The Effects of Mandating Benefits Packages

[Excerpt] The purpose of this paper is to inform policymakers and the public about the potential labor market consequences of government mandating of employee benefits. Both theoretical and empirical economic arguments for and against benefit mandating are presented and assessed. In view of the continuing policy debate over health care and parental leave, these two areas are the focus of special attention in the discussion below

Bank Certificates of Deposit: Notes Not in Tune with Securities Regulation

This Note analyzes the legislative history of the Securities Act of 1933, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and the Banking Act of 1933 to ascertain whether Congress may have intended to include modern instruments such as high-yield time deposit savings certificates - items utilized today as alternative investment vehicles to minimize the effects of double digit inflation and interest rates. This Note examines the split among the circuits which have attempted to reconcile statutory language and congressional intent with the practicalities of the modern complex financial marketplace in determining whether promissory notes, including certificates of deposit, are securities. This Note concludes that Congress did not intend to cover certificates of deposit within the scope of the securities acts. Furthermore, in view of the potential over-regulation of the banking industry, courts should not stretch the statutory definition of a security to afford an additional jurisdictional means for aggrieved certificate holders to be heard before the federal bench

Careers advisors’ opinion of the College of Occupational Therapists Careers Video

Using a mixed methodology, this study investigated the effectiveness of the College of Occupational Therapists’ careers video in increasing the knowledge of six careers advisers about the profession and obtained their views of the video as a promotional tool. To quantify the advisers’ knowledge, a pre-test post-test questionnaire was used before and after viewing the video. A short qualitative interview then ascertained their impressions of the video. Despite a high baseline knowledge, viewing the video was effective in increasing it. The advisers had mixed opinions about the video, suggesting that it could be improved and clarified

Reforming Social Security and Social Safety Net Programs in Developing Countries

[Excerpt] Developing country governments around the world, as well as the development agencies advising them, have become increasingly alarmed about the cost of social security systems and social safety net programs and economic inefficiencies resulting from these programs\u27 operation. Taken together, both social security and safety net programs may be jointly referred to as economic security programs . In this paper we identify the main sources of economic insecurity facing developing country populations, highlight the ways in which existing social safety net and social security programs meet (or fail to meet) these risks, and draw out some high-priority reforms required to help such programs meet the challenges of the 1990s and beyond. Finally, we enumerate several steps that international agencies could take which would dramatically enhance the environment in which these reforms are carried out

Effects of Social Security Reforms: An Empirical Life Cycle Model for the United States

[Excerpt] The system of publicly-provided old age pensions, known in the United States as Social Security, faces serious financial difficulties. As in other countries, the problems are of both a short run and a long run nature. The short run problem is that the U.S. Social Security system has very meager financial reserves; the revenues coming into the system are barely enough to cover commitments. In the long run (i.e., after 2010, when the post World War II baby boom generation reaches retirement age), the financial problems of Social Security will intensify, due primarily to population aging and the consequent decline in the ratio of workers to retirees. For an elaboration of these problems, see Thompson, 1983. These problems have led to proposed reforms aimed at assuring the financial stability of the systems. The question addressed here is: what effects will these reforms have on three variables - retirement ages, retirement incomes, and the Social Security system. This paper presents estimates of the effects of four actual or proposed policy changes. The basic model and some of the estimated effects are drawn from previous work; see Fields and Mitchell (1984) and the references cited therein. However, the estimates presented here of the effects of Social Security reforms on the Social Security system itself are new

Estimating the Effects of Changing Social Security Benefit Formulas

[Excerpt] The U.S. Social Security system faces serious financial difficulties in both the short and the long run. The short-run problem is that the system has very meager financial reserves. In the long run—after the year 2010, when the post-World-War-II baby-boom generation reaches retirement age—the financial problems of Social Security will intensify because of population aging and the consequent decline in the ratio of workers to retirees. These problems have led to proposed reforms aimed at assuring the financial stability of the system. The question addressed here is: what effects would these reforms have on three variables—retirement ages, retirement incomes, and the Social Security system? This paper highlights the estimated effects of four actual or proposed policy changes. The basic model and some of the effects are drawn from previous work. However, the estimates of the effects of Social Security reforms on the Social Security system itself are new