Mortality Inequality in Finland*

We study inequality in mortality in Finland using registry data that cover the whole population for years 1990–2018. We create municipality‐level indices of regional deprivation (poverty rate), and show how age‐specific mortality rates have evolved across regions and over time. The inequality in mortality has been remarkably low over the time period for most age groups. However, among young and prime‐age males, the mortality rates have been persistently higher in the poorer areas. For these age groups, the leading causes of death are deaths of despair (alcohol and suicides) and accidents. For the cohorts that were young during the deep recession of the early 1990s, we also document higher inequality in middle‐age mortality than for cohorts entering the labour market in recovery periods.     

Mortality Inequality in the Czech Republic*

We examine the evolution of mortality and mortality inequality among the 77 districts of the Czech Republic ranked by a new poverty index, from 1994 to 2016. The country experienced dramatic improvements in mortality for all age categories and both genders, but with very little variation in inequality. Inequality in mortality has remained substantially stable, increasing only for females aged 20–64.     

Inequality in Mortality in Spain*

We analyse the evolution of mortality rates in Spain by age and gender between 1990 and 2018. We compare municipalities, ranked by socio‐economic status (SES) and grouped into bins of similar population size, to study changes not only in levels but also in inequality in mortality across the SES spectrum. We document large decreases in mortality rates throughout the period for all age groups, including children, even after 2000, and continuing after the Great Recession. These declines are stronger for boys and men, who had higher mortality rates to begin with. We find that inequality in mortality across municipalities was low among the young by 2018, while it was higher among adult men and older women. Inequality in fact increased over the period for older men. We explore the role of different causes of death and find that this increase in inequality is driven by stronger improvements in cancer‐related mortality among men living in richer areas. These improvements are not found among women, given their increases in mortality due to lung cancer.     

Income Inequality and Mortality: A Norwegian Perspective*

While Norway has experienced income growth accompanied by a large decline in mortality during the past several decades, little is known about the distribution of these improvements in longevity across the income distribution. Using municipality‐level income and mortality data, we show that the stark income gradient in infant mortality across municipalities in the 1950s mostly closed in the late 1960s. However, the income gradient in mortality for older age categories across municipalities persisted until 2010 and only flattened thereafter. Further, the infant mortality gap between rich and poor Norwegian families based on individual‐level data persisted several decades longer than the gap between rich and poor municipalities and only finally closed in the early 21st century.     

Mortality Inequality in England over the Past 20 Years*

In this paper, we study the evolution of age‐group‐ and gender‐specific mortality and mortality inequality in England between 2003 and 2016, by comparing small geographic areas ranked by deprivation and grouped into bins of similar population size. We show that across all age groups, but especially in the older age groups (65+), there has been a clear and significant reduction in rates of mortality since 2003. In spite of these improvements, we continue to see significant inequalities in mortality across most age groups in 2016 and evidence of rising inequalities among women in the 65+ and men in the 80+ age groups. Furthermore, we see a striking stalling of the downwards trend in mortality and mortality inequality observed between 2003 and 2010 during the years of economic austerity in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis in England between 2010 and 2016. Analysis of specific causes of death among adults aged 20–79 allows us to examine the drivers and dynamics of these trends in more depth, as well as to consider scope for, and types of, interventions that would be appropriate at different ages.     

Geographic Inequality in Income and Mortality in Germany*

We use data from the German Federal Statistical Office on population counts, births, deaths and income to study the development of socio‐economic inequality in mortality rates from 1990 to 2015 for different age groups and both genders. Ranking the 401 German districts by average disposable income per capita, we observe large inequalities in district‐level mortality rates in 1990, which had almost disappeared, or at least been flattened considerably, by 2015 particularly for infants, children and the very old. The most important driver of this reduction in inequality is German reunification in 1990. As indicated by more detailed analyses comparing districts in the former East and the former West, even five years after reunification there was a large gap in disposable income, with all Eastern districts considerably poorer than the poorest district in the West. At the same time, mortality rates were higher for all age groups and both genders in the East. Income has caught up, to the extent that there are equally poor districts in the East and West in most recent years (although the West is still much richer on average). Mortality rates in the East have improved considerably and are even below mortality rates for similarly poor districts in the West in the most recent data.     

Diverging Mortality Inequality Trends among Young and Old in the Netherlands*

We analyse the trends in inequality in mortality across poverty groups at different ages over the period 1996–2016 in the Netherlands. In addition, we examine whether these trends are related to unequal changes in avoidable mortality, separated by preventable and treatable causes of death. We find that while inequalities in mortality have decreased at ages up to 65, inequalities increased for the oldest age groups. The decline in inequality at the younger ages can, to a large extent, be explained by a strong decrease of mortality from preventable and cardiovascular causes among the poor. The link between inequality and avoidable mortality at the oldest ages is less straightforward. The increasing inequality at old age might be the result of the inequalities shifting from the young to the older age groups, or of the rich benefiting more from the recent health (care) improvements than the poor.     

