CHINA'S PENSION CRISIS: SYSTEM REFORMS START WITH RELAXATION OF ONE-CHILD POLICY

China's one-child policy ("OCP") exacerbates the existing weaknesses within the country's pension system.1 This strict family planning measure is the root cause of sub-replacement fertility and rising dependency ratios within the country.Consequently,the one-child policy should not coexist with the nation's currently under-funded retirement security program.In order to avert an impending financial and social crisis,the Chinese government should immediately confront the issue of pension reform.However,designs to improve the retirement security framework cannot be successfully instituted unless,as an initial step,the one-child policy is relaxed.The focal point of this paper delves into the impracticality of the one-child policy in relation to China's pension reform efforts.     

Election Inversions,Coalitions and Proportional Representation: Examples of Voting Paradoxes in Danish Government Formations

When collective choices are made in more than one round and with different groups of decision makers, so‐called ‘election inversions’ may take place, where each round produces different majority outcomes. In this article, two versions of such compound majority paradoxes are identified that are particularly, but not exclusively, relevant for systems of proportional representation with governing coalitions: the ‘Threshold Paradox’ and the ‘Federal Paradox’. The empirical relevance of the paradoxes is illustrated with examples from two Danish elections (in 1971 and in 1990), where a majority of the voters voted for one bloc of parties, but a majority of the seats fell to another.     

Long Term Influences of Age–Education Transition on the Brazilian Labour Market

The objective of this study is to estimate the long term mean earnings of the male Brazilian population, taking into account the ageing process of the population and the increase in educational attainment. Using census data, household sample surveys, as well as population and education projections, estimates indicate that an ageing population and an increase in education will have a 2 percent impact on the annual growth of an average income in Brazil by 2050. The challenge for the future is to improve the proportion of the Brazilian population with completed college degrees.     

Performance management and “undesirable” organizational behaviour: Standardized testing in Ontario schools

Performance management (PM) is a major administrative mechanism for assessing efficiency and effectiveness, and for exacting accountability from organizations and individuals. Many have argued, however, that using PM in such ways creates perverse incentives and may lead to undesirable behaviours, such as the obstruction of accurate performance measurement in an effort to avoid public mortification. By examining the introduction of standardized testing in the Ontario public school system, this article adds to the debate on whether PM leads to undesirable behaviours and distorts the representation of actual performance by public sector employees. It argues that, while PM in the public sector may be well intentioned, it may generate a system that produces undesired results.     

The Influence of Footwear Sole Hardness on Slip Characteristics and Slip‐Induced Falls in Young Adults

Theoretically, a shoe that provides less friction could result in a greater slip distance and foot slipping velocity, thereby increasing the likelihood of falling. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of sole hardness on the probability of slip‐induced falls. Forty young adults were randomized into a hard or a soft sole shoe group, and tested under both nonslippery and slippery floor conditions using a motion analysis system. The proportions of fall events in the hard‐ and soft‐soled shoe groups were not statistically different. No differences were observed between shoe groups for average slip distance, peak and average heel velocity, and center of mass slipping velocity. A strong association was found between slip distance and the fall probability. Our results demonstrate that the probability of a slip‐induced fall was not influenced by shoe hardness. Once a slip is induced, slip distance was the primary predictor of a slip‐induced fall.     

Singapore′s globalization strategy

For singapore, it is not a question of whether to globalize, but how to globalize. While Singapore may be handicapped by its small size and lack of natural resources, it seems that these drawbacks could be less of a problem as the world economy becomes more sophisticated. Physical size and natural resources will become less important for economic growth when compared with human capital, information, and knowledge in the future. To build the city-state, the Singaporean government adopted a number of bold strategies to develop its economy, making it a leader among the newly industrialized nations involved in the region. Singapore's export-oriented industrialization evolved in several stages and had to overcome obstacles along the way. Its success was dependent on enlightened government policy in cultivating good relations with multinational corporations and cooperation between the government-run and private enterprises. A review of the economy in the last decade gave birth to the Strategic Economic Plan of 1991. Besides underlining the importance of the manufacturing and service sectors, the plan also emphasized the regionalization and globalization of the economy. While the Asian economic crisis has affected Singapore's development, it has not changed Singapore's determination to globalize and liberalize its economy. An earlier version of this article was presented at the conference on “Globalization and new Governance,” hosted by the Semin Foundation and Asia Pacific Public Affairs Forum in Suwon, Korea, 7–11 October 1999.