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The main purpose of this study was to determine whether there were significant differences in the Arizona State Retirement System when compared with Systems in Alaska, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington. To provide perspective, it was necessary to review the literature of public employees and teacher retirement systems as presented by authorities in the field. Major categories were selected for purposes of comparison. As the categories were analyzed and conclusions were reached, recommendations for action and for further research were made. The findings indicated that the Arizona State Retirement System had a higher over-all cost and provided fewer and less costly benefits than the majority of the other Retirement Systems studied. The recommendations included the standardization of information, formation of a coalition of members, and a separate study commission of Legislative and public members. Improvement of benefits and/or the decrease of dollar amounts necessary for the continued sound and equitable operation of the Arizona State Retirement System were also recommended.

by Tsui Wing Hoi, Anthony. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1989. / Bibliography: leaf 37.

Thesis (LLM. (Labour Law)) -- University of Limpopo, 2013 / The South African government has paid compensation in a form of special pension to individuals who have been exposed to certain types of hardship and suffering caused by the governments or their predecessors. This compensation is described as ‘the appreciation or sense of guilty of society towards those people on whom the government has rightfully or wrongfully and at any rate disproportionally inflicted damage’. Government have been prepared to pay compensation to the following persons: former enemies, victims of war, victims of harmful compulsory vaccination measures, persons who had sacrificed their jobs and education in the process of overturning oppressive governments establishing democratic government; and persons whose basic human rights had been violated by governments or their predecessors. These persons have sacrificed their lives either in exile or within South Africa fighting for South Africa to be democratic. These persons must prove that they served their respective political organisations for a period of five years or above or they were banished or restricted in certain area or imprisoned or sentenced.

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

Gendered poverty among the elderly is a statistical fact. Previous studies have identified inequitable treatment of women and insufficient income for unattached elderly women among the most serious shortcomings of the retirement income system. Despite pension reform over the past decade, the gender gap has widened for elderly Canadians whose incomes fall below the poverty line. This thesis seeks to understand the relationship between the laws that govern Canada's retirement income system and the over-representation of elderly women among Canada's poor, and to explore why the retirement income system continues to deliver benefits in a manner that, though expressed in gender neutral language, is systemically unfair to women. The benefits of Canada's retirement income system may be accessed through workforce participation and, in a more limited way, through a spousal relationship. Familial ideology is used as the theoretical framework to examine the role of the laws that govern access to benefits in reinforcing and perpetuating assumptions about women that undermine their economic autonomy. This examination reveals that gendered economic inequality is embedded within Canada's retirement income system because it accepts the social and economic construction implicit in familial ideology of women as economically subordinate to, and dependent upon, men. The relationship between gender inequality and the two modes of delivery of retirement income benefits, during retirement as pension benefits and prior to retirement as tax subsidies that enhance taxpayers' opportunities to accumulate retirement savings, is also explored. A tax expenditure analysis exposes the bias against the economically disadvantaged (mostly women) inherent in delivering benefits as tax subsidies. Additionally, familial, public/private and restructuring ideologies are used as methodological tools to interrogate the reform process which, although ignoring gender issues, paradoxically deepened and compounded the systemic inequalities for women that existed prior to reform. The thesis concludes by offering suggestions for developing a progressive agenda for advancing gender equality within the retirement income system. The limitations of legal action as a strategy for implementing this type of agenda are discussed, and political action is designated as the most promising strategy for achieving progressive reform.