Gender and Age Differences in Socio‐economic Inequalities in Total and Avoidable Mortality in Portugal: A Trend Analysis*

The purpose of this paper is to analyse how socio‐economic inequalities in mortality (total and avoidable) evolved in Portugal from the 1990s onwards by looking at differences by gender, age group, poverty and cause of death. Results show that mortality in younger age groups is decreasing faster in the most deprived municipalities. Yet, avoidable deaths do not follow this pattern, particularly with respect to treatable mortality amenable to the health care services. Although total and avoidable mortality are decreasing across all age groups and both genders, decreases in treatable deaths during and after the 2011–14 economic crisis slowed down among the young, with a sharpening of socio‐economic inequalities in avoidable mortality among adults and the elderly. This provides evidence that, in some respects, focusing programmes on those living in poor circumstances has been successful over time. However, the impact of the Great Recession on health care services might have contributed to a significant increase in some treatable causes of death associated with these services.     

Historical and Projected Mortality for Mexico,Canada, and the United States

Abstract

This paper presents historical death rates for Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. by sex and broad age group. The time period for this historical analysis begins with 1900 (1930 for Mexico). These data provide a quite consistent basis from which experts can develop and contrast their expectations for future mortality trends. Official mortality projections developed by government agencies of each of the three countries provide a starting point for this discussion.

During this century, death rates declined fairly rapidly in all three countries. However, the rate of mortality improvement has varied considerably across time periods: distinct periods of rapid and slow improvement are evident in the data, but are not consistent across the countries and have not yet been explained.

The historical rates of improvement in mortality have also varied greatly by age and sex: younger age groups have shown the most rapid proportional improvement in mortality in all three countries, and mortality improvement during this century has generally been greater for females than for males. However, the data provide evidence that this difference in the rates of mortality improvement between men and women has recently slowed, and even reversed, in the U.S. and Canada. Historical experience and projections are provided in graphs, in which death rates are plotted on a logarithmic scale. This approach allows easy detection of the extent to which rates of improvement have been changing (death rates with constant rates of improvement would be plotted as straight lines).

The official projections supplied for comparison provide strikingly similar outlooks for future potential mortality improvement. In each case, the relatively average rapid rate of mortality improvement experienced so far this century is assumed to slow in the future. In addition, rates of improvement are projected to be much more similar for all three countries across age groups and between the sexes.     

论美国专利与竞争政策平衡的措施

美国政府追求专利与竞争政策的平衡是从20世纪80年代开始的。通过对"经贸危机"进行深刻反思,美国政府认识到之所以国内技术研发死气沉沉,是当时的专利和竞争政策对发明人保护不力使然,于是改革了专利政策、反垄断政策及税收政策,使得合作研发热情空前高涨,专利数量大幅上升,应用技术发展突飞猛进,美国综合国力快速增强。但是,美国政府所做的政策改革,在若干年后却导致了"专利灌木丛"现象的出现,其结果同样是造成了不公平竞争,对经济发展造成阻碍。     

Changes in Assortative Matching and Inequality in Income: Evidence for the UK*

The extent to which like-with-like marry is important for inequality as well as for the outcomes of children who result from the union. In this paper, we present evidence on changes in assortative mating and its implications for household inequality in the UK. Our approach contrasts with others in the literature in that it is consistent with an underlying model of the marriage market. We argue that a key advantage of this approach is that it creates a direct connection between changes in assortativeness in marriage and changes in the value of marriage for the various possible matches by education group. Our empirical results do not show a clear direction of change in assortativeness in the UK between the birth cohorts of 1945–54 and 1965–74. We find that changes in assortativeness pushed income inequality up slightly, but that the strong changes in education attainment across the two cohorts contributed to scale down inequality.     

Temperature and Growth: A Panel Analysis of the United States

We document that seasonal temperatures have significant and systematic effects on the U.S. economy, both at the aggregate level and across a wide cross section of economic sectors. This effect is particularly strong for the summer: a F increase in the average summer temperature is associated with a reduction in the annual growth rate of state‐level output of 0.15 to 0.25 percentage points. We combine our estimates with projected increases in seasonal temperatures and find that rising temperatures could reduce U.S. economic growth by up to one‐third over the next century.     

中美养老保险制度公平与效率的比较

中美两国养老保险制度的确立大致相差20年的时间,但在其各自的发展演变中却形成了不同的特点。美国建立了比较符合本国实际的养老保险制度,即具有完善的法律制度作保证,覆盖面广且具有多层次,强调国家、单位和个人三方面的责任,社会化和市场化程度较高,较好地协调了公平与效率。以上几方面对完善中国养老保险制度具有一定的借鉴意义。     

Letters to the shareholders: A content analysis comparison of letters written by CEOs in the United States and Japan

Previous studies suggest that letters to the shareholders are widely used in investors' decision-making processes. Letters to the shareholders, however, are unaudited and usually not subject to regulation. Hence, CEOs may use them strategically to manage the impressions shareholders have of the company. This paper focuses on letters to the shareholders from Japanese and U.S. companies. The research examines whether U.S. and Japanese CEOs explain the causes of good and bad news in different ways. The findings point to a number of interesting differences between the U.S. and Japanese letters to the shareholders, including: (1) that U.S. CEOs in particular emphasize good news; (2) that Japanese and U.S. letters are statistically indistinguishable with respect to the extent to which CEOs claim responsibility for good news; and (3) that while CEOs in general ascribe bad news to causes beyond their control, this tendency is particularly strong in Japanese letters. The implications of the study for both investors and regulators are discussed.     

