Multi-Level Networked Governance—Reflections from the Better Government for Older People Programme

The concept of joined up government has been interpreted mainly in terms of the need for horizontal integration between services which traditionally have been delivered through stand-alone departments, specialist professions, and 'silo' organizational structures. Two parallel concepts within the Government's modernization programme, namely 'citizen-centred governance' and 'community leadership', imply the need also for vertical integration between different levels of governance. This article explores multi-level governance in terms of the complex inter-relationships between UK central government, local government, and civil society, drawing on an evaluation of the Cabinet Office-led programme of Better Government for Older People (BGOP). New structures, on their own, are inadequate without the necessary changes in the inter-connections and inter-relationships. A number of suggestions are made on how the Government might bring about the type of cultural changes required to make multi-level networked governance a reality.     

政府补贴和国有参股对参与PPP企业外部融资的影响

政府补贴和国有资本参股是政府参与PPP(政府和社会资本合作)的两种主要方式。本文借助一个资本具有外部性的一般均衡模型来分析这两种方式对企业外部融资的影响机制,并进行经验验证。理论分析发现,国有参股的担保效应增加了项目公司对高杠杆的需求,提升了金融中介发放贷款的意愿,使金融中介接受更低的借款利率。政府补贴不影响项目公司与金融中介之间的借贷合约。项目公司外部融资所受影响会进一步传导至参与PPP的企业。因此,国有参股增加稳态时的企业杠杆率,降低借款利率;政府补贴则不影响杠杆率和利率。实证部分通过整合2014-2018年财政部PPP项目库数据和2010-2018年上市公司财务数据,借助PSM-DID分析发现,国有参股程度显著降低参与PPP项目的上市公司的借贷成本并提升其杠杆率,但政府补贴支出没有明显作用,印证了模型结论。此外,市场化程度更高的地区,国有参股程度对参与企业外部融资的影响程度更小。本文研究对PPP模式下如何减少政府债务风险以及控制债务风险向企业转移具有一定的参考意义。     

论政府在融投资功能中的角色定位

当前的全球金融危机证明政府应该在市场经济的发展中发挥积极作用。融投资机制是经济发展中的造血系统,政府在融投资功能的有效发挥起着至关重要的作用。在长株潭经济一体化过程中,如何定位政府角色,如何协调三市政府的行为,以推进经济一体化进程,值得再思考和深入研究。     

Financial Reporting BY Local Government And The Disproportionate Requirements Of AAS 27

This paper discusses the economic characteristics, and related financial reporting issues, of goods and services provided by local government. These goods are grouped into three categories: public, private, and mixed public/private goods and services. Modified cash-based reports are found to be proper for government units that provide public and mixed goods, and accrual-based accounting is appropriate for units that provide private goods. When the provision of mixed goods and services by local government is not mandatory, the disclosure of the market value of the assets employed in producing these goods or services is also warranted.     

With a Little Help From My Friends: Managing Public Participation in Local Government

As the system of Best Value develops and matures, this article argues that there is a need within the literature for more research into the micro-management processes of public participation within local government. The article presents the findings of a study into the management of 'friends' groups as a form of public participation in a Best Value pilot council for parks and grounds maintenance situated in northern England. The conclusion is that this form of innovative community involvement is unlikely to be successful without substantial two-way commitment on the part of both the local council and the community, and unless parks officers are able to manage groups of this kind through their clearly demarcated developmental stages.     

Co‐owned Local Government Organisations: Conditions for Strategy Development

Local governments tend to join resources and create co‐owned organisations to solve the supply of public services. From a strategic perspective on local government cooperation, this paper analyses the conditions for strategy development in a co‐owned municipal organisation. The empirical data stem from a longitudinal case study of a Swedish provider of water and sewerage services. We show that difficulties in formulating and agreeing upon strategies are not dependent on the structural form. Instead, there is an intrinsic dilemma when municipalities are to create a joint strategy at the same time as each municipality is sovereign to decide on all local matters.     

Competitive Tendering and Best Value in Local Government

The Government has introduced legislation to replace compulsory competitive tendering (CCT) with a new regime of Best Value (BV) in local government. Although CCT is to be abolished, competitive tendering is retained as part of the BV framework. The specific role of competitive tendering in BV has not been identified—what are the circumstances that determine whether councils should provide services themselves or seek external suppliers? The authors develop a theoretical framework that may help central and local policy-makers to answer this question. The framework emphasises the joint importance of organizational performance and contracting costs. Practical issues that arise in the application of the framework are also identified.     

