Showing papers on "Government published in 2009"

The Financial Crisis and the Policy Responses: An Empirical Analysis of What Went Wrong

Abstract: This paper is an empirical investigation of the role of government actions and interventions in the financial crisis that flared up in August 2007. It integrates and summarizes several ongoing empirical research projects with the aim of learning from past policy. The evidence is presented in a series of charts which are backed up by statistical analysis in these research projects.

Bike-sharing: History, Impacts, Models of Provision, and Future

Abstract: This paper discusses the history, impacts, models of provision, and future of bike-sharing, or public bicycle programs. The author covers the history of bike-sharing from the early 1st generation program to present day 3rd generation programs, presenting a detailed examination of models of provision, with benefits and detriments of each, and a description of capital and operating costs. In the government model, the locality operates the bike-sharing program must as it would any other transit service. The university model has the educational institution providing the service, most likely in a campus setting. The non-profit model has an organization that was either expressly created for the operation of the bike-sharing service or one that folds the bike-sharing service into its existing interests. With the advertising company model, companies offer a bike-sharing program to a jurisdiction, usually in exchange for the right to use public space to display revenue-generating advertisements. And in the for-profit model, a private company provides the service with limited or no government involvements. The author maintains that there is no one ideal model that is appropriate for all situations. The third-generation of bike-sharing brought the use of smartcards, mobile phones, and kiosks with screens; the fourth generation will be distinguished by improved efficiency, sustainability, and usability. This will be achieved by improving distribution of bikes, installation, powering of stations, tracking, offering pedal assistance bikes, and new business models. The author discusses each of these improvements and concludes that the era of bike-sharing has just begun.

Cities, Europeanization and Multi‐level Governance: Governing Climate Change through Transnational Municipal Networks*

Abstract: This article focuses on a variant of multi-level governance and Europeanization, ie the transnational networking of local authorities Focusing on local climate change policy, the article examines how transnational municipal networks (TMNs) govern in the context of multi-level European governance We find that TMNs are networks of pioneers for pioneers

The Financial Crisis and the Policy Responses: An Empirical Analysis of What Went Wrong

Abstract: This paper is an empirical investigation of the role of government actions and interventions in the financial crisis that flared up in August 2007. It integrates and summarizes several ongoing empirical research projects with the aim of learning from past policy. The evidence is presented in a series of charts which are backed up by statistical analysis in these research projects.

Boulevard of Broken Dreams: Why Public Efforts to Boost Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital Have Failed--And What to Do about It

Abstract: Silicon Valley, Singapore, Tel Aviv--the global hubs of entrepreneurial activity--all bear the marks of government investment. Yet, for every public intervention that spurs entrepreneurial activity, there are many failed efforts that waste untold billions in taxpayer dollars. When has governmental sponsorship succeeded in boosting growth, and when has it fallen terribly short? Should the government be involved in such undertakings at all? Boulevard of Broken Dreams is the first extensive look at the ways governments have supported entrepreneurs and venture capitalists across decades and continents. Josh Lerner, one of the foremost experts in the field, provides valuable insights into why some public initiatives work while others are hobbled by pitfalls, and he offers suggestions for how public ventures should be implemented in the future. Discussing the complex history of Silicon Valley and other pioneering centers of venture capital, Lerner uncovers the extent of government influence in prompting growth. He examines the public strategies used to advance new ventures, points to the challenges of these endeavors, and reveals the common flaws undermining far too many programs--poor design, a lack of understanding for the entrepreneurial process, and implementation problems. Lerner explains why governments cannot dictate how venture markets evolve, and why they must balance their positions as catalysts with an awareness of their limited ability to stimulate the entrepreneurial sector. As governments worldwide seek to spur economic growth in ever more aggressive ways, Boulevard of Broken Dreams offers an important caution. The book argues for a careful approach to government support of entrepreneurial activities, so that the mistakes of earlier efforts are not repeated.

Wiki Government: How Technology Can Make Government Better, Democracy Stronger, and Citizens More Powerful

Abstract: Collaborative democracy -government with the people -is a new vision of governance in the digital age. Wiki Government explains how to translate the vision into reality. Beth Simone Noveck draws on her experience in creating Peer-to-Patent, the federal government's first social networking initiative, to show how technology can connect the expertise of the many to the power of the few. In the process, she reveals what it takes to innovate in government. Launched in 2007, Peer-to-Patent connects patent examiners to volunteer scientists and technologists via the web. These dedicated but overtaxed officials decide which of the million-plus patent applications currently in the pipeline to approve. Their decisions help determine which start-up pioneers a new industry and which disappears without a trace. Patent examiners have traditionally worked in secret, cut off from essential information and racing against the clock to rule on lengthy, technical claims. Peer-to-Patent broke this mold by creating online networks of self-selecting citizen experts and channeling their knowledge and enthusiasm into forms that patent examiners can easily use. Peer-to-Patent shows how policymakers can improve decisionmaking by harnessing networks to public institutions. By encouraging, coordinating, and structuring citizen participation, technology can make government both more open and more effective at solving today's complex social and economic problems. Wiki Government describes how this model can be applied in a wide variety of settings and offers a fundamental rethinking of effective governance and democratic legitimacy for the twenty-first century.

