Pension Fund Management and Investment Performance

Later version published in Oxford handbook of pensions and retirement income / edited by Gordon L. Clark, Alicia H. Munnell and J. Michael Orszag. Oxford, 200

Relative abundance, temporal distribution, and functional feeding groups of aquatic insects in two first-order southwestern Pennsylvania streams

Two first to second order streams (Kent Run and Munnell Hollow) at Ryerson Station State Park, Greene County, Pennsylvania, were compared as to water parameters (dissolved oxygen, hardness, temperature, pH, and current velocity), species diversity, and abundance of both immature and adult insects. Samples were taken biweekly for one year from May, 1999 through April, 2000 for a total of 26 sampling periods. Data were analyzed using a repeated measures ANOVA. Kent Run had lower dissolved oxygen, higher pH and hardness, lower temperatures, and higher current velocity. A total of 137 taxa were collected at both streams. Of the total 3,299 individuals collected at Kent Run, 1,166 were adults and 2,133 were immatures. Munnell Hollow had 1,273 adults and 890 immatures for a total of 2,163 individuals. For the adult and immature community metrics, there was a higher number of shredder taxa and a greater percentage of shredders at Munnell Hollow, both a higher number of taxa and a higher percentage of both collector-filterers and collector-gatherers at Kent Run, a higher number of scraper taxa and a greater percentage of scrapers at Kent Run, an equal number of predator taxa at each stream, and a higher percentage of predators at Munnell Hollow. Overall, community metrics were significantly higher for May 12--14, 1999 and April 24--26, 2000, indicating an optimal time for sampling for assessment of community metrics. The combination of the water parameters at Kent Run and its wider area and higher number of leaf packs, snags, and debris dams contributed to the higher numbers of individuals collected

How Much Risk is Acceptable?

The financial crisis has sparked proposals to reform the retirement income system. One component of such a system could be a new tier of retirement accounts. These accounts would augment declining Social Security replacement rates for low-wage workers and provide a buffer of security for middle- and upper-wage workers who, increasingly, will rely totally on 401(k) plans to supplement their Social Security. Designing such a new tier requires answering a number of questions: Mandatory or voluntary? Employee and/or employer contributions? Subsidies for low earners? Payments as lump sums or annuities? Tax favored or not? But the most fundamental question is whether the goal of the new tier is to provide a defined contribution account, where the retirement income will depend on market performance, or an account that can provide a certain percent of final earnings ñ that is, a target replacement rate...

Do Households Have a Good Sense of Their Retirement Preparedness?

The National Retirement Risk Index (NRRI) measures the percentage of working-age households who are ‘at risk’ of being financially unprepared for retirement today and in coming decades. The calculations show that even if households work to age 65 and annuitize all their financial assets, including the receipts from reverse mortgages on their homes, 44 percent will be ‘at risk’ of being unable to maintain their standard of living in retirement. An extension of the analysis to account explicitly for health care costs in retirement raises the share of ‘at risk’ households from 44 percent to 61 percent. This brief examines whether households have a good sense of their own retirement preparedness — do their retirement expectations match the reality that they face? Do people ‘at risk’ know that they are ‘at risk?’ The first section summarizes the NRRI and compares households’ self-assessed preparedness to the objective measure provided by the NRRI. The second section describes the characteristics of households associated with being too optimistic or too pessimistic. The last section of this brief introduces health care costs into the analysis.

Beneath the rhetoric: clarifying the debate on mortgage lending discrimination

The authors' simple model of the mortgage underwriting process provides a framework within which to define discrimination and various notions of the default rate. By providing those with differing views a common framework for discussing their positions, the model clarifies and reconciles some of the most controversial issues in the debate over mortgage discrimination. It also shows how this theoretical framework can help in the design of practical policy responses to this vexing social problem.Discrimination in mortgage loans ; Mortgages

Is there a shortfall in public capital investment? An overview

Capital investments ; Public policy ; Infrastructure (Economics)

The productive role of public infrastructure: A critical review of recent literature

The publication of two empirical articles by Aschauer in 1989 brought a renewed interest in the study of the productive role of public infrastructure. Since then, many empirical studies as well as a few surveys have been published not only in regional science journals but also in main stream economics journals. The interest in the subject and the controversy are both high, which constitute two major ingredients for our critical review of recent literature. Our purpose in this paper is to evaluate the recent contributions identifying approaches followed, results obtained, major shortcomings of the empirical evidence produced, areas of strong controversy and promising methodologies for future research.

How does public infrastructure affect regional economic performance?

Infrastructure (Economics) ; Public policy ; Regional economics ; Capital investments

Employer-Sponsored Pensions: A Primer

The shifting pension landscape raises questions about the financial security of future retirees. About one-half of private-sector workers are not covered by employer-sponsored pension plans on their current job. Many private-sector employers have replaced traditional pensions with 401(k)-type plans, which protect benefits for workers who change jobs frequently but expose participants to investment risks. This primer describes pensions, workers with coverage, and related policy issues

Effects of local fiscal policy on firm profitability

For decades, scholars and policy-makers have been interested in how fiscal policy influences entrepreneurship. Until now, research has focused on fiscal policy at the federal or regional level and used macro-economic outcome measures. Considerably less attention was given to how municipal governments can influence economic outcomes at the micro level. The present study examines the effect of municipal taxes, spending and tax compliance costs on firm profitability within the Flemish hospitality industry. This is an interesting research setting, since Flemish municipalities have far-ranging fiscal autonomy which has resulted in a proliferation of local taxes, many of which are specific to the hospitality industry. The findings reveal that local taxes have a negative impact on firm profitability, while aggregate public spending has a positive influence. The tax effect is economically relevant and exceeds the public spending impact. Finally, we find no impact of compliance costs from local taxes