The main objective of this paper is to go deeper into the “annuity puzzle” by introducing the altruistic and strategic bequest motive and determining whether this really is a relevant factor affecting the theoretical decision to purchase life annuities. With this end in view we develop an...

This paper is a part of the author's wider research on the current Polish pension fund system. It deals with the systemfs efficiency from the point of view of the individual fund member. After over three years of functioning, the savings accumulated with the pension funds only slightly exceed...

The paper is an updated first performance evaluation study of the Polish pension funds operating from 1999. The unconditional performance evaluation models are used. It is shown that pension fund managers did produce additional value due to active management. Therefore, unsatisfactory overall...

This paper will try to explain the “annuities puzzle” in greater depth by introducing the bequest motive, both strategic and altruistic. It will try to determine whether this motive really is a relevant feature influencing the demand for lifetime annuities by married couples. With this aim...

There is very little evidence on the effects of the minimum wage on prices in the international literature and none whatsoever for developing countries. This paper analyzes the effects of the minimum wage on prices using monthly Brazilian household and price data from 1982 to 2000 aggregated at...

In this paper, we examine the determinants of low-wage employment in Portugal. For this purpose, we use a data file of the European Community Household Panel (ECHP) for the years 1998 and 1999. In order to take into account unobserved heterogeneity in the data, a random-parameter logit model is...

Imposing liability on a company for sexual harassment by supervisors cannot be justified as promoting equality between the sexes, protection of workers, or protection of the owners of the company. Such liability might be justified to prevent breach of contract or behavior offensive to the...

The international literature on minimum wage greatly lacks empirical evidence from developing countries. Brazil’s minimum wage policy is a distinctive and central feature of the Brazilian economy. Not only are increases in the minimum wage large and frequent but also the minimum wage has been...

The international literature on minimum wage greatly lacks empirical evidence from developing countries. In Brazil, not only are increases in the minimum wage large and frequent but also the minimum wage has been used as anti-inflation policy in addition to its social role. This paper estimates...

I study the consequences of heterogeneity of skills for the design of an optimal unemployment insurance, using a principal-agent set-up with a risk neutral insurer and infinitely lived risk averse agents. Agents, who are characterised by different productivities or skills, are employed by firms...