Conceptualizing Legitimacy, Measuring Legitimating Beliefs:

Abstract: Legitimacy is a concept meant to capture the beliefs that bolster willing obedience. The authors model legitimacy as a sense of obligation or willingness to obey authorities (value-based legitimacy) that then translates into actual compliance with governmental regulations and laws (behavioral legitimacy). The focus is on the factors that elicit this sense of obligation and willingness to comply in a way that supports rational-legal authority. The framework posits that legitimacy has two antecedent conditions: trustworthiness of government and procedural justice. Using African survey data, the authors model the relationship between the existence of a relatively effective, fair, and trustworthy government and beliefs that government deserves deference to its rules. The authors find considerable evidence of a link between the extent of the trustworthiness of government and procedural justice and citizens’ willingness to defer to the police, courts, and tax department in a wide range of African societies.

The Other Invisible Hand: Delivering Public Services through Choice and Competition

Abstract: How can we ensure high-quality public services such as health care and education? Governments spend huge amounts of public money on public services such as health, education, and social care, and yet the services that are actually delivered are often low quality, inefficiently run, unresponsive to their users, and inequitable in their distribution. In this book, Julian Le Grand argues that the best solution is to offer choice to users and to encourage competition among providers. Le Grand has just completed a period as policy advisor working within the British government at the highest levels, and from this he has gained evidence to support his earlier theoretical work and has experienced the political reality of putting public policy theory into practice. He examines four ways of delivering public services: trust; targets and performance management; "voice"; and choice and competition. He argues that, although all of these have their merits, in most situations policies that rely on extending choice and competition among providers have the most potential for delivering high-quality, efficient, responsive, and equitable services. But it is important that the relevant policies be appropriately designed, and this book provides a detailed discussion of the principal features that these policies should have in the context of health care and education. It concludes with a discussion of the politics of choice.

Sociology of Sex Work

Abstract: This review examines key dimensions of contemporary sex work, particularly prostitution. Most research focuses exclusively on street prostitution and female workers, with much less attention devoted to indoor prostitution, male and transgender workers, customers, and managers. Furthermore, most of the literature examines prostitution where it is illegal, neglecting contexts where it is legal and regulated by the government. The review demonstrates how research on these topics can enrich our understanding of contemporary sex work.

Degrees of Democracy: Politics, Public Opinion, and Policy

Abstract: This book develops and tests a 'thermostatic' model of public opinion and policy. The representation of opinion in policy is central to democratic theory and everyday politics. So too is the extent to which public preferences are informed and responsive to changes in policy. The coexistence of both 'public responsiveness' and 'policy representation' is thus a defining characteristic of successful democratic governance, and the subject of this book. The authors examine both responsiveness and representation across a range of policy domains in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada. The story that emerges is one in which representative democratic government functions surprisingly well, though there are important differences in the details. Variations in public responsiveness and policy representation responsiveness are found to reflect the 'salience' of the different domains and governing institutions - specifically, presidentialism (versus parliamentarism) and federalism (versus unitary government).

Behavioral and policy issues in information systems security: the insider threat

Abstract: Modern global economic and political conditions, technological infrastructure, and socio-cultural developments all contribute to an increasingly turbulent and dynamic environment for organizations, which maintain information systems (IS) for use in business, government, and other domains. As our institutions (economic, political, military, legal, social) become increasingly global and inter-connected; as we rely more on automated control systems to provide us with energy and services; and as we establish internet-based mechanisms for coordinating this global interaction, we introduce greater vulnerability to our systems and processes. This increased dependence on cyberspace also inflates our vulnerability – isolation is no longer an option. Perhaps no aspect of this phenomenon is as alarming and challenging as the need to understand and address the various risks to the security of the IS on which we depend.