‘Carry on up the east coast’— a case study in railway franchising

Welsh policy-makers have rejected customer-driven market approaches to the delivery of public services. Instead they espouse a model of delivery rooted in collaboration and citizen engagement. Empirical evidence from two recent wide-ranging reviews of public services in Wales suggests that this approach could offer a viable alternative to user choice and competition but, for it to be fully effective, central and local government need to embrace other drivers of improvement.     

Trust-Based Relationships in Local Government Contracting

This article examines issues of trust and competition as they relate to a number of services provided by British local government. The first section outlines the changing policy context of competition for local authority services and is followed by a discussion of the nature of trust under contracting, drawing on elements of (primarily) economic theory to identify the features of contracting which we would expect to find in a 'low trust world'. The authors ask whether these features appear to be present in contracting and point to some features of the CCT legislative framework which may help to explain this. After reviewing private sector practice, the extent to which it could be replicated under CCT is examined.     

Environmental scenarios and local-global level of community engagement: Environmental justice, jams, institutions and innovation

National climate change policy currently operates on a continuum from the local community to the supra-national level. These initiatives include local deliberative processes of low-carbon futures as well as local-global interactions in ‘eco-innovation jam’ dialogues carried out in a virtual space, but founded on communicating with local stakeholder groups. Experiences from national processes and international examples of these structured dialogues of community engagement raise important questions of environmental justice and deliberative processes that facilitate participation by some groups, but perhaps also neglect others. This is particularly relevant since the environmental justice discourse traditionally frames environmental concerns in a place-bound manner that includes local responses to environmental questions. In this paper we argue the importance of local and global forums and deliberative processes for community engagement in order to incorporate stakeholders’ perceptions of future options for low-carbon living, travelling and consuming services and products. Important policy transformations in planning for low-carbon societies are outlined and results from cases are discussed. We conclude with three remarks about the importance of citizen participation for understanding local conditions for change, processes of localized internationalization, and new roles for nation states facing the climate change challenge. We also recognise the importance of the local and global level of deliberative processes targeting sustainable urban futures.     

A Conceptual Analysis of Price Setting in Australian Local Government

A complex set of issues underlies the pricing of the diverse range of goods and services from which Australian local governments derive a significant portion of their revenues. Although local governments have a not‐for‐profit orientation, they are expected to be financially viable and embrace a broad notion of accountability. They are also expected to influence the behaviour of constituents in accordance with policy decisions, but be equitable in doing so. These and related parameters are discussed and illustrated in order to reveal and elucidate the nature of pricing decisions in local government, and to differentiate the local government context from other price‐setting environments.     

The 'Webbing' of British Local Government

The use of information and communication technologies by governments to facilitate the exchange of information with the public, and, increasingly, the electronic delivery of services, is a topic of much debate and development throughout the world. At the end of 1995, there were about 40 local authority World Wide Web sites, most of which fell below the standards of design and content associated with the majority of commercial and academic sites. Now there are over 300 local authority sites—some better than many commercial or academic ones in terms of design and features. Is this simply a case of jumping on the digital bandwagon or is it something more? This article discusses the main findings from a research project aimed at exploring the 'Webbing' of local government in Britain.     

Strengthening Political Leadership in UK Local Government

Many councillors and officers in local government have begun to question long-established approaches to local authority leadership and management. This article shows that there is growing interest in developing new ways of revitalizing local democracy and projecting the value of local government. It examines some of the models of local authority management found in other countries, including the directly elected mayor. The article argues that the responsibilities of the executive need to be separated from those of the council. Legal barriers which prevent UK local authorities from reshaping their organizations to meet new challenges need to be removed.     

