The Farm, the city, and the emergence of social security

We study the social, demographic and economic origins of social security. The data for the U.S. and for a cross section of countries suggest that urbanization and industrialization are associated with the rise of social insurance. We describe an OLG model in which demographics, technology, and social security are linked together in a political economy equilibrium. In the model economy, there are two locations (sectors), the farm (agricultural) and the city (industrial) and the decision to migrate from rural to urban locations is endogenous and linked to productivity differences between the two locations and survival probabilities. Farmers rely on land inheritance for their old age and do not support a pay-as-you-go social security system. With structural change, people migrate to the city, the land loses its importance and support for social security arises. We show that a calibrated version of this economy, where social security taxes are determined by majority voting, is consistent with the historical transformation in the United States.

Report of Recommendations to the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, June 30, 2002

State Agency Audit Report

Report of Recommendations to the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, June 30, 2003

State Agency Audit Report

Forensic science on trial - what is the law of the land ?

Based on a plenary lecture presented at the Tenth ANZFSS meeting of Forensic science in Sydney (September 2010), this article identifies some of the difficulties arising from the confrontation of forensic science with the law : a science defined by its specialities rather its object (the trace) and through the eyes of the law rather than those of science. This situation has historical roots that are highlighted and potential solutions for the future lie in fundamental and cultural developments within forensic science itself.

Report of Recommendation to the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, June 30, 2004

State Audit Reports

The Conservation Reserve Program in the Presence of a Working Land Alternative: Implications for Environmental Quality, Program Participation, and Income Transfer, August 2005

The United States has invested large sums of resources in multiple conservation programs for agriculture over the past century. In this paper we focus on the impacts of program interactions. Specifically, using an integrated economic and bio-physical modeling framework, we consider the impacts of the presence of working land programs on a land retirement for an important agricultural region—the Upper Mississippi River Basin (UMRB). Compared to a land retirement only program, we find that the presence of a working land program for conservation tillage results in significantly lower predicted signups for land retirement at a given rental rate. We also find that the presence of both a large working land and land retirement program can result in more environmental benefits and income transfers than a land retirement only program can achieve.

"The Waste Land", desde los espacios retóricos de inventio, dispositio y elocutio.

Con este poema publicado en 1922 la poesía contemporánea europea descubrirá nuevas vías de creación: desde la introducción de los espacios de la vida urbana hasta el rechazo del sentimentalismo idealista, sin olvidar la búsqueda de las intricadas concepciones de la mente.

Learn about the Land - A Geologic Guide to the RAGBRAI Challenge, July 2006

Thie bourchure that is produced by the Iowa Geological Society, talks about points of interest to people that are biking accross Iowa. Part of RAGBRAI.

Report of Recommendations to the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, June 30, 2005

State Audit Reports

Land Cover Map of Iowa, 1999

Land Cover of Iowa in 1999

Learn about the Land - A Geologic Guide to the RAGBRAI Challenge, July 2007

Thie bourchure that is produced by the Iowa Geological Society, talks about points of interest to people that are biking accross Iowa. Part of RAGBRAI.

Audit report on the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship for the year ended June 30, 2006

Audit report on the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship for the year ended June 30, 2006