Back to the Future? Performance‐Related Pay, Empirical Research, and the Perils of Persistence

Abstract: One of the most persistent initiatives launched by elected officials at all levels of government over the past three decades in the United States has involved pay-for-performance reward systems for government employees. But have pay-for-performance systems lived up to the promise that proponents have held out for them? Have the basic theories underlying them proven valid? What lessons can be drawn from prior experiences with pay-for-performance systems? James Perry, Trent A. Engbers, and So Yun Jun of Indiana University launch this installment's exchange among leading scholars and practitioners by drawing lessons from their meta-analysis of research assessing pay-for-performance systems in the United States from 1977 to 2008.

Implementing transition management as policy reforms: a case study of the Dutch energy sector

Abstract: Proposals to alter large-scale socio-technical systems through government actions in order to promote goals such as sustainability are highly uncertain policy projects. What is being proposed is the replacement of specific elements of existing policy ‘mixes’—the goals and means—by others, in the expectation of avoiding counterproductive or sub-optimal policy outcomes. While laudable, such efforts are fraught with risks; including the possibility of the creation of sub-optimal policy mixes or of failed reform efforts with resulting poor outcomes. This article develops a model and typology of policy regime change processes and outcomes following Thelen and others in arguing that complex policy mixes typically emerge through one or more of four processes, ‘drift’, ‘conversion’, ‘layering’ and ‘replacement’, and that the expected outcomes of these different processes in terms of their ability to meet initial expectations are linked to the manner in which policy goals and means are (or are not) combined in a consistent, coherent and congruent fashion. This propensity is illustrated through examination of the case of energy transition management as practiced in the Netherlands.

The rise of the Global Reporting Initiative: a case of institutional entrepreneurship

Abstract: Since its conception in 1999, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) has become a leading template for voluntary sustainability reporting by companies. Emerging on the crest of the debate about corporate social responsibility, appropriate roles for business, government, and civil society in the sustainability transition, and private forms of global governance, it is also a descendant of 1970s social movements. Drawing on extensive empirical data collected through interviews and documentary analysis in four countries, the institutional entrepreneurship framework is used to analyse three types of tactics deployed by GRI champions: discursive, material and charismatic. Central to GRI entrepreneurs' success was maintaining balance between the individual and collective interests of their diverse constituencies, between inclusiveness and efficient pursuit of technical objectives, and between building a new institution and not challenging existing institutions and power relations. This strategy, though perhaps ap...

A Political Economy of Aid

Abstract: We model how the size of a leader's support coalition and government rev- enues aect trades between policy concessions and aid. We …nd that aid bene…ts donor and recipient leaders, while harming the recipient's, but not the donor's, citizenry. The willingness to grant policy concessions for aid depends on how easily leaders can reimburse supporters for their concession. As coalition size increases, incumbents rely more on public goods to reward supporters, making it di¢ cult to compensate for policy concessions. Small coalition leaders rely more on private goods to retain o¢ ce, making it easier for them to grant policy concessions for aid. Empirical tests of bilateral aid transfers by OECD nations between 1960 and 2001 support the predictions that 1) aid is given by wealthy, large coalition systems; 2) relatively poor, small coalition systems are most likely to get aid; but, 3) conditional on receiving aid,the amount increases as the recipient's coalition size, wealth and policy salience increase. Evidence sug- gests that OECD members have little humanitarian motivation for aid giving.

From "Need to Know" to "Need to Share": Tangled Problems, Information Boundaries, and the Building of Public Sector Knowledge Networks

Abstract: Sharon S. Dawes is a senior fellow at the Center for Technology in Government, professor emerita of public administration and policy, and affi liate faculty member in informatics at the University at Albany, State University of New York. As founding director from 1993 to 2007, she led the Center for Technology in Government to international prominence in applied digital government research. A fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration, she was elected the fi rst president of the Digital Government Society of North America in 2006. She serves on advisory committees for the U.S. National Science Foundation, the National Archives and Records Administration, and the United Nations University. Her main re- search interests are government information strategy and management, international research collaboration, and cross-boundary information sharing and integration.

Cities, Climate Change and Multilevel Governance

Abstract: Cities represent a challenge and an opportunity for climate change policy. As the hubs of economic activity, cities generate the bulk of GHG emissions and are thus important to mitigation strategies. Urban planning will shape future trends and the concentration of population, socio-economic activity, poverty and infrastructure in urban areas translates into particular vulnerability to increased climate hazards. City governments and urban stakeholders will therefore be essential in the design and delivery of cost-effective adaptation policies. Further, by empowering local governments, national policies could leverage existing local experiments, accelerate policy responses, foster resource mobilization and engage local stakeholders. This paper presents a framework for multilevel governance, showing that advancing governance of climate change across all levels of government and relevant stakeholders is crucial to avoid policy gaps between local action plans and national policy frameworks (vertical integration) and to encourage cross-scale learning between relevant departments or institutions in local and regional governments (horizontal dimension). Vertical and horizontal integration allows two-way benefits: locally-led or bottom-up where local initiatives influence national action and nationally-led or top-down where enabling frameworks empower local players. The most promising frameworks combine the two into hybrid models of policy dialogue where the lessons learnt are used to modify and fine-tune enabling frameworks and disseminated horizontally, achieving more efficient local implementation of climate strategies.

