The “Great Recession” of 2008 decimated many facets of the U.S. economy in the short-term but the long-term effect of the recession on the retirement security of millions of Americans is a story in progress. This study investigates the impact of the 2008 recession on the public pensions of state and local government employees. Prior to the recession, the 19 million current state and local government employees enjoyed the prospect of a retirement built on the tradition FDR’s three “legs”: a private pension from their employer, personal savings, and Social Security. Although the “first leg” of retirement, the private pension, disappeared in the late 20th century for the majority of American workers, state and local public sector employees were the exception-with about 90% eligible for a defined benefit pension at the beginning of the 21st century (GAO 2008). The 2008 recession, effected all U.S. states, however the response to reduced investment earnings for state-administered public pensions varied. The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) noted in one year, 44 states enacted 269 pension bills (NCSL 2013). The changes enacted in state legislation, all involved a reduction in benefits. The retrenchment actions ranged from suspended cost-of-living allowance (COLA) increases and increased employee contributions to the loss of the defined pension benefit. Several states, after the 2008 recession, terminated the defined pension benefit for future employees, one state (Rhode Island) changed to a hybrid plan for current employees. Scholars seeking to understand retrenchment of benefits argue the lack of a “public outcry” permit elected officials to act without fear of a backlash (Pierson 1994). Conversely, conditions that prevent political opponents to transfer costs to a losing coalition and instead compromise on a long-term sharing of costs, is considered policy investment (Jacobs 2011). This study seeks to use retrenchment and investment theories to explain the public pension actions U.S. states took following the 2008 recession. The quantitative analysis confirms several expectations of retrenchment theory, such as the importance of interest groups, represented by the number of public sector employees in a state and the level of unionization within a state’s public sector. Investment theory predictions are not confirmed in the quantitative analysis, however a case study analysis of Delaware does find conditions of political compromise resulting in long-term stability for the pension plans. The quantitative analysis expected to find a strong “mirror” relationship between a pension plan’s funded ratio (assets to liabilities) and the state’s annual required contribution (ARC). The relationship between the two key measures, while positive and significant, is small. The unexpected finding led to a focus on ARC payments and the political conditions surrounding the decision to fund or not fund a state’s annual contribution. Delaware and Oklahoma are examples of states with adequate ARC payments yet contradictory public pension actions. Rhode Island and New Jersey are states with inadequate ARC payments, yet also contradictory public pension actions. Understanding the conditions that led to a state’s decision to pay or not pay the ARC also uncovers a host of actions states take to manipulate their required contributions. Regardless of similar institutions and budget processes across the 50 states, not every political institution gets the same results. Politics and state norms will change the outcome. / Political Science

Society has changed since Cooperative Extension and the 4-H youth program began. Over time the purpose for Extension has been challenged. Yet, there has been little empirical literature published on the administrators' role and perspectives of the organizational environment or on the resulting leadership behaviors. A qualitative study was conducted to develop a baseline. State Extension Directors (n=7) and State 4-H Program Leaders (n=13) from 15 regionally-representative states were interviewed. Participants were asked to conduct a SWOT Analysis on both the Extension system and the 4-H program in their state and their leadership behaviors were explored. Extension administrators emphasized the organization's relevance to society and that the mission would remain focused on agriculture, although with an expanded focus on agriculture as more than production. Administrators did recognize many specific environmental shifts, including a changing funding model; challenges and importance of serving a diversifying population; the tension between urbanizing populations and shrinking rural communities; and, the changing role of technology for programming. Administrators described that they were experiencing shifting focus friction from historic audiences that were afraid of losing services due to the aforementioned environmental factors. Administrators' leadership behaviors were reflective of the Adaptive Leadership behavior construct introduced by Heifetz (1994). Communication was the key behavior that is required to lead effectively. In order to successfully implement a strategy, trust with stakeholders needed to be established. Diversity in feedback was important for the administrators to feel confident in their ability to understand the changes in the organizational environment. / PHD / Extension and 4-H are educational organizations affiliated with Land-Grant Universities to provide research-based information to the citizens of all U.S. states and territories. Established in 1862, the purpose and need for Extension has been challenged overtime. There has been little empirical literature published on the administrators’ role and perspectives of the organizational environment, these leaders being the individuals who are creating and implementing organizational direction. Twenty administrators (7 State Extension Directors and 13 State 4-H Program Leaders) which were representative of 15 regionally-representative states were interviewed. Participants were asked to conduct the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats analysis for both the State 4-H program and Cooperative Extension organization. Extension administrators emphasized the organization’s relevance to society and that the mission will remain focused on agriculture -food and health. Administrators did recognize many specific environmental factors they were responding to, including: changes in the funding model; challenges and importance of serving a diversifying population; tension between urbanizing populations and shrinking rural communities; increasing service competition; and, the changing role of technology in program delivery. Administrators described friction with historic audiences who fear the loss of services due to organization adaptation in response to the aforementioned changes. Communication was the key behavior that was embedded in all other leadership characteristics. Trust with stakeholders needed to be established to successfully implement strategy. Diversity in feedback was important for the administrators’ confidence in their ability to understand the changes in the organizational environment.

