The implementation of the 1986 Social Security Act in April 1988 marked an important milestone in the development of financial support for children. Confronted by a substantial body of evidence which showed that poverty is most extreme among families with children,' 2 the government has chosen to shift the balance of support away from pensioners, single people, and higher income families toward...

We investigated small arms and light weapons (SALW) in Africa by reviewing the situation in Nigeria and conducting a small study in one hospital in the country's north. Published reports about SALW in Nigeria suggest that several social, economic, and political factors have caused a marked increase in gun-related violence, including ethno-religious tensions, the response of security forces to c...

In this paper, we argue that economic and demographic factors play a relatively small role in the so-called old-age crisis, while political factors are far more important. A benevolent social planner can find solutions to the problems raised by population ageing and declining productivity growth. However we live in a world where social security systems are established and reformed through the p...

We propose the use of copula methods to recover the dependence structure between prediction markets. Copula methods are flexible tools to measure associations among probabilities because they encompass both linear and non linear relationship among variables. We apply the proposed methodology to three actual prediction markets, the Saddam Security, the market of oil spot prices and the Saddamete...