1. Introduction and Overview. 2. Detecting Influential Observations and Outliers. 3. Detecting and Assessing Collinearity. 4. Applications and Remedies. 5. Research Issues and Directions for Extensions. Bibliography. Author Index. Subject Index.

Regression Diagnostics: Identifying Influential Data and Sources of Collinearity

This paper undertakes an assessment of a rapidly growing body of economic research on financial literacy. We start with an overview of theoretical research which casts financial knowledge as a form of investment in human capital. Endogenizing financial knowledge has important implications for welfare as well as policies intended to enhance levels of financial knowledge in the larger population. Next, we draw on recent surveys to establish how much (or how little) people know and identify the least financially savvy population subgroups. This is followed by an examination of the impact of financial literacy on economic decision-making in the United States and elsewhere. While the literature is still young, conclusions may be drawn about the effects and consequences of financial illiteracy and what works to remedy these gaps. A final section offers thoughts on what remains to be learned if researchers are to better inform theoretical and empirical models as well as public policy.

/pdf/the-economic-importance-of-financial-literacy-theory-and-17mb1g4cfb.pdf

The Economic Importance of Financial Literacy: Theory and Evidence

http://inis.jinr.ru/sl/m_mathematics/mn_numerical methods/mnd_numerical calculus/allgower e.l., georg k. introduction to numerical continuation methods (colorado, 1990)(397s).pdf

Numerical Continuation Methods

Health At A Glance

This article explores the copula approach for econometric modeling of joint parametric distributions. Although theoretical foundations of copulas are complex, this paper demonstrates that practical implementation and estimation are relatively straightforward. An attractive feature of parametrically specified copulas is that estimation and inference are based on standard maximum likelihood procedures, and thus copulas can be estimated using desktop econometric software. This represents a substantial advantage of copulas over recently proposed simulationbased approaches to joint modeling.

/pdf/copula-modeling-an-introduction-for-practitioners-1fcatpzmuu.pdf

Copula Modeling: An Introduction for Practitioners

This paper develops a model for interdependent demand for health insurance and health care under uncertainty to throw light on the issue of insurance-induced distortions in the demand for health care services. The model is used to empirically analyse the determinants of the choice of health insurance type and seven types of health care services using micro-level data from the 1977–78 Australian Health Survey. Econometric implementation of the model involves, simultaneously, issues of discreteness of choice, selectivity and stochastic dependence between health insurance and utilization. Health status appears to be more important in determining health care service use than health insurance choice, while income appears to be more important in determining health insurance choice than in determining health care service use. For a broad range of health care services both moral hazard and self selection are found to be important determinants of utilization of health care services.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/2297531.pdf

A Microeconometric Model of the Demand for Health Care and Health Insurance in Australia

This article provides a formal analysis of payout adjustments from a longevity risk-pooling fund, an arrangement we refer to as group self-annuitization (GSA). The distinguishing risk diffusion characteristic of GSAs in the family of longevity insurance instruments is that the annuitants bear their systematic risk, but the pool shares idiosyncratic risk. This obviates the need for an insurance company, although such instruments could be sold through a corporate insurer. We begin by deriving the payout adjustment for a single entry group with a single annuity factor and constant expectations. We then show that under weak requirements a unique solution to payout paths exists when multiple cohorts combine into a single pool. This relies on the harmonic mean of the ratio of realized to expected survivorship rates across cohorts. The case of evolving expectations is also analyzed. In all cases, we demonstrate that the periodic-benefit payment in a pooled annuity fund is determined based on the previous payment adjusted for any deviations in mortality and interest from expectations. GSA may have considerable appeal in countries which have adopted national defined contribution schemes and/or in which the life insurance industry is noncompetitive or poorly developed.

https://www.business.unsw.edu.au/About-Site/Schools-Site/risk-actuarial-site/Documents/J.%20Piggott,%20E.A.%20Valdez%20and%20B.%20Detzel%20-%20The%20Simple%20Analytics%20of%20a%20Pooled%20Annuity%20Fund.pdf.pdf

The Simple Analytics of a Pooled Annuity Fund

This paper surveys and analyzes the economic literature on ‘privatization’ policies, restricting coverage to policies designed to improve the operating efficiency of public sector enterprises through increased exposure to competitive market forces These include asset sales, liberalization (or deregulation) and franchising The objectives, incentives and constraints of public and private enterprises are examined, and evidence on their comparative performance is analyzed Public sector revenue effects from asset sale are also explored On the basis of these considerations, the paper concludes that liberalization is an important ingredient in any policy package designed to improve the operating efficiency of public sector enterprises Asset sale may enhance the beneficial impact of deregulation but asset sale in the absence of deregulation is unlikely to improve efficiency, and may introduce additional market distortions Franchising is seen as an appropriate mechanism for privatization when the market is inherently monopolistic and when the government desires to retain control over output and/or price

Privatization Policies and Public Enterprise: A Survey*

We develop a general equilibrium tax model to evaluate the impacts of equal yield base broadening in indirect taxes from high rate narrow based (typically manufactures) taxes to broad based taxes (including services) such as a VAT. We capture differences in choice of mode of supply between market goods, such as manufactures, which cannot be supplied other than through the market, and self-suppliable services and informal sector supplied products. Using this formulation, we are able to provide numerical examples of welfare worsening VAT base broadening, which expands the tax base from market based manufactures, in which there are few (or no) non taxed supply possibilities, to all goods and services where such possibilities exist. We show that the usual presumption that there are welfare benefits from equal yield VAT base broadening breaks down once tax induced increases in self supply of previously non taxed goods and services and in informal sector activity (in small scale construction and other areas) are taken into account. Moreover, since untaxed informal sector supply is typically from lower income to higher income households, they gain as comparable informal sector activity is taxed under the base broadening change. We provide a calibrated version of the model, which captures Canadian base broadening accompanying the introduction of the Canadian VAT (GST) in 1990. Results show the change to have been welfare worsening in aggregate but progressive; opposite to conventional belief. Aggregate welfare losses increase sharply if pre-existing income taxes enter the analysis, since VAT induced supply side losses compound with the income tax, while consumption side tax rate variance reducing gains do not

Vat Base Broadening, Self Supply, and the Informal Sector

1. Introduction 2. Work and saving over the life cycle 3. Saving for retirement 4. Financial risks over the life cycle 5. Retirement income streams 6. Taxation of retirement saving 7. Administrative costs and charges 8. Conclusion Appendix A1. Mandatory retirement saving in Australia Annex A1. Chronology of retirement income policy in Australia Appendix 2. International comparisons of private mandatory retirement saving.

John Piggott

Papers

A Microeconometric Model of the Demand for Health Care and Health Insurance in Australia

The Simple Analytics of a Pooled Annuity Fund

Privatization Policies and Public Enterprise: A Survey*

Vat Base Broadening, Self Supply, and the Informal Sector

Forced Saving: Mandating Private Retirement Incomes