La thèse cherche à travers des critères économiques, sociaux et financiers à définir pour laFrance un système de retraite optimal. Elle procède à l’analyse critique de l’ensemble desréformes entreprises depuis la parution du Livre Blanc sur les retraites (1991), et engage despistes de mesures complémentaires pour les améliorer. Elle s’articule autour de deux idéesprincipales : d’une part, les principales réformes (Balladur, 1993 et Fillon, 2003) sont d’ordreparamétrique et entendent préserver la logique de solidarité intergénérationnelle ; d’autre part,sous certaines conditions, elles peuvent être améliorées par l’adjonction de mesuresstructurelles sous forme d’introduction d’une dose de capitalisation obligatoire.L’argumentation s’appuie à la fois sur une réflexion théorique, fondée notamment sur lesmodèles à générations imbriquées, la notion de taxe sur la poursuite d’activité aux âgesavancés, et sur une étude empirique internationale mesurant l’impact d’une capitalisationsupplémentaire sur l’épargne nationale. Globalement, l’objectif de la thèse est de montrerl’existence de deux dilemmes auxquels font face les pouvoirs publics dans la recherche desolutions à la crise des retraites: (1) garder le système de retraite actuel qui offre peud’incitations à la poursuite de toute activité professionnelle aux âges avancés ou aller versplus d’individualisation des droits au risque de sacrifier la solidarité intergénérationnelle ; (2)quelle dose, quelle(s) forme(s) et quelle réglementation de la capitalisation qui permettentd’augmenter l’épargne nationale au lieu de la réduire ? / This dissertation tries to define an optimal retirement system for France based on economic,social and financial criteria. It reviews the reforms that have been undertaken since thepublication of the Livre Blanc sur les retraites in 1991, and highlights additional measuresthat could be implemented to enhance these reforms. The dissertation is structured around twomain ideas: on the one hand, the main reforms (Balladur, 1993 and Fillon, 2003) are ofparametric nature and intend to preserve intergenerational solidarity; on the other hand, undercertain conditions, they can be improved by incorporating a funded system. The analysis relyon both a theoretical framework, notably overlapping generations models, and anempirical approach to assess the impact of additional capitalization on national saving.Overall, the dissertation aims to show that the authorities face two main dilemma whendealing with the retirement crisis: (1) keep the current retirement system, which does notencourage the elderly to remain in the workforce, or move toward a funded system at the riskof giving up intergenerational solidarity; (2) what dose, forms and regulations of fundingcould stimulate national savings?

This thesis aims to fill the gaps in the literature of the theory of constraints (TOC) in publicly funded health systems. While TOC seems to be a natural fit for this resource-constrained environment, there are still no reported application of TOC’s drum-buffer-rope tool and inadequate customizations with regards to defining system-wide goal and performance measures. The “Drum-Buffer-Rope for an Outpatient Cancer Facility” chapter is a real world case study exploring the usefulness of TOC’s drum-buffer-rope scheduling technique in a publicly funded outpatient cancer facility. With the use of a discrete event simulation model populated with historical data, the drum-buffer-rope scheduling policy is compared against “high constraint utilization” and “low wait time” scenarios. Drum-buffer-rope proved to be an effective mechanism in balancing the inherent tradeoff between the two performance measures of instances of delayed treatment and average patient wait time. To find the appropriate level of compromise in one performance measure in favor of the other, the linkage of these measures to system-wide performance measures are proposed. In the “Theory of Constraints’ Performance Measures for Publicly Funded Health Systems” chapter, a system dynamics representation of the classical TOC’s system-wide goal and performance measures for publicly traded for-profit companies is developed, which forms the basis for developing a similar model for publicly funded health systems. The model is then expanded to include some of the factors that affect system performance, providing a framework to apply TOC’s process of ongoing improvement in publicly funded health systems. The “Connecting Low-Level Performance Measures to the Goal” chapter attempts to provide a framework to link the low-level performance measures with system-wide performance measures. It is claimed that until such a linkage is adequately established, TOC has not been fully transferred to publicly funded health systems.

