Essays on retirement education and private pensions

Muller, Leslie Ann Michigan State University 2000 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

This dissertation examines the effects of taking a retirement class on two choices employees must make within their defined contribution (DC) pension plans: whether to save their DC balance upon separation from their employer and how to allocate their assets within their pension plan. As DC plans are increasingly becoming the primary pension plan offered by employers, the choices employees make will affect their retirement security. With the future of Social Security uncertain, employer-sponsored pension plans will be playing an increasing role in providing retirement income for the future elderly. The first chapter, <italic>Retirement Education and Pension Preservation: Does Retirement Education Teach Individuals to Save Pension Distributions? </italic> examines whether taking a retirement class affects an individual's decision to save or spend his pension distribution. Most DC plans allow the participant to take his pension balance with him upon job separation. Spending these distributions can have negative effects on retirement saving, and educating workers about the importance of saving their pension distributions may be one way of retaining some or all of these funds for retirement. This paper provides econometric evidence of the effect of retirement education on the use of pension distributions for DC participants. I find that retirement education substantially increases the probability of saving a distribution for participants age 40 and under, while decreasing the probability of saving a distribution for college graduates and females. These important differentials are concealed by estimating the effect of retirement education on participants generally. I examine the effect of retirement education on asset allocation within a DC plan in Chapter 2, <italic>Investment Choice in Private Pensions: The Effects of Retirement Education on Asset Allocation</italic>. Increasing numbers of DC plans are being set up as self-directed plans, which allow participants to choose how their pension assets are invested. The portfolio one chooses can have substantial effects on the amount of pension income available during retirement. Recently, both pension plan sponsors and policy makers alike have become concerned as to whether participants have the financial knowledge to make such important decisions. This paper provides econometric evidence of the effect of retirement education on asset allocation in self-directed DC plans. I find that those with an extreme degree of risk aversion do not re-allocate their portfolios after taking a retirement class, whereas those with a slightly lower degree of risk aversion invest a larger percentage of their assets in equities after attending a class. Participants generally do not alter their behavior after attending a class. It is possible that this result is due to the heterogeneity in financial instruction or the inability of the model to detect small changes in asset allocation.

Identity, consumption, and frequency of behavior among contempory needleworkers

Leslie, Catherine Amoroso The Ohio State University 2002 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

Needlework is an important part of women's culture, however it is not well represented in the literature. Recent studies have suggested a link between needlework and identity, but the subject has not been explored with a quantitative paradigm. Using a combination of identity and social identity theories as a theoretical framework, this research reveals links between identity, consumption of products, and leisure activities. Individuals carry their identities into every situation they encounter. Identity links individual behavior and the larger social structure and aids in predicting behavior. There are many identities included in the self, but they do not all carry equal influence, rather they are arranged in a hierarchy. Using survey methodology, 222 respondents (97% women) completed questionnaires designed to assess needleworker identity, consumption of needlework supplies and equipment, and frequency of needlework activity. Respondents had experience with the products and programs of Erica Wilson, “America's First Lady of Needlework.&rdquo. This study extends knowledge of identity by demonstrating a link between individual identity (salience) and frequency of individual behavior and social identity (commitment) and frequency of social behavior. The extensiveness of identity-related social connections and reflected appraisals of identity-related products were significant predictors of the strength of identity commitment. Furthermore, the extent of media connections significantly predicts identity salience. This research supports the premise that one's connections with media are directly related to the extensiveness of identity-related possessions. The extent of exposure to needlework-related media accounted for one-half of the variance in needlework-related possessions. A positive relationship between reflected appraisals of products and identity commitment supports the premise that the relationship between identity and possessions is mediated by esteem. Implications from this study are pertinent for identity theorists, clothing and textile scholars, and the needlework industry. The model's ability to significantly predict both identity salience and identity commitment adds to our knowledge of the factors influencing the strength of identity. Suggestions for further research on relationships between identity, consumption, and frequency of behavior are included.

