Showing papers on "Delegation published in 2009"
TL;DR: In this article, a model of strategic communication between an uninformed receiver and an informed but upwardly biased Sender is studied, where the Sender bears a cost of lying, or more broadly, of misrepresenting his private information.
Abstract: I study a model of strategic communication between an uninformed Receiver and an informed but upwardly biased Sender. The Sender bears a cost of lying, or more broadly, of misrepresenting his private information. The main results show that inflated language naturally arises in this environment, where the Sender (almost) always claims to be of a higher type than he would with complete information. Regardless of the intensity of lying cost, there is incomplete separation, with some pooling on the highest messages. The degree of language inflation and how much information is revealed depend upon the intensity of lying cost. The analysis delivers a framework to span a class of cheap-talk and verifiable disclosure games, unifying the polar predictions they make under large conflicts of interest. I use the model to discuss how the degree of manipulability of information can affect the trade-off between delegation and communication. Copyright 2009, Wiley-Blackwell.
529 citations
Book•
01 Mar 2009
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss the integration and democracy in the United States and the future of the union in the context of international economic integration, the nation-state, and democracy.
Abstract: Introduction 1 From Community to Diverse Union 2 Integration and Democracy: The Big Trade-Off 3 The Community Method 4 Delegation of Powers and the Fiduciary Principle 5 Institutional Balance Versus Institutional Innovation 6 Policy Dilemmas 7 Positive and Negative Integration 8 Beyond Intergovernmentalism 9 International Economic Integration, The Nation-State, and Democracy: An Impossible Trinity? 10 The Future of the Union: Montesquieu Versus Madison
338 citations
TL;DR: It is argued that, while task shifting holds great promise, any long-term success of task shifting hinges on serious political and financial commitments, and requires a comprehensive and integrated reconfiguration of health teams, changed scopes of practice and regulatory frameworks and enhanced training infrastructure, as well as availability of reliable medium- to long- term funding.
Abstract: Ever since the 2006 World Health Report advocated increased community participation and the systematic delegation of tasks to less-specialized cadres, there has been a great deal of debate about the expediency, efficacy and modalities of task shifting. The delegation of tasks from one cadre to another, previously often called substitution, is not a new concept. It has been used in many countries and for many decades, either as a response to emergency needs or as a method to provide adequate care at primary and secondary levels, especially in understaffed rural facilities, to enhance quality and reduce costs. However, rapidly increasing care needs generated by the HIV/AIDS epidemic and accelerating human resource crises in many African countries have given the concept and practice of task shifting new prominence and urgency. Furthermore, the question arises as to whether task shifting and increased community participation can be more than a short-term solution to address the HIV/AIDS crisis and can contribute to a revival of the primary health care approach as an answer to health systems crises. In this commentary we argue that, while task shifting holds great promise, any long-term success of task shifting hinges on serious political and financial commitments. We reason that it requires a comprehensive and integrated reconfiguration of health teams, changed scopes of practice and regulatory frameworks and enhanced training infrastructure, as well as availability of reliable medium- to long-term funding, with time frames of 20 to 30 years instead of three to five years. The concept and practice of community participation needs to be revisited. Most importantly, task shifting strategies require leadership from national governments to ensure an enabling regulatory framework; drive the implementation of relevant policies; guide and support training institutions and ensure adequate resources; and harness the support of the multiple stakeholders. With such leadership and a willingness to learn from those with relevant experience (for example, Brazil, Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia), task shifting can indeed make a vital contribution to building sustainable, cost-effective and equitable health care systems. Without it, task shifting runs the risk of being yet another unsuccessful health sector reform initiative.
268 citations
Posted Content•
TL;DR: The authors argue that preference heterogeneity among G-5 governments is a key determinant of variation in the IMF loan size and conditionality, and propose a common agency theory of IMF policymaking, in which the Fund's largest shareholders -the G-five countries that exercise de facto control over the Executive Board - act collectively as its political principal.
