Logical Implications of GASB’s Methodology for Valuing Pension Liabilities

It is well known that the funding status of state and local government defined benefit pension plans, as measured by the accounting methodology prescribed by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB), improves when the plans take on more investment risk. This paper documents several lesser known logical implications of the GASB methodology. In particular, I show that GASB accounting is susceptible to the “Yogi Berra fallacy,” under which a pizza is less filling when sliced into fewer pieces: GASB gives different “valuations” for the exact same assets and liabilities when they are partitioned differently among plans. Moreover, the marginal valuation of assets can be negative under GASB. In such cases a plan can improve its GASB funding status literally by burning money. Finally, I show that GASB’s methodology is exactly equivalent to fairly valuing plan liabilities, but accounting for stocks at more than twice their traded prices, and further crediting a plan an additional dollar for each dollar of stock that it intends to buy in the future.

Публичное красноречие и политическая власть в поздней Римской Республике

В книге освещается роль, которую играл публичный политический дискурс в процессе распределения власти между сенатом и народом в Риме эпохи поздней Республики. В противоположность сторонникам «олигархической» и «демократической» модели интерпретации государственно-политического устройства Рима этого периода, Роберт Морстейн-Маркс подчеркивает постоянное воспроизводство политической власти через массовую коммуникацию. В книге анализируется идеология республиканского публичного красноречия в институциональном и историческом контексте «народных сходок» (contiones), на которых заслушивались публичные речи. Исследуются конциональные речи (главным образом, Цицерона и Саллюстия) с использованием современных политических теорий и результатов эмпирических исследований общественного мнения и средств массовой коммуникации. This book highlights the role played by public, political discourse in shaping the distribution of power between Senate and People in the Late Roman Republic. Against the background of the debate between “oligarchical” and “democratic” interpretations of Republican politics, Robert Morstein-Marx emphasizes the perpetual negotiation and reproduction of political power through mass communication. The book analyses the ideology of Republican mass oratory and situates its rhetoric fully within the institutional and historical context of the public meetings (contiones) in which these speeches were heard. Examples of contional orations, drawn chiefly from Cicero and Sallust, are subjected to an analysis that is influenced by contemporary political theory and empirical studies of public opinion and the media, rooted in a detailed examination of key events and institutional structures, and illuminated by a vivid sense of the urban space in which the contio was set.Список сокращений: с. XIII-XIV. Ссылки: с. 288-305. Индекс: с. 306-313. Рецензию см., например: http://elar.uniyar.ac.ru/jspui/handle/123456789/1373

Bidder Collusion

Within the heterogeneous independent private values model, we analyze bidder collusion at first and second price single-object auctions, allowing for within-cartel transfers. Our primary focus is on (i) coalitions that contain a strict subset of all bidders and (ii) collusive mechanisms that do not rely on information from the auctioneer, such as the identity of the winner or the amount paid. To analyze collusion, a richer environment is required than that required to analyze non-cooperative behavior. We must account for the possibility of shill bidders as well as mechanism payment rules that may depend on the reports of cartel members or their bids at the auction. We show there are cases in which a coalition at a first price auction can produce no gain for the coalition members beyond what is attainable from non-cooperative play. In contrast, a coalition at a second price auction captures the entire collusive gain. For collusion to be effective at a first price auction we show that the coalition must submit two bids that are different but close to one another, a finding that has important empirical implicationsauctions, collusion, bidding rings, shill