Rethinking Governance: The Centrality of the State in Modern Society

Abstract: Several problems plague contemporary thinking about governance. From the multiple definitions that are often vague and confusing, to the assumption that governance strategies, networks and markets represent attempts by weakening states to maintain control. Rethinking Governance questions this view and seeks to clarify how we understand governance. Arguing that it is best understood as 'the strategies used by governments to help govern', the authors counter the view that governments have been decentred. They show that far from receding, states are in fact enhancing their capacity to govern by developing closer ties with non-government sectors. Identifying five 'modes' of government (governance through hierarchy, persuasion, markets and contracts, community engagement, and network associations), Stephen Bell and Andrew Hindmoor use practical examples to explore the strengths and limitations of each. In so doing, they demonstrate how modern states are using a mixture of governance modes to address specific policy problems. This book demonstrates why the argument that states are being 'hollowed out' is overblown.

Facing up to the challenge: why is it so hard to develop graduate attributes?

Abstract: Debate continues regarding the nature and desirability of graduate attributes, driven partly by stakeholder expectations that universities will prepare employees for the knowledge economy and partly by higher education academics and learning specialists. While universities appear to have accepted their new vocational role, there is considerable confusion over how these things – graduate skills, attributes or capabilities – should be defined and implemented. Conceptual confusion combined with a range of external pressures and internal management issues have the potential to derail this important project. To date, stakeholders such as government and business, as well as universities have seriously underestimated the kind of cultural, institutional and policy changes required to implement the graduate skills agenda. This paper outlines the issues that will need to be addressed by the higher education sector if universities are to play a proactive rather than reactive role in shaping this agenda.

Quality of Government: What You Get

Abstract: In development policy, international organizations have shifted their focus to the importance of good governance and sound institutions. The theory behind this is that only with a high quality of government (QoG) can a country reap the benefits of economic growth and social development. We review the research behind this policy shift and offer a first benchmark statistical analysis. The first section contains a review of the conceptual discussion of what QoG means. Second, we present four salient approaches pertaining to the outcomes of QoG: the debates concerning QoG and democracy, economic growth, corruption, and the rule of law. The third section uses insights gained from these debates to focus on the policy outcomes of QoG—its effects on social well-being, public health, and environmental sustainability. We conclude by discussing possible pitfalls in future research on QoG and development.

Opportunities and challenges for renewable energy policy in China

Abstract: Renewable energy is the inevitable choice for sustainable economic growth, for the harmonious coexistence of human and environment as well as for the sustainable development. Government support is the key and initial power for developing renewable energy. In this article, an overall review has been conducted on renewable energy development policy (including laws and regulations, economic encouragement. technical research and development, industrialized support and government model projects, etc.) in China. On this basis, a systematic analysis has been conducted on the disadvantages of renewable energy development policy. On the point of long-term effective system for renewable energy development, a series of policy advice has been offered, such as strengthening the policy coordination, enhancing regional policy innovation, echoing with clean development mechanism, implementing process management, constructing market investment and financing system. It is expected that the above advices could be helpful to ever-improvement of renewable energy development policy. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Colonialism and State Dependency

Abstract: This paper conceptualizes colonialism from an indigenous perspective and analyses the effects of colonization on First Nations, with particular focus on explaining the fundamental roots of the psychophysical crises and dependency of First Nations upon the state. Central to its analysis is the effect of colonially-generated cultural disruptions that compound the effects of dispossession to create near total psychological, physical and financial dependency on the state. The paper argues that it is the cumulative and ongoing effects of this crisis of dependency that form the context of First Nations existences today. Social suffering, unresolved psychophysical harms of historical trauma and cultural dislocation are identified as the main sources of a crisis in which First Nations’ opportunities for self-sufficient, healthy and autonomous lives on individual and collective levels are extremely limited because Indigenous people have developed complexes of behaviour and mental attitudes that reflect their colonial situation. Through a review and consideration of the scholarly literature, it identifies a direct relationship between government laws and policies applied to Indigenous peoples and the myriad mental and physical health problems and economic deprivations. The paper concludes with a set of recommendations for developing policy responses to the situation which are oriented towards supporting and facilitating Indigenous people’s reconnection to their homelands, restoration of land-based cultural practices and the rebuilding of indigenous communities.

Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (Gem)-2002 Executive Report

Abstract: The 2002 Executive Report for the GlobalEntrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) estimates that more than 460 million adultsworldwide were engaged in entrepreneurial activity in 2002. This informationwas obtained from a survey of 37 countries that contain more than three-fifthsof the world population and 92 percent of the gross domestic product(GDP).This study aggregates the results of the 37 studies; individualreports for each country are also available. Three investigation methods are used in the series of national GEM studies:an adult population survey; interviews with entrepreneurship experts in eachcountry; and selected national and demographic data.The GEM modelexamines general framework conditions for economic growth and nineentrepreneurial framework conditions – financial support, government policy,government programs, education and training, research and development transfer,commercial and professional infrastructure, market openness, access to physicalinfrastructure and cultural and social norms. According to the findings, 286 million adults were active entrepreneurs in2002.The study provides information about: how the level ofentrepreneurship varies between countries; how the level of entrepreneurialactivity changes over time; why people become entrepreneurs; who theentrepreneurs are; what types of businesses are created; what the relationshipis between entrepreneurship and economic growth; how national experts assessthe entrepreneurial climate in their countries; and the importance of venturecapital and informal finance. Several conclusions and policy implications are drawn. It has been foundthat the national level of entrepreneurial activity reflects the generalmacroeconomic conditions; only 7 percent of startup efforts are likely toexpand the range of goods and services by creating new sectors or marketniches; and high potential new firms comprise a small proportion of startupactivity, being more prevalent in RD andentrepreneur-friendly cultural and social norms, government policies, andeducation and training are major strengths for most GEM countries. Womenparticipate in entrepreneurial activities at about half the rate of men; andinformal financial support for startups is five times that of domestic venturecapital support among the 37 GEM 2002 countries. Most of the businesses in theworld are either owned by a single family group or by an individual with strongfamily connections, and this is also true for startups.(CBS)

Global health funding: how much, where it comes from and where it goes.

Abstract: Global health funding has increased in recent years. This has been accompanied by a proliferation in the number of global health actors and initiatives. This paper describes the state of global heath finance, taking into account government and private sources of finance, and raises and discusses a number of policy issues related to global health governance. A schematic describing the different actors and three global health finance functions is used to organize the data presented, most of which are secondary data from the published literature and annual reports of relevant actors. In two cases, we also refer to currently unpublished primary data that have been collected by authors of this paper. Among the findings are that the volume of official development assistance for health is frequently inflated; and that data on private sources of global health finance are inadequate but indicate a large and important role of private actors. The fragmented, complicated, messy and inadequately tracked state of global health finance requires immediate attention. In particular it is necessary to track and monitor global health finance that is channelled by and through private sources, and to critically examine who benefits from the rise in global health spending.

Cultural Safety Exploring the Applicability of the Concept of Cultural Safety to Aboriginal Health and Community Wellness

Abstract: The goal of the research paper is to explore both the concept of cultural safety and its practical implications for policies and programs designed to improve the health of Aboriginal people and the wellness of Aboriginal communities. The paper demonstrates the concept of cultural safety can shift from a being a tool to deliver health care services to individuals to a new and wider role. The concept of cultural safety can have a significant impact the way policy and services are developed at an institutional level in fields such as health, education, the courts, universities, and governance (both First Nations and other types of government). Four case studies at the end of the research paper show how cultural safety has helped communities at risk and in crisis engage in healing that led to lasting change. The research paper, defines cultural safety and how it differs from cultural competence or trans-cultural training and practices; shows why it’s important to move from the concept of cultural safety to the outcome of cultural safety, namely the success of an interaction; explores the idea of a shift from cultural safety for individuals to cultural safety at institutional and policy levels; and provides recommendations in five areas.

The governance challenges of social enterprises: evidence from a uk empirical study

Abstract: : The social enterprise sector in the UK is going through a period of rapid growth, and is being seen by government as another important vehicle for delivering public services. As a result the issue of public trust in social enterprise is of growing importance. While there is a growing literature on the governance of voluntary and non-profit organizations, with some exceptions (e.g. co-operatives) there has been little research on the governance challenges and support needs of social enterprises. The research reported here aimed to help fill that gap. Based on interviews and focus groups with governance advisers, board members and chief executives it explores the typical governance challenges faced by social enterprises. Based on the research the paper develops a new, empirically-grounded typology of social enterprises based on their origins and development path, and presents findings about some of the governance challenges that are common across the sector and some that are more distinctive to the different types of social enterprise.