Thesis advisor: Alicia H. Munnell / This thesis focuses on the employment of older workers and addresses the following questions: how people make their retirement decision, how changes in the Social Security benefit rules can encourage older workers to stay in the labor force longer, and what impediments older workers face on the labor market that can prevent them from working longer and interrupt their retirement plans. As the U.S. population ages, retirement and Social Security claiming decisions of older workers will have a significant impact on the U.S. economy. By the year of 2030 about 20 percent of the population will be 65 years old or older. The national retirement system generates less income in retirement than it did in the past. Rising Full Retirement Age, the shift of the private pension system from predominantly defined benefit to predominantly defined contribution pension plans, and increasing longevity will have to force older workers to stay in the labor force in the future to provide adequate income in retirement. Chapter one presents a dynamic stochastic retirement model that incorporates observed heterogeneity in educational attainment level. The assumption is that educational attainment level is highly correlated with the characteristics, such as preferences for work, types of jobs, and financial planning horizon that determine timing of retirement. A parsimonious model that incorporates heterogeneity in educational attainment level and stochastic earnings and health predicts the labor force participation rates and Social Security rates by age accurately. This model provides intuition for why college graduates tend to claim Social Security benefits and exit labor force later in life - longer life expectancy, non-physically demanding jobs, longer financial planning horizon, and deriving positive utility from work encourage college graduates to retire later. Chapter two develops and tests a policy rule regarding the availability of reduced early Social Security retirement benefits that would encourage older workers to stay in the labor force longer without amplifying the hardship on the more vulnerable population. The availability of Social Security retirement benefits at the current Earliest Eligibility Age (EEA) is considered the main impediment to longer working lives. Raising the EEA is thus considered the most powerful channel to raise the labor force participation rate. But raising the EEA would create hardship among workers with low private savings who are unable to work or find employment until the higher eligibility age. This study proposes and analyzes a new approach to setting each worker's EEA based on an individual's average lifetime earnings--an Elastic EEA. Low average lifetime earnings will likely reflect either poor health or spotty work histories, both of which are associated with weak employment prospects and limited financial resources at age 62. Tying the EEA to the average lifetime earnings could thus protect many of these vulnerable workers while encouraging longer working lives and increasing Social Security monthly benefits for workers more capable of remaining in the labor force. Simulations suggest that an Elastic EEA would achieve its goal in providing higher employment rates and levels of consumption in retirement compared to the status quo. These simulations also demonstrate the limitations of structural retirement models used to estimate the effect of raising the EEA. By assuming the same probabilities of losing and finding a job for all individuals, these models underestimate the adverse effect of raising the EEA on the more vulnerable population. Although some older workers may like to stay longer in the labor force, they may have hard time holding on to their jobs due to displacement. Chapter three is devoted to the trends in displacement of older workers. Conventional wisdom says older workers are less likely to be displaced. However, the difference in displacement rates between younger and older workers disappeared in the 2006 Displaced Worker Survey (DWS). The increased vulnerability of older workers appears to be the reason for this convergence. To better understand the age-displacement relationship, this study takes advantage of the availability of job tenure information and consistent design of the DWS since 1996. Using a Blinder--Oaxaca decomposition, it analyzes the effect of changes in tenure, industry mix, and educational attainment on the displacement rates of younger and older workers. The results show that older workers are now more likely to be displaced than prime-age workers, conditional on education, manufacturing industry, and tenure. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Economics.

Working memory (WM) has long been associated with deficiencies in reading. Approximately 35% of students in the United States who receive special education services do so under the category of specific learning disability (SLD). The study's theoretical underpinning was Baddeley's model of WM; previous research revealed a significant literature gap regarding how WM difficulties affect eligibility for special education under the category of SLD in reading. In this quasi-experimental study, a purposive sample was taken from archival data of two groups of K-12 students who had been referred for special education eligibility evaluation: The two groups were students evaluated for SLD in reading eligibility who (a) did not meet criteria and (b) did meet criteria. A one-way analysis of variance was conducted to determine whether a significant difference existed between the two group's score differences between a measure of global intelligence and WM. Archival Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, 4th Edition, Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children, 2nd Edition, or Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Cognitive Abilities, 3rd Edition scores were used. Although no significant difference was evidenced between global intelligence and WM, the group that did not meet SLD criteria had significantly better WM scores than the group that was found eligible for SLD. By better understanding the relationship between WM and special education eligibility, practitioners may be able to implement more meaningful, better targeted research based interventions for enhancing learning outcomes for students with reading SLD, a group at high risk for high school drop out.

