Social Security and Retirement during Transition: Microeconometric Evidence from Slovenia. ENEPRI Research Reports No. 57, 2 September 2008

This paper analyses old-age retirement decisions of Slovenian men and women eligible to retire in the period 1997-2003. In addition to established market economies, relatively high hazard rates of retirement are found, which decline with age. This peculiar pattern can be partly attributed to weak incentives to work inherent in the design of social security and is reflected in predominantly negative values of accruals and to transition-specific increases in wage inequality in the late 1980 and early 1990s. The authors also find that the probability of retirement increases with social security wealth and decreases with net wages, although the response to option value to work, with controlling for wage differences, is rather weak. The results also imply that less educated persons, persons with great private wealth and persons entitled to severance payment are more likely to retire

Rodent effects on shrubs in a Mojave Desert shrub community

The mounds created by many species of Dipodomys (kangaroo rats) are long-term modifications of the the soil chemical and physical environment which have been shown to increase both the diversity and abundance of annuals in the deserts of the Southwestern United States. I characterized shrub distribution and soil parameters on and off rodent mounds in a Coleogyne ramosissima community in Lucky Strike Canyon near Las Vegas, Nevada and performed several experiments to investigate rodent effects on seedlings and seeds of C. ramosissima. Rodent mounds were found to be long-term modifications of the soil physical and chemical environment which support a higher diversity of shrub species than the surrounding environment. Both rodent foraging activities and mound building play a role in maintaining shrub diversity in the C. ramosissima community at Lucky Strike Canyon

Predictors of role conflict, role ambiguity, and propensity to leave among academic department secretaries

The purpose of this study was to analyze the contribution of five factors as predictors of academic department secretaries\u27 role conflict, role ambiguity, and propensity to leave. The five predictor variables were: (1) secretaries\u27 decision participation level, (2) department chairpersons\u27 communication openness, (3) department chairpersons\u27 role conflict, (4) department chairpersons\u27 role ambiguity, and (5) secretaries\u27 length of service. In addition, the relationship between secretaries\u27 report of decision participation level and preferred decision participation level as well as the relationship between secretaries\u27 and department chairpersons\u27 communication openness were examined.;Using the Academic Department Secretary Questionnaire, an instrument developed by the author, data was collected from 121 secretaries at five four-year public institutions in Virginia. The three research questions were analyzed using the stepwise procedure of multiple regression analysis. The two subsidiary questions were analyzed using a t-test.;Each of the five predictor variables investigated was found to be statistically significant in at least one of the multiple regression equations. Department chairpersons\u27 communication openness was a significant factor in all three equations.;The two significant predictors of secretaries\u27 role conflict were chairpersons\u27 role conflict (r =.53) and chairpersons\u27 lack of communication openness (r =.37). The three significant predictors of secretaries\u27 role ambiguity were chairpersons\u27 lack of communication openness (r =.52), chairpersons\u27 role ambiguity (r =.48), and secretaries\u27 decision participation level (r =.43). The two significant predictors of secretaries\u27 propensity to leave were chairpersons\u27 lack of communication openness (r =.31) and secretaries\u27 length of service (r = {dollar}-{dollar}.25).;This study found a significant difference between secretaries\u27 decision participation level and preferred decision level (t = {dollar}-{dollar}6.17). It did not find a significant difference between secretaries\u27 and chairpersons\u27 communication openness.;After presenting its findings, this study offers suggestions and strategies for reducing the negative impact of these factors

Prevention in social security: Theory and policy consequences

Social Security;social security

The development of colonial health care provision in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire:ca. 1900–55

Colonial administrations introduced various social infrastructures in Africa. This paper analyses and compares the development of colonial governments' health care provision and policies in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire from circa 1900 to 1955. Using qualitative and quantitative information from colonial reports, a new dataset captures the development of four factors relevant to these aims: health care expenditures, health care facilities, medical staff, and patients. Deflated health care expenditures per capita were found to be higher in Ghana than in Côte d’Ivoire in almost all years. The number of health care facilities per capita was larger in Côte d’Ivoire than in Ghana, and facilities were more geographically dispersed. Ghana had a lower number of medical staff per capita than Côte d’Ivoire as of the 1920s. Medical staff from Côte d’Ivoire formed the majority of the staff base as early as the mid-1910s. Finally, the analysis shows that the number of patients treated in health care facilities in Ghana was low until the 1920s, and took off as more facilities became available during the 1940s. These findings provide evidence that even two countries that are relatively similar (apart from their colonial history) can have different colonial health care trajectories.</p