Explore the vast range of titles available.

There is no consensus on the judgment of the adequacy status of the old-age pension benefit in China at present. Therefore, clarification of various types of indicators and benchmarks of pension adequacy is urgently needed. According to the theoretical development of pension adequacy, this paper offers a comprehensive analysis of the benefit level of basic pension from the perspectives of poverty alleviation, income substitution, and financial sustainability. The calculation results based on local administrative data show that the current pension benefit in urban China is unbalanced: on the one hand, the average pension level of self and flexible employees cannot keep track of the local average consumption level or even the relative poverty standard in particular years and the individual replacement rates for a few nonstandard employees are less than the minimum standard of 40% set by the International Labor Organization, which means the pension benefit performs poorly in terms of consumption smoothing. On the other hand, the lifelong pension rights are much higher than the lifelong contribution obligations for new retirees. Under the trend of population ageing, the extremely high benefit–cost ratio means that the current retired generation is eroding the welfare of the current working generations, and the long-term financial sustainability of the pension system is facing challenges. In the future, in order to improve the benefit level of the basic old-age pension system in a sustainable way, we need to increase the average and individual replacement rates and reduce the benefit–cost ratio by consolidating contribution bases and delaying the number of contribution years.

Will 70% of a worker's final annual employment earnings sustain living standards after retirement? Despite increasing skepticism, the most dominant measure of retirement income adequacy by financial planners, pensions plan advisors, academics and public policy makers is the “final employment earnings replacement rate”, where 70% is considered the right target to ensure living standards remain at approximately the same level after retirement. Using Statistics Canada's LifePaths dynamic population micro-simulation model, this paper asks whether those individuals from the 1951–1958 Canadian birth cohort who attain roughly a 70% final employment earnings replacement rate (as conventionally measured) at retirement do, in fact, achieve approximate continuity in their living standards. We find that the conventional final earnings replacement rate measure has little predictive value for living standards continuity between working-life and retirement. The primary reason is that employment earnings in a single year is not a reliable representation of a worker's standard of living — it relies on an inadequate pre-retirement measurement period, does not incorporate important components of consumption sources (such as home equity), and ignores household size (particularly children). As a result, we find that the correlation between the conventional earnings replacement rate and actual living standards continuity is relatively low (0.11). The paper therefore suggests an alternative metric for assessing how well a worker's living standard is maintained after retirement — i.e., the Living Standards Replacement Rate, or the LSRR. The LSRR provides a more accurate, understandable and consistent measure of retirement income adequacy.

Calcium barium sulphoaluminate (CBSA), derived from calcium sulphoaluminate (CSA), has excellent cementitious properties. In this study, the sintering system of CBSA with a theoretical stoichiometric Ca3BaAl6SO16 was investigated. Rietveld refinement was performed using TOPAS 4.2 software to quantitatively calculate the content of CBSA and the actual ionic site occupancy of Ba2+. The results indicate that the content of Ca4−xBaxAl6SO16 increases with increasing sintering temperature in the 1200–1400 °C ranges. When sintered at 1400 °C for 180 min, the content of CBSA reaches 88.4%. However, CBSA begins to decompose at 1440 °C, after which the content decreases. The replacement rate of Ba2+ was also enlarged by increasing sintering temperature and prolonged sintering time. Sintering at 1400 °C for 180 min is considered as the optimum when replacement rate of Ba2+ and the content of CBSA were taken into account. Ca3.2Ba0.8Al6SO16 with a content of 88.4% was synthesized.

