The Trajectory of Wealth in Retirement

In this paper, we develop a measure of household resources that converts total financial, nonfinancial, and annuitized assets into an expected annual amount of wealth per person in retirement. We use this measure, which we call "annualized comprehensive wealth," to investigate spend-down behavior among a panel of older households in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) from 1998 to 2006. Our analysis indicates that for most retired households, comprehensive wealth balances decline much more slowly than their remaining life expectancies, so that the predominate trend is for real annualized wealth actually to rise significantly with age over the course of retirement. Comparing the estimated age profiles for annualized wealth with profiles simulated from several different life cycle models, we find that a model that takes into account uncertain longevity, random medical expenses, and intended bequests lines up best with the broad patterns of rising annualized wealth in the HRS.Retirement wealth, life-cycle saving, mortality risk, precautionary saving, bequests, risk and uncertainty.

The Australia we love: a report on key issues affecting nature and society in Australia

This report identifies the need to establish a clear and credible baseline of key trends and issues affecting nature and society in Australia and around the world, on the assumption that a healthy Australian society relies on healthy nature for our prosperity and our wellbeing. This credible baseline is one necessary element for galvanizing and growing a people’s movement for nature in Australia. Such a movement will be critical if Australians are to adopt and implement the systemic changes required of our society to achieve our true potential this century. The report is divided into 7 sections. Section 1 highlights the importance of healthy nature as the foundation for a healthy and prosperous society. Section 2 is a brief note of the long history of human influence on nature in Australia, and the complexity involved in decisions regarding land, water and sea. Section 3 provides a synthesis of some of the key indicators of the pressures on nature in Australia and the impact of these pressures on Australian nature and society. Many of the measures reported here are simply snapshots in time and space, highlighting the difficulty of measuring the complexity of nature and our interactions with it in any comprehensive way. Section 4 is a synthesis of similar indicators at a global scale. Section 5 looks at how progress is measured in Australia, and the importance of adopting broader definitions of sustainable wellbeing as a frame for effectively valuing and protecting nature. Section 6 tells the stories of ordinary Australians doing extraordinary things for nature, inspiring us all to better value and protect what we have. Section 7 is a call to action that looks ahead to an innovative and solutions-focused future in which Australia is effectively valuing and protecting nature as the foundation for the sustainable wellbeing of our society

Enforcing Competition Through Government Contract Claims

One of the principal objectives of Congress in enacting laws to govern federal government contract awards is to insure competition by maximizing the number of contractors who compete for these contracts. To insure full and open competition, the specifications in government contracts must permit all responsible sources of goods, services, and construction to compete for the work. Specifications which are drawn so that only one source or a very limited number of sources can compete for the work may effectively thwart competition. Whether and how to enforce this requirement for competitive specifications during contract performance is this article\u27s subject