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Full-Text Articles in Public Policy

Fun With Numbers: Disclosing Risk To Individual Investors, Christian A. Weller Dec 2011

Fun With Numbers: Disclosing Risk To Individual Investors, Christian A. Weller

Christian Weller

This paper discusses the need for better information on investment risks. The information should be relevant, concise, and accessible to individual investors. More and better information on factors that are likely to influence an investment’s performance and investors’ decisions should eventually lead to better investment decisions – more savings and higher retirement incomes. This paper presents a number of ways to disclose risk to individual investors. There are three numerical and three visual representations to risk. The discussion centers on the pros and cons of each risk representation. All risk descriptions show relevant information, are concise, and more or less …


States To The Rescue: Policy Options For State Government To Promote Private Sector Retirement Savings, Christian A. Weller, Amy Helburn Dec 2011

States To The Rescue: Policy Options For State Government To Promote Private Sector Retirement Savings, Christian A. Weller, Amy Helburn

Christian Weller

We provide an overview of retirement plan proposals that could be implemented at the state level. All aim to increase participation in retirement savings, mainly by lowering the cost of doing so and possibly by offering some employer or government matches to employee contributions. The proposals vary widely on how much risk employees are exposed to. Some proposals leave most of the risks of saving for retirement – investment, market, and longevity risk – with the employee, while others try to eliminate them all. The tools of risk management range from well-diversified index funds and default investments to required offers …


Toward A New Grand Bargain: Collaborative Approaches To Labor-Management Reform In Massachusetts, Barry Bluestone, Thomas A. Kochan Dec 2011

Toward A New Grand Bargain: Collaborative Approaches To Labor-Management Reform In Massachusetts, Barry Bluestone, Thomas A. Kochan

Barry Bluestone

No abstract provided.


Estimating The Effects Of Changing Social Security Benefit Formulas, Gary S. Fields, Olivia S. Mitchell Oct 2011

Estimating The Effects Of Changing Social Security Benefit Formulas, Gary S. Fields, Olivia S. Mitchell

Gary S Fields

[Excerpt] The U.S. Social Security system faces serious financial difficulties in both the short and the long run. The short-run problem is that the system has very meager financial reserves. In the long run—after the year 2010, when the post-World-War-II baby-boom generation reaches retirement age—the financial problems of Social Security will intensify because of population aging and the consequent decline in the ratio of workers to retirees.

These problems have led to proposed reforms aimed at assuring the financial stability of the system. The question addressed here is: what effects would these reforms have on three variables—retirement ages, retirement incomes, …


¿Es La Separación De Funciones Un Estándar Justiciable Para El Régimen De Sanciones Administrativas?, Sergio Verdugo Sverdugor@Udd.Cl, José Francisco García Sep 2011

¿Es La Separación De Funciones Un Estándar Justiciable Para El Régimen De Sanciones Administrativas?, Sergio Verdugo Sverdugor@Udd.Cl, José Francisco García

Sergio Verdugo R.

Los autores comentan la sentencia del Tribunal Constitucional chileno, que declara la inaplicabilidad de un precepto del Código Sanitario que le permite al Director del Instituto de Salud Pública solicitar al intendente respectivo la privación de libertad de infractores que no hayan pagado multas cursadas con anterioridad, frente a lo cual no existe un posible control judicial que impida la aplicación efectiva de la medida cárcel. Los autores argumentan que el caso es, en realidad, acerca de la separación de funciones, y que el fallo persigue un equilibrio entre el respeto a los derechos de los regulados y el adecuado …


Recommendations For Australia’S Implementation Of The National Emergency Warning System Using Location-Based Services, Anas Aloudat, Katina Michael, Roba Abbas Sep 2011

Recommendations For Australia’S Implementation Of The National Emergency Warning System Using Location-Based Services, Anas Aloudat, Katina Michael, Roba Abbas

Professor Katina Michael

Mobile alerts, notifications and location-based emergency warning systems are now an established part of mobile government strategies in an increasing number of countries worldwide. In Australia the national emergency warning system (NEWS) was instituted after the tragic Black Saturday Victorian Bushfires of February 2009. In the first phase, NEWS has enabled the provision of public information from the government to the citizen during emergencies anywhere and any time. Moving on from traditional short message service (SMS) notifications and cell broadcasting to more advanced location-based services, this paper provides executive-level recommendations about the viability of location-based mobile phone services in NEWS …


The Fall-Out From Emerging Technologies: On Matters Of Surveillance, Social Networks And Suicide, M.G. Michael, Katina Michael Aug 2011

The Fall-Out From Emerging Technologies: On Matters Of Surveillance, Social Networks And Suicide, M.G. Michael, Katina Michael

M. G. Michael

No abstract provided.


The Fall-Out From Emerging Technologies: On Matters Of Surveillance, Social Networks And Suicide, M.G. Michael, Katina Michael Aug 2011

The Fall-Out From Emerging Technologies: On Matters Of Surveillance, Social Networks And Suicide, M.G. Michael, Katina Michael

Professor Katina Michael

No abstract provided.


