Bankruptcy and Workers: Risks, Compensation and Pension Contracts

One can view workers from the perspective of the portfolios they hold. For most workers, this portfolio, broadly defined, evinces a heavy concentration of assets in the firm that employs them. They stand to incur wage reductions if they move to some other company midway in the contract because much of the human capital that they hold is not fully transferable. In many cases, they also stand to lose substantial pension value, and may lose other benefits as well, such as health insurance, longer vacation periods earned through seniority and so on. This just means that they are party to a risky venture, where the downside outcome poses substantial losses. It turns out that the broad implications of bankruptcy for workers are well indexed by pension losses, which means that an understanding of the pension implications of bankruptcy also conveys the thrust of non-pension losses as well. Risk is not a free good. As in standard models of finance, firms are expected to pay for the risks they impose on workers, and indeed, are expected to pay premia in excess of those implied in financial models if they expose workers to non-diversified risks. The latter premium makes sense only if firms believe that heavily exposed workers are more likely to work hard to ensure the continued viability of their employer. If this incentive is sufficiently strong then higher productivity finances the additional risk premia. Workers can choose jobs among employers that pose different levels of bankruptcy risks, and those least willing to undertake risk take jobs with relatively low levels of it, and receive commensurately lower pay., As such, there is no reason to believe that workers’ losses in some bankrupt companies raise special public policy concerns. Most workers at risk experience the upside potential; a small percentage experiences the downside. There is no reason to believe that the contracts ex ante are inefficient. But if the government may have to assume responsibility for near destitute older workers, then this prospect might give rise to various mandatory insurance schemes. Even if these insurances are not market priced, the participants at least have to pay some of the costs of the exposure they incur. This may be one reason why institutions like unemployment compensation and pension insurance arise. The compensating differential model used to explain the risk-reward tradeoff inherent in defined benefit pension plans also can explain their demise. Beginning in the mid 1980s, the federal government altered its traditional bonding role in the contract and, instead, permitted firms to unilaterally terminate defined benefit plans and take excess assets (those in excess of termination benefits) into corporate profits. This had the result of exogenously increasing the probability of termination far greater than bankruptcy risks. Workers were (justifiably) more leery of the pension promise, which reduced the amount that they were willing to pay for it. The plans, therefore, are valued by less than it cost the companies to provide them, which creates the incentive to move towards pension plans that are self-bonded, such as 401k plans. 401k plans have dominated pension growth for the past twenty years and are fast becoming the pension plan of choice in the (non-union) private sector. While they eliminate the bankruptcy risks inherent in defined benefit plans, they create their own set of bankruptcy exposures. While most workers covered by these plans do not invest in company stock, about one in ten have at least half their account balances concentrated in the securities issued by the firm that employs them. In many large companies, 401k plans are heavily invested in company stock. These investment patterns can give rise to the potential for catastrophic losses for workers late in their career. In order to protect themselves from ex post bailouts, taxpayers may want to give some thought to enforcing some set of minimum diversification rules in these plans

Using Extension Phosphorus Uptake Research to Improve Idaho\u27s Nutrient Management Planning Program

Irrigated silage corn is the main crop used for P removal in southern Idaho; however, little is known about the actual amounts of P removed under southern Idaho growing conditions. The study surveyed P removal by irrigated silage corn in primarily manured southern Idaho fields and wide-ranging soil test P. Whole plant corn tissue P concentrations ranged from 0.116 to 0.307% total P and averaged 0.208%—lower than Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) estimates used prior to 2007 (0.26%P) but higher than estimates used since 2007 (0.185%). The study was used to update the OnePlan.org© Nutrient Management planning online program

Basic Reproduction Number of Chikungunya Virus Transmitted by Aedes Mosquitoes

We estimated the weighted mean basic reproduction number (R0) of chikungunya virus based on outbreak size. R0 was 3.4 (95% CI 2.4–4.2) and varied for 2 primary chi- kungunya mosquito vectors: 4.1 (95% CI 1.5–6.6) for Ae- des aegypti and 2.8 (95% CI 1.8–3.8) for Ae. albopictu

Using problem formulation for fit‐for‐purpose pre‐market environmental risk assessments of regulated stressors