Mutual Interference in the Microchemical Determination of Ore Minerals

The use of microchemical methods is spreading rapidly, both for the qualitative and quantitative determination of elements. Microchemistry offers a decided advantage over "bulk" methods, not only because of the greater speed with which the determinations can be carried out, but also because of the very small amounts of material required for a test. Microchemical methods are particularly valuable in determining the composition of the small inclusions in ores and metallurgical products. Most of the reagents used are sufficiently sensitive to show the presence of 0.005 per cent or less of the desired element. Needless to say, if such minute quantities of an element are to be identified, it is essential that the procedure of the test be carefully followed and the utmost caution taken that there is no pollution of the reagent or the test drop. Despite such care, it frequently happens that the test obtained is not wholly satisfactory. Either the color of the precipitate is unusual, the form is changed or entirely different, or sometimes no test is obtained when previous observations have indicated that the element should be present. When such changes occur-and they occur frequently, even in the hands of skilled technicians-the observer is never certain whether they are due to variations in the PH of the solution, concentration of reagent or solution, or to the presence of some interfering anion or cation. The first two variables can be controlled by proper attention to the procedure of the test; in many cases the last variable-presence of an interfering anion or cation-is beyond control. Often, much time could be saved by recognizing that a given variation in the precipitate is caused by the presence of another element. In fact, some of the interferences are as characteristic of the interfering element as any other known test. The presence of a variety of elements in the test drop is due either to a poor sample or to a complex mineral. A poor sample is obtained if the original area of the mineral or inclusion is too small. In this case, allowance can usually be made for the presence in the solution of elements of the host mineral, although their presence may cause notable interferences. Where the mineral varies in composition there may be no hint of the presence of elements, other than those expected in the mineral, until trouble is encountered in the testing.</p

Economic and Financial Approaches to Valuing Pension Liabilities

Financial economics holds that payment streams should be valued using discount rates that reflect the cash flows’ risks. In the case of pension liabilities, the appropriate discount rate for a pension fund’s liabilities is the expected rate of return on a portfolio that would be held under a liability-driven investment policy. The valuation of defined benefit (DB) pension obligations involves choices revolving around deciding 1) what future benefit payments to recognize today (i.e., which liability concept to use); and 2) from whose point of view to value the liabilities. Moving towards modeling the distribution of future liabilities using a “risk-neutral” framework would allow for calculating the present value of the future liabilities more accurately. This would provide policymakers with information more relevant for decisionmaking, and it would also permit easier communication of the risks facing the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation’s PIMS model via a single univariate statistic

Understanding The Relationship Between Moral Reasoning And Liberalism-Conservatism

This thesis aims to clarify the nature of the relationship between moral reasoning, as per the neo-Kohlbergian DIT approach of Rest and his colleagues, and liberalism-conservatism. Moral reasoning and liberalism-conservatism are consistently found to be related but the resultant interpretation that liberals are more moral-cognitively advanced than conservatives has been challenged by Emler and his colleagues who argue that the DIT is liberally biased. Subsequent research on this issue has produced a methodological quagmire that this thesis aims to proceed beyond. The specific aim of this thesis is to test several different (or competing) hypotheses purporting to explain the relationship between Kohlbergian moral reasoning and liberalism-conservatism. These are (1) that liberals are more morally advanced than conservatives; (2) that "advanced moral reasoning" is merely social presentation; (3) that moral reasoning is separately constrained by moral development and conservatism; (4) that moral development and liberalism represent distinct paths to postconventional reasoning preference; (5) that moral reasoning differences between liberals and conservatives are broader than usually thought; (6) that the political content of moral issues affects moral reasoning differences between liberals and conservatives; and (7) that moral reasoning instruments have exaggerated moral reasoning differences between liberals and conservatives. Study 1 found that a non-ipsative, indirect moral reasoning measure was correlated with liberalism-conservatism thus disconfirming hypotheses 2 and 7. Additionally, hypothesis 5 was not supported by several DIT findings. Opposing hypotheses 2 and 6, Study 2 found that a conservative version of the DIT was correlated with liberalism-conservatism although a potential methodological issue arose. Study 3 developed an objective measure of moral comprehension, broader in scope than previous moral comprehension measures, which demonstrated acceptable reliability and validity. Employing this measure, Study 4 found that moral comprehension and liberalism were weakly correlated and that they independently predicted moral reasoning, although their interaction did not. Together, these findings provide some support to hypotheses 1 and 4 but not hypotheses 3 and 6. Overall these findings reveal that liberals appear more moral-cognitively advanced than conservatives but, compared to conservatives, liberals appear to indicate preference for advanced moral reasoning earlier in their moral-cognitive development. This latter mechanism appears stronger and suggests that, although DIT scores are still somewhat reflective of moral-cognitive development, the DIT's estimate of liberals' moral-cognitive development is elevated. Future research can continue to explore these hypotheses (e.g., via longitudinal and/or "faking" studies) and, in so doing, further clarify the relationship between Kohlbergian moral reasoning and liberalism-conservatism