This thesis deals with the comparison of funded pension schemes in United Kingdom and in Slovakia. The aim of the thesis is the classification of pension systems and consequently the characteristic of pension system's structure in United Kingdom and in Slovakia. The thesis also has for the other goal to carry out the comparison of funded pension schemes of both countries in terms of the most significant factors which influence finances invested in pension funds. The Thesis consists of four sections. The first chapter is devoted to the characteristics of construction of basic pension system types, the way of their funding, types of pension plans and structure of three tier pension system. The second and the third chapter is focused on pension systems of United Kingdom and Slovakia, demographic changes in both countries, previous and present forms of the system, changes and intended reforms. The fourth chapter comprises of the comparison of the investment portfolio structure, rate of return, costs and charges of pension funds.

Background: All treatments, especially funded by social means, should be subject to cost-effectiveness studies to ensure that the best possible optimization decision it taken between different treatment options. Within the health care area this is a well-developed area. For odontology in general, and orthodontic treatment in specific, this is an unknown territory and cost-effectiveness studies are rare. Malocclusion can be treated with several different systems. The sales pitch from system providers for braces - such as self-ligated brackets (SLB) promises e.g. shorten treatment duration, shorter chairtime, fewer visits, but the purchase cost of SLB systems is higher. Due to lack of results from unbiased RCT there is no guidelines. It is up to the dentist to use the treatment method/system of their own choice. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to estimate the cost-effectiveness of SLB compared to conventional brackets (CB) to determine which of the two systems that should be considered as the preferred choice of treatment in a publicly funded system. Method: Through an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) calculate the most costeffective system from a societal perspective which includes all costs. To estimate the health care cost, the Reference price list will be used as baseline for production cost for CB. With the use of secondary resources examine the cost driving components to estimate the production cost of SLB. To estimate the non-health care cost a matrix with downtime from work and travel costs was estimated accounting for travel to disclose the magnitude of these cost. The Outcome of the different treatment alternatives will be measured from different perspectives, such as state specific and general profiles. Treatment duration and foregone education will also be investigated. Conclusions: When all production costs for SLB has been adjusted it shows that the total cost of SLB is slightly cheaper. The reduced number of visits required, less chairtime and shorter treatment period are the positive sides of the higher purchase cost of the SLB. Most of the outcome results are not statistically significant, but there is a tendency, with better average values for SLB. SLB seems to be the cheaper and with more effective outcome though not to the extent the provider promises. The difference of treatment duration is minimal and has no significant advantage. The foregone education for the patient is not possible to quantify in monetary terms but could have significant impact depending on different geographical areas but will small differences between the systems. Hence, in lack of unbiased studies and just focusing on average values, SLB dominates CB and should be the preferred choice of treatment until new long-term studies has been published. / Bakgrund: Alla behandlingar, särskilt de som är offentligt finansierade, borde ha genomgått kostnadseffektivitetsbedömningar för att kunna fatta bästa möjliga beslut. Inom sjukhälsovård är detta ett välutvecklat område. Inom tandvård generellt, men kanske ortodonti i synnerhet, är detta ett outforskat område och kostnadseffektivitetsstudier är sällsynta. Malocklusion kan behandlas med flera olika system. Säljargument från olika tandställningsleverantörer, som t.ex. självligerande brackets (SLB) ger löften om t.ex. kortare behandlingsperiod, kortare tid i tandläkarstolen, färre besök men till en högre inköpskostnad. I brist på resultat från oberoende RCT saknas riktlinjer. Det är upp till den enskilda tandläkaren att välja den behandlingsmetod/system som hen finner bäst. Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka kostnadseffektiviteten mellan SLB jämfört med konventionella brackets (CB) för att avgöra vilket av dessa två system borde anses vara föredraget behandlingsalternativ i ett offentligt finansierat system Metod: Med kostnadseffektivitetskvoten (incremental cost-effectiveness ratio, ICER) beräkna det mest kostnadseffektiva systemet från ett samhällsperspektiv som inkluderar alla kostnader. För att uppskatta direkta behandlingskostnaden kommer Referensprislistan att användas som produktionskostnadsbas. Med hjälp av sekundära källor som undersöker de kostnadsdrivande komponenterna, uppskatta produktionskostnaden för SLB. För att mäta de indirekta behandlingskostnaderna skapas en matris för att påvisa kostnaden med ställtid från arbete och resekostnader. Resultatet av de olika behandlingsalternativen kommer att mätas från olika perspektiv, såsom generella hälsoprofiler och tillståndsspecifika. Behandlingsperiod och missad utbildnings kommer också att undersökas. Slutsats: Efter det att produktionskostnaderna har blivit justerade visas att totalkostnaden för SLB är något billigare. Färre antal besök, kortare tid i behandlingsrummet är det positiva sidorna av det högre inköpspriset för SLB. De flesta av resultaten är inte statistiskt signifikanta men det finns en tendens mot bättre effekt med SLB. SLB tycks vara det billigare och mest effektiva systemet om än inte i den utsträckning som säljargumenten hävdar. Skillnaden i behandlingsperiod är minimal och har igen avgörande betydelse. Den missade utbildningen är svårligen kvantifierbar i monetära termer men kan ha en avgörande betydelse beroende på olika geografiska platser men med små skillnader mellan systemen. Följaktligen, i brist på oberoende studier och med ett fokus på medelvärde är SLB det dominerande valet över CB och borde vara det föredragna behandlingsalternativet fram till dess att nya långsiktiga forskningsrön har blivit publicerade.

Esta dissertação trata a questão dos espaços comuns em alguns empreendimentos de habitação de interesse social em São Paulo. Resgata historicamente as diversas manifestações, nas cidades, de espaços comuns próprios de construções residenciais e de conjuntos habitacionais. Com estudos de caso específicos, recupera quatro experiências dos primeiros programas de construção de moradias por mutirão e autogestão realizados em São Paulo, entre os anos 1989 e 2004, em razão de suas peculiaridades e qualidades que os tornaram bons modelos de projetos de arquitetura habitacional de interesse social. Procura, a partir da análise das condicionantes dos projetos de arquitetura e urbanismo, avaliar como os espaços comuns são geridos, como foram apropriados pelos moradores, e em que medida tal apropriação se relaciona ou não com os usos pensados e propostos (ou não) nos projetos originais. / This dissertation covers the matter of communal areas in some public-funded housing projects in São Paulo. It recalls the historical and varied advent, throughout cities, of such communal areas that are usual to residential and housing project construction. Using studies of specific cases, this research analyzes four experiences from the first public occupant-run housing project construction programs carried out in São Paulo, between 1989 and 2004. They were selected because of the peculiarities and features that made them such good models for public-funded architectural housing projects. The aim is to assess, by analyzing the conditioning factors of the architectural and urbanization projects, how the communal areas were put together, how they were utilized by the occupants, and how such utilization is related, or not, to the possibilities previously planned or proposed in the original projects.

