THE POSTAL SERVICE IN THE EUROPEAN UNION PUBLIC MONOPOLY OR COMPETITIVE MARKET?: A transaction cost approach

The paper discusses the relevant institutional and economic aspects of the postal service, and analyses both the arguments for abolishing the statutory monopoly and those for retaining it. The main thesis of the paper is that public and private postal services differ from each other in many aspects: transaction costs, the willingness of the customer to pay, market structure, and possibilities of substituting the service with other communication instruments. Therefore, a simple privatisation will not solve per se the efficiency problems of the service. furthermore, the European Commission, which published in 1992 a green paper on postal services, is considering the possibility of harmonising the quality of the service within the EU and gradually reducing the gap in national postal prices. This seems to be an effective device to force firms towards the greater efficiency required in a Continental market. In future, the competition will take place not so much between private firms (more interested in running the high-value segments), as between national public carriers, as shown by the phenomenon of remail.     

Science,innovation, and public services: editorial introduction

ABSTRACT

The quality of public services is critically influenced by innovation and, ultimately, by advances in basic research, which however embeds the feature of a global public good. Two broad issues emerge. The first concerns the evaluation of the socio-economic impact of science. What are the benefits and spillovers that R&D investments, research infrastructures and big science can bring to society? The second concerns which type of institutions and policies are most suitable for supporting R&D activities. These topics discussed in this article represent the core of the special issue “Innovation and Public Services: from the lab to enterprises and citizens”     

论中国政府层级改革与农村行政管理体制新架构

改革开放以来的4次政府机构改革,都是侧重于从横向调整政府的部门设置,但却没有从纵向减少政府的层级设置。而目前我国“地区”一级建制逐渐演变成了实体型政府,其工作重心也转向城市建设与市政管理;过去由议事、决策、行政、司法、财政为一体的县级行政体系被肢解,逐渐形成了“双重衙门体制;”乡镇政府又长期处于责任大、权利小、效率低的被动施政状态;村民自治也一直受到了地方行政权力的制约,且缺乏必要的经费保障,结果是造成乡村社会出现了管理上的“权力真空”。因此,中国下一步应按“撤地、强县、精乡、实村”的整体改革思路,撤消“地区”建制,强化县级政府功能,精简乡镇的政府机构和人员,充实村民自治必要的经费供给,建立和完善适合社会主义市场经济体制和中国国情的地方行政体制和农村公共财政制度,不断提高社会管理和服务水平。     

The Differential Impact of Public and Private Governance Institutions on the Different Modes of Foreign Investment

This paper examines the respective impacts of public and private governance institutions on foreign direct and foreign portfolio investment inflows. We present two hypotheses: (1) there is a strong correlation between the quality of a country’s public governance institutions and the amount of foreign direct investment (FDI) received while the quality of its private governance institutions has no further discernible impact on this correlation; (2) there is a strong correlation between the quality of a country’s public governance institutions and the amount of foreign portfolio investment (FPI) received while the quality of its private governance institutions has a further positive impact on this correlation. Our findings, which are based on panel data analysis, show both hypotheses to be valid.     

Public service and competition in the European Union

In recent years, the Treaty of the European Union and the European institutions have had a rapidly increasing impact on the reorganization of commercial public services within the Member States. The trend has been dual—toward liberalization and toward harmonization of standards and national legislations. Progress is reported and analyzed in telecommunications, rail services, and electricity. A general concern is to reconcile legitimate public service obligations with the rules of competition that are prominent in the Treaty. New forms of regulation are tested in various countries preparing for the emergence of a European regulation framework.     

村民自治、农村税费改革与农村公共投资

促进社会主义新农村建设的核心内容中包括农村民主建设和改善农村公共服务。本文通过对具有全国代表性调查数据的分析，通过研究村主任直接选举和农村税费改革对公共投资的影响后发现，村主任直接选举可以有效促进对农村公共投资的增加，但农村税费改革则在减轻了农民负担的同时对农村公共投资产生短期负面影响。研究建议上级政府应该进一步加大对农村的公共投资力度，同时进一步加强和完善农村村民自治和民主管理。     

Higher Education in the United States: Laissez-Faire,Differentiation, and Research

The U.S. higher education system stands out in three dimensions. First, it has the highest number of leading research universities. Second, it displays significant differentiation: multiple types of institutions offer services that differ in cost, prestige, etc. Third, it has a laissez-faire/free-market orientation: private and public entities are free to open schools and compete; essentially all schools enjoy substantial autonomy. This paper makes the case that these features are systematically related. The development of the American higher education market—which allowed market forces to operate and lacked centralized planning—contributed to the emergence of differentiation and a set of leading research universities.     