Comparing precaution in the United States and Europe

The regulation of health and environmental risks has generated transatlantic controversy concerning precaution and the precautionary principle (PP). Conventional wisdom sees the European Union endorsing the PP and proactively regulating uncertain risks, while the United States opposes the PP and waits for evidence of harm before regulating. Without favouring either approach, this paper critically analyses the conventional depiction of transatlantic divergence. First, it reviews several different versions of the PP and their different implications. Second, it broadens the transatlantic comparison of precaution beyond the typical focus on single-risk examples, such as genetically modified foods. Through case studies, including hormones in beef and milk production and mad cow disease in beef and in blood donations, as well as reference to a wider array of risks, the paper demonstrates that relative precaution varies enormously. Sometimes the EU is more precautionary than the US (such as regarding hormones in beef), while sometimes the US is more precautionary than the EU (such as regarding mad cow disease in blood). Thus, neither the EU nor the US can claim to be categorically 'more precautionary' than the other. The real pattern is complex and risk-specific. Third, the paper seeks explanations for this complex pattern in five sets of hypotheses: optimal tailoring on the merits, political systems, risk perceptions, trade protectionism, and legal systems. None of these hypotheses fully explains the observed complex pattern of relative transatlantic precaution. The paper concludes that differences in relative precaution depend more on the context of the particular risk than on broad differences in national regulatory regimes.     

Effectiveness of minimum tax legislation and its effect on corporate financial reporting: A comparative analysis between the United States and India

This paper reports a comparative analysis of the experience of introducing minimum tax legislation in the US and India. Given the differences in the economic and market settings in the two countries, one would expect the impact of the regulation and the corporate response to its introduction to be different. Our empirical analysis, however, indicates that the response to the minimum tax legislation in India is very similar to that in the US. The evidence indicates that the minimum tax legislation is not the best means of achieving horizontal equity among taxpayers, given its significant administrative and compliance costs and the manipulative reporting response it generates from the corporate sector.     

流动性过剩下美国次贷危机的原因与借鉴

2007年美国的次贷危机展现了现代金融风险错综复杂的特征.反思危机,本文认为在流动性过剩背景下,为追求利润的持续快速增长,商业银行很容易出现过度竞争,放松信贷标准,盲目扩大贷款客户群体,追逐高风险、高收益的投资品种和业务创新.对照我国银行业面临的宏观形势,流动性过剩也是困扰我国商业银行持续盈利和发展的一个外在因素.因此,借鉴美国次贷危机,作者提出以下建议:密切关注客观经济形势;加强内控制度建设,强化审慎合规经营理念;高度重视住房抵押贷款的风险;加速资产证券化的试点和推广,有效分散信贷风险;切实做好风险防范,加强全面风险管理;严格信贷标准和要求等.     

An examination of real interest rates in the United States, Canada, France, and Germany during the recent floating exchange rate period

This study reexamines the international linkage of ex-ante real interest rates using the theory of cointegrated processes. The univariate unit root tests suggest the existence of a nonstationary real interest rate in the United States, Canada, and (the former) West Germany. An ex-ante real interest rate is obtained by subtracting estimates of inflation from the nominal interest rate. The expected inflation rates are obtained by modeling changes in monthly CPI values as autoregressive moving average (ARMA) processes. A multivariate test for unit roots indicates that there are two cointegrating vectors, or one common stochastic trend, for the system of three nonstationary real interest rates. In addition, the log-likelihood ratio test fails to reject the null hypothesis that, in the long run, real interest rates in the United States are equal to those in Canada and West Germany.     

Recent Changes in the Regulation of Financial Markets and Reporting in Canada*

The regulation of financial reporting and financial markets has undergone significant change in both the United States and Canada since 2000. In Canada, the regulatory regime is particularly complex and politically controversial, with much speculation about possible future directions. This paper's purpose is to explain the current regulatory environment as it stands in mid‐2006 to assist those who teach or conduct research in this domain. On the basis of a review of existing regulations and related studies, this paper first provides an explanation of the major jurisdictional issues that affect financial reporting and regulation in Canada, including identifying the roles of the key players. Second, it identifies specific reporting changes that might be of particular relevance to prospective capital market researchers. Where relevant, comparisons are made with regulatory provisions in the United States, because the majority of capital markets research concerns U.S. securities exchanges regulation, and the Canadian regulations themselves often refer to U.S. regulations as a point of comparison. We find that the lack of a single national securities regulator in Canada and overlaps in federal and provincial jurisdiction and among regulatory bodies mean there is a large range of players involved in financial markets regulation. Ongoing efforts to improve integration include the new passport system, improved harmonization of securities regulation, and consideration of mergers between some of the involved organizations. Other changes have led to a greater emphasis in Canada on the regulation of continuous disclosure and corporate governance than was previously the case. Changes in specific reporting regulations and guidelines since 2002 have generally increased the amount of disclosure.