Voluntary Public Unemployment Insurance

Voluntary public unemployment systems are limited to a handful of countries, including Finland, Sweden, and, more substantially, Denmark. A voluntary system has the positive feature of other user-cost schemes, potentially efficient targeting of services. This presumes rational behavior as well as reasonable risk rating of premiums and the absence of worker access to alternative social programs. Using a 10 per cent sample of the Danish population drawn from administrative data, we exploit the voluntary Danish system to explore the structure of unemployment insurance demand. The insurance take-up rate is surprisingly high, 80 percent in 1995, but varies systematically with economic incentives in a way that raises doubts about the targeting value of the current system. Political support for the Danish system may derive instead from the fact that a universal, compulsory system would generate rather modest additional net funds and with a twist--additional revenue would come disproportionately from low-wage workers.

Voluntary Public Unemployment Insurance

Voluntary public unemployment systems are limited to a handful of countries, including Finland, Sweden, and, more substantially, Denmark. A voluntary system has the positive feature of other user-cost schemes, potentially efficient targeting of services. This presumes rational behavior as well as reasonable risk rating of premiums and the absence of worker access to alternative social programs. Using a 10% sample of the Danish population drawn from administrative data, we exploit the voluntary Danish system to explore the structure of unemployment insurance demand. The insurance take-up rate is surprisingly high, 80 percent in 1995, but varies systematically with economic incentives in a way that raises doubts about the targeting value of the current system. Political support for the Danish system may derive instead from the fact that a universal, compulsory system would generate rather modest additional net funds and with a twist--additional revenue would come disproportionately from low-wage workers.

Voluntary Public Unemployment Insurance

Denmark has drawn much attention for its active labor market policies, but is almost unique in offering a voluntary public unemployment insurance program requiring a significant premium payment. A safety net program--a less generous, means-tested social assistance plancompletes the system. The voluntary system emerged as one of many European Ghent systems, essentially government subsidized trade union plans, but has since lost many key features of such plans. We assess system performance using a 10% sample of the Danish population drawn from administrative data. Coverage rates for the voluntary programs are surprisingly high, approximately 80 percent of the workforce, but the program has predictable selection effects, including adverse selection across risk classes and a substantial charity hazard (low coverage among those with generous treatment under the safety net program). The latter appears to explain the difficulty of shifting to a compulsory system; redistribution effects would be concentrated among the previously uninsured in the lowest decile of the income distribution, a problem in the Danish welfare state

Voluntary Public Unemployment Insurance

Denmark has drawn much attention for its active labor market policies, but is almost unique in offering a voluntary public unemployment insurance program requiring a significant premium payment. A safety net program a less generous, means-tested social assistance plan completes the system. The voluntary system emerged as one of many European "Ghent systems," essentially government subsidized trade union plans, but has since lost many key features of such plans. We assess system performance using a 10% sample of the Danish population drawn from administrative data. Coverage rates for the voluntary programs are surprisingly high, approximately 80 percent of the workforce, but the program has predictable selection effects, including adverse selection across risk classes and a substantial charity hazard (low coverage among those with generous treatment under the safety net program). The latter appears to explain the difficulty of shifting to a compulsory system; redistribution effects would be concentrated among the previously uninsured in the lowest decile of the income distribution, a problem in the Danish welfare state

Voluntary Public Unemployment Insurance

Voluntary public unemployment systems are limited to a handful of countries, including Finland, Sweden, and, more substantially, Denmark. A voluntary system has the positive feature of other user-cost schemes, potentially efficient targeting of services. This presumes rational behavior as well as reasonable risk rating of premiums and the absence of worker access to alternative social programs. Using a 10% sample of the Danish population drawn from administrative data, we exploit the voluntary Danish system to explore the structure of unemployment insurance demand. The insurance take-up rate is surprisingly high, 80 percent in 1995, but varies systematically with economic incentives in a way that raises doubts about the targeting value of the current system. Political support for the Danish system may derive instead from the fact that a universal, compulsory system would generate rather modest additional net funds and with a twist - additional revenue would come disproportionately from low-wage workers

Decline of Corn Buntings Emberiza calandra on east Scottish study areas in 1989-2007

Capsule Adult numbers on many study areas fluctuated from year to year, but overall showed a large decline, down to extinction on most areas. Aims To measure changes in summer numbers of adult Corn Buntings in a large sample of study areas holding discrete localized populations. Methods Singing cocks and hens paired with them were counted in early summer at 30 study areas on farmland from south Angus to central Aberdeenshire. Sixteen populations occurring throughout 1989-95 were called 'groups'. Counts also included 16 cases where a new 'offshoot' appeared in late May or the start of June, not having been seen earlier in that spring or in the previous winter or summer. Results Following relative stability in 1989-95, large declines occurred in 1995-96, 1998-99 and 2003-04, and decreases far outweighed occasional increases between consecutive summers. The numbers of established groups, new offshoots, and older offshoots all declined with the year. Although containing one to nine founding pairs, new offshoots became extinct later, in six cases after one summer. No new offshoot was seen after 1995. Conclusions Although 22 study areas held birds in 1989 and 25 in 1990, this fell to 10 in 1999, seven in 2005, and four in 2007 (the only areas that held birds in all years). On all areas combined, cock numbers fell by 83% between 1989 and 2007. Targeted implementation of appropriate agri-environment measures is urgently needed to halt and reverse such declines, a challenge made all the greater within the last year by rising grain prices, delays to the introduction of new measures, and abolition of EU 'set-aside' as a means for providing food and nesting habitat

Long-term estimates of adult survival rates of urban Herring Gulls Larus argentatus

Urban gull populations have increased dramatically in the last 40 years, leading to widespread concerns about potential nuisance to humans, but little accompanying research into their ecology. This study aimed to provide the first long-term estimates of apparent adult survival rates for urban Herring Gulls Larus argentatus and Lesser Black-backed Gulls L. fuscus, based on colour ringing in Bristol, southwest England. Resightings of adult birds covering 18 years (1990–2007) were analysed using capture–mark–recapture methods, with candidate models testing for differences in survival and/or resighting rate through time and between the sexes. Both species showed high apparent annual survival rates (>0.90) in the early 1990s that declined to <0.70 by 2007. Male survival rates were higher than female rates in Lesser Black-backed Gulls, and male resighting rates were higher in both species. In the early 1990s, Bristol's urban gulls displayed similar adult survival rates to published estimates for rural colonies. Both species showed evidence of long-term declines in apparent survival, which may either reflect actual reductions in survival or increased permanent emigration from the Bristol colony. Anecdotal evidence supports the latter, linking emigration to urban redevelopment or human intervention