Social security reform, income disribution, fiscal policy, and capital accumulation

The author explores the effects a transition from a pay-as-you-go (PAYG) social security system to a fully funded system may have on income distribution, fiscal policy, and capital accumulation. The author presents a heterogeneous agent model developed to study the transition from a state-managed pay-as-you-go social security system to a privately managed fully funded system. He assumesthat agents can differ in their human capital endowments and in their access to the financial system. The author finds that, for some initial distributions, when access to the financial system is restricted for some individuals, income distribution may improve with privatization of the pension system. Where there is complete access to the financial system before reform, however, income distribution deteriorates in all cases. Regardless of the initial distributions, reform of the type described here increases the level of physical capital in the economy. But the increase will be larger the larger the fraction of the population composed of poor individuals, or the higher their level of human capital. The author also finds that different initial distributions will have different effects on the fiscal policy needed to finance reform. Similarly, different forms of reform financing will have different effects on intragenerational distribution. In the case in which government decides to maintain a constant level of debt, generations alive when the reform takes place will have lower lifetime earnings than those born after them. The author also finds that the taxes needed to pay for transitional workers'pensions will be higher when the fraction of the population with access to the financial system in the PAYG equilibrium is higher.Environmental Economics&Policies,Banks&Banking Reform,Payment Systems&Infrastructure,Economic Theory&Research,Fiscal&Monetary Policy,Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Banks&Banking Reform,Governance Indicators,International Terrorism&Counterterrorism

The Dynamics of the Transfer and Renewal of Patents

This paper explores a new dataset of transfers of patents recorded at the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The aim of the paper is twofold. First, a number of patterns are presented. For instance, the probability of a patent being traded monotonically decreases as a function of its age except at the renewal dates. Immediately after renewal, this probability discontinuously increases. Among patents of the same age, the probability of being traded and the probability of being renewed is increasing in the total number of citations received. Moreover, previously traded patents, and especially the recently traded, are more likely to be traded and less likely to be allowed to expire than patents not previously traded. Second, the paper extends Pakes and Schankerman\\'s patent renewal framework in order to develop a model of the transfer and renewal of patents. Two new key features of the model are motivated by the patterns documented: gains from reallocating patents to more productive firms and costs of adopting technology.Markets for Technology; Patents; Transfer of Patents

Using sounds and sonifications for astronomy outreach

Good astronomy pictures, like those of the HST, play an important and wellknown role in astronomy outreach, triggering curiosity and interest. This same aim can also be achieved by means of sounds. Here we present the use of astronomy-related sounds and data sonifications to be used in astronomy outreach. These sounds, which people are unlikely to hear in the normal course of things, are a good tool for stimulating interest when teaching astronomy. In our case, sounds are successfully used in ‘‘The sounds of science,’’ a weekend science-dissemination program heard on the principal national radio station, Radio Nacional de Espan˜a (RNE). But teachers can also easily make use of these sounds in the classroom, since only a simple cassette player is needed

How redeployable are patent assets? Evidence from failed startups

Entrepreneurial firms are important sources of patented inventions. Yet little is known about what happens to patents "released" to the market when startups fail. This study provides a first look at the frequency and speed with which patents originating from failed startups are redeployed to new owners, and whether the value of patents is tied to the original venture and team. The evidence is based on 1,766 U.S. patents issued to 285 venture capital-backed startups that disband between 1988 and 2008 in three innovation-intensive sectors: medical devices, semiconductors, and software. At odds with the view that the resale market for patented inventions is illiquid, we find that most patents from these startups are sold, are sold quickly, and remain "alive" through renewal fee payment long after the startups are shuttered. The patents tend to be purchased by other operating companies in the same sector, and retain value beyond the original venture and team. We do find, however, that the patents and people sometimes move jointly to a new organization following the dissolution of the original venture, and explore the conditions under which such co-movement is more likely. The study provides new evidence on a phenomenon-of active markets for buying and selling patents-underexplored in the strategy literature and consequential for both entrepreneurial and established firms.Accepted manuscrip

Re-Employment Probabilities for Spanish Men: What Role Does the Unemployment Benefit System Play?

