Spain 2011 pension reform

The aim of this paper is to evaluate the impact of the Spanish pension reform enacted in 2011. We use an accounting model with heterogeneous agents and overlapping generations in order to project revenues and expenditures of the pension system for the next four decades. Specifically, we analyze the impact of changes in the replacement rate, in the period of calculation and the delay of the retirement age. We obtain results under two alternative migration scenarios: (i) a combination of the latest figures released by the INE, which forecast a reduced annual immigration net flow of some 70,000 persons; and (ii) a revised scenario featuring a more generous hypothesis concerning this net flow. We demonstrate that the results show that these three changes instigated by the reform could imply a savings of about 3 percentage points of GDP in 2051. However, we couldn’t include in the evaluation the sustainability factor (that transform the Spanish system in a defined contribution scheme) that will start in 2027 due to the lack of details in the text of the Reform. Finally, we analyze the changes in average pensions by gender, skill, and nationalit

The microbial dimension of submarine groundwater discharge : current challenges and future directions

Despite the relevance of submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) for ocean biogeochemistry, the microbial dimension of SGD remains poorly understood. SGD can influence marine microbial communities through supplying chemical compounds and microorganisms, and in turn, microbes at the land-ocean transition zone determine the chemistry of the groundwater reaching the ocean. However, compared with inland groundwater, little is known about microbial communities in coastal aquifers. Here, we review the state of the art of the microbial dimension of SGD, with emphasis on prokaryotes, and identify current challenges and future directions. Main challenges include improving the diversity description of groundwater microbiota, characterized by ultrasmall, inactive and novel taxa, and by high ratios of sediment-attached versus free-living cells. Studies should explore microbial dynamics and their role in chemical cycles in coastal aquifers, the bidirectional dispersal of groundwater and seawater microorganisms, and marine bacterioplankton responses to SGD. This will require not only combining sequencing methods, visualization and linking taxonomy to activity but also considering the entire groundwater-marine continuum. Interactions between traditionally independent disciplines (e.g. hydrogeology, microbial ecology) are needed to frame the study of terrestrial and aquatic microorganisms beyond the limits of their presumed habitats, and to foster our understanding of SGD processes and their influence in coastal biogeochemical cycles. The authors review the available literature on the microbial aspects of submarine groundwater discharge, from the freshwater aquifers to the coastal ocean, and identify current challenges and future directions to foster knowledge on microbial ecology at the land-ocean interface

From Bismarck to Beveridge : the other pension reform in Spain

El envejecimiento de la población es un proceso imparable que continúa suponiendo un reto para la sostenibilidad del sistema de reparto de pensiones en la mayoría de los países desarrollados, incluida España. Gran parte de estos países necesitan llevar a cabo reformas en sus sistemas de pensiones para controlar su gasto y, en algunos casos, ya han empezado. Sin embargo, existen otros mecanismos que suponen cambios en parámetros del sistema, que al ser percibidos como secundarios por los ciudadanos no son apreciados como tal reforma. Este es el caso de modificaciones en los topes de las pensiones y de las bases de cotización y que en España se ha denominado, por parte de los expertos en pensiones, como la «Reforma silenciosa». El objetivo de este documento es analizar las implicaciones que este tipo de reforma tendría en el caso de España, siendo el primer trabajo que cuantifi ca y evalúa su potencial impacto en dicho país. Con este fin se ha empleado un modelo de proyección contable, con generaciones solapadas y agentes heterogéneos, de gastos del sistema de pensiones español hasta el año 2070. Los resultados obtenidos muestran que este tipo de reforma no solo tendría potencial para contener el gasto futuro, sino que también podría suponer un cambio en la naturaleza del sistema al ser capaz de convertir un sistema contributivo (o Bismarckiano) en otro de tipo asistencial (o Beveridge). Esto último podría tener importantes consecuencias, pues ambos sistemas persiguen objetivos distintos. En el documento también se pone de relieve que las características institucionales que hacen posible este tipo de reforma en España existen al mismo tiempo en la mayoría de los países desarrollados con sistemas de pensiones tipo Bismarckiano. Y por lo tanto, creemos que las lecciones aprendidas en este documento para el caso español podrían ser de utilidad para otros paísesAging is an unstoppable process and it remains a major challenge for the sustainability of the PAYG pension system in most developed countries, including in Spain. Many countries need to introduce reforms of their pension systems in order to control their expenditure, and in some cases this has already begun. However, there are other sorts of changes to certain parameters that are perceived as secondary, e.g. the different path of minimum and maximum pensions, and the upper and lower caps on contributions. This has signifi cant implications for the distributive structure of the social security system that cannot be readily perceived by the population. That is why some economists in Spain refer to it as the “Silent Reform”. The aim of this paper is to analyse the consequences this type of reform would have in Spainindeed, it is the fi rst paper to actually quantify and evaluate the potential impact it would have on the country. We have used an accounting model with heterogeneous agents and overlapping generations in order to project pension expenditures up until 2070. The results show that this kind of reform could potentially contain future expenditure and could also change the nature of the pension system from a contributory or Bismarckian-type system into an assistential or Beveridgean-type one. This change could have signifi cant consequences as both systems have different objectives. The paper also shows that the institutional characteristics that make this kind of reform in Spain feasible are also present in most developed countries with Bismarckian pension systems. Therefore, we believe that the lessons learned in this paper on this kind of reform could well prove useful to other countrie

Dilation-free graphs in the l1 metric

The dilation-free graph of a planar point set S is a graph that spans S in such a way that the distance between two points in the graph is no longer than their planar distance. Metrically speaking, those graphs are equivalent to complete graphs; however they have far fewer edges when considering the Manhattan distance (we give here an upper bound on the number of saved edges). This article provides several theoretical, algorithmic, and complexity features of dilation-free graphs in the l1-metric, giving several construction algorithms and proving some of their properties. Moreover, special attention is paid to the planar case due to its applications in the design of printed circuit boards

Impact of particle flux on the vertical distribution and diversity of size-fractionated prokaryotic communities in two East Antarctic polynyas

Antarctic polynyas are highly productive open water areas surrounded by ice where extensive phytoplankton blooms occur, but little is known about how these surface blooms influence carbon fluxes and prokaryotic communities from deeper waters. By sequencing the 16S rRNA gene, we explored the vertical connectivity of the prokaryotic assemblages associated with particles of three different sizes in two polynyas with different surface productivity, and we linked it to the magnitude of the particle export fluxes measured using thorium-234 (234Th) as particle tracer. Between the sunlit and the mesopelagic layers (700 m depth), we observed compositional changes in the prokaryotic communities associated with the three size-fractions, which were mostly dominated by Flavobacteriia, Alphaproteobacteria, and Gammaproteobacteria. Interestingly, the vertical differences between bacterial communities attached to the largest particles decreased with increasing 234Th export fluxes, indicating a more intense downward transport of surface prokaryotes in the most productive polynya. This was accompanied by a higher proportion of surface prokaryotic taxa detected in deep particle-attached microbial communities in the station with the highest 234Th export flux. Our results support recent studies evidencing links between surface productivity and deep prokaryotic communities and provide the first evidence of sinking particles acting as vectors of microbial diversity to depth in Antarctic polynyas, highlighting the direct influence of particle export in shaping the prokaryotic communities of mesopelagic waters

Sampling Device-Dependence of Prokaryotic Community Structure on Marine Particles: Higher Diversity Recovered by in situ Pumps Than by Oceanographic Bottles

10 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables, supplementary material https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2020.01645/full#supplementary-material.-- Data Availability Statement. The raw sequence data have been deposited in the Figshare data repository, together with the non-rarefied OTU table, the taxonomy table and the environmental data used in this study, 10.6084/m9.figshare.12333107Microbes associated with sinking marine particles play key roles in carbon sequestration in the ocean. The sampling of particle-attached microorganisms is often done with sediment traps or by filtration of water collected with oceanographic bottles, both involving a certain time lapse between collection and processing of samples that may result in changes in particle-attached microbial communities. Conversely, in situ water filtration through submersible pumps allows a faster storage of sampled particles, but it has rarely been used to study the associated microbial communities and has never been compared to other particle-sampling methods in terms of the recovery of particle microbial diversity. Here we compared the prokaryotic communities attached to small (1–53 μm) and large (>53 μm) particles collected from the mesopelagic zone (100–300 m) of two Antarctic polynyas using in situ pumps (ISP) and oceanographic bottles (BTL). Each sampling method retrieved largely different particle-attached communities, suggesting that they capture different kinds of particles. These device-driven differences were greater for large particles than for small particles. Overall, the ISP recovered 1.5- to 3-fold more particle-attached bacterial taxa than the BTL, and different taxonomic groups were preferentially recovered by each method. In particular, typical particle-attached groups such as Planctomycetes and Deltaproteobacteria recovered with ISP were nearly absent from BTL samples. Our results suggest that the method used to sample marine particles has a strong influence in our view of their associated microbial communitiesVP received funding from Edith Cowan University (G1003456) and from the School of Science at Edith Cowan University (G1003362) to support this work. CR-G and JG were supported by the grants CTM2015-70340-R and RTI2018-101025-B-I00 of the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities and by the Generalitat de Catalunya Consolidated Research Group 2017SGR/1568. PM acknowledges the support of the Generalitat de Catalunya (MERS 2017 SGR – 1588)With the funding support of the ‘Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence’ accreditation (CEX2019-000928-S), of the Spanish Research Agency (AEI)Peer reviewe

Global diversity and distribution of aerobic anoxygenic phototrophs in the tropical and subtropical oceans

The aerobic anoxygenic phototrophic (AAP) bacteria are common in most marine environments but their global diversity and biogeography remain poorly characterized. Here, we analyzed AAP communities across 113 globally-distributed surface ocean stations sampled during the Malaspina Expedition in the tropical and subtropical ocean. By means of amplicon sequencing of the pufM gene, a genetic marker for this functional group, we show that AAP communities along the surface ocean were mainly composed of members of the Halieaceae (Gammaproteobacteria), which were adapted to a large range of environmental conditions, and of different clades of the Alphaproteobacteria, which seemed to dominate under particular circumstances, such as in the oligotrophic gyres. AAP taxa were spatially structured within each of the studied oceans, with communities from adjacent stations sharing more taxonomic similarities. AAP communities were composed of a large pool of rare members and several habitat specialists. When compared to the surface ocean prokaryotic and picoeukaryotic communities, it appears that AAP communities display an idiosyncratic global biogeographical pattern, dominated by selection processes and less influenced by dispersal limitation. Our study contributes to the understanding of how AAP communities are distributed in the horizontal dimension and the mechanisms underlying their distribution across the global surface ocean.Versión del edito

From Bismarck to Beveridge: the other pension reform in Spain

Ageing is the major challenge for the PAYG pension systems in developed countries. Most of them are undergoing reforms in order to adapt to the new demographic reality. The package of reforms implemented includes increasing the retirement age, reducing the replacement rate, or introducing a sustainability factor linking pension to life expectancy. The aim of this paper is to analyse the potential consequences of a different type of reform that is at a very incipient stage in Spain but that could have a significant impact if it were fully implemented. This reform, called ‘silent reform’ because it is imperceptible to citizens in its early stages, basically consists in increasing maximum pensions in line with inflation instead of wage or productivity growth. This policy is reducing the replacement rate only for high earning workers and increasing the redistributive component of the system. This paper is the first to quantify and evaluate the potential consequences of this type of reform in Spain. We have used an accounting model with heterogeneous agents and overlapping generations in order to project pension expenditure for the next six decades. The results show that this type of reform could potentially contain future expenditure but at the cost of changing the nature of the pension system from a contributory or Bismarckian-type system into a pure redistributive pension system or Beveridgean-type one

Estatuto de Redacción de la Agencia EFE, medio publico e internacional

Spain’s state-owned news agency, Agencia EFE, is the first of the major international wire services to establish an Editorial Council and a Charter to assure the independence of its journalists. Herein, the process of creating the Council and draughting (o drafting, en EEUU) the Charter, which the authors believe introduces important differences and innovations with respect to others.La Agencia EFE, de titularidad pública, es la primera de las internacionales que se dota de un Consejo y Estatuto de Redacción para garantizar la independencia de sus periodistas. Aquí se cuenta el proceso de creación de ese Consejo y de redacción del texto base, que los autores consideran con importantes diferencias e innovaciones respecto a otros Estatuto

High growth potential of long-term starved deep ocean opportunistic heterotrophic bacteria

Experiments with bacteria in culture have shown that they often display “feast and famine” strategies that allow them to respond with fast growth upon pulses in resource availability, and enter a growth-arrest state when resources are limiting. Although feast responses have been observed in natural communities upon enrichment, it is unknown whether this blooming ability is maintained after long periods of starvation, particularly in systems that are energy limited like the bathypelagic ocean. Here we combined bulk and single-cell activity measurements with 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing to explore the response of a bathypelagic community, that had been starved for 1.6 years, to a sudden organic carbon supply. We observed a dramatic change in activity within 30 h, with leucine incorporation rates increasing over two orders of magnitude and the number of translationally active cells (mostly Gammaproteobacteria) increasing 4-fold. The feast response was driven by a single operational taxonomic unit (OTU) affiliated with the Marinobacter genus, which had remained rare during 7 months of starvation. Our work suggests that bathypelagic communities harbor a seed bank of highly persistent and resourceful “feast and famine” strategists that might disproportionally contribute to carbon fluxes through fast responses to occasional pulses of organic matter