Pareto-Improving Social Security Reform

social security reform

What Public Employee Health Plans Can Do to Improve Health Care Quality: Examples From the States

Explores public and private plans' strategies to improve care quality and contain costs, specifically those of state public employee health plans. Discusses examples of innovations, including data collection, reporting, and performance incentives

Impact of private data mining on personal privacy from agents of government

The balance of power between the individual and the government has been tipped in favor of the government. Recent advances in technology have led to the commoditization of personal information. The vast amounts of information collected and the ease with which they can be transferred to other parties has led to the rise of personal profile data mining. Due to Supreme Court decisions in the 1970s, the government can easily use or buy these profiles. Therefore, personal privacy from agents of government is being reduced due to data mining. This paper will explore the causes, implications, and potential solutions to this problem. It will explain the value of privacy and why it should be a value that is protected. Then, it will discuss the primary problems associated with data mining, particularly how those problems will impact individuals when the information obtained is used by the government. Next it will describe the current landscape of privacy protections. Finally, it will examine many proposed solutions using a stakeholder/method perspective model to comparatively analyze the solutions. With that analysis, it will describe the findings and implications of that analysis

Technical Bulletins: Estimate of 1983-84 State Shared Funds for Cities

A summary of what cities could expect to receive from the state shared taxes for the 1983-84 fiscal year

Saving and interest rates in Japan: Why they have fallen and why they will remain low

This paper quantifies the role of alternative shocks in accounting for the recent declines in Japanese saving rates and interest rates and provides some projections about their future course. We consider three distinct sources of variation in saving rates and real interest rates: changes in fertility rates, changes in survival rates, and changes in technology. The empirical relevance of these factors is explored using a computable dynamic OLG model. We find that the combined effects of demographics and slower total factor productivity growth successfully explain both the levels and the magnitudes of the declines in the saving rate and the after-tax real interest rate during the 1990s. Model simulations indicate that the Japanese savings puzzle is over.

Technical Bulletins: Improving Financial Responsibility Through Budget Amendment Control

This Technical Bulletin provides information intended to help city councils and their individual members be more financially responsible. Included is a sample ordinance that establishes a requirement that any additional expenditures resulting from an amendment to a city\u27s budget must be accompanied by a resolution identifying a corresponding increase in income and/or expenditure reduction

Technical Bulletins: Estimate of 1984-85 State Shared Funds for Cities

A summary of what cities could expect to receive from the state shared taxes for the 1984-85 fiscal year

Municipal Utility Rates in Tennessee

This publication is primarily the compiled results of surveys sent to the cities in Tennessee. Electric rate information was supplied by the Tennessee Valley Authority and population figures were taken from the 1985 Certified Population of Tennessee Incorporated Municipalities. Approximately, one-hundred and thirty cities responded in part or whole to the survey. If data from a city appears in one section but not another it indicates the city either does not provide that service or information was not included in the survey response for some other reason. The data is divided into five major utility areas: Water; Sewer; Natural Gas; Garbage Collection and Disposal; and Electricity

The saving rate in Japan: Why it has fallen and why it will remain low

During the 1990s, Japan began experiencing demographic changes that are larger and more rapid than in other OECD countries. These demographic changes will become even more pronounced in future years. We are interested in understanding the role of lower fertility rates and aging for the evolution of Japan?s saving rate. We use a computable general equilibrium model to analyze the response of the national saving rate to changes in demographics and total factor productivity. In our model aging accounts for 2 to 3 percentage points.