Challenges facing public retirement plans

Should Public Retirement Plans be Fully Funded ?

Most state and local retirement plans strive for full funding, at least by actuarial standards. Funding measured at market values fluctuates and often falls short. A common argument for full funding is that pensions are a form of deferred compensation that does not justify a debt. The paper examines public finance, political economy, and financial market issues that bear on optimal funding, bro...

China's public health-care system: facing the challenges.

The severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) crisis in China revealed not only the failures of the Chinese health-care system but also some fundamental structural deficiencies. A decentralized and fragmented health system, such as the one found in China, is not well-suited to making a rapid and coordinated response to public health emergencies. The commercial orientation of the health sector on...

Challenges Facing Educational Research

Challenges facing radiology educators.

This article summarizes the current challenges faced by radiology educators. These are discussed under the headings of time available for education, financing education, what and how to teach, student evaluation, support infrastructure, and challenges to leadership.

Employee Mobility and Employer-provided Retirement Plans

This paper provides new insights into the effect of the widespread transition from defined benefit (DB) to defined contribution (DC) pension plans on employee mobility. Pension plans may affect employee mobility both through an “incentive effect,” where the bundle of benefit characteristics, such as vesting rules, relative liquidity and the risk/return tradeoff affect turnover directly, and a “...