La tesi té per objecte l'estudi dels elements configuradors de la prestació de jubilació en la seva modalitat contributiva, és a dir, l'edat pensionable (o edat d'accés a la pensió de jubilació) i el cessament voluntari de l'activitat professional, posant-se de manifest com les diferents reformes aprovades sobre el sistema de Seguretat Social i, en especial, sobre el sistema de jubilació a partir de la dècada dels anys 80 han anat desconfigurant aquesta prestació.En aquest sentit en la Tesi es fa una crítica àmpliament fonamentada i raonada de l'ús abusiu que s'ha fet i que es fa de les diferents modalitats de jubilació anticipada, ja que no solament no han servit per a facilitar l'anomenat "relleu intergeneracional", sinó que, al contrari, són un seriós obstacle per a fer front al fenomen de l'envelliment demogràfic, la manifestació més directa del qual constitueix el canvi en l'estructura de la població per edats derivat de l'important descens de les taxes de natalitat i fertilitat conjuntament amb el corresponent augment dels índexs de longevitat, fenomen aquest que està provocant una profunda transformació de la piràmide demogràfica.Així, es realitza un anàlisi crític de l'ús de la jubilació com si es tractés d'una mesura de política d'ocupació, ja que es produeix una important fallida de la voluntarietat com a element característic del cessament, mitjançant, entre d'altres mesures, la jubilació forçosa i molt especialment, per que està donant lloc a una expulsió anticipada del mercat de treball a nombrosos treballadors encara aptes pel treball que ateses les importants dificultats d'ocupació de les persones de edat avançada es veuen obligades a mantenir-se com a inactives durant molt de temps, en la majoria dels casos en contra del que és la seva voluntat.En front a aquest panorama en la Tesi es proposa reforçar aquests dos elements configuradors de la prestació de jubilació, restringint al màxim l'ús de la jubilació anticipada, efectuant majors controls de la mateixa per a que només sigui utilitzada per empreses que realment ho necessiten, de forma limitada en el temps, i dotant de major flexibilitat a l'edat de jubilació mitjançant el reforçament del seu caràcter de dret al descans i atribuint-ne una major eficàcia a la voluntarietat de aquest dret del treballador.També s'aborda l'examen d'altres qüestions, entre d'altres, referides al funcionament intern de aquesta prestació; el tractament diferenciat establert en els diferents règims de Seguretat Social; el seu càlcul; així com un examen de les fonts estatals e internacionals de regulació de aquesta matèria amb una significativa incidència respecte a la necessitat de realitzar una lectura conjunta dels arts. 41 i 50 de la Constitució espanyola de 1978 i a la complexa aplicació del Reglament de la Unió Europea, Reglament CEE/ 1408/1971 pel reconeixement i càlcul de la prestació de jubilació en el cas de cotitzacions a diversos Estats de la Unió Europea.

Gendered poverty among the elderly is a statistical fact. Previous studies have identified inequitable treatment of women and insufficient income for unattached elderly women among the most serious shortcomings of the retirement income system. Despite pension reform over the past decade, the gender gap has widened for elderly Canadians whose incomes fall below the poverty line. This thesis seeks to understand the relationship between the laws that govern Canada's retirement income system and the over-representation of elderly women among Canada's poor, and to explore why the retirement income system continues to deliver benefits in a manner that, though expressed in gender neutral language, is systemically unfair to women. The benefits of Canada's retirement income system may be accessed through workforce participation and, in a more limited way, through a spousal relationship. Familial ideology is used as the theoretical framework to examine the role of the laws that govern access to benefits in reinforcing and perpetuating assumptions about women that undermine their economic autonomy. This examination reveals that gendered economic inequality is embedded within Canada's retirement income system because it accepts the social and economic construction implicit in familial ideology of women as economically subordinate to, and dependent upon, men. The relationship between gender inequality and the two modes of delivery of retirement income benefits, during retirement as pension benefits and prior to retirement as tax subsidies that enhance taxpayers' opportunities to accumulate retirement savings, is also explored. A tax expenditure analysis exposes the bias against the economically disadvantaged (mostly women) inherent in delivering benefits as tax subsidies. Additionally, familial, public/private and restructuring ideologies are used as methodological tools to interrogate the reform process which, although ignoring gender issues, paradoxically deepened and compounded the systemic inequalities for women that existed prior to reform. The thesis concludes by offering suggestions for developing a progressive agenda for advancing gender equality within the retirement income system. The limitations of legal action as a strategy for implementing this type of agenda are discussed, and political action is designated as the most promising strategy for achieving progressive reform. / Law, Peter A. Allard School of / Graduate

