Social capital and soil conservation: evidence from the Philippines*

The formation of social capital is hypothesised to enhance collective efforts for soil conservation. The Landcare Program in the southern Philippines promotes simple conservation practices in upland environments by supporting community landcare groups and municipal landcare associations, thus augmenting social capital. A study was conducted in 2002–2003 to evaluate the Landcare Program, using a mix of quantitative and qualitative techniques. In the present paper, the relationship between social capital formation and adoption of soil conservation in the Municipality of Lantapan is investigated. It is concluded that the Landcare Program as a whole created a valuable stock of bridging social capital, rapidly accelerating the adoption of contour farming measures, but that on‐going support is needed to maintain this capital stock.     

Trade and invasive species risk mitigation: Reconciling WTO compliance with maximising the gains from trade

This paper analyses the issue of balancing the gains from trade with the risk of pest and disease transference. Two decision frameworks for determining whether or not to permit trade in a potentially invasive species-carrying good are presented. The first considers only the potential production losses resulting from an invasive species entering through a trade pathway, as is prescribed by WTO compliance. The second is a unilateral welfare-maximising approach which considers the consumer gains from trade, the loss of domestic producers’ market share and expected damage from the invasive species. It is shown that these alternative decision frameworks can be reconciled such that they produce the same outcome regarding whether or not trade is to be permitted. The key parameters which influence these decisions are also highlighted.     

Targeting Monitoring Resources to Enhance the Effectiveness of the CAP

From its inception the operation of the CAP has required the compliance monitoring of farming activities and anticipated increases in the complexity of the monitoring tasks with the introduction of the SFP will stretch monitoring resources even further. We outline the scope for using targeting to enhance effectiveness of monitoring resources in dealing with non-compliant behaviour. Targeting resources can increase information on particular groups making identification of inappropriate behaviour easier. However, in reallocating monitoring resources towards the targeted sub-group, there is likely to be an associated reduction in resources allocated to monitoring non-targeted agents and therefore an increase in their incentive to cheat. To reduce this problem we suggest balancing the targeting-induced reduction in the probability of being caught cheating for non-targeted agents with an appropriate increase in the penalty for those agents if they are caught cheating. This increase in penalty results in an increased divergence between the outcomes from being caught or not caught cheating for non-targeted agents, which increases the overall perceived risk of the cheating option. And for risk-averse agents, this increase is a disincentive to cheating. On this basis we argue for greater use of target-based compliance monitoring as part of the revised and evolving CAP.     

THE PRIVATE FINANCE INITIATIVE IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT

This paper distinguishes between the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) and the more general Public Private Partnerships (PPP). It traces the growth of the initiative since its start in 1992 to the current day and considers the implications of PFI for the public finances. A number of economic issues are discussed including bidding costs, financing costs and whole life costing. The importance of risk transfer in the value for money analysis of PFI projects is emphasised and the extent to which risk actually is transferred is questioned. Finally, the contribution of PFI towards modernising public service is recognised but the Audit Commission's recommendation that a wider range of procurement tools ought to be considered is noted.     

Quality Defined by Public Service Users—The Case of the Avon Probation Service

Avon Probation Service and Bristol Business School have developed a means of assessing user-defined quality of service provision. Building on that work, this article reports on an attempt to involve 'consumers' in devising criteria by which they can judge the performance of a public service. It begins with a review of the debate about quality in public service management, arguing that it is a mistake to import uncritically 'business' approaches to quality into the public services. The impossibility of defining a uniform set of expectations of the probation service's role is a major reason why conventional notions of quality cannot be grafted directly on to public service management. The case study of the probation service suggests broader lessons for public services which wish to involve users in addressing quality issues.     

Alternative EFT developments and the quality of life: A theoretical analysis

This article develops a theoretical position for studying the impacts of different electronic funds transfer (EFT) arrangements upon the quality of life. A conception of quality of life is defined which emphasizes the relative power of participants in a social setting as well as their personal resources and sentiments. A ‘design space’ for characterizing alternative EFT designs is then set up, and the social textures of different EFT arrangements are examined.