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This paper examines the determinants of the timing of public pension policy retrenchments in 14 affluent democracies. Available research does not satisfactorily capture the multidimensionality of these legislative events, because it relies on indicators of pension policy provisions for current pensioners even though recent retrenchment pension reforms have been characterized by phased-in or grandfathering measures. Instead, this paper identifies these events by considering the individual long-term implications of each pension reform passed in 14 OECD social-insurance countries between 1981 and 2005. Based on a synthetic review of the pension policy literature, data from financial projections, and principles from the economics of welfare programs, I identify 62 pension retrenchments passed in these countries. My argument is that macroeconomic conditions, size of public pension system, and stage in the electoral cycle shape the likelihood of pension retrenchments. Results obtained from conditional frailty models for recurrent and sequential events support this argument. The interval between pension retrenchments is shorter in countries with low economic growth and high public pension spending, as well as in countries in a post-election year.

This paper examines the determinants of the timing of public pension policy retrenchments in 14 affluent democracies. Available research does not satisfactorily capture the multidimensionality of these legislative events, because it relies on indicators of pension policy provisions for current pensioners even though recent retrenchment pension reforms have been characterized by phased-in or grandfathering measures. Instead, this paper identifies these events by considering the individual long-term implications of each pension reform passed in 14 OECD social-insurance countries between 1981 and 2005. Based on a synthetic review of the pension policy literature, data from financial projections, and principles from the economics of welfare programs, I identify 62 pension retrenchments passed in these countries. My argument is that macroeconomic conditions, size of public pension system, and stage in the electoral cycle shape the likelihood of pension retrenchments. Results obtained from conditional frailty models for recurrent and sequential events support this argument. The interval between pension retrenchments is shorter in countries with low economic growth and high public pension spending, as well as in countries in a post-election year. ; Dieses Papier betrachtet die zeitlichen Muster von Rentenkürzungen und deren Determinanten in wohlhabenden Demokratien. Die derzeitige Forschung berücksichtigt die Multidimensionalität dieser legislativen Maßnahmen nur unzureichend, da sie sich auf die Indikatoren für die aktuelle Rentnerpopulation konzentriert, obwohl diese in Zusammenhang mit bereits eingeleiteten oder früheren gesetzlichen Maßnahmen stehen. Die vorliegende Studie hingegen bezieht die Langzeitfolgen der Rentenreformen und deren Entwicklung in vierzehn OECD Ländern im Zeitraum von 1981 bis 2005 in die Analyse ein. Auf der Grundlage einer zusammenfassenden Bestandsaufnahme der Literatur zur Rentenpolitik, von Daten aus finanziellen Hochrechnungen sowie der ökonomischen Prinzipien von Wohlfahrtsprogrammen werden in diesen Ländern zunächst insgesamt 62 Rentenkürzungsmaßnahmen identifiziert. Zur Erklärung der zeitlichen Abfolge der Maßnahmen werden die makroökonomischen Bedingungen, die Größe des Rentensystems sowie die Zeitpunkte der Anpassungen im Wahlzyklus herangezogen. Die unter Anwendung konditionaler Frailty-Modelle erzielten Resultate stützen das Argument, dass die häufigsten Rentenkürzungen sich in Ländern im Jahr nach der Wahl sowie in Ländern mit geringem Wirtschaftswachstum und hohen Rentenausgaben finden.

This dissertation seeks to explain cross-national differences in the evolution of public pension programs in 21 affluent democracies between 1980 and 2002. Despite a burgeoning literature, critical aspects of pension policy variations such as generosity levels and the passage of retrenching reforms have been inadequately or insufficiently analyzed. The first part of the dissertation describes the type of structural and gradual reforms passed during this period. It shows that most reforms were gradual. Only five countries overhauled their pension policies, while all countries introduced retrenching recalibrations of benefit or coverage levels. Thus, although pension policy has not been dismantled, it has been substantially redesigned across affluent democracies. The second part of the dissertation explains cross-national variations in three pension policy dimensions. First are examined the reasons for the extensive differences in the generosity of old-age pensions for just-retired individuals. Using cross-sectional time-series regression techniques and pension replacement rates for fixed individuals, I show that the power of the elderly (and not class struggles) determined the level of pension generosity. Second, I conduct the first event history (EH) analysis of the passage of retrenching pension reforms. A synthetic review of the pension policy literature reveals that a total of 53 retrenching pension reforms were passed. Further, EH models demonstrate that high public deficits and the gap between the growth rates of social security outlays and revenues drove those retrenchments. A third development during this period involved the enactment of structural pension reforms. To explain how one structural reform was possible, I compare the pension politics leading to the Italian 1995 transition to a notional-defined-contribution (NDC) system and the Spanish 1997 non-structural reform. Based on qualitative evidence, I argue that Italian union leaders sought and imposed the NDC model which eliminated regressiveness suffered by the unions' rank-and-file. By contrast, Spanish union leaders did not seek alternative policy models because public sector workers dominated their rank-and-file and benefited from pension regressiveness. The final study examines attitudinal cleavages on pension policy preferences. It shows that a larger tax wedge and lower elderly poverty rate moderate the higher likelihood of the elderly to demand more pension spending. Thus, the U.S. lacks an age cleavage on pension policy preferences due to a lower tax wedge and higher elderly poverty rate.

