Pension Systems in the EU — Some Policy Issues

Intereconomics - To what extent a pension system can be judged fair given structural differences in life expectancy across socioeconomic groups is not straightforward and will depend on the exact...     

Diagnostic and lifetime hospital costs of patients suffering from wild-type transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy in Denmark

Abstract

Aims

Wild-type transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy (ATTRwt) is a fast progressing and fatal disease associated with substantial delays in diagnosis. Between the first symptoms and diagnosis, patients are frequently hospitalized, primarily with cardiac symptoms. After diagnosis, patients continue to experience frequent hospital admissions. The objective of this study was to estimate the Danish diagnostic and lifetime hospital costs associated with the treatment of patients with ATTRwt both before and after they are diagnosed.     

On systematic mortality risk and risk-minimization with survivor swaps

A new market for so-called mortality derivatives is now appearing with survivor swaps (also called mortality swaps), longevity bonds and other specialized solutions. The development of these new financial instruments is triggered by the increased focus on the systematic mortality risk inherent in life insurance contracts, and their main focus is thus to allow the life insurance companies to hedge their systematic mortality risk. At the same time, this new class of financial contract is interesting from an investor's point of view, since it increases the possibility for an investor to diversify the investment portfolio. The systematic mortality risk stems from the uncertainty related to the future development of the mortality intensities. Mathematically, this uncertainty is described by modeling the underlying mortality intensities via stochastic processes. We consider two different portfolios of insured lives, where the underlying mortality intensities are correlated, and study the combined financial and mortality risk inherent in a portfolio of general life insurance contracts. In order to hedge this risk, we allow for investments in survivor swaps and derive risk-minimizing strategies in markets where such contracts are available. The strategies are evaluated numerically.     

Hybrid scheme for Brownian semistationary processes

We introduce a simulation scheme for Brownian semistationary processes, which is based on discretizing the stochastic integral representation of the process in the time domain. We assume that the kernel function of the process is regularly varying at zero. The novel feature of the scheme is to approximate the kernel function by a power function near zero and by a step function elsewhere. The resulting approximation of the process is a combination of Wiener integrals of the power function and a Riemann sum, which is why we call this method a hybrid scheme. Our main theoretical result describes the asymptotics of the mean square error of the hybrid scheme, and we observe that the scheme leads to a substantial improvement of accuracy compared to the ordinary forward Riemann-sum scheme, while having the same computational complexity. We exemplify the use of the hybrid scheme by two numerical experiments, where we examine the finite-sample properties of an estimator of the roughness parameter of a Brownian semistationary process and study Monte Carlo option pricing in the rough Bergomi model of Bayer et al. (Quant. Finance 16:887–904, 2016), respectively.     

Regulating the European Sharing Economy: State of Play and Challenges

The past years have seen an extraordinary proliferation of sharing economy platforms, and the largest platforms have fast become global enterprises with market capitalisations that exceed competitors with “traditional” business concepts. These developments call into question a number of regulatory matters and pose new questions for national and European-level regulators.     

Slowing down Social Europe? The struggle over work and employment regulation

The present article discusses whether the strengthening of the regulation‐sceptical actors during the 2000s has affected the scope and content of EU‐level regulation in two work‐and‐employment‐related areas, and the role coalitions have played in the decision‐making processes. In the employee involvement area, the pro‐regulation forces still appeared able to get new regulation adopted and to prevent unwanted regulation from being adopted. In the employment policy area, a few examples of successful attempts by the regulation‐sceptical actors to slow down Social Europe were found, but these were fewer than could be expected. One explanation for this relatively weak impact might be that the Commission's search for legitimacy in order to be re‐elected functions as an ‘automatic stabiliser’. Contrary to studies of previous processes, no solid coalitions were found in any of the cases analysed, although several actors took positions as expected.     

Integration of Refugees: Lessons from Bosnians in Five EU Countries

In this study, we reviewed the integration experience of Bosnian refugees displaced during the Bosnian war in the early 1990s. We compare reception conditions among the five Western European countries that played host to the majority of refugees at the time and track their labour market experience as well as, to the extent possible, education outcomes of second generation Bosnians.     

Labour mobility in the EU: Dynamics,patterns and policies

The continued economic crisis has become a major test for the labour markets of individual member states. Labour mobility within the European Union has the potential to help to reduce labour market pressures and ease economic imbalances. However, a long-term loss of working age population can be detrimental to sending countries. This Forum explores mobility patterns within the European Union and analyses the labour market and welfare effects of labour mobility via case studies of the UK, Poland, Germany and Spain. It also examines a number of its aspects that have important political and institutional relevance for the European Union and its future.