Social Security and Well-Being of the Elderly: the Case of France

We use the 1982 and 1993 reforms of the French pension system in the private sector to study the relationship between Social Security benefits and the well-being of the elderly between the late 70s and the beginning of the new century. Affecting people in a different way, depending on year of birth, gender or socio-economic status, these reforms provide some sources of identification to estimate the effect of benefit changes on the standard of living of elderly families. To avoid spurious correlation or endogeneity problems in the determination of the impact of Social Security benefits on well-being we compute simulated social security payments and compare their evolution to various measures of well-being based on income, consumption, poverty, inequality or life satisfaction for both elderly and non-elderly families. We then focus on the 1982 and 1993 reforms. Our estimations conclude to a general increase in income, consumption and subjective well-being. However, a one euro increases in simulated benefit does not induce a one euro increase in after tax income (except at the top of the distribution), which shows some substitution between the different sources of income available for the elderly households. Estimation of difference in difference models to evaluate the impact on income and consumption of the 1982 and 1993 reforms underlines that it may exist asymmetry in the substitution effect between the different sources of income of the elderly depending on the sign of the change in generosity of the pension reforms.Retirement policies, Income, Poverty

Cooperation with Zimbabwe

Abstract not available

Displacement in post-war Southern Sudan: survival and accumulation within urban perimeters

This paper is about Southern Sudanese IDPs and refugees who, after the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, chose not to return to their areas of origin, but instead to resettle elsewhere. Rather than exploring the push and pull factors of this decision, this paper documents the ways in which they have organised their lives in their places of post-war resettlement. More particularly, it explores their selfemployment strategies in an institutional context characterised by weak state regulation and high reliance on self-governance institutions, especially social networks. One observation in particular intrigued us: the fact that some displaced were more successful than others in making a living in their places of resettlement. Consequently, uncovering why some individuals and groups were wealthier than others inspired and structured the research. In order to understand the difference between “networks of survival” and “networks of accumulation” – a twin phrase we borrowed from Meagher (2006) – it was imperative to comprehend the economy as a political terrain and to explore the structural position of groups. To this end it was necessary to complement a social capital perspective with a political economy approach

Quand la lecture d'images fixes permet de questionner le réel : s'interroger sur la déforestation au cycle 3

Les problématiques environnementales et sociales liées à la gestion des forêts sont multiples et sont au cœur de nombreux débats de notre société. Or, l'école est chargée de former les futurs citoyens de demain, elle se doit donc de donner à ses élèves les outils nécessaires pour comprendre les multiples enjeux de ces problématiques. La déforestation étant un phénomène difficilement observable directement en classe, l'utilisation d'images pour susciter un questionnement chez les élèves peut apparaître comme un dispositif didactique pertinent. Toutefois, il convient de s'interroger sur les types d'images et les types d'utilisations qu'il faut en faire pour permettre aux élèves d'entrer dans les apprentissages. Le raisonnement à partir d'illustrations de paysages de l'album de jeunesse Mama Miti, la mère des arbres de Claire A. Nivola a permis aux élèves de s'approprier les problématiques liées à la déforestation. Cependant, le recours à la lecture de photographies aériennes de paysages de déforestation a été nécessaire pour concrétiser ces problématiques

Pensions in the French public sector: projections up to 2040 with the DESTINIE microsimulation model

The microsimulation model Destinie developed at INSEE is a privileged tool to assess the effect of pension schemes reforms since it projects the evolution of a representative sample of the French population up to 2040. Up to now, the model was exclusively devoted to the projection of pensions for wage earners in the private sector. A new module has been developed to project pensions for public sector employees. After having described this module, and the results it provides in projection by 2040, this paper presents its application to the simulation of the macroeconomic impacts of the French reform of 2003. Results that are obtained are consistent with other results already published: a decrease in the number of pensioners amounting to approximately 400.000 people in the long run, and a total burden of pensions reduced by about 19%.Pension system, microsimulation, Destinie, public sector, 2003 reform

Simulation of Laser Beam Propagation With a Paraxial Model in a Tilted Frame

We study the Schr\"odinger equation which comes from the paraxial approximation of the Helmholtz equation in the case where the direction of propagation is tilted with respect to the boundary of the domain. In a first part, a mathematical analysis is made which leads to an analytical formula of the solution in the simple case where the refraction index and the absorption coefficients are constant. Afterwards, we propose a numerical method for solving the initial problem which uses the previous analytical expression. Numerical results are presented. We also sketch an extension to a time dependant model which is relevant for laser plasma interaction

Livelihoods, conflict and aid programming: Is the evidence base good enough?

In conflict-affected situations, aid-funded livelihood interventions are often tasked with a dual imperative: to generate material welfare benefits and to contribute to peacebuilding outcomes. There may be some logic to such a transformative agenda, but does the reality square with the rhetoric? Through a review of the effectiveness of a range of livelihood promotion interventions—from job creation to microfinance—this paper finds that high quality empirical evidence is hard to come by in conflict-affected situations. Many evaluations appear to conflate outputs with impacts and numerous studies fail to include adequate information on their methodologies and datasets, making it difficult to appraise the reliability of their conclusions. Given the primary purpose of this literature—to provide policy guidance on effective ways to promote livelihoods— this silence is particularly concerning. As such, there is a strong case to be made for a restrained and nuanced handling of such interventions in conflict-affected settings.Department for International Development - PO511