to eventually receive pension benefits, but also rely on other aspects of the social insurance system such as health care, disability, unemployment insurance, and welfare programs, while most of their savings have direct positive effects on the domestic economy. On the other hand, most undocumented immigrants contribute to the system through taxed wages, but they are not eligible for these programs unless they attain legal status, and a large proportion of their savings translates into remittances, which have no direct effects on the domestic economy. Moreover, a significant percentage of immigrants migrate back to their countries of origin after a relatively short period of time, and their savings while in the US are predominantly in the form of remittances. Therefore, any analysis that tries to understand the impact of immigrant workers on the overall system has to take into account the decisions and events these individuals face throughout their lives, as well as the use of the government programs they are entitled to. We propose a life-cycle OLG model in a General Equilibrium framework of legal and undocumented immigrants’ decisions regarding consumption, savings, labor supply and program participation to analyze their role in the financial sustainability of the system. Our analysis of the effects of potential policy changes, such as giving some undocumented immigrants legal status, shows increases in capital stock, output, consumption, labor productivity, and overall welfare. The effects are relatively small in percentage terms, but considerable given the size of our economy.Social Security Administrationhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/87954/1/wp250.pd

Respuesta de la estructura zooplanctónica a cambios físicos y biológicos en una laguna pampásica (Laguna Lacombe)

Fil: Ardohain, Diego. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Instituto de Limnología Dr. Raúl A. Ringuelet; ArgentinaFil: Benítez, Hernán Hugo. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Instituto de Limnología Dr. Raúl A. Ringuelet; ArgentinaFil: Gabellone, Néstor A.. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Instituto de Limnología Dr. Raúl A. Ringuelet; ArgentinaFil: Claps, María Cristina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Instituto de Limnología Dr. Raúl A. Ringuelet; Argentin

Identificación de la brecha existente entre la ALFIN de los ingresantes y las competencias informacionales requeridas por la FHyCS-UNaM [ponencia]. En: VI Encuentro Iberoamericano de Colectivos Escolares y Redes de Maestras y Maestros que hacen investigación e innovación desde la escuela.

Los docentes de los primeros años de las distintas carreras que se dictan en la Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales de la Universidad Nacional de Misiones (en adelante FHyCS-UNaM) coinciden en afirmar que los alumnos “ingresantes” demuestran un importante déficit de alfabetización informacional (en adelante ALFIN). Con el fin de verificar estos supuestos e identificar los puntos sobresalientes de la brecha informacional, que se advierte como existente frente a los requerimientos iniciales para acceder a la institución, se diseñó un proyecto de investigación, de tipo exploratorio, que aportara elementos teóricos, conceptuales y esquemas de acción que faciliten, a través de las TIC, la accesibilidad y permanencia del alumnado que ingresa a la comunidad universitaria. Este proyecto se inició en el año 2008 y continúa. En este trabajo se presenta el análisis de algunos de los resultados que permitieron arrojar luz sobre el problema

ANÁLISIS DE LAS ESTRATEGIAS NACIONALES DE INTELIGENCIA ARTIFICIAL EN AMÉRICA LATINA: ESTUDIO DE LOS ENFOQUES DE ÉTICA Y DE DERECHOS HUMANOS

This study seeks to analyze the differences and similarities in the characteristics of national artificial intelligence (AI) strategies in the public sector of different Latin American countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay. The methodological and analytical strategy consists in showing and analyzing their characteristics based on the following categories of analysis: objectives, principles, pillars/measures and vision/goals. The analysis examines the ethics and human rights dimensions. From the research, it could be inferred and concluded that the countries’ efforts to implement AI in the public sector are at an emerging stage and are achieving significant progress. In addition, the strategies have similarities in terms of the ethical and human rights approaches while their differences are conditioned by the political-administrative and technological approaches to which they are subject.El presente trabajo tiene como objetivo analizar las diferencias y similitudes de las características de las estrategias nacionales en materia de Inteligencia Artificial (IA) en el sector público, de los países de la región de América Latina: Argentina, Brasil, Chile, Colombia, México y Uruguay. La estrategia metodológica y analítica consiste en exponer y analizar las características a partir de las siguientes categorías de análisis: objetivos, principios, ejes/acciones y visión/metas, el análisis se realiza a través de las dimensiones de ética y de derechos humanos. Esta investigación permitió inferir y concluir que los esfuerzos de los países por implementar la IA en el sector público están en una fase emergente y avanzan de manera significativa, además las estrategias cuentan con similitudes desde los enfoques éticos y de derechos humanos, no obstante, las diferencias se encuentran condicionadas por los enfoques político-administrativo y tecnológico del que son sujetas las estrategias de IA

Social Security Literacy and Retirement Well-Being

We build upon the growing literature on financial literacy, which studies the prevalence of lack of knowledge about various financial issues, and analyze how much people know about the Social Security rules using a small pilot survey conducted in 2007, and a follow-up and extended survey funded by MRRC conducted in December of 2008. We then assess the consequences of the apparent prevalence of lack of information by individuals about the rules governing the Social Security system using a realistic and empirically-based life-cycle model of retirement behavior under uncertainty. We investigate the individual’s retirement and savings decisions under incomplete information and unawareness, in which a portion of the population does not know some or all of the rules of the system. We compare the outcomes in these cases to the outcome under full information, computing the welfare gain resulting from the acquisition of information regarding the Social Security system. Our analysis can illuminate the need for policies that foster knowledge of the system, which can improve welfare, and can result in better policy outcomes.Social Security Administrationhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/64464/1/wp210.pd

Intra and Inter-Population Morphological Variation of Shape and Size of the Chilean Magnificent Beetle, Ceroglossus chilensis in the Baker River Basin, Chilean Patagonia