Leslie Marmon Silko의 Ceremony 인디언 정체성의 재정립

Silko, Leslie Marmon 한양대학교 대학원 2001 국내석사

Ceremony는 미국 사회에서 주변인으로 살아가는 혼혈 인디언의 정체성 문제를 다룬 작품이다. 백인과 인디언의 피를 가진 혼혈 인디언 Tayo는 세계 2차 대전에 미국 군인으로 참전한 후, 백인과 인디언 양쪽 모두로부터 적절한 구성원으로 인정 받지 못한 채 백인 세계와 인디언 세계의 경계 밖에서 정신적 혼란을 겪어야 했다. 자신의 정신 분열이 백인과 인디언 두 세계의 상충에 있음을 자각한 Tayo는 인디언의 옛 이야기를 통해 인디언 민족성을 복원시킴으로써 분열된 정체성을 점차 재정립하기 시작한다. 이야기를 통해 복원된 인디언의 생활 양식은 백인 세계를 무조건적으로 동경하였던 다른 인디언들을 비판하기 시작하며, 그는 마침내 백인 세계의 중심적 이데올로기에 저항할 수 있는 위협적인 주변인으로 자리잡을 수 있는 가능성을 보유한다. 그러나 인디언성을 복원하는 것이 반드시 인디언 전통문화만을 고수해야만 하는 것은 아니다. 혼혈 인디언 Tayo의 중간자적 위치는 타 문화와의 교류를 중재하는 문화 매개자로 활동할 수 있는 이점을 가지고 있다. 자문화 중심주의에서 벗어나 백인 세계와 인디언 세계의 틈에 위치하여 그 둘의 세계를 객관적으로 비판하고 적극적으로 교류하는 역할을 수행한다면 그의 정체성은 더 이상 분열되지 않고 안정성을 확보할 것이다. Ceremony는 Tayo라는 개인의 정체성 재정립 과정을 통해 백인과 인디언이 공존할 수 있는 다성적 사회가 구축되어야 함을 강조하고 있다. 다성적 사회는 다양한 문화들이 지배와 피지배의 개념 없이 상호 차이를 인정하면서 교류하는 사회이다. 또한 다성적 사회는 문화간의 지배현상에 의해 개인이 정체성을 상실 당하는 것을 방지할 수 있는 대안적 사회가 될 것으로 보인다.

Women shaping shelter: Technology, consumption, and the twentieth-century house

Sharp, Leslie N Georgia Institute of Technology 2004 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

"Women Shaping Shelter: Technology, Consumption, and the Twentieth-Century House" explores the complex relationship between women and the material world in which we live. This study takes into consideration how differences in economic class, race, and region determined the extent to which women were able to influence the physical spaces around them. Buildings are one of the largest physical manifestations of our culture. To document how women shaped the built environment is to begin to understand the ways women have influenced American culture in its most visible form. The focus of this study is on residential architecture. The twentieth century was an age of great technological, social, and economic changes, including the growth of urban and suburban populations, the development of a large middle class, and the recognition of civil and human rights for women and minorities. Concomitant with society's transformation, women gained more influence within the home and within society at large. Indeed, women increased their role in the design and function of houses even as the professions of construction and architecture remained dominated by men, with only limited changes in that domination in the late-twentieth century. Women increased their power as professionals, clients, consumers, and technologists; a pattern that is reflected in the house itself: the opening up of the kitchen to the public, the electrification of the house, the attention given to the laundry room and its placement on the main floor, and the installation of household technologies. Furthermore, women themselves gained more footholds in building and design professions. Scholars such as Leslie Weisman, Angel Kwolek-Folland, and Daphne Spain have demonstrated how architectural design created gendered environments reinforcing traditional beliefs about the appropriate roles for men and women in society. Others have looked at how women have functioned in man-made environments. This dissertation examines how women created domestic environments as professionals, owners, occupants, and workers, and consequently made a significant contribution in the modernization of the twentieth-century house.