This thesis comprises three studies on CEO compensation in the UK. It specifically examines the role of CEO defined-benefit pensions, compensation consultants and CEO stock options. Firstly, research on the role of executive pensions is still at a stage of infancy due to data difficulties (Sundaram and Yermack, 2007). By taking advantage of better disclosure requirements with the introduction of Directors’ Remuneration Report Regulations (DRRR) in 2002, this thesis examines the determinants and effects of CEO defined-benefit pensions. Consistent with rent extraction hypothesis (Bebchuk and Fried, 2005; Kalyta and Magnan, 2008), it finds that pensions are largely determined by CEO power over boards of directors. There is no evidence that pensions reduce the agency cost of debt as suggested by Edmans (2008) and Sundaram and Yermack (2007). Instead they increase the agency cost of equity by discouraging CEO risk-taking and reducing pay-performance relationship. Consistent with the argument in Gustman et al. (1994), Ippolito (1991) and Lazear (1990), this thesis also finds that pensions do bond a CEO to the firm she manages. Secondly, because of the lack of disclosure regarding compensation consultants used by companies, the empirical evidence is so far limited on how the practice of employing compensation consultants influences CEO pay. By taking advantage of better disclosure requirements since the publication of the DRRR (2002), this thesis examines the effect of using compensation consultants on CEO pay. Unlike Murphy and Sandino (2008), this thesis finds no evidence that firms use multiple pay consultants to justify or legitimize higher CEO pay. In light of the managerial power theory, this thesis instead finds that pay consultants are more concerned with the risk of losing business with their client firms. This latter finding explains why the use of pay consultants is associated with greater executive pay (see Armstrong, Ittner and Larcker, 2008; Cadman, Carter and Hillegeist, in press; Conyon, Peck and Sadler, 2009; Murphy and Sandino, 2008; Voulgaris, Stathopoulos and Walker, 2009). Thirdly, despite the importance of the issue, the existence of a link between the CEO stock options and earnings management is currently understudied in the UK. The UK context is appealing because of two distinctive corporate governance features that limit opportunistic earnings management. These are the absence of CEO duality in general (Cornett, Marcus, and Tehranian, 2008) and the increased outside director’s membership on boards since the publication of the Cadbury Report (1992) (Peasnell, Pope, and Young, 2000). By examining earnings management prior to stock option grant and exercise periods, this thesis adds to the study of Kuang (2008) that examines earnings management during stock option vesting periods. Overall, some evidence has been found that earnings are managed downwards prior to stock option grant periods. Consistent with the US-based studies, this thesis finds strong evidence of upward earnings management prior to a stock option exercise period. It shows that the UK’s distinctive governance features have not restrained opportunistic earnings management prior to stock option grants and exercises. In brief, this thesis provides some empirical evidence that the use of two pay components in the CEO pay package, namely, the defined-benefit pensions and stock options, do not necessarily promote CEO-shareholder interest alignment. The use of pay consultants in CEO pay-setting is also fraught with managerial influence. In support of the managerial power theory, I therefore suggest that these three factors can be abused by CEOs to extract excess compensation at the expense of shareholders. In this context, these three factors can themselves be considered as the sources of the agency cost. Future research might examine the mechanisms that can be deployed to govern the use of defined-benefit pensions, stock options and pay consultants in CEO pay design.

Depuis longtemps les modèles de type phase sont utilisés dans plusieurs domaines scientifiques pour décrire des systèmes qui peuvent être caractérisés par différents états. Les modèles sont bien connus en théorie des files d’attentes, en économie et en assurance.<p><p>La thèse est focalisée sur différentes applications des modèles de type phase en assurance et montre leurs avantages. En particulier, le modèle de Lin et Liu en 2007 est intéressant, parce qu’il décrit le processus de vieillissement de l’organisme humain. La durée de vie d’un individu suit une loi de type phase et les états de ce modèle représentent des états de santé. Le fait que le modèle prévoit la connexion entre les états de santé et l’âge de l’individu le rend très utile en assurance.<p><p>Les résultats principaux de la thèse sont des nouveaux modèles et méthodes en assurance pension et en assurance santé qui utilisent l’hypothèse de la loi de type phase pour décrire la durée de vie d’un individu.<p><p>En assurance pension le but d’estimer la profitabilité d’un fonds de pension. Pour cette raison, on construit un modèle « profit-test » qui demande la modélisation de plusieurs caractéristiques. On décrit l’évolution des participants du fonds en adaptant le modèle du vieillissement aux causes multiples de sortie. L’estimation des profits futurs exige qu’on détermine les valeurs des cotisations pour chaque état de santé, ainsi que l’ancienneté et l’état de santé initial pour chaque participant. Cela nous permet d’obtenir la distribution de profits futurs et de développer des méthodes pour estimer les risques de longevité et de changements de marché. De plus, on suppose que la diminution des taux de mortalité pour les pensionnés influence les profits futurs plus que pour les participants actifs. C’est pourquoi, pour évaluer l’impact de changement de santé sur la profitabilité, on modélise séparément les profits venant des pensionnés.<p><p>En assurance santé, on utilise le modèle de type phase pour calculer la distribution de la valeur actualisée des coûts futurs de santé. On développe des algorithmes récursifs qui permettent d’évaluer la distribution au cours d’une période courte, en utilisant des modèles fluides en temps continu, et pendant toute la durée de vie de l’individu, en construisant des modèles en temps discret. Les trois modèles en temps discret correspondent à des hypothèses différentes qu’on fait pour les coûts: dans le premier modèle on suppose que les coûts de santé sont indépendants et identiquement distribués et ne dépendent pas du vieillissement de l’individu; dans les deux autres modèles on suppose que les coûts dépendent de son état de santé.<p> / Doctorat en Sciences / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished