Market Structure And The Adoption Of Innovations: The Case Of The Spanish Banking Sector ‡

This paper is an empirical study of the determinants of adoption time for the teleprocess terminal by Spanish commercial and savings banks. The explanatory variables include the characteristics of the adopting firms, size, and in the case of the savings banks, the structure of the market and concentration. The results indicate that the speed of adoption is maximized at intermediate levels of size and market concentration, confirming one theoretical prediction of models of diffusion: namely, that adoption time is minimized at intermediate levels of market concentration.     

Modeling Technological and Institutional Change in Karl Marx’s Theory of Capitalism

Health policy in the United States struggles with apparently conflicting purposes: (1) access to health care and (2) cost-containment. The failures of policy to resolve this apparent conflict have produced inequities in the health system and the perverse outcomes of high costs and poor access. The failures of policy are associated with the third-party payment system that has become a "rationing transaction" in John R. Commons' hierarchy of transactions. The dominion of private interests over the payment system elevates the financial interests of insurers over the interests of patients. Commons' approach to "reasonable value" as a means of resolving conflicts of interest through a process that engages all participants in the going concern suggests a strengthened role for the public sector in the payment system to achieve the public purposes of the health system.     

政府灾后救助对林农森林保险决策的影响分析

一方面国家财政救灾支出逐年增加;另一方面作为减轻政府救灾压力的有效措施之一的森林保险在我国依然存在着供需不足的双重矛盾。文章通过建立森林保险需求的理论模型,揭示林农森林保险的最优选择;分析保险价格水平、风险厌恶类型、政府补偿的强度和频率的变化对林农保险支出的影响;指出灾后政府救助会降低林农灾前购买保险的需求,并据此提出相应的政策建议。     

新型农村社会养老保险替代率精算模型及其实证分析

本文依据2009年国务院发布的《关于开展新型农村社会养老保险试点的指导意见》,运用保险精算的方法,构建出新农保替代率精算模型,并依据该模型对新农保替代率进行实证分析。通过分析提出以下建议:以农民人均纯收入作为缴费基数,实行比例费率制;鼓励农民尽早开始参保并保持长期缴费;鼓励参保农民选择较高的档次标准缴费;新农保个人账户基金应当在适当情况下进行市场化投资运营;继续强化土地保障和家庭保障的作用。     

Understanding the welfare effects of unemployment insurance policy in general equilibrium

This paper analyzes the welfare effects of unemployment insurance reforms in a general equilibrium incomplete market model. In particular, it decomposes the total welfare effect for each individual into different factors. I consider a model where the consumers face an uninsurable unemployment risk, can save in an interest-bearing asset, and are subject to a borrowing constraint. The labor market is modeled using a Diamond–Mortensen–Pissarides style search and matching model. The decomposition exercises reveal how each factor contributes to the heterogeneity of welfare effects among different consumers.     

Determinants of private health insurance coverage among Mexican American men 2010–2013

Abstract

Background: Private health insurance (PHI) represents the largest source of insurance for Americans. Hispanic Americans have one of the lowest rates of PHI coverage. The largest group in the US Hispanic population are Mexican Americans; they account for about two in every three Hispanics. One in every three Mexican Americans aged 64 years and under did not have health insurance coverage. Mexican Americans have the most unfavorable health insurance coverage of any population group in the nation.

Objectives: The objective is to determine the factors associated with the gap in PHI coverage between Mexican American and non-Hispanic American men.

Methods: This study used the National Health Interview Surveys (2010–2013) as the sample. A non-linear Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition was run, estimating the explained and unexplained gap in PHI coverage between the groups. Several robustness tests of the model were also included.

Results: This study estimates that 44.4% of employed Mexican American men are covered by PHI compared to 79.5% of non-Hispanic American men. Nearly 60% of employed Mexican American men were found to be foreign born, 35% have an educational attainment less than a high school degree, and 40% are likely to have language barriers. Decomposition results show that income, low educational attainment, being foreign-born, and language barriers diminished the probability of private health insurance coverage for Mexican Americans, and that 10% of the gap is unexplained.

Conclusions: Most of the difference in the PHI rate between Mexican American men and non-Hispanic men is explained by observable differences in group characteristics: education, language, and immigration status. About 10% of the difference can be attributed to discrimination under the traditional interpretation of an Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition. The PHI rate gap is large and persistent for Mexican American men.     

Social security generosity,budgetary deficits and reforms in North Cyprus

This paper estimates the fiscal burden of the historical pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) Social Insurance Pension System in North Cyprus and analyzes the appropriateness of the 2008 reforms that introduced the new Social Security Pension System. Estimates are made of the system deficit. To bring the magnitude of the unfunded cost of the pension system down to a sustainable level, major parametric reforms will need to be made to the system. These include increasing the age of retirement, increasing the rate of contributions, changing the method of indexing of pension benefits and decreasing the theoretical replacement rate of the pension benefits.     

State‐Led Financial Regulation and Representations of Spatial Fixity: The Example of the Spanish Real Estate Sector

This article offers a bottom‐up contribution to the fixity–motion literature. It aims to unravel the apparent contradiction of real estate spatial fixity in Spain, which is portrayed both as a barrier to accumulation and as a unique source of investment by different capitalist actors. Empirically, it describes the shifts in real estate ownership and changes in profit‐making strategies that have taken place across the real estate sector during the crisis years, and the role of the state in these shifts. The article asserts that the idea of spatial fixity representing a spatial barrier for accumulation does not necessarily apply in the Spanish case. It further claims that the tensions in capital circulation through real estate are not only to be found in the action of time, but in different state strategies pursued by various actors. The opposing representations of fixity are the result of state regulation of interest rates, taxation and risk weighting. The state also increasingly promotes land rents as a source of liquidity creation.     

完善农村养老构建和谐社会

目前我国农村社会养老保险制度存在很多问题,必须加快推进城乡社会养老保险一体化建设,尽快建立完善的农村社会养老保险制度。需要制定完善相关的法律,加强监督管理,实现养老金保值增值,加大宣传教育力度。     

中国养老保险统筹账户的财务可持续性研究——基于开放系统的测算

文章运用精算估计方法,预测分析了我国城镇职工养老保险统筹账户的财务状况和财务可持续性。研究结果表明,年度支付危机会在2018-2036年之间出现,2023-2050年内源性基金累积不足值得格外关注。从长期看,如果没有外源性融资,仅靠制度本身的资金支持,统筹账户的财务可持续性难以为继。现阶段政府关注的重点应是如何扩大养老保险收入来源和完善养老保险的制度设计。