Abstract: What explains the substantial variation in the International Monetary Fund's lending policies over time and across cases? Some scholars argue that the IMF is the servant of the United States and other powerful member-states, while others contend that the Fund's professional staff acts independently in pursuit of its own bureaucratic interests. I argue that neither of these perspectives, on its own, fully and accurately explains IMF lending behavior. Rather, I propose a "common agency" theory of IMF policymaking, in which the Fund's largest shareholders - the G-5 countries that exercise de facto control over the Executive Board - act collectively as its political principal. Using this framework, I argue that preference heterogeneity among G-5 governments is a key determinant of variation in IMF loan size and conditionality. Under certain conditions, G-5 preference heterogeneity leads to conflict or "logrolling" within the Executive Board, while in others it creates scope for the IMF staff to exploit "agency slack" and increase its policymaking autonomy. Statistical analysis of an original dataset of 197 non-concessional IMF lending to 47 countries from 1984 to 2003 yields strong support for this framework and its empirical predictions. In clarifying the politics of IMF lending, the article sheds light on the merits of recent policy proposals to reform the Fund and its decision-making rules. More broadly, it furthers our understanding of delegation, agency, and the dynamics of policymaking within international organizations (IOs).
226 citations
TL;DR: This article surveys the related literature with a focus on three aspects: the motivation for the establishment of such agencies, their potential design, and the experience with these types of institutions, and concludes that "the often inadequate flexibility of rules and the success of policy delegation in the monetary realm have motivated a small but growing number of studies that suggest delegating some aspects of fiscal policy to what will here be called independent fiscal agencies".
Abstract: There has been a considerable literature regarding the incentives of policymakers as a prime reason for persistent fiscal deficits and a variety of fiscal rules have been proposed as a remedy. However, the often inadequate flexibility of rules and the success of policy delegation in the monetary realm have motivated a small but growing number of studies that suggest delegating some aspects of fiscal policy to what will here be called ‘independent fiscal agencies’. This paper surveys the related literature with a focus on three aspects: the motivation for the establishment of such agencies; their potential design; and the experience with these types of institutions.
222 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors study the costs and benefits of differences of opinion between an advisor and a decision maker and find that a greater difference of opinion increases an adviser's incentives to acquire information but exacerbates the strategic disclosure of any information that is acquired.
Abstract: We study costs and benefits of differences of opinion between an adviser and a decision maker. Even when they share the same underlying preferences over decisions, a difference of opinion about payoff‐relevant information leads to strategic information acquisition and transmission. A decision maker faces a fundamental trade‐off: a greater difference of opinion increases an adviser's incentives to acquire information but exacerbates the strategic disclosure of any information that is acquired. Nevertheless, when choosing from a rich pool of opinion types, it is optimal for a decision maker to select an adviser with some difference of opinion. Centralization of authority is essential to harness these incentive gains since delegation to the adviser can discourage effort.
201 citations
10 Mar 2009
TL;DR: This work formalizes its security model and proposes an efficient C-PRE scheme, whose chosen-ciphertext security is proven under the 3-quotient bilinear Diffie-Hellman assumption.
Abstract: In a proxy re-encryption (PRE) system [4], a proxy, authorized by Alice, can convert a ciphertext for Alice into a ciphertext for Bob without seeing the underlying plaintext. PRE has found many practical applications requiring delegation. However, it is inadequate to handle scenarios where a fine-grained delegation is demanded. To overcome the limitation of existing PRE systems, we introduce the notion of conditional proxy re-encryption (C-PRE), whereby only ci-phertext satisfying a specific condition set by Alice can be transformed by the proxy and then decrypted by Bob. We formalize its security model and propose an efficient C-PRE scheme, whose chosen-ciphertext security is proven under the 3-quotient bilinear Diffie-Hellman assumption. We further extend the construction to allow multiple conditions with a slightly higher overhead.
179 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors developed and tested a model to assess the effects of leadership style on three control choices that are considered integral elements of a firm's management control system; namely the delegation choice, the use of planning and control systems and the performance measurement system.
