London School of Economics and Political Science

About: London School of Economics and Political Science is a education organization based out in London, United Kingdom. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Politics & Population. The organization has 8759 authors who have published 35017 publications receiving 1436302 citations.

Does Decentralization Matter for Regional Disparities? A Cross-Country Analysis

Abstract: This paper looks at the relationship between fiscal and political decentralization and the evolution of regional inequalities in a panel of 26 countries -- 19 developed and 7 developing -- for the period between 1990 and 2006. Using an instrumental variables method, it finds that whereas for the whole sample decentralization is completely dissociated for the evolution of regional disparities, the results are highly contingent on the level of development, the existing level of territorial inequalities, and the fiscal redistributive capacity of the countries in the sample. Decentralization in high income countries has, if anything, been associated with a reduction of regional inequality. In low and medium income countries, fiscal decentralization has been associated with a significant rise in regional disparities, which the positive effects of political decentralization have been unable to compensate. Policy preferences by subnational governments for expenditure in economic affairs, education, and social protection have contributed to this trend.

The outsiders: the European neighbourhood policy

Abstract: In May 2004, the European Union acquired not just ten new member states but several new neighbours. At about the same time, it began to flesh out a European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) to bring some order to the EU's relations with its old and new neighbours and to ensure that the newly enlarged EU would be surrounded by a ‘ring of friends’. The ENP is also supposed to stave off further enlargement to eastern Europe. However, several problems with the ENP are evident. It requires much of the neighbours and offers only vague incentives in return, making it unlikely that the ENP can meet its core objectives. Furthermore, the ENP is ambiguous about where the EU's borders will end, and it is already apparent that such ambiguity is not helping to foster reform in eastern Europe. Either the EU should say ‘no’ to further enlargement, so the ENP becomes the framework for relations with the neighbour for the foreseeable future, or it should say ‘yes’ to eventually letting in a specified number of neighbours which then move out of the ENP.

The Transformation of Policing? Understanding Current Trends in Policing Systems

Abstract: This paper considers David Bayley and Clifford Shearing's (1996) argument that policing systems in developed economies are currently undergoing radical change. It is clear that a number of significant shifts have occurred including major reforms in public policing, and a substantial expansion of the private security industry. However, we question the degree to which current developments in policing should be interpreted as a sharp qualitative break with the past. By focusing primarily upon change the risk is that we overlook the significant consistencies and continuities that are equally important in understanding historical trends. We also question the extent to which the developments highlighted within this transformation thesis can be seen as global. We argue that the transformation thesis fails to take sufficient account of important differences between the nature and form of policing in North America, and of that in other countries such as Britain. We conclude by arguing that it is helpful to locate the set of changes within the framework of policing in a wider context. Thus, rather than view current developments as a fragmentation of policing, we see them as part of a long-term process of formalizaton of social control. The key development that appears to have taken place concerns shifts between what we term primary and secondary social control activities.

Transnational Business Governance Interactions: Conceptualization and Framework for Analysis

Abstract: This article demonstrates the value of studying interactions in transnational business governance (TBG) and proposes an analytical framework for that purpose. The number of TBG schemes involving non-state authority to govern business conduct across borders has vastly expanded in a wide range of issue areas. As TBG initiatives proliferate, they increasingly interact with one another, and with state-based and other normative regimes. The key challenge is to understand the implications of TBG interactions for regulatory capacity and performance – the most fruitful initial focus – and ultimately for the impacts of regulation on social and environmental problems. To gain purchase on these complex issues, the article develops an original framework that disaggregates the regulatory process, focusing on the points at which interactions may occur and suggesting, for each point, a series of analytical questions that probe the key features of TBG interactions. Now published in Regulation & Governance. Published version available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=2347166.

Why So Many Local Entrepreneurs

Abstract: We document that the fraction of entrepreneurs who work in the region where they were born is significantly higher than the corresponding fraction for dependent workers. This difference is more pronounced in more developed regions and positively related to the degree of local financial development. Firms created by locals are more valuable and bigger (in terms of capital and employment), operate with more capital intensive technologies, and are able to obtain greater financing per unit of capital invested, than firms created by non-locals. This evidence suggests that there are so many local entrepreneurs because locals can better exploit the financial opportunities available in the region where they were born. This can help in explaining how local financial development causes persistent disparities in entrepreneurial activity, technology, and income.