Targeting Risk Lovers? Taxation of Private Pension Savings, Risk Preferences, and Gender

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bo Larsson

Many countries need to stimulate savings, and especially voluntary pension planning, to meet the demands of an ageing population. This is especially true for the female population as women are expected to live longer while simultaneously having accumulated lower pension wealth. Sweden has been a front-runner in introducing tax-deferred designated pension accounts to stimulate private pension saving, along with self-directed individual public pension accounts. However, a particular feature of these tax-deferred designated pension accounts was that savings were taxed through a presumptive return. In this Article, we show that with heterogeneous risk preferences, this tax policy makes designated pensions unattractive for risk-averse individuals. Using data on self-directed choices and designated pension savings, we empirically confirm our result. In particular, we show that as women are on average more risk averse compared to men, this tax policy had negative effects for women. This Article thus sheds light on the importance of accounting for risk preferences in policymaking addressed towards stimulating adequate pension planning. The Article additionally sheds light on the overall negative consequences of a presumptive tax design such as, e.g., the Dutch “Box-III” tax system.

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Suhana Jawahir ◽  
Ee Hong Tan ◽  
Yeung R’ong Tan ◽  
Sarah Nurain Mohd Noh ◽  
Iqbal Ab Rahim

Abstract Background Provision of informal care may adversely affect health, daily and social activities of the informal caregivers, but few studies have examined these effects in relation to caregiving intensity. This study examined the predictive factors associated with the effects of caregiving roles on health, daily and social activities of informal caregivers, accounting for caregiving intensity. Methods Data of adults aged 18 years and over from the National Health and Morbidity Survey 2019 were used. Respondent’s demographic, socioeconomic, health, and caregiving-related characteristics were described using complex samples analysis. Logistic regression analysis was performed to examine the factors affecting health, daily and social activities of caregivers, accounting for caregiving intensity. Results Five point one percent of adults in Malaysia provided informal care. High intensity caregivers were more likely to be actively employed and provided longer duration of care compared with low intensity caregivers. For low intensity caregiving, females, those aged 35–59 years, and those with long-term condition were more likely to have negative effects on health. Daily activities of non-Malays were more likely to be affected, while no factor was found significantly associated with effect on social activities. For high intensity caregiving, caregivers aged 60 and over, those received training and those without assistance were more likely to have negative effects on health. Daily activities of those without assistance were more likely to be affected. Social activities of non-Malays, those received training and those providing care for 2 years or more were more likely to be affected. Conclusions Our study indicates that both low- and high-intensity caregivers have common features, with the exception of employment status and care duration. Caregiving, regardless of intensity, has a significant impact on caregivers. In order to reduce the negative consequences of caregiving responsibilities, all caregivers need assistance from the community and government, that is customised to their needs. By addressing the factors contributing to the negative effects of caregiving, a continuation of informal caregiving can be sustained through policies supporting the growing demand for informal care necessitated by an ageing population and higher life expectancy in Malaysia.


Author(s):  
Michela Menegatti ◽  
Monica Rubini

Language is one of the most powerful means through which sexism and gender discrimination are perpetrated and reproduced. The content of gender stereotypes, according to which women should display communal/warmth traits and men should display agentic/competence traits, is reflected in the lexical choices of everyday communication. As a consequence, language subtly reproduces the societal asymmetries of status and power in favor of men, which are attached to the corresponding social roles. Moreover, the hidden yet consensual norm according to which the prototypical human being is male is embedded in the structure of many languages. Grammatical and syntactical rules are built in a way that feminine terms usually derive from the corresponding masculine form. Similarly, masculine nouns and pronouns are often used with a generic function to refer to both men and women. However, such linguistic forms have the negative effects of making women disappear in mental representations. Although the use of gender-fair linguistic expressions can effectively prevent these negative consequences and promote gender equality, there are even more implicit forms of gender bias in language that are difficult to suppress. By choosing terms at different levels of abstraction, people can affect the attributions of the receiver in a way that is consistent with their stereotypical beliefs. Linguistic abstraction, thus, is a very subtle resource used to represent women in a less favorable way and thus to enact gender discrimination without meaning to discriminate or even be aware that this linguistic behavior has discriminatory results. In order to reduce gender bias, it is necessary to change people’s linguistic habits by making them aware of the beneficial effects of gender-fair expressions.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 880
Author(s):  
Caterina Caminiti ◽  
Giuseppe Maglietta ◽  
Tiziana Meschi ◽  
Andrea Ticinesi ◽  
Mario Silva ◽  
...  