Abstract: Little attention has been given to the role of leadership characteristics in the organization design literature despite significant evidence of its importance in explaining firm behavior. This study develops and tests a model to assess the effects of leadership style on three control choices that are considered integral elements of a firm’s management control system; namely the delegation choice, the use of planning and control systems and the performance measurement system. Our results, based on data collected from 128 profit center managers, indicate that leadership style is a significant predictor of senior management’s use of the planning and control system and their use of performance measurement system for rewarding lower level managers. After controlling for operating contextual factors (namely, subunit interdependencies and knowledge asymmetries) we find no effect of leadership style on delegation choices but do find that leadership style influences the use of planning and control systems as predicted.
165 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present mechanisms for detecting and resolution of normative conflicts, based on first-order unification and constraint solving techniques, are the building blocks of more sophisticated algorithms for the management of normative positions, that is, the adoption and removal of permissions, obligations and prohibitions in societies of agents.
Abstract: Norms (permissions, obligations and prohibitions) offer a useful and powerful abstraction with which to capture social constraints in multi-agent systems Norms should exclude disruptive or antisocial behaviour without prescribing the design of individual agents or restricting their autonomy An important challenge, however, in the design and management of systems governed by norms is that norms may, at times, conflict with one another; eg, an action may be simultaneously prohibited and obliged for a particular agent In such circumstances, agents no longer have the option of complying with these norms; whatever they do or refrain from doing will lead to a social constraint being broken In this paper, we present mechanisms for the detection and resolution of normative conflicts These mechanisms, based on first-order unification and constraint solving techniques, are the building blocks of more sophisticated algorithms we present for the management of normative positions, that is, the adoption and removal of permissions, obligations and prohibitions in societies of agents We capture both direct and indirect conflicts between norms, formalise a practical concept of authority, and model conflicts that may arise as a result of delegation We are able to formally define classic ways for resolving conflicts such as lex superior and lex posterior
147 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors trace the evolution of punctuated equilibrium theories of the policy process to the development of a full theory of government information processing, and outline a research agenda for the study of agenda setting, policy dynamics, and information flows in the government information process.
Abstract: In this article, we trace the evolution of punctuated equilibrium theories of the policy process to the development of a full theory of government information processing. Noting that punctuated equilibrium is one realization of a larger theory of government information processing, we outline a research agenda for the study of agenda setting, policy dynamics, and information flows in the policy process. In doing so, we relate the study of government information processing to such important features of American government as inter-institutional dynamics and delegation in the policy process.
142 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors address the question of whether participation constraints should be imposed and under what conditions efficiency considerations justify that individuals are forced to pay for public goods that they do not value.
Abstract: The literature on public goods has shown that efficient outcomes are impossible if participation constraints have to be respected. This paper addresses the question whether they should be imposed. It asks under what conditions efficiency considerations justify that individuals are forced to pay for public goods that they do not value. It is shown that participation constraints are desirable if public goods are provided by a malevolent Leviathan. By contrast, with a Pigouvian planner, efficiency can be achieved. Finally, the paper studies the delegation of public goods provision to a profit-maximizing firm. This also makes participation constraints desirable.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the structure and governance of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), and the process leading to the transplantation of its norms into EU law, and argue that the reasons behind such relinquishment of public authority lie primarily within the EU itself.
TL;DR: In this article, a delegation framework for multi-level party dynamics is presented, where each party operates on several territorial levels, but we have only limited theoretical understanding of multilevel party dynamics.
Abstract: Most political parties operate on several territorial levels, but we have only limited theoretical understanding of multi-level party dynamics. This article presents a delegation framework for stud...
TL;DR: This article explored employee perspectives on effective leader ship in UK Further Education (FE) and found that FE employees often value practices that combine elements of both delegation and direction, both proximity and distance and both internal and external engagement.
Abstract: This article explores employee perspectives on effective leader ship in UK Further Education (FE). Studies on leader ship effectiveness typically seek either to specify the individual qualities of ‘heroic’ leaders or, increasingly, to highlight the collective nature of ‘post-heroic’ leader ship. While these discourses are frequently seen as dichotomous and competing, our research found that FE employees often value practices that combine elements of both. They tended to prefer subtle and versatile practices that we term ‘blended leader ship’; an approach that values, for example, both delegation and direction, both proximity and distance and both internal and external engagement. Drawing on other studies which indicate that paradoxical blends of apparently irreconcilable opposites might form the basis for effective leader ship, the article considers the implications of this analysis for the study of Higher Education (HE). It concludes by highlighting the potential value of more dialectical approaches to the theory and practice of leadership.