This thesis examines a number of issues regarding the Mortensen-Pissarides search and matching model’s empirical performance. Chapter 1 documents the volatility puzzle with the Canadian data. The combined data from both Canada and the United States present an additional difficulty. Even if the unobserved value of leisure is allowed to be as high as required to fit the business cycle in the United States or in Canada, the model cannot reconcile the similar labor cycles with the large policy differences in the UI benefits and income taxes in the two countries when the value of leisure is assumed to be the same in both countries. Chapter 2 takes into account the realistic institutional features of the UI system and investigates the impacts of the UI benefits on the labor market outcomes. If entitlement to UI benefits must be earned with employment, generous UI is an additional benefit to an employment relationship, so it promotes job creation. If individuals are risk neutral, UI is fairly priced, and the UI system prevents moral-hazard unemployed workers, the generosity of UI has no effect on unemployment. Chapter 3 shows that the Mortensen-Pissarides search and matching model can be successfully parameterized to generate observed large cyclical fluctuations in unemployment and modest responses of unemployment to changes in the UI benefits. The key features behind this success are the endogenous eligibility for UI benefits and the heterogeneity of workers. With the linear utilities commonly assumed in the Mortensen-Pissarides model, a fully rated UI system designed to prevent moral hazard has no effect on unemployment. However, the UI system in the United States is neither fully rated nor able to prevent workers with low productivity from quitting their jobs or rejecting employment offers to collect benefits. As a result, an increase in UI generosity has a positive, but realistically small, effect on unemployment. This chapter answers the Costain and Reiter (2008) criticism with the Mortensen-Pissarides model.

This thesis examines a number of issues regarding the Mortensen-Pissarides search and matching model’s empirical performance. Chapter 1 documents the volatility puzzle with the Canadian data. The combined data from both Canada and the United States present an additional difficulty. Even if the unobserved value of leisure is allowed to be as high as required to fit the business cycle in the United States or in Canada, the model cannot reconcile the similar labor cycles with the large policy differences in the UI benefits and income taxes in the two countries when the value of leisure is assumed to be the same in both countries. Chapter 2 takes into account the realistic institutional features of the UI system and investigates the impacts of the UI benefits on the labor market outcomes. If entitlement to UI benefits must be earned with employment, generous UI is an additional benefit to an employment relationship, so it promotes job creation. If individuals are risk neutral, UI is fairly priced, and the UI system prevents moral-hazard unemployed workers, the generosity of UI has no effect on unemployment. Chapter 3 shows that the Mortensen-Pissarides search and matching model can be successfully parameterized to generate observed large cyclical fluctuations in unemployment and modest responses of unemployment to changes in the UI benefits. The key features behind this success are the endogenous eligibility for UI benefits and the heterogeneity of workers. With the linear utilities commonly assumed in the Mortensen-Pissarides model, a fully rated UI system designed to prevent moral hazard has no effect on unemployment. However, the UI system in the United States is neither fully rated nor able to prevent workers with low productivity from quitting their jobs or rejecting employment offers to collect benefits. As a result, an increase in UI generosity has a positive, but realistically small, effect on unemployment. This chapter answers the Costain and Reiter (2008) criticism with the Mortensen-Pissarides model.

This dissertation is composed of two essays that examine the role of public and private health insurance on healthcare access, use, and cost containment. In Chapter 1, Dugan, Virani, and Ho examine the impact of Medicare eligibility on healthcare utilization and access. Although Medicare eligibility has been shown to generally increase health care utilization, few studies have examined these relationships among the chronically ill. We use a regression-discontinuity framework to compare physician utilization and financial access to care among people before and after the Medicare eligibility threshold at age 65. Specifically, we focus on coronary heart disease and stroke (CHDS) patients. We find that Medicare eligibility improves health care access and physician utilization for many adults with CHDS, but it may not promote appropriate levels of physician use among blacks with CHDS. My second chapter examines the extent to which the managed care backlash affected managed care's ability to contain hospital costs among short-term, non-federal hospitals between 1998 and 2008. My analysis focuses on health maintenance organizations (HMOs), the most aggressive managed care model. Unlike previous studies that use cross-sectional or fixed effects estimators to address the endogeneity of HMO penetration with respect to hospital costs, this study uses a fixed effects instrumental variable approach. The results suggest two conclusions. First, I find the impact of increased HMO penetration on costs declined over the study period, suggesting regulation adversely impacted managed care's ability to contain hospital costs. Second, when costs are decomposed into unit costs by hospital service, I find the impact of increased HMO penetration on inpatient costs reversed over the study period, but HMOs were still effective at containing outpatient costs.

With the emergence of urban transformation concept in 1980s, the concept of eligibility has also started to be discussed as a new term in Turkey. However, the absence of a sustainable urban transformation law which defines the criteria of eligibility of stakeholders has undoubtedly brought about violations and disagreements between stakeholders. Especially the uncertified gecekondu possessors who are not determined as eligible stakeholders have been subjected to forced and arbitrary evictions. This study aims to clarify the problem of eligibility of uncertified gecekondu possessors in urban transformation and attempts to determine the criteria for the eligibility of this particular group. It argues that since the claims of uncertified gecekondu possessors like right to adequate housing, labor and possession have moral characters which do not depend upon legal acts, they can not be criteria of eligibility. The legal property ownership must be the criteria of eligibility in urban transformation practices in the law. On the other hand, this study urges that no matter living in a legal or illegal housing, the vulnerable families who lack of basic economic security and living in the project area must be determined as eligible stakeholders. In the first part of this master study, the problem of eligibility was discussed from theoretical perspective. In the second part, this problem was discussed in the case of Dikmen Valley 4th and 5th phases Urban Transformation Project. The knowledge obtained from the case can be useful for the local governments to develop sustainable policies on this particular problem.