The Evolution of Private Equity in Emerging Markets: The Case of Poland

In the last ten years, there has been a pronounced shift toward emerging markets in institutional investor allocations of capital to private equity. While the lion's share of the allocations to emerging markets have gone to the “BRIC” nations, lesser‐known markets like Poland are threatening to steal the spotlight. Economic stabilization, development of the private sector, a favorable business outlook, and continuous improvement of the local institutional infrastructure (laws, accounting rules, and fiscal regimes) have all contributed to the development of a vibrant private equity industry in Poland. Most private equity firms in Poland structure their deals around five broad investment themes: technology; media; and telecommunications; manufacturing; consumer services; business services; and financial services. Local private equity firms have traditionally adopted two different strategies towards these sectors. The first group of private equity firms initially targeted manufacturing, with the conviction that, as the Polish economy developed, the satisfaction of consumer needs for basic products would be the largest source of market demand. The second group assumed that the market would require access to more services to accommodate the growing local economy. Both approaches have proved reasonably successful, as the leaders among these two groups of firms have continued to succeed in raising new funds while achieving high returns for their limited partners. And while the accomplishments of the private equity industry have been made possible by the extent of Poland's transformation from a socialist into a market economy, the industry itself continues to play an important role in this transformation by providing both outside capital and know‐how for local firms and managers.     

Evaluating the use of an integrated forest land-use planning approach in addressing forest ecosystem services conflicting demands: Experience within an Irish forest landscape

There is an increasing demand for genuine public participation in Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) planning to address the various demands for forests to deliver a range of ecosystem services. However, as of yet, there are few developed and tested mechanisms to help authorities and stakeholders with diverse interests to effectively work together to reach a common goal. Integrated Forest Land-Use Planning (IFLUP) is an approach that has the potential to accommodate multi-stakeholders’ demands in the field of SFM planning. In this paper an IFLUP framework process that facilitates stakeholder participation in future-oriented SFM planning is explored. This framework combines scenario analysis and stakeholder collaborative learning. Its application in a case study area in the West of Ireland is outlined and its effectiveness in accommodating conflicting stakeholder demands on forest ecosystem services as well as its potential opportunities and challenges are evaluated.Based on the results and participants evaluation feedback of the IFLUP workshop outcomes, there was a shared view that the IFLUP approach has potential to address conflicting societal demands on forest ecosystem services within local forest landscapes. Likewise, collaborative learning process helps build trust and respect among stakeholder groups as well as improving the legitimacy and acceptance of SFM planning outcomes.     

Higher education

There is a growing interest in the use of marketing techniques and approaches in the management of the public services, as a result of changed perceptions of public services, and the developments in public service management in the last decade. This article discusses the nature of marketing and distinguishes strategic marketing from consumer marketing. The particular difficulties of marketing public services are considered. Specific development of marketing approaches in the civil service, local government, and the National Health Service are discussed. Finally, it is argued that the applicability of marketing concepts in the public services is limited because of the nature of the polity and the relationship between states and citizens.     

Decentralizing Health Services: More Local Accountability or Just More Central Control?

This article examines the continuing debate about, and inter-relationship between, the NHS, decentralization and local participation. The focus of the article is the experience of decentralization and participation over the past 25 years and, drawing on a new conceptualization of decentralization, it identifies the extent to which the NHS supports decentralized approaches to participation.     

新农村建设与农村金融创新研究

经过近多年的改革,我国农村金融服务水平有所提高,但还存在着一些不和谐因素,主要是农村金融服务的覆盖面低、农民贷款难、小额信贷发展不足、邮政储蓄资金严重外流、农村金融机构发展的可持续性差、政策性金融不到位等,这些问题已经成为了制约新农村建设的瓶颈。我们认为,解决当前农村金融服务中存在的上述问题,必须以中央农村金融改革的方针为指导,进一步解放思想,开阔思路,深化农村金融改革,加快农村金融创新,构建一个多种形式并存、合理分工、功能互补、适度竞争、可持续发展的多元的、竞争性、开放性的农村金融体系,采取全方位的政策措施来构筑社会主义新农村建设的强大金融基础。     

New Zealand's Financial Management System: Implications for Democracy

This article examines the continuing debate about, and inter-relationship between, the NHS, decentralization and local participation. The focus of the article is the experience of decentralization and participation over the past 25 years and, drawing on a new conceptualization of decentralization, it identifies the extent to which the NHS supports decentralized approaches to participation.     

财政竞争、地方政府政策选择与经济增长——基于中国省际面板数据的实证研究

分税制背景下财政分权体制使得地方政府之间存在着激烈的财政竞争,其典型特征表现为税负、公共投入支出和公共服务支出三种政策工具之间的策略互动,从而影响各地区的经济增长。基于1997～2009年中国省级面板数据,通过估计交互项系数的符号,结果发现:地方政府的三种政策工具是相辅相成的;交互项的作用也存在着地区的差异;税负、公共服务支出和公共投入支出对经济增长有着不同的边际影响。