Participatory budgeting,community engagement and impact on public services in Scotland

ABSTRACT

The institutional engagement and analysis needed to effectively integrate the requirements of equality legislation into participatory budgeting (PB) processes requires a transformational approach. Equality processes appear to exist in parallel with PB activity, rather than being operationalized as integral to the objectives and character of PB activity at local level. This paper proposes that PB and the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) in the Equality Act 2010 share a transformative intent and potential, but that this is undermined by siloed thinking on equalities and enduring discriminatory behaviour and practices. The paper concludes with propositions for aligning the conceptual links between equality and community empowerment and, thereby, participation in local financial decision-making in practice.     

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA), tenure choice,and residential land use

This paper extends the standard, urban, residential land-use model to analyze the effects of Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage insurance. On the demand side, households are differentiated by income and tenure; on the supply side, the cost of housing is related to the asset prices of land and structure and the cost of capital. Hypothesizing that capital cost is a function of household tenure and income, tenure is chosen to minimize this cost. The effect of FHA, then, is to expand the housing consumption of moderate-middle income households, by reducing their capital cost, while displacing those whose cost is not reduced.     

FHA, Racial Discrimination and Urban Mortgages

The empirical validity of two propositions regarding FHA unsubsidized single-family activity are explored at the neighborhood level in this paper. The propositions are first that FHA serves moderate-to-middle-income families, not low-income families who live in the inner city nor high-income families who live in the outer suburbs; and second that all other things being equal, black owner-occupants are more likely to have an FHA-insured mortgage than are whites
Two methods of analysis are performed: mapping and regression. First, 1974 FHA activity in the Philadelphia metropolitan area is mapped by race—black and white—and program—203(b), 221(d)(2), and 223(e)—at the census tract level. Then, the FHA activity by race and by program is regressed on 1970 neighborhood housing and population characteristics, again, using the census tract as the unit of observation. The results of the analysis provide support for both propositions. In Philadelphia in 1974, FHA is to a degree a border program differentially serving blacks.     

FHA Multifamily Financial Failure: A Review of Empirical Studies*

The FHA addresses the rental housing needs of low- and middle-income households through multifamily project mortgage insurance programs. These programs have been hindered, however, by substantial financial losses due to project default, assignments, and foreclosure. A review of existing empirical studies suggests that characteristics of project owners, the quality of project management, the adequacy of HUD screening, project construction, and project location all have an impact on financial viability. The results do not support claims that tenant characteristics are associated with failure. Although financial variables are closely related to failure, they are little used in the studies reviewed.     

Bias and variability in purchase intention scales

Although purchase intention scales are widely used, relatively little is known about bias and variability in the estimated purchase proportions. Psychometric techniques have been developed to correct for such problems, and analytical approaches have shown that most predictive errors can be explained as probabilistic variability. However, there is a lack of systematic empirical work in the area. We address this problem using two meta-analyses of published work. Our results show that purchase intention scales are empirically unbiased. Furthermore, the variability is much less than previously assumed. This finding improves the confidence researchers can have in the use of such scales. Interestingly, purchase probability scales performed even better than purchase intention scales. The greater precision of probability scales suggests that they may be more useful both as direct measures of likely behavior and as dependent variables in consumer behavior research.     

Urban housing with discrete structures

Competitive equilibrium in an urban housing model with structures that cannot be readily aggregated or subdivided is analyzed in this paper. The price and quantity of services forthcoming from each dwelling occupied by a household is determined by the equality of competitive supply and demand. A stack algorithm is then developed to ensure households are assigned to dwellings so that they would not prefer to live in any other dwelling with an equilibrium price less than the one they would pay if they lived there. Using the Urban Institute Housing Model as an example, the results of this algorithm are compared with those of the algorithm developed by de Leeuw and Struyk (D-S). The stack algorithm yields greater price discounting of existing dwellings below the price of a new dwelling than does the D-S algorithm and, thus, a greater potential for housing prices to be increased by a demand subsidy such as a housing allowance.