Lietuvos Respublikoje nuo 2004 metų veikia nauja socialinio draudimo pensijų sistema. Ji suteikia Lietuvos Respublikos gyventojams teisę kaupti papildomai pensijos daliai pensijų fonduose. II ir III pakopos pensijų fondų veiklos priežiūrą atlieka Lietuvos Respublikos Vertybinių popierių komisija. Pensijos yra tam tikra taupymo forma, kuri leidžia sulyginti pajamas per visą gyvenimo laikotarpį. Kiekvienas dirbantis žmogus gali taupyti tam tikrą einamųjų pajamų dalį, taip užtikrindamas sau išmokas iš÷jus į pensiją. Todėl išsivysčiusiose šalyse pensijos ir pensijų fondai vystėsi jau nuo senų laikų – jų užuomazgų galima rasti jau XVII amžiuje. Pirmosios valstybinės pensijos įvestos, generolo Oto fon Bismarko dėka, Vokietijoje 1889 metais. Daugumoje Europos Sąjungos valstybių praktikoje išryškėjo tendencija II pensijų sistemos pakopą daryti kaip privalomąją. Lietuvos Respublikos privalomąjį pobūdį išlaikė tik pirmoji pakopa, tuo tarpu antroji ir trečioji yra savanoriškos. Nuo 2004 m. sausio m÷n. 1 d. Lietuvos Respublikos gyventojai dalį įmokų “Sodrai” turi teisę pervesti į pensijų fondus, o taip pat gali savanoriškai kaupti papildomai pensijos daliai pensijų fonduose ar gyvybės draudimo įmonėse, mokėdami tam tikro dydžio įmokas. Teisę tapti pensijų fondo dalyviu turi asmenys, privalomai draudžiami valstybiniu socialiniu pensijų draudimu pagrindinei ir papildomai pensijos daliai gauti, išskyrus asmenis, kurie jau yra sukakę senatvės pensijos amžių. Pensijų įmokos dydis 2006 metais... [to full text] / Lithuanians, since 01/01/04, a part of their payments to “Sodra” can remit in pension funds. All pension accumulation enterprises are strictly controlled and supervised by the Stock Commission. Pension is a particular way on saving, which allows dispensing lifetime income. Every working person can put aside a certain part of his income, thus guaranteeing allowance when the person retires. In wealthy countries pensions and pension funds have existed for a long time, their origins dating as far back as the 17th. First retirement was instituted by Otto von Bismarck in Germany 1889. There is a tendency that in most of European Union states II level’s of the pension system are compulsory. In Lithuania only I level is compulsory, while II and III are voluntary. Lithuanians, since 01/01/04, a part of their payments to “Sodra” can remit in pension funds, also they can accumulate voluntary for subsidiary part of the pension in pension funds or insurance enterprises, by making certain payments. To become a participant of the pension fund may a person, who is compulsory insured with the social retirement insurance, to get main or subsidiary part of pension. Person, who is already turned the retirement age, have no right to participate in the second level. In 2006 the pension payment is 4.5 percent, since 2007 – 5.5 percent of participant’s income, from which the national social security payments are countable. Payments are remitted from VSDF (National Social Insurance Fund) budget to... [to full text]

This thesis aims to fill the gaps in the literature of the theory of constraints (TOC) in publicly funded health systems. While TOC seems to be a natural fit for this resource-constrained environment, there are still no reported application of TOC’s drum-buffer-rope tool and inadequate customizations with regards to defining system-wide goal and performance measures. The “Drum-Buffer-Rope for an Outpatient Cancer Facility” chapter is a real world case study exploring the usefulness of TOC’s drum-buffer-rope scheduling technique in a publicly funded outpatient cancer facility. With the use of a discrete event simulation model populated with historical data, the drum-buffer-rope scheduling policy is compared against “high constraint utilization” and “low wait time” scenarios. Drum-buffer-rope proved to be an effective mechanism in balancing the inherent tradeoff between the two performance measures of instances of delayed treatment and average patient wait time. To find the appropriate level of compromise in one performance measure in favor of the other, the linkage of these measures to system-wide performance measures are proposed. In the “Theory of Constraints’ Performance Measures for Publicly Funded Health Systems” chapter, a system dynamics representation of the classical TOC’s system-wide goal and performance measures for publicly traded for-profit companies is developed, which forms the basis for developing a similar model for publicly funded health systems. The model is then expanded to include some of the factors that affect system performance, providing a framework to apply TOC’s process of ongoing improvement in publicly funded health systems. The “Connecting Low-Level Performance Measures to the Goal” chapter attempts to provide a framework to link the low-level performance measures with system-wide performance measures. It is claimed that until such a linkage is adequately established, TOC has not been fully transferred to publicly funded health systems.

A presented dissertation suggests some suitable recommendations to optimizme the activity of a state-funded institution of Carlsbad collonades and natural healing resources´ administration.The first chapter concentrates on the optimizing of a chosen organization´s activity, characterizes state-funded institutions, compares state-funded institutions to other entrepreneurial entities, defines the notion of optimalization, and adumbrates both the history and the meaning of the city of Carlsbad. The second chapter contains the analysis of the organization´s activity, investigates its financial management, the surroundings it is situated in. It also values both the organization´s strong and weak points. Based on the analysis results , the third chapter suggests some suitable measures to optimize the activity of a a state-funded institution.