scholarly journals A critical assessment of generational accounting and its contribution to the generational equity debate

2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
John B. Williamson ◽  
Anna Rhodes
Keyword(s):  
Public Spending ◽  
Critical Assessment ◽  
Social Programs ◽  
Generational Accounting ◽  
Age Cohorts ◽  
Generational Equity ◽  
Deficit Reduction ◽  
Potential Benefits ◽  
Intragenerational Equity ◽  
The Cost

This article describes generational accounting (GA) with a focus on what it brings to the broader literature on generational equity. Our assessment suggests that the GA model has its limitations but is potentially useful in the hands of analysts who are familiar with both the strengths and limitations of the model. It is most useful when the focus is on dealing with intergenerational equity, but it is much less useful when the focus is on issues related to class, race, and other forms intragenerational equity. We conclude that when GA models are used to support calls for retrenchment of public spending on pensions and other social programs that target the older population, it makes sense to recognize that the potential benefits with respect to government debt and deficit reduction and reduced inequality in net tax burdens across age cohorts may come at the cost of increased intragenerational inequality for many workers and retirees.

The Design of Social Policy and Welfare Systems

2020 ◽  
pp. 138-159
Author(s):  
Vito Tanzi
Keyword(s):  
Public Spending ◽  
The Other ◽  
Social Programs ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Tax Expenditures ◽  
The Road ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
Welfare Systems ◽  
Economic Stagnation ◽  
The Cost

Most advanced countries over the past eight decades have created various social programs which have become fully-fledged welfare systems. Many countries developed means-tested programs aimed at assisting specific “deserving” individuals and families. Some accompanied these programs with “tax expenditures” designed to reduce the cost of buying particular “meritorious” goods and services. Other countries focused more on providing universal programs aimed at and available to everyone and also tried to avoid the use of tax expenditures, utilizing more broad-based taxes that could finance their higher public spending. The former group (mostly Anglo-Saxon countries) ended up with lower spending and tax levels but with more complicated systems. The other group (Scandinavian and some other European countries) ended up with higher spending and tax levels but with simpler systems. For these latter countries, high taxes and spending programs do not seem to have been the “road to serfdom” or to have led to the economic stagnation predicted.

The cost-effectiveness of one-time opportunistic screening for atrial fibrillation in different age cohorts of inhabitants in Denmark aged 65 years and above: a Markov modelled analysis

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucca Katrine Sciera ◽  
Lars Frost ◽  
Lars Dybro ◽  
Peter Bo Poulsen
Keyword(s):  
Atrial Fibrillation ◽  
General Practice ◽  
Cost Effectiveness ◽  
Incremental Cost ◽  
Population Data ◽  
National Registry ◽  
Opportunistic Screening ◽  
Age Cohorts ◽  
Life Years ◽  
The Cost

Abstract Aims The objective was to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of one-time opportunistic screening for atrial fibrillation (AF) in general practice in citizens aged ≥65 years in Denmark compared to a no-screening alternative following current Danish practice. Methods and results A decision tree and a Markov model were designed to simulate costs and quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) in a hypothetical cohort of citizens aged ≥65 years equivalent to the Danish population (1 M citizens) over the course of 19 years, using a healthcare and societal perspective. Share of detected AF patients following opportunistic screening was retrieved from a recent Danish screening study, whereas the risk stroke and bleedings in AF patients were based on population data from national registries and their associated costs was obtained from published national registry studies. The present study showed that one-time opportunistic screening for AF was more costly, but also more effective compared to a no-screening alternative. The analysis predicts that one-time opportunistic screening of all Danes aged ≥65 years potentially can identify an additional 10 300 AF patients and prevent 856 strokes in the period considered. The incremental cost of such a screening programme is €56.4 M, with a total gain of 6000 QALYs, resulting in an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of €9400 per QALY gained. Conclusion Opportunistic screening in general practice in citizens aged ≥65 years in Denmark is cost-effective compared to a willingness-to-pay threshold of €22 000. The study and its findings support a potential implementation of opportunistic screening for AF at the general practitioner level in Denmark.

