The life insurance industry in the United States : an analysis of economic and regulatory issues

The U.S. life insurance industry comprises more than 1,200 active companies with an impressive record of innovation. Annual premiums for life insurance and annuity products amount to about 5 percent of GNP and total assets to 26 percent of GNP. Life insurance companies are major participants in U.S. capital markets, investing in all types of bonds, mortgage loans and mortgage-backed securities, and corporate equities. In describing the characteristics of products that life insurance companies offer, the author highlights how fiscal incentives promote long-term financial savings. Insurance regulation is fragmented among state authorities, but coordinated through the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. Regulation emphasizes prudence and solvency. There are no minimum requirements for investing in government bonds or"high-priority"sectors, but tight maximum limits are often imposed on different assets, especially holdings of corporate equities, and on agents'commissions. The lack of satisfactory measures of efficiency and profitability, which is explained by the long-term nature of the contracts, differences in the use of mortality tables and discount rates, and differences in the valuation of assets and the treatment of unrealized capital gains. This hampers an objective assessment of the industry's performance and raises problems for insurance taxation. Some public policy issues that affect life insurance companies are also reviewed.Health Economics&Finance,Contractual Savings,Insurance&Risk Mitigation,Non Bank Financial Institutions,Environmental Economics&Policies

Crime, Inequality, and Unemployment, Second Version

There is much discussion of the relationships between crime, inequality, and unemployment. We construct a model where all three are endogenous. We find that introducing crime into otherwise standard models of labor markets has several interesting implications. For example, it can lead to wage inequality among homogeneous workers. Also, it can generate multiple equilibria in natural but previously unexplored ways; hence two identical neighborhoods can end up with different levels of crime, inequality, and unemployment. We discuss the effects of anti-crime policies like changing jail sentences, as well as more traditional labor market policies like changing unemployment insurance.Crime, Inequality, Unemployment, Search

An On-the-Job Search Model of Crime, Inequality, and Unemployment

We extend simple search-theoretic models of crime, unemployment and inequality to incorporate on-the-job search. This is valuable because, although the simple models can be used to illustrate some important points concerning the economics of crime, on-the-job search models are more relevant empirically as well as more interesting in terms of the types of equilibria they generate. We characterize crime decisions, unemployment, and the equilibrium wage distribution. We use quantitative methods to illustrate key results, including a multiplicity of equilibria with different unemployment and crime rates, and to discuss the effects of changes in labor market and anti-crime policies.Crime, Inequality, Unemployment, Search, Turnov

Sovereign Debt as Intertemporal Barter

Borrowing and lending between sovereign parties is modeled as intertemporal barter that smoothes the consumption of a risk-averse party subject to endowment shocks. The surplus anticipated in the relationship offers sufficient incentive for cooperation by all parties, including any other competitive agents who are potential lenders to the sovereign. The sole punishments consist of renegotiation-proof changes in the path of future payments. We show that intertemporal trade can be sustained in the absence of any exogenous enforcement of lending relationships whatsoever. That is, borrowing and lending are possible under anarchy, and are supported by punishments that consist of cheating any cheater. Long-term implicit relationships may be fulfilled as the continual renegotiation of simple incomplete short-term loans. The analysis suggests that the crucial role of the explicit loan contract is the identification of the relationship and the parties involved.

Aviation System Performance During the Summer Convective Weather Season

This paper analyzes recent trends related to delays, airborne holding and diversions in the National Airspace System (NAS) during the summer convective weather season. A weather variable is introduced to help analyze these performance metrics in a way that factors out differences in the location and intensity of thunderstorms. Regression analysis indicates a nearly 50% increase in flights delayed more than an hour from summer 2003 to 2005. The increase in delay is associated with a growing concentration of flights at busy hub airports over the past five years

Aviation System Performance During the Summer Convective Weather Season

This paper analyzes recent trends related to delays, airborne holding and diversions in the National Airspace System (NAS) during the summer convective weather season. A weather variable is introduced to help analyze these performance metrics in a way that factors out differences in the location and intensity of thunderstorms. Regression analysis indicates a nearly 50% increase in flights delayed more than an hour from summer 2003 to 2005. The increase in delay is associated with a growing concentration of flights at busy hub airports over the past five years

Developments on high temperature fiber optic microphone

A fiber optic microphone, based on the principle of the fiber optic lever, features small size, extended bandwidth, and capability to operate at high temperatures. These are requirements for measurements in hypersonic flow. This paper describes the principles of operation of fiber optic sensors, a discussion of the design of a fiber optic microphone, the functional elements and packaging techniques of the optoelectronic circuitry, and the calibration techniques used in the development of the high temperature fiber optic microphone

Functional and Structural Characterization of a Human H4 Histone Gene Promoter: a Thesis

Expression of the cell cycle dependent FO10S human H4 histone gene is regulated at both the transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels. We have investigated the 5\u27 promoter elements mediating the transcriptional aspects of its regulation. A detailed in vivo and in vitro transcriptional analysis of promoter deletion mutants from this gene has identified three positive regulatory elements and two potentially negative regulatory elements within the first 1000 base pairs upstream of the transcription initiation site. In addition, the minimal promoter located within the first 70 base pairs is required for accurate transcription initiation and contains one of two in vivo identified protein-DNA interactions, site II. Binding of the nuclear factor HiNF-D to this region was correlated with the turn-on of histone gene transcription following stimulation of quiescent normal diploid fibroblasts to re-enter the proliferative phase. The most proximal positive regulatory element contains the other in vivo identified protein-DNA interaction, site I. Results from a series of in vitroprotein-DNA interaction studies revealed the binding of two nuclear factors to this element. One protein, HiNF-C, is indistinguishable from the transcription factor Sp1 while the other, HiNF-E, is a novel, potentially histone-specific member of the ATF transcription factor family. Binding of HiNF-C was required to stabilize the interaction of HiNF-E and together this region stimulated transcription 5 fold. The near-distal transcription activator region lies between -418 and -213 base pairs and forms a single protein- DNA complex, H4UA-1. The interaction domain for H4UA-1 contains recognition sequences for both the thyroid hormone receptor and the nuclear factor CTF/NF-1. The far-distal activator region (-730 and -589 base pairs) was the strongest positive regulatory element identified in the H4 promoter. This region increased transcription 10 fold and contains three protein-DNA interactions. One of the factors, H4UA-2, is an ATF transcription factor closely related to the HiNF-E interaction in the proximal positive element. These studies have defined the functional human H4 histone promoter to be a complex, modular structure extending at least 1000 base pairs

A Survey of Published American Radio Drama

(From the Introduction) Radio broadcasting is a product of the twentieth century, taking its place beside the automobile, the airplane, two world wars, and now television as an influence upon the people of the world. Radio has had a short but colorful life, a reign studded with court fights, money-making, good and bad drama, music and showmanship, and a fair share or public acceptance and criticism. Radio broadcasting is a composite or music programs, news reports, dramatic programs, commercial announcements, and comedy features. The American people listen to all of these programs at various times. Radio has become a part or our culture, be the adjunct a good or an annoying one. As it pertains to drama, radio broadcasting is another medium or projecting the spoken word in dramatic form, joining the stage and the more recent medium or the movies. The numerous books on radio drama now available are concerned with the techniques of putting on a radio play or they contain a number of plays for reading enjoyment. There is, to my knowledge, no book on the literature of radio studied as a whole. While there are several collections of radio plays, they are limited to the printing of some ten to twenty-five play by different authors. This paper will be a limited survey of radio dramatic literature. Only published radio plays will be treated and not all of those, since the number is too large. Nearly 300 of the more important printed plays have been studied and many of them will be mentioned in this work. There will be included some comment on the nature of radio drama, some material on theories, techniques, and limitations, and a considerable amount of critical material from contemporary books and periodicals

Beyond Umpire and Arbiter: Courts as Facilitators of Intergovernmental Dialogue in Division of Powers Cases in Canada

The courts in Canada have often been cast, by both courts and legal scholars, as 'umpires' or 'arbiters' of the federal-provincial division of powers - umpires or arbiters that have the exclusive, or at least decisive, authority to clarify and enforce, and resolve disputes about, 'who does what' in the federal system. However, the image conveyed by these metaphors underestimates the role that the federal and provincial political branches play in the federal system, by working out their own solutions, in the intergovernmental arena, both directly and indirectly, where questions and disputes arise about how jurisdiction is and should be allocated. The image conveyed by the umpire or arbiter metaphors also sits uncomfortably with the facilitative role that the Supreme Court of Canada has carved out for itself in its recent division of powers decisions, a role that casts the courts as facilitators of these instances of intergovernmental dialogue. This doctoral dissertation challenges, and moves beyond, the umpire and arbiter metaphors. It examines the political safeguards available to the provinces in Canada to prevent, or limit, perceived federal encroachments on provincial jurisdiction, in the process highlighting the role that the political branches play in Canada in working out their own allocations of jurisdiction, outside of the courts. It describes, and critically evaluates, the facilitative role carved out by the Court in its recent division of powers decisions, identifying various reasons to be skeptical of a facilitative role that casts the courts as facilitators of intergovernmental dialogue. Finally, and with an eye to future research, it briefly outlines an alternative facilitative role that focuses on facilitating deliberation about the division of powers implications of particular initiatives, arguing that it would be premature to dismiss facilitative approaches to judicial review altogether