英国养老金的发展

英格兰对退休雇员给付养老金已经有很长的历史。1269年国王亨利三世因仆人威廉年纪大、身体弱,授予他每天4便士的养老金。本文先勾画自那时起的养老金历史发展,然后讨论当前养老金的问题,最后预测今后10年英国养老金的发展。     

OPTIMIZATION‐BASED PROCUREMENT FOR TRANSPORTATION SERVICES

This paper presents the concept of optimization‐based procurement for transportation services. The approach allows both the shipper and carriers to benefit through the use of a collaborative approach to securing and managing a strategic relationship. Because the shipper's assignment problem involves a combinatorial number of choices and cannot be easily executed manually, the procurement process benefits strongly from the use of optimization. The authors introduce the optimization‐based procurement process, briefly analyze the theoretical issues, and discuss lessons learned from its application in practice over the last several years.     

The economic costs and benefits of UK defence exports

This study examines the economic costs and benefits to the UK of a 50 per cent cut in UK defence exports from the average level of 1998 and 1999. The net impact on the government budget is estimated to be an ongoing loss of between around £40 million and £100 million a year: around 0.2–0.4 per cent of the total UK defence budget. In addition, there is estimated to be a one‐off net adjustment cost, spread over five years, of between £0.9 billion and £1.4 billion. A further more speculative adjustment cost (estimated at around £1.1 billion) could result if the loss of income associated with the ‘terms‐of‐trade£ effect were also included. In terms of the wider debate about defence exports, the results of this study suggest first that the economic effects of the reduction in defence exports are relatively small and largely one‐off, and secondly that the balance of arguments about UK defence exports should be determined mainly by non‐economic factors.     

Firm foundations? Contingent labour and employers' provision of training in the UK construction sector

Based on an original survey of the UK construction industry this article examines the training disadvantages faced by contingent labour. This article addresses two key questions: first, is the provision of training different for directly employed labour and different forms of contingent labour? Second, what structural and organisational factors shape the provision of training to different contingent labour forms? The article finds that fewer firms provide training for agency, self‐employed and subcontract labour, compared to directly employed workers. Training for subcontract labour seems to reflect a longer‐term perspective towards the use of this labour form, while decisions to train agency and self‐employed labour appears to be driven by more short‐term considerations.     

Causal mechanisms of long waves

Previous research on the causes of economic growth maintains that long waves of economic development arise as a result of Schumpeterian innovation. This paper builds on this research by introducing four primary causal mechanisms for the long wave of economic development. The causal mechanisms are classified based on level of analysis. The paper argues that describing causal mechanisms by level of analysis allows researchers to more easily draw from various fields and establish needed consensus in long wave theory.     

Governments,Exports and Growth: Responding to the Challenges and Opportunities of Globalisation

We live in an increasingly globalised world. Trade has consistently grown faster than GDP and has been an important driver of world growth. What role should government play in this process? This paper considers the rationale for government action and the merits of various policies focusing on the UKs experience: the benefits of openness to trade and overseas investment and the merits of tackling barriers that discourage greater participation by firms in international markets. It also considers whether this approach needs to be adapted given current trends in globalisation, concluding that a continued emphasis on openness and addressing market failures will be welfare enhancing.     

The impact of technological change on bank performance

Quarterly call report data for 225 banks over twenty-six quarters are used to estimate a quadratic cost function to provide a measure of technological change within the banking industry. The nature of the relationship between technological change and bank performance is then examined. A logit model is formulated to estimate the likelihood that banks will display a positive level of technological development. Return on assets and return on equity are selected as measures of banking performance. The results suggest that technological change is significantly related to over-all banking performance. Finally, a significant relationship is indicated between bank size and profitability and the rate at which banks implement technological change.     

Affine Term Structure Models and the Forward Premium Anomaly

One of the most puzzling features of currency prices is the forward premium anomaly : the tendency for high interest rate currencies to appreciate. We characterize the anomaly in the context of affine models of the term structure of interest rates. In affine models, the anomaly requires either that state variables have asymmetric effects on state prices in different currencies or that nominal interest rates take on negative values with positive probability. We find the quantitative properties of either alternative to have important shortcomings.