For Ye Know Not When the Master of the House Cometh: Privacy and Power in the Development of North Carolina's Religious Culture

Leslie, J. Mark The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 2012 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

This dissertation makes three interrelated points. First, the religious landscape of colonial North Carolina was diverse. For the colony's Anglican governors, a stable Anglican establishment would have created a stable and loyal colony. Unfortunately for these governors, the colony remained diverse until the end colonial period. Second, religious celebrations were often both about celebrating the divine and also about affirming more worldly relationships. Third, this project calls into question narratives of development that are premised upon the assumption that the colonial "South" was largely Anglican. Some historians assert that evangelicalism brought with it a more individualistic religious culture that replaced an Anglican culture that focused on community and hierarchy. Other historians claim that evangelicals were unsuccessful in challenging men's claims to dominion over their households. This dissertation, however, claims that Anglican culture in colonial North Carolina was far from hegemonic, and instead a diversity of religious groups developed diverse communities in North Carolina. Some of those religious groups developed community standards that challenged men's claims to dominion over their households while others developed communities that celebrated men's authority over their households. By the antebellum period, however, this diverse religious landscape had been replaced by a new cultural hegemony in which households were seen as private spaces largely beyond the reach of religious inspection and correction. Ministers and groups who violated this privacy either chose to leave North Carolina in order to preserve their spiritual purity or they were forced out of positions of authority. The religious communities and leaders that thrived left men free to govern their households.

American romanticism: A critique

Leslie, Isis I Rutgers The State University of New Jersey - New B 2005 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

The aim of the dissertation is to substantiate the following claims: first, that in the United States, dominant conceptions of the self are characterized by a distinctly American variant of romanticism; second, that American romanticism is reflected in a persistent tradition of mythological narratives of self-making; and last, that these narratives have far-reaching social and political consequences. To the literature in political theory, cultural studies and sociology, the dissertation contributes an analysis of an under-theorized, but important aspect of American culture: American romanticism. The central tenet of American romanticism is that the unbounded, active, individual will is the primary determinant of personal destiny. This conception of the self rests on metaphysical assumptions about the relationship of the individual will to the external world---assumptions that are clearly articulated in the German romanticism of Frederich Schiller and Johann Gottlieb Fichte. I argue that the hegemony of romanticism in the American context grew out of Puritan theology and cultural changes that occurred during the nineteenth century as a result of industrialization and urbanization. I argue further that American romanticism is a contributing factor to the reluctance of American culture to support the notion of a strong welfare state, explains in part American attitudes toward capital punishment, and is a contributing factor to the dominance of consumer culture in the United States.

Spatial stochastic models for landscape degradation and deforestation in Bolivia and Brazil

Leslie, Nandi Princeton University 2005 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

Human activities have transformed many forest ecosystems into a mosaic of forested, degraded, and used lands. The ecosystems which emerge on old fields and abandoned sites tend to resist reestablishment of pioneer tree species due to loss of seed viability and low propagule availability. The regrowth capacity is further depleted in proportion to the type, intensity, and duration of the previous landscape-use. I examine the geographical information systems data-sets of subregions of the Chiquitano Forest in the Bolivian lowlands and the Brazilian Amazon. These areas have been heavily influenced by forest fragmentation and degradation. In this dissertation, I describe the recent history of land use in these regions. Furthermore, basing my recommendations on mathematical models, I give possible solutions to reduce the current decline in biomass in these regions by means of changing the current landscape conversion rates and road networks. I propose several stochastic spatial models for habitat conversion that are motivated by land cover change in the dry and rain forests of the Bolivian lowlands and the Brazilian Amazon, respectively. In Chapter 2, I present models which examine the landscape level impact of land-use activities by utilizing the interactions between agricultural/industrial use and soil and plant community dynamics. Furthermore, I develop a land-use model based on conversion of forested land by two land-use types. In Chapter 3, I develop an additional model which incorporates geographical features from Landsat imagery for Santa Cruz, Bolivia and the Brazilian Amazon into the inputs of the model. With ideas from fields including the theory of interacting particle systems, spatial statistics, and mean field and pair approximation analysis, I examine the spatio-temporal patterns that arise from the models.