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) seeks to increase the low-income population’s access to health care coverage by expanding Medicaid eligibility and providing subsidies to individuals meeting certain income thresholds. The citizens of Texas would benefit greatly from the ACA provisions, as the state offers limited opportunities for individuals to access insurance, evidenced by the 6.3 million residents without health care coverage. But political leaders in Texas have a long-standing commitment to limited government, low taxes, and states’ rights in a federal system of government. In the 1990s, Texas legislators, with bipartisan support, laid the groundwork over the last decade for the minimal, yet significant preparations that administration used to coordinate ACA implementation. Yet legislators’ commitment to limited government and states’ rights placed additional constraints on the ability of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) to implement ACA provisions by refusing to utilize the 82nd legislative session to prepare the state for impending deadlines. Instead, administrators developed an interagency effort, the Eligibility Modernization Project (EMP), to streamline eligibility determinations and increase clients’ access to information and services. EMP’s initiatives mirror ACA provisions, but also seeks to achieve policy goals that both Republican and Democratic legislators support, such as providing effective and efficient eligibility determinations. Nevertheless, legislators and administrators must go beyond EMP’s efforts to adequately prepare the eligibility system for impending ACA deadlines. Policy recommendations include further streamlining and integrating the health subsidy system with a state-based health insurance exchange, increasing access to coverage by expanding Medicaid eligibility, adequately preparing the workforce for changes, and promoting long-term planning. These solutions will provide a sounder infrastructure for HHSC to prepare for ACA coordination and implementation, while increasing access to health care coverage for the low-income population. / text

Effective production scheduling is essential for improved performance. Scheduling strategies for various shop configurations and performance criteria have been widely studied. Scheduling in parallel machines (PM) is one among the many scheduling problems that has received considerable attention in the literature. An even more complex scheduling problem arises when there are several PM families and jobs are capable of being processed in more than one such family. This research addresses such a situation, which is defined as an Associative Parallel Machine scheduling (APMS) problem. This research presents the SAPT-II algorithm that solves a highly constrained APMS problem with the objective to minimize average flow time. A case example from a make-to-order industrial product manufacturer is used to illustrate the complexity of the problem and evaluate the effectiveness of the scheduling algorithm.

My thesis summarizes the legal documents relating to eligibility and possibility of legal practice in another state than the home member state. European Union Law in this regard is binding for the Czech Republic since its accession to the EU in 2004. The work is divided into chapters giving comprehensive and coherent information. The introduction justifies my choice of the topic and outlines particular chapters. The first chapter is devoted to cross-border advocacy and the related terms of a European lawyer or Union element. The second chapter begins with the interpretation of the content of primary law in relation to advocates and their activity. The third chapter presents relevant legal documents of secondary union law - directives. The fourth chapter describes fundamental Czech legislation, namely the Law on Advocacy. The fifth chapter discusses the legislation in France. The sixth chapter contains two examples of Czech and EU case law. In the chapter of annexe there is a list of the professional designation of the home state set by Ministry of Justice, so it is a list of titles of persons authorized to provide legal services, and the second annexe is a bar chart showing the number of European lawyers established in the Czech Republic. The thesis provides a comprehensive set of information for...

This essay is based on a societal problem related to the exclusion that arises when young peopledo not reach upper secondary school eligibility, and how low education can have consequencesfor society over time. The thesis focuses on the municipalities' work and responsibility towardsthe individuals who make up the current target group, 16-19 year olds who do not study or havean employment. The study is concretized by these issues: • How do the municipalities in question describe the problem of young people who do not have uppersecondary school qualifications? • What measures are the municipalities taking and do they have stated goals? • Do the municipalities use united actions with public actors and other municipalities in the region tofind common solutions? The results of the thesis are mainly based on a questionnaire answered by representativesworking with the target group from nine different municipalities, where they were asked toanswer questions related to the purpose of the study. The study also used a secondary empiricismin the form of documents to strengthen the answers in terms of goals and measures. Theconclusions we came to were that all municipalities believe that lack of upper secondary schoolqualification entails great future risks for individuals, which in turn has consequences for society.An overwhelming majority of the municipalities have goals and measures linked to the law theyneed to comply with, which includes trying to motivate young people to return to some form ofeducation. United actions occurs in all municipalities, and with an increased understanding of thecomplexity of united action as a theoretical concept, the conclusions are based on the fact thatvarious forms of united actions also imposes different requirements. It can therefore beexperienced both as an asset and a challenge among the participating actors.