TL;DR: Findings from this project provide insight into factors that influence delegation effectiveness and can guide CNOs and frontline nurse leaders to focus on implementing strategies to mitigate the consequence of missed care.
Abstract: Objective:The aim of this study was to understand how nurses use critical thinking to delegate nursing care.Background:Nurses must synthesize large amounts of information and think through complex and often emergent clinical situations when making critical decisions about patient care, including del
TL;DR: In this paper, Boyer and Kihlstrom showed that under the common assumption of quadratic payoffs and a certain regularity condition on the distribution of private information and the agent's bias, the optimal mechanism is deterministic.
25 Apr 2009
TL;DR: This paper proposes Ciphertext-Policy Attribute-Based Threshold Decryption (CP-ABTD) which extends CP-ABE with flexible attribute delegation and instantaneous attribute revocation and demonstrates how to apply the proposed scheme to securely manage Personal Health Records (PHRs).
Abstract: In Ciphertext-Policy Attribute-Based Encryption (CP-ABE), a user secret key is associated with a set of attributes, and the ciphertext is associated with an access structure or decryption policy over attributes. The user can decrypt the ciphertext if and only if the attribute set of his secret key satisfies the decryption policy specified in the ciphertext. Several CP-ABE schemes have been proposed, however, to become practical the problem of revocation and delegation should be addressed. In this paper, we propose Ciphertext-Policy Attribute-Based Threshold Decryption (CP-ABTD) which extends CP-ABE with flexible attribute delegation and instantaneous attribute revocation. CP-ABTD has three advantages over CP-ABE. First, Alice (delegator), who has a secret key associated with a set of attributes, can delegate her authorization to Bob (delegatee). Second, Alice can decide whether to allow Bob to be able to delegate her authorization further. Third, the proposed scheme achieves instantaneous attribute revocation, that is, once the attribute is revoked the user cannot use it in the decryption phase. We demonstrate how to apply the
proposed CP-ABTD scheme to securely manage Personal Health Records (PHRs).
TL;DR: A new rule-based framework to identify and address issues of sharing in virtual university environments through role-based access control (RBAC) management is built and compared with other related work.
Abstract: A global education system, as a key area in future IT, has fostered developers to provide various learning systems with low cost. While a variety of e-learning advantages has been recognized for a long time and many advances in e-learning systems have been implemented, the needs for effective information sharing in a secure manner have to date been largely ignored, especially for virtual university collaborative environments. Information sharing of virtual universities usually occurs in broad, highly dynamic network-based environments, and formally accessing the resources in a secure manner poses a difficult and vital challenge. This paper aims to build a new rule-based framework to identify and address issues of sharing in virtual university environments through role-based access control (RBAC) management. The framework includes a role-based group delegation granting model, group delegation revocation model, authorization granting, and authorization revocation. We analyze various revocations and the impact of revocations on role hierarchies. The implementation with XML-based tools demonstrates the feasibility of the framework and authorization methods. Finally, the current proposal is compared with other related work.
TL;DR: It is shown that delegating to the supervisor reduces the principal's payoff compared to the no-supervision benchmark under a standard condition on the distribution of the agent's types.
TL;DR: The authors apply this perspective to three areas in the existing literature on prosecutors: plea bargaining, courtroom communities, and public corruption prosecution, focusing on the extent of conflict between an official's motives and those of other actors, and the degree to which information is unevenly distributed among those actors.
Abstract: Contemporary advances in the field of political economy, particularly those concerning the subject of delegated authority, can provide a unifying framework for analyzing the behavior and political context of criminal prosecutors in the United States. This perspective, which focuses on the extent of conflict between an official's motives and those of other actors, and the degree to which information is unevenly distributed among those actors, is well suited for studying prosecutors—the vast majority of whom are elected but whose accountability is frequently called into question. We apply this perspective to three areas in the existing literature on prosecutors: plea bargaining, courtroom communities, and public corruption prosecution.