Background: Concern is growing about the negative consequences that response measures to the COVID-19 epidemic may have on the management of other medical conditions. Methods: A retrospective descriptive case-series study conducted at a large University-hospital in northern Italy, an area severely hit by the epidemic. Results: Between 23 February and 14 May 2020, 4160 (52%) COVID-19 and 3778 (48%) non-COVID-19 patients were hospitalized. COVID-19 admissions peaked in the second half of March, a period characterized by an extremely high mortality rate (27.4%). The number of admissions in 2020 was similar to 2019, but COVID-19 patients gradually occupied all available beds. Comparison between COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 admissions in 2020 revealed significant differences concerning all age classes and gender. Specifically, COVID-19 patients were older, predominantly male, and exhibited more comorbidities. Overall, admissions for non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in 2020 vs. 2019 dropped by approximately one third. Statistically significant reductions were observed for acute myocardial infarction (−78, −33.9%), cerebrovascular disease (−235, −41.5%), and cancer (−368, −31.9%). While the first two appeared equally distributed between COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients, chronic NCDs were statistically significantly more frequent in the former, except cancer, which was less frequent in COVID-19 patients. Conclusions: Prevention of collateral damage to patients with other diseases should be an integral part of epidemic response plans. Prospective cohort studies are needed to understand the long-term impact.


Ethnicities ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 146879682110018
Author(s):  
Sheymaa Ali Nurein ◽  
Humera Iqbal

Young Black Muslim Women (BMW) have complex, intersectional identities and exist at the margins of various identity groupings. Given this, members of the community can face societal relegation across, not only race and gender lines, but across religious ones, too. This paper explores the lived experiences of intragroup discrimination, identity and belonging in 11 young Black Muslim Women in the United Kingdom. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants and thematically analysed through the lens of intersectionality. The use of an intersectional framework facilitated an understanding of the manner in which the sample was multiply marginalised. Two key themes emerged from the interviews: firstly, around experiences of intragroup and intersectional discrimination and, secondly, around the challenges of responding to and coping with the negative effects of such discrimination. Participants discussed the cross-cutting nature through which they faced discrimination: from within the Black community; from within the Muslim community; and as a result of their gender. The non-exclusivity of these three identities result in constant encounters of discrimination along different dimensions to their personal identity. They also developed diverse means of coping with this marginalisation including drawing from religious beliefs and mobile identifications, i.e. performing different aspects of their identities in different contexts. The present study contributes to existing knowledge in its focus on an under-researched group and emphasises the negative effects of intragroup discrimination. The paper importantly highlights the diversity within the Black community and considers the (in)visibility of Black Muslim Women within society.


Circulation ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 118 (suppl_18) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tiew-Hwa K Teng ◽  
Judith Finn ◽  
Michael Hobbs ◽  
Elizabeth Geelhoed ◽  
Joseph Hung

Background Despite concerns of a heart failure ‘epidemic’, long term population trends on the incidence, prevalence and survival outcomes of heart failure (HF) are not well characterized. Methods The Western Australian Hospital Morbidity Database was used to identify index patients with first-time admissions for HF from 1990 to 2006, with no prior admission for HF since 1 January 1980. Age and gender adjusted temporal trends in HF incidence were examined and Cox-proportional hazards model used to analyse 5-year survival following index admissions, adjusted for significant covariates. Prevalence was calculated at end of each calendar year. Base period used was 1990–1993. Results There were 70,967 index heart failure (HF) patients identified during 1990–2006, with almost equal distribution between genders. There was a significant downward trend for age and gender-adjusted incidence of HF with average decline of 1.73% (95% CI 1.5%, 1.9%, p=0.001) per year over the 17-year period. Incidence rate reached a peak in 1993 and thereafter there was a steady decline. Compared to the base period, age and gender-adjusted survival at 5-year after index HF admission improved with an absolute survival gain of 6.9% (95% CI 4.3%, 9.4% p=0.001) for 1994–97 period, 9.3% (95% CI 6.7%, 11.9%, p=0.001) for 1998–2001 period and 7.0% (95% CI 4.1%, 9.8%, p=0.001) for 2002– 05 period respectively. Prevalence of HF increased significantly over the different time periods, with a 2.26 fold higher prevalence in 2002–2006 compared to base period. The increase in prevalence was greatest in the 70–79 year age group, with an increase from 200.3 per 10,000 in the base period to 606.0 per 10,000 in 2002–2006. Conclusions In the last 17 years, incidence of hospitalized HF patients has declined steadily in both genders. However, there has been a marked increase in prevalence of HF due in part to an ageing population and improved HF survival. Management of these chronic elderly HF patients remains a major public health problem.