ESSAYS IN APPLIED MICROECONOMETRIC ANALYSIS (PRICE DISCRIMINATION, BROADWAY THEATRE, SCHOOLING DECISIONS, WAGE DISTRIBUTIONS)

LESLIE, PHILLIP JOHN YALE UNIVERSITY 1999 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

This dissertation is based on two applications of structural microeconometric analysis. Chapter 1 is a general discussion of structural microeconometrics, together with specific background and motivation for the studies undertaken in Chapters 2 and 3. In Chapter 2 a model of price discrimination is described which includes <italic> both</italic> second-degree and third-degree price discrimination. The model is designed to analyze ticket sales for a Broadway play. Heterogeneous consumers choose between tickets for various seat qualities, tickets sold at a discount booth, and tickets requiring a coupon available to a subset of the potential consumers. Using data from a Broadway play, the structural model is estimated and various experiments are conducted to investigate the implications of alternative pricing policies. Among the findings, price discrimination may improve the firm's profit by approximately 5%, relative to uniform pricing. The difference for aggregate consumer welfare is negligible. The presence of capacity constraints implies rationing, which leads to unusual substitution patterns between ticket categories. Chapter 3 is an analysis of individuals' schooling decisions and is joint work with Moshe Buchinsky. We combine contemporaneous decision making with the forecasting of future distributions into the unified framework of a dynamic optimization model. The insights from our approach are in the form of analyses of the effects from: (a) actual changes in conditional wage distributions over the years 1980 to 1994; (b) the use of alternative forecasting behaviors; (c) altering the individual's aversion to risk; and (d) changing various constraints such as tuition costs and the individual's initial level of wealth. These issues are studied in a variety of simulations using the <italic> March Current Population Survey</italic>. By modeling the individual's optimal choice of education based upon empirical wage distributions, we offer an evaluation of the effects of changes in the U.S. labor market on individuals' investments in their educational human capital.

(The) impact of information overload to citizen's preventive behaviour during the pandemic : Philippines as a sase study