Mobilising alternative futures: generational accounting and the fiscal politics of ageing in Australia

2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (7) ◽  
pp. 1409-1435
Author(s):  
BEN SPIES-BUTCHER ◽  
ADAM STEBBING
Keyword(s):  
Population Ageing ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Environmental Damage ◽  
Social Spending ◽  
Generational Accounting ◽  
Public Provision ◽  
Policy Action ◽  
Tax Base ◽  
Budget Equation ◽  
The Cost

ABSTRACTEconomists typically argue population ageing generates fiscal pressures by restricting the tax base while increasing demands for social spending. Alongside other economic pressures associated with neoliberalism, this dynamic contributes to a politics of ‘enduring austerity’ that limits governments’ fiscal discretion. The politics of population ageing reflects modelling techniques, such as generational accounting (GA), which, anticipating future deficits, create demands for policy action today to address projected intergenerational inequalities. Taking Australia as a case study, this paper explores the politics of GA in public budgetary processes. While existing critiques reject GA by arguing it relies on ‘apocalyptic’ or unreliable demography, we focus on a different kind of contestation, which applies the techniques and even the categories of GA to frame different problems and promote different solutions. We identify three sites of partisan contest that refocus fiscal modelling: including the tax side of the budget equation; comparing the cost of public provision to public subsidies for private programmes; and including the costs of environmental damage. At each site, the future-orientated logic of GA is mobilised to contest the policy implications of austerity. This complicates analysis that financialisation and neoliberalism necessarily ‘de-politicise’ policy by removing state discretion. Instead, we identify an increasingly important, if technocratic, form of political contestation that offers the possibility to promote more egalitarian responses to population ageing.

scholarly journals Knowledge management a competitive edge for law firms in Botswana in the changing business environment

2015 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Madeleine Fombad
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Management ◽  
Knowledge Economy ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Law Firms ◽  
Private Sector Development ◽  
Knowledge Based ◽  
Quantitative And Qualitative Research ◽  
Knowledge Based Economy ◽  
Potential Benefits ◽  
The Cost

Background: Law firms in Botswana offer a particularly interesting context to explore the effects of transition in the knowledge economy. Acquiring and leveraging knowledge effectively in law firms through knowledge management can result in competitive advantage; yet the adoption of this approach remains in its infancy. Objectives: This article investigates the factors that will motivate the adoption of knowledge management in law firms in Botswana, and creates an awareness of the potential benefits of knowledge management in these firms.Method: The article uses both quantitative and qualitative research methods and the survey research design. A survey was performed on all 115 registered law firms and 217 lawyers in Botswana. Interviews were conducted with selected lawyers for more insight. Results: Several changes in the legal environment have motivated law firms to adopt knowledge management. Furthermore, lawyers appreciate the potential benefits of knowledge management. Conclusion: With the rise of the knowledge-based economy, coupled with the pressures faced by the legal industry in recent years, law firms in Botswana can no longer afford to rely on the traditional methods of managing knowledge. Knowledge management will, therefore, enhance the cost effectiveness of these firms. Strategic knowledge management certainly helps to prepare law firms in Botswana to be alive to the fact that the systematic harnessing of legal knowledge is no longer a luxury, but an absolute necessity in the knowledge economy. It will also provide an enabling business environment for private sector development and growth and, therefore, facilitate Botswana’s drive towards the knowledge-based economy.

scholarly journals 366 Effects of organic versus conventional diets on dystocia rates in Nubian dams

2019 ◽  
Vol 97 (Supplement_2) ◽  
pp. 153-153
Author(s):  
Matthew J Soyland ◽  
Isabella V Panetta ◽  
Bailey Armentrout-Shoaf ◽  
Christina Rocco ◽  
Toree Williams
Keyword(s):  
Dairy Goat ◽  
Consumer Market ◽  
Mineral Supplement ◽  
Treatment Groups ◽  
Mineral Supplementation ◽  
Organic Products ◽  
Conventional Diet ◽  
Potential Benefits ◽  
Certified Organic ◽  
The Cost

Abstract Organic products have been growing in popularity in the consumer market, often without evidence to support potential benefits. Many organic products promise better results than conventional products, yet research examining the use of organic products as a feedstuff in caprine diets is lacking. Additionally, the cost of organic feedstuff is much greater when compared to conventional. Reproductive success of an animal has a direct correlation with nutrition throughout pregnancy and could be impacted by organic products. Thus, potential benefits of increase of reproductive health could outweigh the initial cost of organic feedstuffs. The objective of the current study was to determine differences in dystocia occurrence between caprine dams fed conventional and organic feedstuffs in the last 6 wk of gestation. Eight gestating Nubian does (n = 4) ranging from 1 to 5 yr of age with initial BW between 45.4 and 68.5 kg were separated into two treatment groups based on BCS utilizing the American Dairy Goat Association’s BCS 1 to 5 scale. Treatment A was fed a conventional diet including 14% CP concentrate, mineral supplementation, and molasses. Treatment B was fed an equivalent USDA certified organic concentrate, mineral supplement and molasses. Dams were fed 0.907kg/d/45.4kg of BW of concentrate and mineral supplement at 0.012kg/d/45.4kg of BW in individual feeding stocks at 0630 and 1730 in the last 6 wk of gestation. All Dams were provided ad libitum to hay and water. During parturition, dystocia was defined as requiring obstetrical assistance at any point during kidding. Differences in dystocia rate between conventional and organic groups were analyzed by independent T-Test at P < 0.05. As expected, no differences were observed between organic and conventional treatment groups (p = 0.28). As a result, the increased priced of organic feedstuff was not justified for feeding over conventional products.