科技企业孵化器知识产权服务升级影响因素及优化建议

知识产权服务升级对孵化器服务总效能提升具有重要影响,但当前关于孵化器知识产权服务升级影响因素的研究还较为匮乏。从新创企业和孵化器两个维度,解构孵化器知识产权服务升级的影响因素,并运用logistic模型进行分析。结果表明,企业维的人力质量、产权意识、企业家精神、创新潜能,以及孵化器维的规划设计、信息挖掘、〖JP〗网络支持、服务平台、政策支持等对孵化器知识产权服务升级影响显著。     

EVALUATING GAINS FROM MERGERS IN A NON-PARAMETRIC PUBLIC GOOD MODEL OF POLICE SERVICES

ABSTRACT ** :  The merger of police services in the UK has been suggested on the grounds that efficiency improvements will be possible. This paper applies a public good model of the police service to evaluate the potential efficiency gains from mergers of police services in England and Wales. It uses a non-parametric method suggested by Bogetoft and Wang (2005) . We construct a dataset that reflects the public good nature of police service and allows for the exogenous imposition by government on the level of police service budgets. Our main finding is that English and Welsh police service mergers could lead to increases in police staff resource efficiencies between 10 per cent and 70 per cent. Hence, we confirm the government's decision to merge English and Welsh police services.     

IS MARKET‐ORIENTED REFORM PRODUCING A ‘TWO‐TRACK’ EUROPE? EVIDENCE FROM ELECTRICITY AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS

ABSTRACT: The European Commission has formally recognized that adequate provision of basic household services, including energy, communications, water and transport, is key to ensuring equity, social cohesion and solidarity. Yet little research has been done on the impact of the reform of these services in this regard. This article offers an innovative way to explore such questions by analyzing and contrasting stated and revealed preferences on citizen satisfaction with and expenditure on two services, telecommunications and electricity, in two large countries, Spain and the UK. We find evidence that in telecommunications, but not in electricity, reform has led to a ‘two‐track’ Europe, where citizens who are elderly, not working or the less‐educated behave differently in the market, with the result that they are less satisfied with these services than their younger, working, better‐educated, counterparts.     

分税制改革、地方财政自主权与公共品供给

本文发现20世纪90年代中期以来中国地方公共品供给水平有下降趋势,同时发现较高的公共品供给水平总是和较高的地方财政自主权联系在一起.本文应用分省面板数据,特别利用了1994年分税制改革导致的地方财政自主权的跨时和跨区变化,为上述假设提供了实证证据.本文认为中国在财政分权化过程中面临的一系列既有制度设置可以作为上述因果关系的解释机制.一系列测量偏误和模型选择的检验显示本文的实证结论是稳健的.基于中国的研究支持了那些认为财政分权而不是集权将改善地方公共品供给水平的观点.     

Economic Reform and Corruption: Evidence from Panel Data

The notion that economic reform can reduce corruption remains prevalent in the policy agenda of international financial institutions, especially of the World Bank. Economic reforms have, therefore, been carried out throughout various parts of the world to improve the performance of the economies. Using data from 94 low‐ and middle‐income nations for the period 1996–2015, this study employs static and dynamic panel analysis to examine whether economic reform undertaken in accordance with the World Bank's reform programs negatively affects corruption. Our findings suggest that enhancing government effectiveness (i.e. independence of civil service from political pressure, provision of quality public services, effective policy formulation and the government's commitment to such policies) and improving public rights and civil liberties could be some of the most promising policies in terms of fighting corruption. The role of economic development and growth in real per capita income is also found to be significant in some of the specifications. However, the assertion that economic reform can reduce corruption is rejected in all the specifications. We rather find evidence that economic reforms negatively affect the ability of democracy to fight corruption, although on a slim margin. The central theme of the implications of our findings is that in combating corruption, social, institutional and legal means are far more important than economic means. The finding thus is compatible with the World Bank's effort in the later years to introduce governance and democracy as effective tool against corruption.     