Pre‐market/prospective environmental risk assessments (ERAs) contribute to risk analyses performed to facilitate decisions about the market introduction of regulated stressors. Robust ERAs begin with an explicit problem formulation, which involves among other steps: (1) formally devising plausible pathways to harm that describe how the deployment of a regulated stressor could be harmful; (2) formulating risk hypotheses about the likelihood and severity of such events; (3) identifying the information that will be useful to test the risk hypotheses; and (4) developing a plan to acquire new data for hypothesis testing should tests with existing information be insufficient for decision‐making. Here, we apply problem formulation to the assessment of possible adverse effects of RNA interference‐based insecticidal genetically modified (GM) plants, GM growth hormone coho salmon, gene drive‐modified mosquitoes and classical biological weed control agents on non‐target organisms in a prospective manner, and of neonicotinoid insecticides on bees in a retrospective manner. In addition, specific considerations for the problem formulation for the ERA of nanomaterials and for landscape‐scale population‐level ERAs are given. We argue that applying problem formulation to ERA maximises the usefulness of ERA studies for decision‐making, through an iterative process, because: (1) harm is defined explicitly from the start; (2) the construction of risk hypotheses is guided by policy rather than an exhaustive attempt to address any possible differences; (3) existing information is used effectively; (4) new data are collected with a clear purpose; (5) risk is characterised against well‐defined criteria of hypothesis corroboration or falsification; and (6) risk assessment conclusions can be communicated clearly. However, problem formulation is still often hindered by the absence of clear policy goals and decision‐making criteria (e.g. definition of protection goals and what constitutes harm) that are needed to guide the interpretation of scientific information. We therefore advocate further dialogue between risk assessors and risk managers to clarify how ERAs can address policy goals and decision‐making criteria. Ideally, this dialogue should take place for all classes of regulated stressors, as this can promote alignment and consistency on the desired level of protection and maximum tolerable impacts across regulated stressors

Using extension phosphorus uptake research to improve Idaho's nutrient management planning program.

Irrigated silage corn is the main crop used for phosphorus removal; however little is known about the actual amounts of phosphorus removed under southern Idaho growing conditions. The purpose of this study was to survey phosphorus removal by irrigated corn grown for silage in southern Idaho under variable soil test phosphorus concentrations. In this survey whole plant corn tissue phosphorus concentrations ranged from 0.116 to 0.307% total phosphorus and averaged 0.208%, which is lower than Natural Resources Conservation Services estimates used prior to 2007 (0.26% phosphorus) but higher than estimates used since 2007 (0.185%). The study was used by NRCS to update nutrient management planning software used by planners in Idaho

Unions, Dynamism and economic performance

This paper explores the relationship between economic performance and US unionism, focusing first on what we do and do not know based on empirical research handicapped by limited data on establishment and firm level collective bargaining coverage. Evidence on the relationship of unions with wages, productivity, profitability, investment, debt, employment growth, and business failures are all relevant in assessing the future of unions and public policy with respect to unions. A reasonably coherent story emerges from the empirical literature, albeit one that rests heavily on evidence that is dated and (arguably) unable to identify truly causal effects. The paper's principal thesis is that union decline has been tied fundamentally to competitive forces and economic dynamism. Implications of these findings for labor law policy and the future of worker voice institutions is discussed briefly in a final section

Selective sigma-2 ligands preferentially bind to pancreatic adenocarcinomas: applications in diagnostic imaging and therapy

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Resistance to modern adjuvant treatment is in part due to the failure of programmed cell death. Therefore the molecules that execute the apoptotic program are potential targets for the development of anti-cancer therapeutics. The sigma-2 receptor has been found to be over-expressed in some types of malignant tumors, and, recently, small molecule ligands to the sigma-2 receptor were found to induce cancer cell apoptosis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The sigma-2 receptor was expressed at high levels in both human and murine pancreas cancer cell lines, with minimal or limited expression in normal tissues, including: brain, kidney, liver, lung, pancreas and spleen. Micro-PET imaging was used to demonstrate that the sigma-2 receptor was preferentially expressed in tumor as opposed to normal tissues in pancreas tumor allograft-bearing mice. Two structurally distinct sigma-2 receptor ligands, SV119 and WC26, were found to induce apoptosis to mice and human pancreatic cancer cells <it>in vitro </it>and <it>in vivo</it>. Sigma-2 receptor ligands induced apoptosis in a dose dependent fashion in all pancreatic cell lines tested. At the highest dose tested (10 μM), all sigma-2 receptor ligands induced 10–20% apoptosis in all pancreatic cancer cell lines tested (p < 0.05). In pancreas tumor allograft-bearing mice, a single bolus dose of WC26 caused approximately 50% apoptosis in the tumor compared to no appreciable apoptosis in tumor-bearing, vehicle-injected control animals (p < 0.0001). WC26 significantly slowed tumor growth after a 5 day treatment compared to vehicle-injected control animals (p < 0.0001) and blood chemistry panels suggested that there is minimal peripheral toxicity.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We demonstrate a novel therapeutic strategy that induces a significant increase in pancreas cancer cell death. This strategy highlights a new potential target for the treatment of pancreas cancer, which has little in the way of effective treatments.</p