All countries in the former transition economies of Central, Eastern, and Southern Europe have undertaken public pension reforms of varying depth and orientation, often with the support of the World Bank. Although the reformed public pension schemes provide broad benefit adequacy, in most cases additional measures are needed to achieve fiscal sustainability in an aging society. 'Adequacy of Retirement Income after Pension Reforms in Central, Eastern, and Southern Europe: Eight Country Studies' assesses the benefit adequacy of the reformed pension systems for eight countries—Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, the Slovak Republic, and Slovenia—to identify policy gaps and options. The authors identify the motivations for reform against the backdrop of the trend toward multi-pillar arrangements, document key provisions, and compare them in the context of the World Bank's five-pillar paradigm for pension reform. They then evaluate the sustainability and adequacy of reformed pension systems and provide recommendations to address gaps and take advantage of opportunities for further reforms. The case studies and summary suggest the following broad policy conclusions: • Fiscal sustainability has improved in most study countries, but few are fully prepared for the inevitability of population aging. • The linkage between contributions and benefits has been strengthened, and pension system designs are better suited to market conditions • Levels of income replacement are generally adequate for all but some categories of workers (including those with intermittent formal sector employment or low lifetime wages), and addressing their needs requires initiatives that go beyond pension policy. • Further reforms should focus on extending labor force participation by the elderly to avoid benefit cuts that could undermine adequacy and very high contribution rates that could discourage formal sector employment. • More decisive financial market reforms are needed for funded provisions to deliver on the expectations of participants and keep funded pensions safe. This book will be of interest to policy makers, researchers, and everyone interested in the topic of pensions in the region, and beyond.

Besides their common link with unemployment, unemployment benefits are also relevant to the decision to become an entrepreneur. We thoroughly explored this relationship for a panel of 23 EU countries over the period 2001–2019. Our results demonstrate that generous unemployment compensations hinder entrepreneurial initiative, and those opportunity entrepreneurs, who are more likely to create new jobs and innovation, are affected more. Contrary to common belief, we find an unequal pattern of effects, with higher benefits being more detrimental at the beginning of the unemployment spell. A favourable policy framework results in being relevant for entrepreneurial endeavours on its own; in addition, high-quality policies and programmes for entrepreneurs are found to temper the negative effects of large unemployment benefits on new business creation during long unemployment spells. Our results support the call for properly designed unemployment benefit systems (as both level and time pattern) that ensure an optimum balance between adequate income replacement and poverty prevention, on the one hand, and limited side effects on new venture creation, on the other hand.Plain English SummaryGenerous unemployment payments can either “make or break you”! In simple words, while social benefits may contribute to income support and poverty prevention among the unemployed, these can also harm the economy by breaking one of its most important engines: entrepreneurship. By focusing on 23 EU countries, the paper highlights a negative impact of unemployment compensations on overall but also opportunity entrepreneurs, while the effects on necessity entrepreneurs are inconclusive. New business creation is inhibited when unemployment benefit systems offer generous compensations, especially at the beginning of the unemployment spell. At long unemployment durations, high-quality policies and programmes for entrepreneurs efficiently act towards diminishing such side effects. Our findings suggest that, when choosing the design features of social security systems, policymakers should definitely consider their adverse impact on entrepreneurship. Even when unemployment benefits are large, their side effects could be limited by compensatory measures, such as stricter job-search requirements or allowing unemployed individuals to keep receiving compensation while in the process of creating a new business.

China is at a critical juncture in its economic transition. A comprehensive reform of its pension and social security systems is an essential element of a strategy aimed toward achieving a harmonious society and sustainable development. Among policy makers, a widely held view is that the approach to pension provision and reform efforts piloted over the last 10-15 years is insufficient to enable China's economy and population to realize its development objectives in the years ahead. This volume suggests a national pension system that no longer distinguishes along urban and rural locational or hukou lines yet takes account of the diverse nature of employment relations and capacity of individuals to make contributions. This volume is organized as follows: the main text outlines this vision, focusing on summarizing the key features of a proposed long-term pension system. It first examines key trends motivating the need for reform then outlines the proposed three-pillar design and the rationale behind the design choices. It then moves on to examine financing options. The text continues by discussing institutional reform issues, and the final section concludes. The six appendixes provide additional analytical detail supporting the findings in the main text. The pension system design can play an important role in supporting or constraining such economic and demographic transitions: 1) fragmentation and lack of portability of rights hinder labor market efficiency and contribute to coverage gaps; 2) multiple schemes for salaried workers, civil servants, and, in some areas, migrants similarly impact labor markets; 3) legacy costs that are largely financed through current pension contributions weaken incentives for compliance and accurate wage reporting; 4) very limited risk pooling and interurban resource transfers limit the insurance function of the urban pension system and create spatial disparities in old-age income protection; 5) low retirement ages affect incentives and benefits and undermine fiscal sustainability; and 6) relatively low returns on individual accounts result in replacement rates significantly less than anticipated while at the macro level, are likely to inhibit wider efforts to stimulate higher domestic consumption.