A Review Of Amendment 16 To The Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan, Jonathon N. Feinberg, Chad J. Mcguire Jul 2011

A Review Of Amendment 16 To The Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan, Jonathon N. Feinberg, Chad J. Mcguire

Chad J McGuire

The purpose of this article is to review Amendment 16 to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan, highlighting some of the legal and policy implications to the fishing community and regulatory bodies. Questions of impact are framed from the local fishing community perspective, while larger questions of regulatory implications, including statutory purpose, are identified where appropriate. The article concludes by identifying necessary policy questions that need to be resolved if we are to move toward a coherent strategy of national fisheries management that is both rational for the sake of the resource, and equitable to those who are most directly …


Who Owns The Fish? Moving From The Commons To Federal Ownership Of Our National Fisheries, John B. Walden, Chad J. Mcguire Jul 2011

Who Owns The Fish? Moving From The Commons To Federal Ownership Of Our National Fisheries, John B. Walden, Chad J. Mcguire

Chad J McGuire

The purpose of this article is to explore a premise that fishery management at the federal level would be more effective if the U.S. government simply charged for the privilege to commercially harvest fish. This argument is supported by a mix of historical fact-finding and legal precedent, brought together in an attempt to identify a basic economic principle of property rights. The goal is to allow both practitioners and policy makers an opportunity to view fishery management options through a lens of government property rights, and show how a rational distribution of those rights through advancing market mechanisms may provide …


Legal Mechanization Of Corporate Social Responsibility Through Alien Tort Statute Litigation: A Response To Professor Branson With Some Supplemental Thoughts, Donald J. Kochan Jul 2011

Legal Mechanization Of Corporate Social Responsibility Through Alien Tort Statute Litigation: A Response To Professor Branson With Some Supplemental Thoughts, Donald J. Kochan

Donald J. Kochan

This Response argues that as ATS jurisprudence “matures” or becomes more sophisticated, the legitimate limits of the law regress. The further expansion within the corporate defendant pool – attempting to pin liability on parent, great grandparent corporations and up to the top – raises the stakes and complexity of ATS litigation. The corporate social responsibility discussion raises three principal issues about how a moral corporation lives its life: how a corporation chooses its self-interest versus the interests of others, when and how it should help others if control decisions may harm the shareholder owners, and how far the corporation must …


Housing The Working Poor, Peter Dreier Jun 2011

Housing The Working Poor, Peter Dreier

Peter Dreier

No abstract provided.


Foreclosing On The Free Market, John Atlas, Peter Dreier, Gregory D. Squires Jun 2011

Foreclosing On The Free Market, John Atlas, Peter Dreier, Gregory D. Squires

Peter Dreier

No abstract provided.


L.A. Voters Sent Signal On Urgency Of Providing More Affordable Housing, Peter Dreier Jun 2011

L.A. Voters Sent Signal On Urgency Of Providing More Affordable Housing, Peter Dreier

Peter Dreier

No abstract provided.


Marine Mammals And International Trade: Balancing Social Conscience With Trade Obligations – A Summary And Update On The World Trade Organization Seal Products Dispute, Chad J. Mcguire Apr 2011

Marine Mammals And International Trade: Balancing Social Conscience With Trade Obligations – A Summary And Update On The World Trade Organization Seal Products Dispute, Chad J. Mcguire

Chad J McGuire

The purpose of this article is to provide a summary of the current debate surrounding the proposed European Union expansion of barriers to trade in seal products. This article will also identify some of the potential legal issues at the heart of the ban. Finally, some policy considerations that may arise depending on how this case ultimately resolves itself will be highlighted. What is reinforced in this case study is the notion that the interaction between domestic policy and international law can often create unique frustrations where seemingly independent goals can lead to legal conflicts. This case study is an …


Linking Environmental Justice And Pollution Prevention: Livable Communities And Cleaner Production, Robert Gottlieb Feb 2011

Linking Environmental Justice And Pollution Prevention: Livable Communities And Cleaner Production, Robert Gottlieb

Robert Gottlieb

No abstract provided.


The Nonexistence Of Sustainability In International Maritime Shipping: Issues For Consideration, Chad J. Mcguire, Helen Perivier Jan 2011

The Nonexistence Of Sustainability In International Maritime Shipping: Issues For Consideration, Chad J. Mcguire, Helen Perivier

Chad J McGuire

There is an ongoing practice in the international shipping community that impacts fundamental notions of sustainability as defined in the peer-reviewed literature (WCED, 1987; Gladwin, Kennelly & Krause, 1995; McManus, 1996, Naess, 2003; McGregor, 2004). The practice is based in discounting the true costs of maritime shipping through a system of open registries. By engaging in such practices, there is an inherent failure by the international community to internalize the true costs (environmental, social, labor, etc.) associated with shipping. The result is a practice that artificially keeps the international costs of maritime shipping low at the expense of environmental and …


On Equality: The Anti-Interference Principle, Donald J. Kochan Dec 2010

On Equality: The Anti-Interference Principle, Donald J. Kochan

Donald J. Kochan

This Essay introduces the “Anti-Interference Principle” – a new term on the meaning of equality, or at least one not yet so-named in the equality lexicon – as a necessary foundation for achieving the goal of true equality. Equality has a long-standing place in the discussion of politics and jurisprudence and remains a struggle of definition today. Rather than rehash the mass of scholarship, this Essay seeks to summarize the general equality concept, and propose that the legal discourse on equality center on a requirement that governmental power must protect and respect equal treatment and opportunity, unconstrained, not equal outcomes. …