The NBER Reporter 2012 Number 3: Books
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The following three volumes may be ordered directly the University of Chicago Press Distribution Center, at |
Social Security Programs and Retirement around the World: Historical Trends in Mortality and Health, Employment, and Disability Insurance Participation and Reforms
Social Security Programs and Retirement around the World: Historical Trends in Mortality and Health, Employment, and Disability Insurance Participation and Reforms, edited by David A. Wise, will be available from the University of Chicago Press in early autumn of 2012.
In nearly every industrialized country, large aging populations and increased life expectancy have placed enormous pressure on social security programs. Until recently, that pressure was compounded by a trend toward retirement at an earlier age. With a larger fraction of the population receiving benefits, social security programs in many countries may have to be reformed to remain financially viable through the coming decades.
This NBER Conference Report offers a cross-country analysis, drawing on measures of health that are comparable, and exploring, for example, the extent to which differences in the labor force are determined by disability insurance programs. It also looks at how disability insurance reforms may be prompted by the circumstances of a country's elderly population.
Wise is the Area Director of Health and Retirement Programs and Director of the Program on the Economics of Aging at the NBER. He is also the John F. Stambaugh Professor of Political Economy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. This volume costs $125.00.
The Design and Implementation of U.S. Climate Policy
The Design and Implementation of U.S. Climate Policy, edited by Don Fullerton and Catherine Wolfram, will be available in the fall of 2012 from the University of Chicago Press.
Economic research has been invaluable in advancing our understanding of the consequences associated with global warming, and the costs and benefits of various policies designed to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. As nations continue to develop climate policies, economic insights about their design and implementation should become increasingly important.
This NBER Conference Report balances theoretical and empirical approaches, considering the possible effects of various climate policies on a range of economic outcomes. The studies in the volume examine such topics as the coordinationor lack thereofbetween federal and state governments; the implications of monitoring and enforcing climate policy; and the specific consequences of various climate policies for the agricultural, automotive, and building sectors.
Fullerton is an NBER Research Associate and Director of the NBER's Program on Environmental and Energy Economics. He is also the Gutgsell Professor in the Department of Finance at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a faculty associate at both the Institute of Government and Public Affairs and the Center for Business and Public Policy there.
Wolfram is also an NBER Research Associate. She is an associate professor of business administration at the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley, and co-director of its Energy Institute. This volume costs $110.00.
Capitalizing China
Capitalizing China, edited by Joseph P. H. Fan and Randall Morck, will be available from the University of Chicago Press in late October 2012.
Over the past two decades, China's economic boom has surprised many, particularly given the ongoing role of central government planning there. China's current growth trajectory suggests that the size of its economy could soon surpass that of the United States. Some argue that continued growth and the expanding middle class will ultimately exert pressure on the government to bring about greater openness of the financial markets.
To better understand China's recent economic performance, this NBER Conference Report examines the distinctive system it has developed: "market socialism with Chinese characteristics." While its formal institutional makeup resembles that of a free-market economy, many of its practices remain socialist in nature, including strategically placed state-owned enterprises that wield influence both directly and through controlled business groups, and Communist Party cells whose purpose is to maintain control of many segments of the economy. China's economic system, the contributors find, also retains many historical characteristics that play a central role in managing the economy. This volume examines these and other issues in chapters on Chinas financial regulations, corporate governance codes, bankruptcy laws, taxation, and disclosure rules.
Joseph P. H. Fan is professor of finance and codirector of the Institute of Economics and Finance at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Randall Morck is an NBER Research Associate. He holds the Stephen A. Jarislowsky Distinguished Chair in Finance and is the Distinguished University Professor at the University of Alberta Business School. This volume costs $110.00.