TL;DR: The Treaty of Lisbon has introduced a complex new typology of acts, distinguishing between legislative, delegated and implementing acts as discussed by the authors, which will have an impact on some of the most contested topics of EU law.
Abstract: The Treaty of Lisbon has introduced a complex new typology of acts, distinguishing between legislative, delegated and implementing acts. This reform, the first since the Treaty of Rome, will have an impact on some of the most contested topics of EU law, touching several central questions of a constitutional nature. This article critically analyses which potential effects and consequences the reform will have. It looks, inter alia, at the aspects of the shifting relation between EU institutions, the distribution of powers between the EU and its Member States, as well as the future of rule‐making and implementation structures such as comitology and agencies.
TL;DR: A requirements management framework is proposed that enables executives, business managers, software developers and auditors to distribute legal obligations across business units and/or personnel with different roles and technical capabilities and improves accountability by integrating traceability throughout the policy and requirements lifecycle.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors develop a formal model to investigate why Congress would choose to delegate authority to an agency whose actions can be controlled, ex post, by a President with divergent policy preferences.
Abstract: I develop a formal model to investigate why Congress would choose to delegate authority to an agency whose actions can be controlled, ex post, by a President with divergent policy preferences. Because the President and the Congress might find different policies to be salient to their constituencies, I demonstrate that executive review of agency rulemaking can benefit both branches of government, relative to legislative delegation without the possibility of such review. In trying to undermine the impacts of executive oversight, agencies propose policies that could benefit Congress if the President chose not to intervene in agency policymaking. If the President does intervene, it will establish policy outcomes that can be more desirable than what would ensue absent such review. This joint-desirability of executive review is more likely when congressional and presidential policy preferences are relatively aligned and when congressional and agency policy preferences are relatively divergent. Executive review ...
TL;DR: In this paper, the role of ministers in making appointments to quasi-autonomous agencies, boards, and commissions in the United Kingdom is investigated and a pattern of shrinking reach and diluted permeation in relation to ministerial appointment powers is found.
Abstract: Delegation is a central concept in the study of governance and public policy. The modern state could not function without delegation because it provides a structural and esoteric capacity beyond the cognitive and physical limits of politicians. This article focuses on the role of ministers in making appointments to quasi-autonomous agencies, boards, and commissions in the United Kingdom. Research undertaken within the Cabinet Office reveals a pattern of shrinking reach and diluted permeation in relation to ministerial appointment powers. This finding is significant because the existing body of research in this field is generally associated with exposing clientelistic relationships between political parties and quangos, and patronage is frequently regarded as a resource through which political parties can “politicize” or “colonize” the state. This article therefore contributes a case study that exhibits countervailing tendencies and a quite different pattern of statecraft that raises broader questions about the evolution of state projects.
TL;DR: The model hypothesized that the IT professional's career orientation, perceived IT dynamism, tolerance of ambiguity, delegation, and that this positively affected both intrinsic and extrinsic job satisfaction affected renewal effectiveness.
TL;DR: It is argued that software agents can be attributed cognitive states, since their behaviour can be best understood by adopting the intentional stance, and the implications in different areas of the law are discussed, in particular with regard to contracts, torts, and personality.
Abstract: I shall argue that software agents can be attributed cognitive states, since their behaviour can be best understood by adopting the intentional stance. These cognitive states are legally relevant when agents are delegated by their users to engage, without users' review, in choices based on their the agents' own knowledge. Consequently. both with regard to torts and to contracts, legal rules designed for humans can also be applied to software agents, even though the latter do not have rights and duties of their own. The implications of this approach in different areas of the law are then discussed, in particular with regard to contracts, torts, and personality.
Patent•
16 Jan 2009TL;DR: In this paper, the authors describe a technology in which a non-administrator computer/web user is allowed to perform an administrative-level task within a certain context and/or scope.