This paper analyzes various reform options for Japan's public pension in light of large fiscal consolidation needs of the country. The most attractive option is to increase the pension eligibility age in line with high and rising life expectancy. This would have a positive effect on long-run economic growth and would be relatively fair in sharing the burden of fiscal adjustment between younger and older generations. Other attractive options include better targeting by \"clawing back\" a small portion of pension benefits from wealthy retirees, reducing preferential tax treatment of pension benefit incomes, and collecting contributions from dependent spouses of employees, who are currently eligible for pension benefits even though they make no contributions. These options, if implemented concurrently, could reduce the government annual subsidy and the government deficit by up to 1¼ percent of GDP by 2020.

Only a few studies have estimated fang replacement rate (FRR) in free-ranging snakes. We compared FRR between Crotalinae and Viperinae, two major clades of Viperidae. Crotalinae species differ by having pit organs which allow efficient strike at the prey, while, based on an earlier study, Viperinae species have relatively longer fangs. We hypothesized that FRR is related to the risk of fang damage and predicted that: (1) FRR is related positively to fang length; and (2) the FRR of Viperinae is faster than that of Crotalinae. To test these predictions, we determined the FRR, fang length, body size and hunting strategy of 21 Viperidae species, 7 Viperinae and 14 Crotalinae, controlling for allometric and phylogenetic effects. The average FRR of Viperinae was 2.6 times faster than that of Crotalinae, supporting our second prediction. However, in contradiction to our first prediction, FRR within subfamilies was related negatively to fang length. The phylogenetic analysis indicated that FRR and fang length covaried throughout the lineage, and that the relationship between FRR and fang length persisted beyond phylogenetic relatedness, implying that fang replacement of the two subfamilies followed different evolutionary pathways.

The main objective of this study is to clarify the effect of bottom ash (BA) powder replacement rate, water-cement ratio, and sand-cement ratio on alkali-activated slag mortar (AASM) by comprehensively investigating the following parameters: fluidity, consistency, setting time, pH, compressive strength, and flexural strength, as well as observing the microstructure by XRD and SEM. Finally, the relationship between the parameters was explored by means of correlation coefficient heatmaps in concert with scatter plots (including quadratic polynomial linear fitting). The results show that it is feasible to use up to 60% of BA powder to replace slag for AASM. Meanwhile, it is suggested that the AASM with a water-cement ratio of 0.44 and a sand-cement ratio of 2.6 can obtain better workability, mechanical properties, and a denser microstructure. The incorporation of BA powder produces the unique hydration product Magadiite. In addition, the mechanical models of compressive strength and flexural strength of AASM were proposed . This study provides a reference for the application of BA powder in the alkali-activated system, which is beneficial for resource recycling.

To investigate the degradation of recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) under sulfate attack, four groups of RAC cubic specimens (168 in total) were prepared. The influence of recycled coarse aggregate (RA) replacement ratio on the mechanical properties of RAC under sulfate exposure was analyzed. Strength degradation at different exposure durations was assessed, and microstructural changes were examined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results show that: (1) both compressive and splitting tensile strengths decrease with increasing RA replacement ratio, with the reduction in splitting tensile strength being more pronounced; (2) the compressive strength initially increases slightly under sulfate exposure, then gradually declines, with higher RA replacement ratios accelerating the degradation; (3) the decrease in splitting tensile strength is slightly greater than that of compressive strength over time; and (4) this decline in splitting tensile strength becomes more significant as the RA replacement ratio increases. Based on the experimental data, predictive models were established for the degradation of compressive and splitting tensile strengths at various sulfate exposure ages, incorporating the effect of RA replacement. These models effectively characterize the strength deterioration behavior of RAC under prolonged sulfate immersion.