We analyse the re-employment probabilities of almost 330,000 Spanish men aged 20-59 years who began a unemployment insurance (UI) spell between February 1987 and November 1991 using data derived from the national unemployment benefit administration database (SIPRE) and discrete time duration models with flexible baseline hazards. We show: (i) the level of UI benefits has a relatively small disincentive effect on re-employment rates; (ii) re-employment exit hazards increase as UI exhaustion approaches but, again, the effect is relatively small. (iii) Extensions to Unemployment Assistance eligibility lowered reemployment probabilities. Also (iv) there are clear seasonal and cyclical effects on reemployment rates, and (v) rates are much higher for those who enter UI from a fixed-term employment contract rather than permanent one, and (vi) for young workers. These results are consistent with other research drawing attention to the impact on unemployment of inflexibilities in Spanish labour market institutions, combined with low inter-regional mobility and reliance by many for support via their family.

Are the MCVL tax data useful? Ideas for mining

This article analyzes the tax data from the Spanish “Continuous Sample of Working life”, which contains an overview for each fiscal year of all income tax withholdings and prepayments on earned income, economic activities and income assignments of salaried workers, pensioners and recipients of unemployment benefits. To that end, we present the characteristics of these data; we provide a detailed statistical description for the years 2004-2009, linked to information from personal files and those of contributors to the Spanish social security system; and we highlight the opportunities for analysis of some issues related to the labour market and income distribution.tax data, MCVl, income, labour market, panel dat

The influence of previous labour market experiences on subsequent job tenure

The aim of this paper is to analyse the influence of individual’s previous labour market experiences on the duration of subsequent job matches in the Spanish labour market. The study draws on a sample of workers extracted from a Spanish administrative dataset. We find evidence on the existence of a scarring effect: the longer the time spent in non-employment since previous job separation, the shorter the duration of subsequent re-employment relationships. Other result is that workers whose previous job match terminated due to the ending of a temporary contract are very likely to come back to employment under another temporary job and have a higher probability of job termination. The exhaustion of unemployment benefits also seems to exert a scarring effect on job duration.job tenure, job separations, non-employment, employment.

As Elites em Angola, A Informalização do Poder e a Invenção da Tradição

Pretendemos na nossa comunicação trabalhar duas categorias que habitualmente estão associadas à estrutura das sociedades tradicionais africanas e que num contexto contemporâneo são utilizados como instrumentos de manipulação política na formação das élites e seus grupos de interesses, num processo que chamaremos de informal, e por isso não passam pelos processos institucionais. São elas: os casamentos de aliança e suas estratégias familiares determinando quais os casamentos que possiveis entre individuos que transitem de regiões diferentes, de grupos étnicos diferentes ou de partidos políticos rivais e que desta maneira conduzam à inclusão de actores estranhos ao espaço social e/ou político a que tem acesso. A outra categoria refere-se à distinção entre mais velhos e mais novos como controle do poder dentro dos grupos de interesse, seja na guerrilha, na sociedade civil ou dentro dos partidos

Microfinance institutions and efficiency

Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) are special financial institutions. They have both a social nature and a for-profit nature. Their performance has been traditionally measured by means of financial ratios. The paper uses a Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach to efficiency to show that ratio analysis does not capture DEA efficiency.Special care is taken in the specification of the DEA model. We take a methodological approach based on multivariate analysis. We rank DEA efficiencies under different models and specifications; e.g., particular sets of inputs and outputs. This serves to explore what is behind a DEA score. The results show that we can explain MFIs efficiency by means of four principal components of efficiency, and this way we are able to understand differences between DEA scores. It is shown that there are country effects on efficiency; and effects that depend on Non-governmental Organization (NGO)/non-NGO status of the MFI