Rendon, Leslie Tagguid Graduate School, Yonsei University 2022 국내석사

코로나 사태로 인해 동남아시아에서 감염률이 최고로 많이 나타난 국가 중 하나로 필리핀이 꼽혔다. 그리하여 필리핀 정부는 국민들이 ‘격리’나 ‘백신접종’과 같은 방역방침을 충실히 이행하여 바이러스가 퍼지지 않도록 조치를 취했다. 그러나 팬데믹 수준까지 이른 코로나사태로 인해 환경이 급속도로 변화되자 국민들은 이와 같은 보건규정에 대응하는 방식에 도전을 했다. 필요하든, 그렇지 않든지 간에 코로나와 관련된 많은 정보가 다른 원천경로를 거쳐 다양한 통신플랫폼을 통해 유포되고 있다. 정보가 지나치게 많으면 혼란과 오해가 생겨 정보를 받아들여야 할지 말지 망설이고 불안해하고 결정을 잘 내리지 못하게 된다. 이러한 현상은 소위 ‘정보과부하’로 불린다. 본 논문은 ‘정보과부하’ 현상이 자발적 자가격리 행위와 백신접종 행위에 미치는 영향에 대해서 탐구해보았다. 본 연구는 이른바 ‘보호동기이론 (PMT)’을 통해 ‘정보과부하’ 현상이 자발적 자가격리 행위와 백신접종 행위에 미치는 영향에 대해서 탐구해보고 코로나 팬데믹 사태를 맞아 어떠한 방역대책이 이루어졌는지 예측해 보았다. 이를 위해, ‘보호동기이론 (PMT)’에서 제시된 네 가지 선별 구성요소인 ‘자기 효능 감’, ‘반응 효능 감’, ‘심각성 인지’, ‘취약성 인지’가 매개변수로 사용되었다. 연구결과, 정보과부하 현상은 방역행위 지침 준수에 부정적인 영향을 미친다는 것이 나타났다. 연구자는 정보과부하가 ‘격리’, 백신접종의향’, 매개효과인 ‘보호동기이론(PMT)’에 직접 내지 간접적으로 미치는 영향을 3가지 모델을 토대로 요약하고 제안하고자 한다. 이 모델을 검증하기 위해, 연구자는 온라인 구글을 통해 18-30세 연령층에 해당하는 필리핀 사람들 중에서 602명을 대상으로 자료를 수집했다. 이 연령층은 필리핀에서 젊은 층으로 법적으로 규정되고 있다. 이원변량과 다중회귀 분석법을 활용한 통계분석이 실시되었으며, 정보과부화 형상을 일으킬 수 있는 정보원천과 플랫폼이 더욱더 상세히 고찰되었다. 교육달성과 통신 플랫폼 사용 빈도를 통제변수로 조절하면서 살펴본 연구 결과, 정보과부하는 방역조치 (모델 3), 격리 (P < 0.01), 백신접종 의향 (P < 0.01) (직접적 영향)과 네 가지 구성요소 (모델 1)에 직접적으로 유의미한 부정적인 영향을 미친 것으로 나타났다. 더 나아가, 정보과부하 (모델 2)와 방역조치와 관련된 보호동기이론 구성요소 (PMT)는 부정적인 관계를 지닌 것으로 밝혀졌다. Baron와 Kenny (1986)가 매개효과로써 공동으로 활용한 ‘유의미한 접근’에는 정보과부하가 방역조치에 간접적으로 유의미한 부정적인 영향 (P < 0.01)을 미치는 것으로 제시 되어있다. 정보과부하는 코로나 팬데믹 사태에 대해 젊은 사람들 개개인이 받아들이는 신념과 인식을 토대로 스스로 자가격리하고 예방접종을 하겠다는 의향을 감소시킨다는 말뜻이 여기에 함축 된 것이다. 게다가 저널리스트 및 매체 업체가 주로 사회네트워크 사이트를 통해 정보과부하를 상당히 많이 일으키는 것으로 확인되었다. 정보과부하가 코로나 방역조처에 국민들이 준수하는 행위에 부정적인 영향을 미치는 것으로 입증된 만큼, 정부는 정보과부하 문제를 더욱더 진지하게 해결해 나아가야 한다. During the Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19), the Philippine is one of the highly infected countries in Southeast Asia. Thus, the government highly relies on the adherence of people to preventive measures; such as isolation and vaccination, to prevent the spread of the virus. Yet the fast changing- environment due to the impact of the pandemic challenges the way people respond to these health protocols. Vast amount of related information, necessary or otherwise, are being disseminated through multiple of communication platforms from different sources. Previous researches suggests that too much information can be confusing and misleading which results to hesitancy, anxiety and poor decision making. This phenomenon is so called information overload (IO). This study explores the impact of IO to one’s behaviour towards voluntary self-quarantine isolation and securing vaccination. To measure one’s behaviour, Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) is use, as it is widely studied to predict one’s preventive behavior during a pandemic, thus four chosen constructs from this theory were used as mediating variables; Self-efficacy and Response Efficacy, Perceived Severity and Perceived Vulnerability. Therefore, we argue that overloading information negatively affects one’s adherence to preventive measures through their behaviour. The researcher proposes 3 models outlining the direct and indirect effect of IO to isolation and vaccination intention, and the mediated effect of PMT appraisals. To test the model, the researcher collected data of 602 respondents from the Philippines aged 18-30 through online google forms. This age group is legally defined as youth in the country. Statistical tests were conducted using Bivariate and Multiple Regression. The possible information sources and platforms that generates IO are further identified. Adjusting for the educational attainment and the frequency of use of communication platforms as control variables, it was found out that IO have direct significant negative effect to the preventive measures (Model 3); isolation (P < 0.01) and vaccination intention (P < 0.01) (direct effect) and to the four constructs (Model 1) (P < 0.01). Further, there is also a negative relationship between PMT constructs towards preventive measures adjusting for IO (Model 2). The mediated effect using Baron and Kenny, (1986) Joint Significance Approach, provides the indirect effect of IO to preventive measures which were found to be significantly negative (P < 0.01). It therefore implies that IO is decreasing the youth’s intention to isolate and inoculate through their beliefs and perceptions towards COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, Journalist and Media companies are found to significantly generate IO mainly through Social Networking Sites. Overall, IO is a real phenomenon that has to be addressed more seriously by the government as it was proven to create negative impact to people’s behaviour towards adhering COVID-19 preventive measures.

The light of grace : John Owen on the authority of Scripture and Christian faith

Leslie, Andrew M. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 2015 해외석사