2022 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 0-0

The impact of the Information and Technology (IT) sector on the countries’ innovation development has been recognized as crucial in prior and recent research studies. Moreover, firms’ innovativeness affects positively countries’ economies. Nevertheless, the global economic crisis of the last decade constituted a significant barrier to the development of country economies and had a negative effect on firms’ performance. Specifically, the negative consequences of the global crisis became harder for Southern Europe Countries. More specifically the Greek economy was suffered by an extended period of crisis with harder consequences than those of other European countries. The main purpose of this study was to examine the financial performance of Greek IT firms in the early years of crisis. Our findings have been relevant to those of previous studies which observed negative effects of the financial recession on firms profitability.


2018 ◽  
Vol 122 (5) ◽  
pp. 1600-1617 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steve Thill ◽  
Claude Houssemand ◽  
Anne Pignault

The negative effects of job loss on mental health have been thoroughly described in the literature. However, different fluctuations in mental health during the unemployment period have been noticed. We argue that a coping process takes place in this kind of situation. Therefore, in this study, we investigated the effect of the unemployment normalization process on mental health during various stages of unemployment. Participants ( N = 803) completed the General Health Questionaire-12 and the Unemployment Normalization Questionnaire. Results showed that a negative perception of unemployment had the greatest impact on mental health during the different phases of unemployment. Nevertheless, during the first year, having a positive perception counteracted these negative effects, and after 1 year, the unemployment norm took over the role of buffering against the negative effects on mental health. These results indicate that unemployment is still perceived as negative, but depending on the stage of unemployment, various coping strategies are used to buffer the negative consequences of unemployment.


2011 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 342-352 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARTA LOPEZ-DARIAS ◽  
JAVIER LUZARDO ◽  
RAFAEL MARTÍNEZ ◽  
DANIEL GONZÁLEZ ◽  
EDUARDO A. GARCÍA ◽  
...  

SummaryNegative effects of poaching on seabird populations are not usually evaluated quantitatively when assessing seabird colony conservation status, nor are they generally considered a major concern. We demonstrate that poaching is still intense in the Canary Islands, and has negative consequences for the conservation of seabird colonies. We quantified the effects of poaching of Cory’s Shearwater fledglings on breeding success on different islands in the Canaries, comparing colonies that suffer from intense, medium, or no poaching. Poaching reduced the breeding success of affected colonies to almost a third, potentially causing the future extinction of the colony. Only colonies with intense wardening campaigns reached high values of reproductive success, showing that government surveillance in conjunction with volunteers from different NGOs is a very effective approach in reducing poaching. A population sensitivity analysis was also conducted to provide data on the factors that most affect the performance of the model. Although population growth and mean final population size varied with increases and decreases in mortality and carrying capacity, only harvesting resulted in a probability of 100% of extinction in 20–40 years. To promote seabird conservation in regions such as the Canary Islands, a core archipelago for seabird species in the Atlantic, poaching control should be elevated by society to a level of urgency, requiring dedicated funding and mobilisation of experts and volunteers to adequately address it through education, prevention and enforcement.


1996 ◽  
Vol 8 (S1) ◽  
pp. 13-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rhonda J. V. Montgomery

The premise underlying the implementation of any intervention aimed at changing behavioral or other symptoms of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is that the change will be beneficial in some manner for the patient and the benefits will outweigh any negative consequences that may simultaneously result from the intervention. Consequently, the ultimate task of investigators studying the impact of proposed interventions is to identify and measure the benefit that stems from the intervention, as well as any negative effects. When interventions are intended to create organic changes, as is traditionally true with pharmacologic interventions, the identification of relevant outcomes is made relatively simple through indicators of organic functioning. However, when intended changes are behavioral, the identification of appropriate outcomes is far more complex. An individual's behavior ultimately has an impact on all the actors within his or her social setting, directly or indirectly. Furthermore, changes in an individual's behavior may have an impact on other persons in such a way that these secondary changes feed back to further influence the initial target individual. Hence, it is likely that the most appropriate study designs for assessing the impact of interventions aimed at behavioral problems will include multiple outcome measures for multiple actors.


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