scholarly journals Legislative production and public spending in France

Public Choice ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
François Facchini ◽  
Elena Seghezza
Keyword(s):  
Significant Relationship ◽  
Public Expenditure ◽  
Public Spending ◽  
The Public ◽  
Official Gazette ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Legislative Production ◽  
Laws And Regulations

AbstractThe aim of this article is to help explain the history of the public spending-to-GDP ratio in France by examining the production of laws and regulations. It empirically finds a positive and significant relationship between the number of pages in the Official Gazette of the French Republic and the development of the public expenditure-to-GDP ratio. We rely on the number of pages in the Official Gazette as a proxy for the cost of implementing laws and regulations. If unchecked, a proliferation of laws and regulations expands public spending. Over the period 1905–2015, a 10% increase in pages caused a 1.14% increase in the public expenditure-to-GDP ratio.

Antibiotic or Myringotomy, or Both, for Acute Otitis Media

1983 ◽  
Vol 92 (6_suppl) ◽  
pp. 32-33
Author(s):  
J. S. Supance ◽  
P. H. Kaleida ◽  
M. L. Casselbrant ◽  
M. M. Blatter ◽  
K. S. Reisinger ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Trials ◽  
Otitis Media ◽  
Acute Otitis Media ◽  
Drug Efficacy ◽  
Pharmacokinetic Studies ◽  
Controlled Clinical Trials ◽  
Randomized Controlled Clinical Trials ◽  
Surgical Methods ◽  
Potential Benefits ◽  
The Cost

Prevention and safe and effective treatment of otitis media are two of our ultimate research goals. Both of these require that a variety of medical and surgical methods of management be evaluated. The most frequent medical management of otitis media is the administration of antibiotics, decongestants, and antihistamines; therefore, several studies that are either randomized placebo-controlled clinical trials or drug efficacy studies have been undertaken. Also, pharmacokinetic studies either have been performed or are underway to determine the ability of drugs to achieve appropriate blood and middle ear levels. The most common methods of surgical management are myringotomy with or without tympanostomy tube insertion, and adenoidectomy with or without tonsillectomy. Randomized controlled clinical trials are being conducted to determine the efficacy and risk/benefit of these procedures at various stages and levels of severity of otitis media in children. In addition, we are attempting to address the problem of the cost of these methods in relation to their potential benefits.

Demographics, Public Spending and Social Programs

Labour ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-143
Author(s):  
Antonio Golini
Keyword(s):  
Public Spending ◽  
Social Programs

Site fidelity and the costs of movement among territories: an example from colonial web-building spiders

2001 ◽  
Vol 79 (11) ◽  
pp. 2094-2100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth M Jakob ◽  
Adam H Porter ◽  
George W Uetz
Keyword(s):  
Direct Observation ◽  
Site Fidelity ◽  
Prey Capture ◽  
Adaptive Significance ◽  
Central Core ◽  
Heterogeneous Habitats ◽  
Alternative Behaviors ◽  
Potential Benefits ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Web Building

Species differ in whether they exhibit strong site fidelity or move readily among sites. To understand the adaptive significance of site fidelity it is necessary to measure the cost of relocating to new sites, but this is very difficult with most species because it entails following individuals during the entire course of their transition. We studied the colonial web-building spider Metepeira incrassata (Araneae: Araneidae), which defends individual orb webs within a large, shared frame web. Colonies are heterogeneous habitats, with more prey but also more predators at the periphery of the colony relative to the central core. We measured relocation costs in this species by breaking them into the following components, (i) searching costs, (ii) establishment costs, and (iii) lost-opportunities costs, or the potential benefits of alternative behaviors that an animal might engage in if it were not relocating. We observed spiders that were in the process of establishing their orb webs at the start of the foraging day and conducted experiments to examine the costs of relocation by transferring spiders between locations within the colony. Transferred spiders had more fights with conspecifics than non-transferred spiders did, and the number of fights was positively correlated with the distance moved. However, searching and establishment costs seem unimportant, as individuals moving within their territories were as active as individuals moving to new sites. Transferred spiders faced greater lost-opportunities costs in the form of time spent on prey-capture orbs, as they significantly delayed orb construction. Lost-opportunities costs seem to be the most important component of relocation costs in this species and are likely to be generally important among species. This study is one of the few to document movement costs through direct observation.

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