Retirement Responses to Early Social Security Benefit Reductions

This paper evaluates potential responses to reductions in early Social Security retirement benefits. Using the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) linked to administrative records, we find that Social Security coverage is quite uneven in the older population: one-quarter of respondents in their late 50’s lacks coverage under the Disability Insurance program, and one-fifth lacks coverage for old-age benefits. Among those eligible for benefits, respondents who subsequently retired early appear quite similar initially to those who later filed for normal retirement benefits, but both groups were healthier and better educated than those who later filed for disability benefits. Next we investigate the potential impact of curtailing, and then eliminating, early Social Security benefits. A life-cycle model of retirement behavior provides estimated parameters used to simulate the effects of cutting early Social Security benefits on retirement pathways. We find that cutting early Social Security benefits would boost the probability of normal retirement by twice as much as it would the probability of disability retirement.

Mediation as One Step in Adversarial Litigation: One Country Lawyer\u27s Experience

This experience stands in stark contrast to the thesis of Professor Deborah Hensler in her article, Suppose It\u27s Not True: Challenging Mediation Ideology. Therein, Professor Hensler attempts to link social psychological research that she interprets as showing dissatisfaction with the use of mediation compared to adjudication, which, in turn, leads her to conclude that clients should prefer counsel who ordinarily can resolve cases successfully without the help of mediation.7 The fallacy of Professor Hensler\u27s argument is evident in several respects. For one, she relies far too heavily on her own intuition and previous empirical research of marginal relevance, and on research by social scientists that is either outdated or so confuses the terminology as to render such data meaningless in the study of ADR procedures under current practice and terminology. Further, Professor Hensler adds to the confusion in terminology by inappropriately juxtaposing mediation to adversarial litigation and adjudication, thereby ignoring that in practice mediation most often occurs in the context of -not in lieu of - adversarial litigation. To suggest that the adversarial nature of litigation is lost or even diminished by mediation ignores the reality of how mediation is most often used, which is to bring adversarial litigation to a conclusion more quickly, cost effectively, and with the parties having greater control over the outcome, sometimes resulting in creative solutions not attainable through adjudication. The greatest fallacy of her thesis, however, is borne in the second paragraph of her article, when she asserts that empirical evidence to support the claim (that mediation would save courts and litigants time and money) has failed to materialize, citing her own previous work as the only authority for her shaky conclusion

Modeling Lifetime Earnings Paths: Hypothetical versus Actual Workers

To assess the distributional effects of social security reform proposals, it is essential to have good information on real-world workers’ lifetime earnings trajectories. Until recently, however, policymakers have relied on hypothetical earnings profiles for policy analysis. We use actual lifetime earnings data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) to compare actual workers’ covered earnings profiles to these hypothetical profiles. We show that the hypothetical profiles do not track earnings patterns of current retirees; thus lifetime pay levels are much higher than for most HRS workers. Therefore, using hypothetical profiles could misrepresent benefits paid and taxes collected under such reforms.

Teenage Pregnancy with Catecholaminergic Polymorphic Ventricular Tachycardia and Documented ICD Discharges

We report the first case of pregnancy in a pediatric patient with catecholiminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia (CPVT). Pregnant adolescents with CPVT are at high risk for NSVT and malignant VT during pregnancy, despite antiarrhythmic medication. They may receive multiple implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) therapies. Such patients require close monitoring with special care during the first trimester

Lifetime Earnings Variability and Retirement Wealth

This paper explores how earnings variability is related to retirement wealth. Past research has demonstrated that the average American household on the verge of retirement would need to save substantially more, in order to preserve consumption flows in old age. While several socioeconomic factors have been examined that might explain such problems, prior studies have not assessed the role of earnings variability over the lifetime as a potential explanation for poor retirement prospects. Thus two workers having identical levels of average lifetime earnings might have had very different patterns of earnings variability over their lifetimes. Such differences could translate into quite different retirement wealth outcomes. This paper evaluates the effect of earnings variability on retirement wealth using information supplied by respondents to the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). This is a rich and nationally representative dataset on Americans on the verge of retirement, with responses linked to administrative records from the Social Security Administration. Our research illuminates the key links between lifetime earnings variability and retirement wealth.

AN EXPERIMENTAL ECONOMICS APPROACH TO ANALYZING PRICE DISCOVERY IN FORWARD AND SPOT MARKETS

Laboratory experiments are used to generate data that facilitate investigation of pricing behavior in forward and spot markets. Results suggest a tendency for prices in a spot market to converge to levels higher than those in a forward market. The difference in these market environments is the supply schedule. Buyers in a spot market are aware that supply is inelastic and become relatively aggressive bidders. Forward markets have a relatively elastic supply schedule and buyers fare better. This may motivate firms to promote forward markets and/or vertically integrate in the procurement of inputs.Experimental economics, Forward market, Price discovery, Spot market, Marketing,

Running with the Pack: JIT & Automation for Small Manufacturers

While both just in time (JIT) concepts and automation programs have been widely implemented and highly successful in large manufacturing companies, many smaller manufacturing companies have wondered whether it would be economically feasible to utilize these same techniques and derive these same benefits. When JIT is adopted by small manufacturers, it provides them with advantages over traditional manufacturing systems, such as lower cost, quality improvements, higher productivity, and less working capital tied up in inventory. Small US manufacturers must understand the basic principles and philosophy of JIT and update their production equipment if they are to be competitive in today\u27s business environment

A behavioral perspective on the biophysics of the light-dependent magnetic compass: a link between directional and spatial perception?

In terrestrial organisms, sensitivity to the Earth's magnetic field is mediated by at least two different magnetoreception mechanisms, one involving biogenic ferromagnetic crystals (magnetite/maghemite) and the second involving a photo-induced biochemical reaction that forms long-lasting, spin-coordinated, radical pair intermediates. In some vertebrate groups (amphibians and birds), both mechanisms are present; a light-dependent mechanism provides a directional sense or 'compass', and a non-light-dependent mechanism underlies a geographical-position sense or 'map'. Evidence that both magnetite- and radical pair-based mechanisms are present in the same organisms raises a number of interesting questions. Why has natural selection produced magnetic sensors utilizing two distinct biophysical mechanisms? And, in particular, why has natural selection produced a compass mechanism based on a light-dependent radical pair mechanism (RPM) when a magnetite-based receptor is well suited to perform this function? Answers to these questions depend, to a large degree, on how the properties of the RPM, viewed from a neuroethological rather than a biophysical perspective, differ from those of a magnetite-based magnetic compass. The RPM is expected to produce a light-dependent, 3-D pattern of response that is axially symmetrical and, in some groups of animals, may be perceived as a pattern of light intensity and/or color superimposed on the visual surroundings. We suggest that the light-dependent magnetic compass may serve not only as a source of directional information but also provide a spherical coordinate system that helps to interface metrics of distance, direction and spatial position.National Science Foundation, USA IOB 06-47188 ; IOB 07-48175info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio