NDC v FDC: Pros, cons and replication

This paper examines the advantages and disadvantages of non-financial defined contribution (NDC) pension plans relative to financial defined contribution (FDC) pension plans. It also shows how an NDC outcome can be replicated in a FDC framework.Non-financial defined contribution; Financial defined contribution

Analytical electron microscopy of biogenic and inorganic carbonates

In the terrestrial sedimentary environment, the mineralogically predominant carbonates are calcite-type minerals (rhombohedral carbonates) and aragonite-type minerals (orthorhombic carbonates). Most common minerals precipitating either inorganically or biogenically are high magnesium calcite and aragonite. High magnesium calcite (with magnesium carbonate substituting for more than 7 mole percent of the calcium carbonate) is stable only at temperatures greater than 700 C or thereabouts, and aragonite is stable only at pressures exceeding several kilobars of confining pressure. Therefore, these carbonates are expected to undergo chemical stabilization in the diagenetic environment to ultimately form stable calcite and dolomite. Because of the strong organic control of carbonate deposition in organisms during biomineralization, the microchemistry and microstructure of invertebrate skeletal material is much different than that present in inorganic carbonate cements. The style of preservation of microstructural features in skeletal material is therefore often quite distinctive when compared to that of inorganic carbonate even though wholesale recrystallization of the sediment has taken place. Microstructural and microchemical comparisons are made between high magnesium calcite echinoderm skeletal material and modern inorganic high magnesium calcite inorganic cements, using analytical electron microscopy and related techniques. Similar comparisons are made between analogous materials which have undergone stabilization in the diagenetic environment. Similar analysis schemes may prove useful in distinguishing between biogenic and inorganic carbonates in returned Martian carbonate samples

ZEKE-PFI spectroscopy of 1:1 complexes of sodium with water and ammonia

ZEKE-PFI (zero kinetic energy pulsed field ionization) photoelectron spectra of the Na(H_2O), Na(D_2O), Na(NH_3), and Na(ND_3) complexes are reported. Spectra of all four complexes were obtained by single-photon ionization, and, for the Na(NH_3) and Na(ND_3) complexes, by two-color (1 + 1′) photoionization as well, with the Ã^2E state serving as the intermediate resonance. Improved values for the ionization energies (IE) and intermolecular vibrational frequencies of the complexes were determined. The single-photon ZEKE-PFI spectra show transitions only between states of the same vibrational symmetry, in accord with the selection rule for allowed electronic transitions. Some of the two-color ZEKE-PFI spectra, however, show strong transitions between states of different vibrational symmetry which we attribute to vibronic coupling in the intermediate state

Spend more today: Using behavioural economics to improve retirement expenditure decisions

This paper examines how behavioural economics can be used to improve the expenditure decisions of retirees. It identifies how accumulated assets can be used optimally throughout retirement to produce life-long income when required, to make provision for contingencies – such as unanticipated spikes in expenditure – and to optimize the size and timing of bequests. We do this using a SPEEDOMETER (or Spending Optimally Throughout Retirement) retirement expenditure plan which employs defaults within a choice architecture. At its simplest, the plan involves just four key behavioural nudges: (1) First, make a plan – ideally with, but if necessary without, an adviser; (2) automatic phasing of annuitization which is designed to tackle the aversion to large irreversible transactions and losing control of assets and so allows the greatest possible degree of flexibility in managing the run-down of retirement assets; (3) capital protection in the form of ‘money-back’ annuities which deals with loss aversion, i.e., the fear of losing your money if you die early; and (4) the slogan ‘spend more today’ which utilizes hyperbolic discounting to satisfy the human trait of wanting jam today and to reinforce the idea that ‘buying an annuity is a smart thing to do’.Behavioural economics; Retirement; Annuities