Endogenous retirement and public pension system reform in Spain

All around the world , developed countries have resorted to parametric reforms of their Social Security systems, in an attempt to lessen the impact of the population aging. In particular, pension formulae have been modified to reduce the generosity of the systems and to induce longer working careers. In this paper we explore the capacity of these reforms to alleviate the expected financial difficulties of current PAYG systems. This is accomplished by developing and Heterogeneous Agents, Applied General Equilibrium model where individuals can freely adjust their retirement ages in response to the incentives provided by the pension regulations. This inclusion is relevant, as parametric changes tend to significantly alter retirement incentives. We find that the calibrated model successfully reproduces the basic stylized facts of retirement behavior in Spain. In particular, it mimics the early retirement pattern of low income workers under the effects of minimum pensions. The model is then used to explore the effects of several changes in pension formula, including the reform actually implemented in 1997. The general conclusion is that parametric changes can significantly improve the financial condition of the system, but are far away from being able to fully restoring it

New Mexico: Round 1 - State-Level Field Network Study of the Implementation of the Affordable Care Act

This report is part of a series of 21 state and regional studies examining the rollout of the ACA. The national network -- with 36 states and 61 researchers -- is led by the Rockefeller Institute of Government, the public policy research arm of the State University of New York, the Brookings Institution, and the Fels Institute of Government at the University of Pennsylvania.New Mexico is no longer one of the key battleground states as it has moved more Democratic in recent presidential races, a trend driven by Latino population growth and a shift to the Democratic Party among that population. During the 2013 legislative session, Senate Bill 221 passed and authorized the establishment of a state-run New Mexico Health Insurance Exchange (NMHIX). On March 28, 2013, the governor signed Senate Bill 221 into law. Another major ACA-related decision involved Medicaid. Given the aggressive opposition from other Republican governors to the ACA, Martínez surprised some observers when she announced in early 2013 that New Mexico would expand Medicaid as long as the federal government provided the funding for the initial expansion

Demographic change, pension reform and redistribution in Spain

Recent demographic changes have spurred pension reforms aimed at restoring the financial sustainability of PAYG systems. In Spain, the most significant reforms were undertaken in 1997 and in 2002, entailing an increase in the length of the averaging period in the pension formula, an increase in the penalties for early retirement and for retirement with short contributive records, a bonus for retirement after the age of 65, and a change in the eligibility conditions. In this paper we use an Applied General Equilibrium model populated by two-earners households to evaluate the redistributive impact of the pension system and the financial and welfare consequences of these reforms on households that differ in their education, region of residence and year of birth. The initial redistribution is assessed by comparing the internal rate of return provided to different households. We find that they vary considerable depending on education and cohort. Regarding the reforms, we find an increase in the implicit debt of the pension system after the reforms, and important changes in welfare. Households up to secondary education born between 1935 and 1975 are predicted to benefit from the reform, while the welfare of younger cohorts will be hit by higher taxes and unfavorable macroeconomic changes.Social Security, Pension Reform, Applied General Equilibrium, Redistribution

A new Megatheriinae skull (Xenarthra, Tardigrada) from the pliocene of northern venezuela – Implications for a giant sloth dispersal to central and North America

A skull of a ground sloth from the Pliocene San Gregorio Formation documents a northern neotropical occurrence of a megatheriine that addresses issues on intraspecific variation and biogeography. The new specimen is broadly similar in size and morphology to that of Proeremotherium eljebe from the underlying Codore Formation in the Urumaco Sequence, differing in several features such as a longer basicranial area and a more posteriorly projected basioccipital between the condyles. The living sloths species of Bradypus and Choloepus do not have unequivocal anatomical features that indicate sexual dimorphism. Nevertheless, fossil sloths may have shown such dimorphism, and speculations on this subject are part of the considerations that can be made when allocating fragmentary fossils (e.g., in the new skull the presence of a long sagittal crest could indicate a male individual and the absence of an extended crest in Proeremotherium eljebe a female one). We speculate that as early as the late middle Miocene, two main lines of Megatheriinae had clearly separated in two geographic areas, one in the rising Andean area and one at low latitudes on the lowlands of central and northern South America.Fil: Carlini, Alfredo Armando. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Departamento Científico de Paleontología de Vertebrados; ArgentinaFil: Brandoni, Diego. Provincia de Entre Ríos. Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción. Universidad Autónoma de Entre Ríos. Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción; ArgentinaFil: Sánchez, Rodolfo. Museo Paleontológico de la Alcaldia de Urumaco; VenezuelaFil: Sánchez Villagra, Marcelo R.. Universitat Zurich; Suiz

Exact stationary solutions of the parametrically driven and damped nonlinear Dirac equation

Two exact stationary soliton solutions are found in the parametrically driven and damped nonlinear Dirac equation. The parametric force considered is a complex ac force. The solutions appear when their frequencies are locked to half the frequency of the parametric force, and their phases satisfy certain conditions depending on the force amplitude and on the damping coe cient. Explicit expressions for the charge, the energy, and the momentum of these solutions are provided. Their stability is studied via a variational method using an ansatz with only two collective coordinates. Numerical simulations con rm that one of the solutions is stable, while the other is an unstable saddle point. Consequently, the stabilization of damped Dirac solitons can be achieved via time-periodic parametric excitations.Junta de Andalucía and Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad of Spain FIS2017-89349-PMinisterio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades of Spain PGC2018-093998-BI0