事业单位会计改革问题研究

我国财政预算管理制度改革、西方国家非营利组织会计的影响和现行事业单位会计准则制度本身存在的缺陷是事业单位会计改革的主要原因。笔者论述了我国事业单位会计改革的主要问题:将事业单位会计改变为政府与非营利组织会计体系中的国有非营利组织会计、单独制定国有非营利组织会计准则、增加国库集中收付和政府集中采购经济业务会计核算的规定、将现行的净资产会计要素分为基金和结余两个会计要素等。     

居民对中、外资金融机构的比较评价研究——来自中国九个城市的证据

Between domestic financial institutions and foreign or joint venture ones in China, which ones do Chinese people give better assessment to? And what factors affect those comparative assessments? With a household survey in nine cities in China in 2006, we find that China’s domestic financial institutions are considered better than foreign or joint venture ones in terms of financial products, communication with investors, security and prudence, operation standardization and service attitudes. When taken into account the endogeneity of people’s trust on government regulation agencies, empirical results show that people’s more attention to returns or the more trust on government regulation agencies leads to their better assessments on domestic financial institutions than foreign or joint venture ones. The policy implications are: Chinese governments have to take measures to improve residents’ trust in governmental regulation and create a fair competition environment for domestic and foreign financial institutions in China. Domestic and foreign financial institutions make efforts to develop a higher rate-of-return and attractive financial products to service more customers.     

Do microfinance institutions benefit from integrating financial and nonfinancial services?

This article examines the impact of microfinance ‘plus’ (i.e. coordinated combination of financial and nonfinancial services) on the performance of microfinance institutions (MFIs). Using a global data set of MFIs in 77 countries, we find that the provision of nonfinancial services does not harm nor improve MFIs’ financial sustainability and efficiency. The results however suggest that the provision of social services is associated with improved loan quality and greater depth of outreach.     

中国:深化事业单位改革,改善公共服务提供

改善事业单位的绩效,对于提高公共服务的质量,适应中国所确定的建设小康社会的目标,落实“以人为本”的发展观,具有非常关键的意义。虽然过去以“推向市场”为目标的改革取得了很大成就,但同时也在公共服务领域引入了一些不合意的激励机制。为了改善公共服务,中国需要进行全面、协调的事业单位改革,其中包括重新界定政府的角色和从商业性活动中退出,改革公共财政以便更好地为公共服务付费,允许非国有部门提供更多的公共产品,加强公共部门内部的问责机制,建立绩效管理和监督体制。由于事业单位的复杂性和多样化特征,改革的设计与实施必须充分考虑不同部门和不同地区的具体环境以及对员工的影响。因此,有必要在中央层面建立一个跨部门的改革领导小组对事业单位改革进行指导和监督。     

Tuition increases Geaux away? Evidence from voting on Louisiana’s amendment 2

In many states, public institutions of higher education have the autonomy to raise tuition. This has not been the case in Louisiana since a 1995 constitutional amendment required a two-thirds majority of the state legislature for any tuition increase. In November of 2016, voters in Louisiana rejected Amendment 2, a constitutional amendment that would have given state institutions of higher education autonomy in setting tuition. We examine parish-level voting on Amendment 2 using an empirical political economy model and find that parishes with a greater percentage of African-Americans and university employees were more likely to vote yes. Student enrolment at public institutions seemingly did not play a role in Amendment 2 losing.     

新型城镇化与基本公共服务均等化的政策协同效应研究

以人口城镇化为核心的新型城镇化对城市基本公共服务体系产生多重冲击与挑战,其中最根本的问题是新型城镇化与基本公共服务均等化两种政策不尽协同。通过构建新型城镇化与基本公共服务均等化的政策协同效应,将碎片化的产业政策、土地与住房政策、人口政策、就业政策、公共财税政策、收入分配政策与社会融合政策整合为在某种程度上可以＂自组织＂的协同体系,可以达到社会稳定和城乡社会结构调整等诸多协同效应理想状态。应从源头机制、保障机制和政策协同主体的整合机制等方面完善新型城镇化与基本公共服务均等化。     

我国基本公共服务空间差异格局与质量特征分析

顺利推进基本公共服务均等化是我国和谐社会发展面临的一项重要问题。在探讨基本公共服务内涵的基础上,以教育服务、文化服务、卫生服务、信息化服务、生态环境服务、基础设施服务、社会保障服务7个一级指标,29个二级指标构建了我国市级基本公共服务质量水平测度指标体系,用熵值法对我国286个地级以上城市(除拉萨)进行系统分析。结果表明:城市之间基本公共服务差距明显,基本公共服务质量总体不高,空间差异明显,呈现从东部沿海到中、西部逐步降低的特点;基本公共服务质量较高的城市呈"群"状分布,与城市群有较好的拟合;基本公共服务水平与城市经济发展水平呈正相关,与城市规模存在对应关系;公共服务水平各单项水平不均衡等。