Accountable to everyone, or to no one? Perspectives on the accountability of Australian private ancillary funds

This thesis explores perspectives on the accountability of Private Ancillary Funds (PAFs), a type of Australian endowed philanthropic foundation. Privately established for a public benefit purpose, with limited formal accountability requirements, there are differing and sometimes conflicting perspectives on the nature and scope of PAF accountability. Through in-depth interviews with managers and trustees of 10 PAFs, forms and relationships of PAF accountability are uncovered. Findings reveal accountability for PAFs does not necessarily include public disclosure or transparency. However, engagement with accountability for a PAF results in greater impact and satisfaction for those involved.

Statement of the Funds of K.K.S.I.

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Unsigned appeal for funds for Beth Shalome synagogue, Richmond

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The Impact of New Capital Requirements on the Portfolio Decisions of Finnish Pension Institutions

This paper examines the potential impact of new capital requirements on asset allocations of Finnish pension institutions. We describe the new requirements and consider portfolio construction to minimize regulatory capital, given the investor’s preferred level of expected return. Results identify portfolio transactions that enhance expected return without increasing capital needs. Regulation calls for portfolio diversification and prudence in management, but this paper shows that market participants can exploit inconsistencies in regulation. Possible future consequences include capital outflows from the pension system and an unintended decrease in pre-funding of old-age pensions.

Performance Persistence of International Stock Funds

People saving in mutual funds often look at historical performance before they decide which funds to invest in. The implicit assumption made is that superior performance is likely to be repeated in the future. The findings presented in this study, which investigates funds sold on the Swedish market, support such an approach provided that the time horizons are limited to one year. International stock funds that have performed strongly one year are likely to outperform their peers also the following years. But if the historical and future time horizons are extended to two or three years, the positive relationship between past and future performance vanishes in most cases. Persistence tests focusing on the aggregated performance of fund companies were also carried out. These tests produced results rather similar to those on the individual fund level.

Performance of Finnish Mutual Funds: A Decomposition Approach

Mutual funds have increased in popularity among Finnish investors in recent years. In this study returns on domestic funds have been decomposed into several elements that measure different aspects of fund performance. The results indicate that fund managers in the long run tend to allocate fund capital between different stock categories in a profitable way. When it comes to the short term timing of their allocation decisions they are however unable to further improve overall performance. The evidence also suggests that managers possess the ability to pick above average performing stocks within the individual stock categories. During the investigated period most funds returned more than a broad benchmark index even after fees and indirect costs were taken into account.

Pension system's reform in Spain: a dynamic analysis of the effects in Welfare

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Financial Futures Markets and Their Impact on the Real Economy in Middle and Low Income Countries

This project analyses the influence of the futures market on middle and low income countries. In it, I attempt to show that investments made by large investment funds in this market, as well as by certain pension plans, bring major consequences whose effects are more evident in less developed countries. The cornerstones of the work are as follows; to attempt to see the existing relationship between the commodity futures market and its underlying assets; analysing products such as wheat, rice and corn in-depth, because these are the most basic foodstuffs at a global level; to determine how an increase in trading in these markets can affect the lives of people in the poorest countries; to analyse investor concern regarding the consequences that their investments may have. Throughout the project we will see how large speculators use production forecasting models to determine the shortage of a commodity in order to take a position in the futures market to profit from it. In addition we will see how an increase in trading in this market causes an increase in the price of the underlying asset in the spot market. As for investor concern, I can say it is negligible, but the idea of running pension plans or investment funds that follow some social criteria has been welcomed by those interviewed, which makes me think that different legislation is possible. This legislation will only come into existence if it is demanded by the people. A fact that now becomes complicated because without a minimum financial basis, they cannot even know how the large investment funds trade with hunger in the world. The day when most people understand how large speculators profit from famine will be the day to put pressure on governments to begin to put limits on speculation. This makes financial awareness necessary in order to achieve a curb in excessive speculation.

The Spanish Pension System: Overview and Long-Term Projections

In the middle of the so-called pension crisis, the ageing of population and the sharp decrease in affiliations to Social Security are threatening the well-functioning of the Spanish public pension system. The purpose of this paper is to present the main challenges to be faced by the Spanish pension system, as well as to shed light on the main determinants that will condition the evolution of pension expenditure over GDP along the following decades. This quantitative analysis, which considers the 2011 and 2013 pension reforms, uses the latest data on the Spanish demographic, labor market and institutional factors in order to project the evolution of the system from the expenditure side up to 2060. For the purpose of analyzing the dynamics and the underlying drivers of pension expenditure, the so-called aggregate accounting approach will be utilized. The alternative scenarios proposed allow for exploring the robustness of the results within the baseline scenario, which constitutes the reference point of projections in the exercise. The analysis concludes that, by the end of the projected period, Spain will count on a similar public pension expenditure ratio as the current one.

O desconhecimento, o ataque, o desinteresse pelo consumo e a consciência da vida: um estudo discursivo de sentidos de pecúlio

Este trabalho situa-se no âmbito dos estudos voltados para as relações entre linguagem e mundo previdenciário e, em consideração às várias possibilidades de abordagem para essas relações, pretende aprofundar-se nos discursos produzidos sobre o pecúlio. A proposta desta pesquisa é, sob o ponto de vista enunciativo, identificar que sentidos de pecúlio circulam em notícias veiculadas na Revista PREVI, levando em consideração a historicidade dos pecúlios e a comunidade discursiva que participa dessa construção de sentidos. Ao fazermos uma leitura mais analítica das notícias, identificamos que a forma como o enunciador se constituiu, nos levou a trabalhar com os implícitos - pressupostos e subentendidos - e, como pretendíamos analisar a relação PREVI/Participante, optamos por estudar o ethos enunciativo a partir desses implícitos. Dessa forma, pudemos estudar imagens de enunciador e, consequentemente, a forma de relacionamento desse com seu coenunciador, bem como os sentidos de pecúlios recuperados a partir dessa relação. A perspectiva teórica utilizada é a da Análise do discurso de base enunciativa que determina a forma como compreendemos as manifestações de linguagem (MAINGUENEAU, 2004). Outros conceitos presentes em nossa análise foram os de gênero do discurso (BAKHTIN, 2010); as teorias dos implícitos em Ducrot (1987) e Maingueneau (1996) e os estudos sobre o ethos em Maingueneau (2004, 2008 e 2011). Nossas análises nos possibilitaram recuperar três imagens predominantes de enunciadores: o explicador, o defensivo e o apelativo. O primeiro enunciador explica, porque entende que seu coenunciador tem dúvidas, desconhece, não está apto a; o segundo, defende a instituição PREVI, o pecúlio da PREVI e, se necessário, ataca inclusive seu coenunciador, se entender que está sendo ameaçado. Por sua vez, o terceiro argumenta em sua própria causa ou pela causa dos pecúlios e apela pela adesão do seu coenunciador. Depreendem-se dessas imagens de enunciador sentidos de pecúlios que precisam ser explicados, defendidos e argumentados nas publicações da PREVI. Como conclusão, a partir desses sentidos de pecúlio, inferimos uma possível causa para que os enunciadores e coenunciadores estabeleçam as mesmas relações em um período de mais de trinta anos de divulgação dessas revistas