A review of tools to comply with the Fourth EU anti-money laundering directive

The aim of this paper is to present tools that are used by financial institutions to implement legal requirements with regard to anti-money laundering (AML) and combating the financing of terrorism (CFT). The fight against money laundering and terrorist financing is a two-stage procedure, where state authorities outsource a major part of their tasks and responsibilities to private entities. The bulk of the task falls to financial institutions, which have to monitor the transactions of their customers pursuant to international, European and national laws as well as internal policies. To comply with the legal requirements, they use sophisticated surveillance software and collect large amounts of personal data. The European Union introduced two Proposals (COM(2013) 45 final and COM(2013) 44 final) to update the European Union's AML/CFT regime. Even though the Proposals have not yet become legal acts, it is quite obvious that new tools to support financial institutions will emerge. The amendments foreseen by the Proposals as well as already existing tools, which will remain relevant, shall be examined and privacy considerations will be discussed.     

DYNAMIC SCORING OF TAX REFORMS IN THE EUROPEAN UNION

In this paper, we present the first dynamic scoring exercise linking a microsimulation and a dynamic general equilibrium model for Europe. We illustrate our novel methodology analyzing hypothetical reforms of the social insurance contributions system in Belgium. Our approach takes into account the feedback effects resulting from adjustments and behavioral responses in the labor market and the economy‐wide reaction to the tax policy changes essential for a comprehensive evaluation of the reforms. We find that the self‐financing effect of a reduction in employers’ social insurance contribution is substantially larger than that of a comparable reduction in employees’ social insurance contributions.     

Psychological adjustment in a college-level program of marked academic acceleration

The questionnaire responses of 24 markedly accelerated young students were compared with those of 24 regular-aged university students, 23 National Merit Scholars, and 27 students who had qualified for acceleration but instead elected to participate in high school. Measures included the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, California Psychological Inventory, the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale, and the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment. Accelerated students differed minimally from the college-aged groups, and not at all from high-ability age mates, on all of the measures, a finding contrary to the expectation that skipping high school is likely to be deleterious to one's adjustment. Both groups of normal-aged college students were more socially assertive. The accelerated students were less conforming and conventional than the others, but mean differences were small and not indicative of admustment difficulties. The study provides no basis for concern about the typical psychological and social adjustment of accelerated students.The research reported here and, in part, the program it describes, were funded by a grant from the William H. Donner Foundation, the support of which is gratefully acknowledged.Received Ph.D. from Standford University. Research interests include the development of gifted and mentally retarded individuals.Received Ph.D. from Ohio State University. Research interests include psychosocial aspects of talent development.