The abolition of the earnings rule for UK pensioners

The US has legislated to abolish its social security earnings test. A priori it is not possible to predict the effect this will have on work incentives. Using data from the Family Expenditure Survey we show that the abolition of the earnings rule in the UK increased the number of hours worked by men. The lack of any evidence of a reduction in hours may be a consequence of those who previously earned more than the earnings threshold deferring pension receipt at an actuarially favourable rate. This is consistent with there being little evidence of a significant change in the number of deferrals after the earnings rule was abolished

Tax reform and retirement saving incentives: evidence from the introduction of stakeholder pensions in the UK

Faced with ageing populations, OECD governments are seeking policies to increase individual retirement saving. In April 2001, the UK government introduced Stakeholder Pensions – a low cost retirement saving vehicle. The reform also changed the structure of tax-relieved contribution ceilings, increasing their generosity for lower earning individuals. We examine the impact of these changes on private pension coverage and on contributions to personal pension accounts using individual level micro data. We use a difference-in-differences strategy, and where necessary our estimator is modified to allow for dichotomous outcomes. The results suggest that the change to the contribution ceilings affected both coverage rates and contributions to private pensions among lower earnings individuals, especially among women, and those in couples

SOC-DS computer code provides tool for design evaluation of homogeneous two-material nuclear shield

SOC-DS Code /Shield Optimization Code-Direc Search/, selects a nuclear shield material of optimum volume, weight, or cost to meet the requirments of a given radiation dose rate or energy transmission constraint. It is applicable to evaluating neutron and gamma ray shields for all nuclear reactors

The value of teachers' pensions

As private sector employers have moved away from providing final salary defined benefit (DB) pensions to their employees, attention has increasingly focused on the public sector's continued provision of such pensions and the value of these pension promises to public sector employees. The estimated underlying liabilities of such plans have increased sharply in recent years, at least in part due to unanticipated increases in longevity. This has led to reforms of all the major public sector pension schemes, the net result of which has been to reduce the level of benefits offered by the schemes (predominantly to new, rather than existing members). This paper examines, in the context of the Teachers' Pension Scheme (TPS), how much the pension promises are worth and what effect the change in scheme rules has had on them. This paper also addresses a number of other issues that are important when valuing DB pension rights and their relation to overall remuneration. First, how increases in current pay feed through into pension values. Second, how the age profile of earnings affects the profile of pension accrual. Finally, how the value of pension rights in DB schemes compares to that in a stylised defined contribution (DC) scheme. The figures presented in this paper relate specifically to the composition of members and the specific scheme rules of the TPS. However, the issues raised apply equally to other DB schemes, both public and private sector

Nuclear rocket shielding methods, modification, updating, and input data preparation. Volume 4 - One-dimensional, discrete ordinates transport technique Final progress report

One dimensional, discrete ordinates transport technique for use with nuclear rocket shielding methods, modification, updating, and data input preparation - Vol.

Ill-health and retirement in Britain: a panel data-based analysis

We examine the role of ill-health in retirement decisions in Britain, using the first eight waves of the British Household Panel Survey (1991-98). As self-reported health status is likely to be endogenous to the retirement decision, we instrument self-reported health by a constructed ‘health stock’ measure using a set of health indicator variables and personal characteristics, as suggested by Bound et al (1999). Using both linear and non-linear fixed effects estimators, we show that adverse individual health shocks are an important predictor of individual retirement behaviour. We compare the impact of our constructed health measure on economic activity with that arising from the use of other health variables in the data set. We also examine the impact of the 1995 reform of disability benefits on the retirement decision

What is a public sector pension worth?

We measure accruals in defined benefit (DB) pension plans for public and private sector workers in Britain, using typical differences in scheme rules and sector-specific lifetime age-earnings profiles by sex and educational group. We show not just that coverage by DB pension plans is greater in the public sector, but that median pension accruals as a % of salary are almost 5% higher among DB-covered public sector workers than covered private sector workers. This is largely driven by earlier normal pension (retirement) ages. For workers of different ages in the two sectors, marginal accruals also vary as a result of differences in earnings profiles across the sectors. The differences in earnings profiles across sectors should induce caution in using calculated coefficients on wages from cross sections of data in order to estimate sectoral wage effects

Implementation of radiation shielding calculation methods. Volume 1: Synopsis of methods and summary of results

The work performed in the following areas is summarized: (1) Analysis of Realistic nuclear-propelled vehicle was analyzed using the Marshall Space Flight Center computer code package. This code package includes one and two dimensional discrete ordinate transport, point kernel, and single scatter techniques, as well as cross section preparation and data processing codes, (2) Techniques were developed to improve the automated data transfer in the coupled computation method of the computer code package and improve the utilization of this code package on the Univac-1108 computer system. (3) The MSFC master data libraries were updated