The alteration of habitat generates different degrees of stress in insects. It has been suggested that the degrees of phenotypic disturbances reflect the ability of an individual to overcome the effects of stress. The Baker River Basin in the Aysén Region, Chilean Patagonia has a very fragmented landscape, due to the destruction of the native forest and the use of land for agriculture and animal husbandry. This alteration should generate different degrees of disturbances in the insect communities, whose effects may be quantified by geometric morphometric tools. We analyzed morphological differences in 244 males and 133 females of the the Chilean magnificent beetle, Ceroglossus chilensis (Eschscholtz) (Coleoptera: Carabidae) collected in January, 2007, in mixed forests of Nothofagus dombeyi Mirbel (Ørsted) (Fagales: Nothofagaceae) and N. nitida Hofmus and in Second-growth forest of N. pumilio (Poepp. & Endl.) Krasser. Males were generally wider in the pronotum, while females had wider abdominal sternites. Although there were significant differences in shape and size between mature forests and second-growth forest, these were less significant among the sites within each type of vegetal formation. Individuals had more shape variations in the mature forest. We suggest that differences in shape are due at least in part to the isolation of the habitat. The differences found between sexes raises the question of how morphological variations and sexual dimorphism may be affected spatially by natural selection

Análisis de las dimensiones pedagógicas y tecnológicas del Área de Informática FHyCS-UNaM. En: Segundo Encuentro Provincial de Investigación Educativa.

Este proyecto, generado desde las demandas que se exponen al Área de Informática provenientes de los ámbitos internos y externos de la Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales (FHyCS) de la Universidad Nacional de Misiones (UNaM), plantea una doble perspectiva: un espacio curricular de aprendizaje con características propias y un centro de recursos de tecnología informática, surgidas a partir de las reorientaciones del área y su impacto sobre el cambio curricular El diseño contempla las peculiaridades de diversas áreas de conocimientos que contribuyen a la discusión de teorías, enfoques metodológicos generales y específicos con sus respectivas técnicas, validaciones y la formulación de una evaluación consensuada sobre el área de informática, tendiente a reorientar su quehacer e impactos curriculares. Todo esto con el convencimiento de que las instituciones de educación superior pueden promover acciones coordinadas y articuladas entre sus académicos, y focalizar sus esfuerzos de investigación y tecnológicos hacia el mejoramiento de las condiciones de vida y de trabajo en sus ámbitos institucionales. Con este proyecto de investigación se busca aportar elementos teóricos, conceptuales y críticos para abordar la consolidación y desarrollo del Área de Informática a través de la formulación de un plan estratégico y participativo entre todos los actores sociales del área

A Dynamic Model of Retirement and Social Security Reform Expectations: A Solution to the New Early Retirement Puzzle.

The need for Social Security Reform in the next years is hardly a matter of debate. Therefore, the widespread believe among Americans that Social Security will not be able to pay benefits in the long run at the level that was anticipated, does not come as a surprise. The government acknowledges the situation, and predicts that substantial benefits cuts will be necessary, yet no legislation has been passed to tackle the problem. Researchers, however, have rarely modeled the uncertainty over Social Security reform and benefit levels, and how they affect claiming behavior and retirement. The purpose of this paper is to assess the extent to which these perceptions of future cuts might explain the puzzle of earlier take-up despite bigger penalties to doing so in the presence of increasing longevity. By introducing a small amount of uncertainty (based on self-reported responses to questions regarding expectations over future cuts) of a relatively small cut (compared with what the government reports as necessary to solve the crisis) in a dynamic life-cycle model of retirement, we are able to match the claiming behavior observed in the data, without relying on heterogeneous preferences. Our results support the hypothesis that expectations over future benefits are affecting current behavior. We find that a mis-specified dynamic retirement model would erroneously predict that an increase in the NRA would delay claiming behavior and increase labor supply at older ages. Once the appropriate earnings test incentives are modeled, and we account for the probability of reforms to the system, an increase in the NRA has little effect on claiming behavior, and it can even increase the proportion of individuals claiming before the NRA.Social Security Administrationhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/49390/1/wp134.pd

Association of immune responses of Zebu and Holstein-Friesian cattle and resistance to mycobacteria in a BCG challenge model

Mycobacterium bovis is the main cause of bovine tuberculosis (BTB) in cattle and can also infect humans. Zebu cattle are considered more resistant to some infectious diseases compared with Holstein‐Friesian (HF) cattle, including BTB. However, epidemiological studies may not take into account usage differences of the two types of cattle. HF cattle may suffer greater metabolic stress due to their more or less exclusive dairy use, whereas Zebu cattle are mainly used for beef production. In experiments conducted so far, the number of animals has been too small to draw statistically robust conclusions on the resistance differences between these cattle breeds. Here, we used a BCG challenge model to compare the ability of naïve and vaccinated Zebu and HF cattle to control/kill mycobacteria. Young cattle of both breeds with similar ages were housed in the same accommodation for the duration of the experiment. After correcting for multiple comparisons, we found no difference between naïve HF and Zebu (ρ = 0.862) cattle. However, there was a trend for vaccinated HF cattle to have lower cfu numbers than non‐vaccinated HF cattle (ρ = 0.057); no such trend was observed between vaccinated and non‐vaccinated Zebu cattle (ρ = 0.560). Evaluation of antigen‐specific IFNγ secretion by PBMC indicated that Zebu and HF cattle differed in their response to mycobacteria. Thus, whilst there may be difference in immune responses, our data indicate that with the number of animals included in the study and under the conditions used in this work, we were unable to measure any differences between Zebu and HF cattle in the overall control of mycobacteria. Whilst determination of different susceptibilities between Zebu and HF cattle using the BCG challenge model will require larger numbers of animals than the number of animals used in this experiment, these data should inform future experiments