Voluntary associations play increasingly important roles in many industrialized societies. However, little is still known about why they die. This article attempts to fill this gap. It reconstructs the history of 41 closed Spanish voluntary associations of Madrid's metropolitan area through archival research and semistructured interviews to define the causes of their dissolutions. The conclusions indicate that the majority of the organizations dissolved due to mission completion (particularly goal fulfillment) and resource insufficiency. This article also uses central predictions of new institutionalism, population ecology, and resource dependence theories and shows that these three models provide valuable insights to account for these dissolutions. As each theory respectively predicts, those organizations with lower sociopolitical legitimacy, that were younger and smaller, or that were funded by only one source dissolved younger.

What is the connection between civic autonomy and political participation? This paper assesses three answers to this question: the left Tocquevillian argument suggesting that civic autonomy encourages political participation, the right Tocquevillian argument suggesting that civic autonomy discourages political participation, and the neo-Marxist synthesis of these two positions developed by Gramsci. We investigate these competing arguments by analyzing the impact of two very different authoritarian regimes (Fascist Italy, and Francoist Spain) on post-authoritarian democratic participation. The Italian fascist regime eliminated civic autonomy, incorporating civic organizations into the party. The Franco regime, in contrast left a relatively autonomous "civic sphere" in tact. We find that Italian fascism tended to promote political participation by establishing a pattern of political behavior in which parties dominated civic associations. Spanish authoritarianism, with its more laissez faire orientation to civil society, left a legacy of deep political apathy. Paradoxically, from the perspective of the Tocquevillian left, the Fascist Italian regime produced a more 'participatory' liberal democracy, than the less Fascist Franco dictatorship.

What is the connection between civic autonomy and political participation? This paper assesses three answers to this question: the left Tocquevillian argument suggesting that civic autonomy encourages political participation, the right Tocquevillian argument suggesting that civic autonomy discourages political participation, and the neo-Marxist synthesis of these two positions developed by Gramsci. We investigate these competing arguments by analyzing the impact of two very different authoritarian regimes (Fascist Italy, and Francoist Spain) on post-authoritarian democratic participation. The Italian fascist regime eliminated civic autonomy, incorporating civic organizations into the party. The Franco regime, in contrast left a relatively autonomous "civic sphere" in tact. We find that Italian fascism tended to promote political participation by establishing a pattern of political behavior in which parties dominated civic associations. Spanish authoritarianism, with its more laissez faire orientation to civil society, left a legacy of deep political apathy. Paradoxically, from the perspective of the Tocquevillian left, the Fascist Italian regime produced a more 'participatory' liberal democracy, than the less Fascist Franco dictatorship.

Anthracene oil has been used as raw material for the production of carbon precursors via conventional and microwave technologies. Cokes with comparable characteristics have been obtained, suggesting that their structural order is primarily reliant on the precursor rather the heating method. However, microwave route is a more energy efficient process, achieving electricity savings of up to 60%. Furthermore, graphites produced from microwave-derived precursors show an excellent graphitization degree, which makes them appropriate starting resources for the synthesis of graphene-like materials with similar characteristics to those obtained from conventional means. Therefore, microwave-assisted heating approach appears to be a suitable and energy saving alternative for the production of carbon precursors. ; Authors would like to extend their gratitude to the European Union's Research Fund for Coal and Steel (RFCS) research programme for the received funding under the grant agreement RFCR-CT-2015-00006. ; Peer reviewed