Abstract: Described is a technology in which a non-administrator computer/web user is allowed to perform an administrative-level task within a certain context and/or scope. An authorization store is queried based on information (e.g., a provider, a username, and a path) provided with an authorization request, e.g., from an application via an API. The information in the authorization store, set up by an administrator, determines the administrative action is allowed. If so, a credential store provides credentials that allow the action to be runs before reverting the user to the prior set of credentials. Also described is a pluggable provider model through which the authorization store and/or delegation store are accessed, whereby the data maintained therein can be any format and/or at any location known to the associated provider.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors consider how the horizontal relationship between public and private actors, with the overall aim of delivering public service, is squared with the requirement of democratic accountability according to the traditional model of command and control.
Abstract: The question asked here is how the horizontal relationship between public and private actors, with the overall aim of delivering public service, is squared with the requirement of democratic accountability according to the traditional model of command and control. Empirical analysis of the European satellite navigation program (Galileo), the European Investment Bank and health, and the European Financial market (the Lamfalussy model) shows that efficiency is at the forefront of the collaborations. Democratic accountability is assumed to take place because there is a formal chain of delegation. However, the private actors are not part of that chain and their accountability is never addressed. The market turn in European Union governance has opened up for private authority and emphasis of output legitimacy. It has not opened up for democratic reforms according to the very authority system of governance. We are dealing with a governance turn and yet it is still government.
01 Jan 2009
TL;DR: The application of cloud computing in higher education is explored and some of its aspired benefits as well as its expected limitations are touched upon.
Abstract: Interest in cloud computing has witnessed a significant surge in the past few years. The basic tenet of this concept entails the reduction of in-house data centers and the delegation of a portion or all of the Information Technology infrastructure capability to a third party. This holds the promise of driving down cost while fostering innovation and promoting agility. Three typical kinds of cloud services are: Processing Clouds that provide scalable and mostly affordable computing resources that run enterprise programs, Storage Clouds that offer an alternative to local file systems, and Application Clouds that allow a thin client to interact with services that are completely hosted on an external infrastructure. Institutions of higher education, such as universities and colleges, are the core of innovation through their advanced research and development. Unfortunately, some of the limitations that confront such institutions are not the lack of ideas but rather repeated budget cuts, limited on-campus computing resources, lack of a unified storage media, and application silos that are scattered around campus computers. Subsequently, universities may benefit greatly by harnessing the power of cloud computing, including cost cutting as well as all the above types of cloud services. However, before full adoption, universities must consider key issues, which include, among others, migration tradeoffs and security. This paper explores the application of cloud computing in higher education and touches upon some of its aspired benefits as well as its expected limitations.
05 Apr 2009
TL;DR: A novel approach or architecture for fraud- resistant and privacy-friendly Electronic Traffic Pricing (ETP) that can satisfy the seemingly incompatible requirements of a privacy- friendly and so-called "thin" solution and reduce user responsibility and/or user involvement to an absolute minimum.
Abstract: This paper introduces a novel approach or architecture for fraud- resistant and privacy-friendly Electronic Traffic Pricing (ETP). One salient contribution is that it can satisfy the seemingly incompatible requirements of a privacy-friendly and so-called "thin" solution.
The proposed approach relies on regularly sending to the traffic Pricing Authority (PA) only hashes of travelled trajectories and hashes of the corresponding fees due. This makes it possible to achieve that users keep almost all data on the trajectories they travel and on the amounts they should pay completely hidden from the PA, without having to rely for their privacy protection on a so-called Trusted Third Party (TTP). Only a very small percentage of all these privacy-sensitive data requires that the pre-image trajectories and pre-image fees are revealed to the PA for spot-checking purposes (to detect cheating).
The calculations of the amounts due for trajectories travelled can be done--at desire--inside or outside the vehicle. Thus, seamless integration of "thin" and "thick" in one ETP system with one and the same spot-checking approach is made possible and easy. The calculations can be performed in a privacy-friendly way, since they do not require any vehicle or On-Board Equipment (OBE) identification.
The proposal can, for example, be used as a declaration-based approach much in line with current tax declaration traditions in which the individual citizen is personally responsible. However, the proposal allows for much individual variation (including delegation) and many additional (commercial) services. For example, it is also possible to reduce user responsibility and/or user involvement to an absolute minimum.