Research and Ethical Issues Related to Retirement Plans

Many different parties are involved in regulating, providing, and consuming pension and retiree health benefits. This essay identifies the specific parties involved in private and public pension plans and health care plans, discusses the tradeoffs made among the parties, and suggests ways in which research can assist ethical judgments and policy decisions. The essay also gives specific examples where research can address ethical questions.     

Mill's proof that happiness is the criterion of morality

This paper considers the converse of the principle that ought implies can, namely, the principle that must implies ought. It argues that this principle is the central premiss for Mill's argument that happiness is desirable (worthy of desire), and it examines the sense of must that is relevant and the implications it has for Mill's moral philosophy.     

试论"超市+农产品加工企业+农户"新模式

目前,中国面临着不断增长的对安全、优质农产品的市场和出口需求同大量分散的、无组织的小规模家庭生产的矛盾。本文提倡采用“超市 农产品加工企业(农民合作组织) 农户”的新型农业产业化模式,通过整个农产品供应链管理来确保农产品的安全。     

Does combining traditional and information and communications technology–based extension methods improve agricultural outcomes? Evidence from field experiments in Mali

Adequate flow of appropriate information to farmers is vital for accelerating the uptake of modern agricultural technologies and improving access to markets, all of which are important for the transformation of African economies. Yet there is limited evidence regarding how information should be disseminated to farmers to achieve the needed impact. Should ICT-based approaches be used together with traditional methods, or should they be used alone? We used cluster quasi-random and randomized experiments involving 140 villages in southern Mali to study three chains of causality: does farmer training increase knowledge? Does knowledge lead to change in behavior? Do the different actions generate varying economic outcomes? We show that the role of farmer training in the uptake of extension advice may be overstated in some settings; that procrastination and inattention are more binding constraints to recommendation adherence than information per se; and that such constraints could be mitigated by timely voice SMS reminders. Although timely reminders nudged farmers to take-up recommendations, leading to meaningful improvements in some intermediate outcomes, these impacts were not large enough to generate improvements in output, prices and profits in the short term. These findings must be interpreted within the context of imperfect compliance with experimental protocols, which pose threats to both the internal and external validity of some of the impact estimates.     

The use of the Pareto shape parameter as a leading indicator of process safety performance

Metrics addressing process safety incident performance typically focus on frequency and severity statistics. Often, these lagging metrics are not overly sensitive to actual performance, making trending and forecasting difficult. This article presents the results from a statistical study of a large incident dataset where changes in the Pareto shape parameter were observed as a function of time. This approach has been found to give far better insight into process safety performance than traditional incident metrics and readily relates back to concepts such as the “incident triangle” and “layers of protection.” Through the application of this approach, trends within process safety incident performance have been observed earlier, and more accurate forecasting has allowed for the identification of anomalies. In turn, these critical observations have allowed for the better structuring and targeting of process safety programs. Although incident data are generally considered as a lagging indicator, this approach has clearly reduced the lag time associated with this type of data and has given valuable insight into the current status of process safety performance. © 2009 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Process Saf Prog 2009