SOUTH AFRICA'S INTERGOVERNMENTAL FISCAL RELATIONS: AN EVOLVING SYSTEM

Across Africa, Latin America, Asia and the transition economies of Eastern Europe, the need to enhance the capability and capacity of sub‐national governments (SNGs) in providing public goods and services has become a main theme of development programmes. Central to this theme is the need to design an intergovernmental fiscal relations (IGFR) system that enhances the effectiveness of sub‐national governments in mobilizing revenues and implementing expenditure programmes. For South Africa, the post‐1994 dispensation has involved significant reforms to the structure and administrative capacity of the three spheres of government. Critical to these reforms is the need to formulate an IGFR framework that takes cognisance of South Africa's past, and serves as an effective policy tool in ensuring that public sector service delivery is well structured and managed. This paper provides an analysis of South Africa's evolving IGFR system. It outlines the historical evolution of the current IGFR system, identifies current challenges, and discusses implications that these challenges have for the functioning of the IGFR system. The general conclusion emerging from this study is that in the South African context, the key elements necessary for an effective IGFR system are in place. Ongoing reforms have improved the capacity of provincial and municipal authorities in carrying out their revenue and expenditure responsibilities. However, the evolving nature of South Africa's IGFR system requires that significant attention be devoted towards enhancing coordination between delivery departments and improving the capacity of many SNGs. These should not only aid the effective functioning of the IGFR system but also ensure that the gains of decentralisation are sustainable.     

China and India's Growth Surge: Is it a curse or blessing for Africa? The Case of Manufactured Exports

Abstract: In this paper, we address two major questions. First, the question of whether China and India are displacing the African manufacturing export from the third market. Second, whether there is an evidence of shifting comparative advantage from China and India to Africa. We employed a gravity model with a panel data using 13 African exporters of clothing and accessories for the period 1995–2005 to answer the first question. To answer the second question, we used a flying‐geese model and estimated Spearman's rank correlation coefficients on indices of the revealed comparative advantage vectors of the African exporters and China and India for the same period. Both the gravity and flying‐geese models predicted similar outcomes. We found that there is strong evidence that China has been displacing African manufactures from the third market while India has been complementing it in the early years of the study. However, the overall third market impact of China and India has been that of complementarity in the later years of the study period. This result is found to vary across countries. Furthermore, we found evidence of shifting comparative advantage from China and India to Africa as the flying‐geese theory predicts, South Africa being the leading goose followed by Kenya. The major implication of the study is that, in the world where China and India are reshaping the global economic order dynamically, the outcomes of the traditionally received wisdom of trade liberalization and industrialization policies through export promotion may be uncertain and requires strategic thinking.     

On Public Organizations in Ghana: What Differentiates Good Performers from Poor Performers?*

Abstract: Public sector reform programs implemented across Africa, including the World Bank's ‘first’ and ‘second’ generation reforms, are based on the assumption that all public organizations are inefficient. This problematic assumption has had significant implications for policy in Africa. By failing to recognize that not all public organizations perform poorly, we ignore any potential lessons that could have been learnt from the experiences of organizations that have managed to perform effectively under the same social, political, economic and institutional environment. This paper uses Ghana as a case study to examine whether there are significant differences in the characteristics of poor and good performing public organizations. It is found that good and poor performing organizations in Ghana were significantly different in two respects: remuneration and hiring criteria.     

FISCAL ILLUSION AT THE LOCAL SPHERE: AN EMPIRICAL TEST OF THE FLYPAPER EFFECT USING SOUTH AFRICAN MUNICIPAL DATA1

While South Africa operates a relatively decentralised governance and administrative structure, an important feature of the country's intergovernmental fiscal relations system is the gap that exists between the expenditure responsibilities of sub‐national authorities and their assigned revenue bases. The resulting vertical fiscal imbalance is mainly addressed via significant intergovernmental transfers to provinces and local governments. This factor presents strong a priori grounds for assuming that in the South African context, the heavy dependence of many local governments on intergovernmental transfers may generate fiscal illusion. Despite this, there have not been many empirical studies of fiscal illusion in South Africa's intergovernmental transfer system. This paper extends existing literature on fiscal illusion by using the fiscal year 2005/06 financial and expenditure data from 237 local government authorities in South Africa to evaluate the flypaper variant of the fiscal illusion hypothesis. Empirical results indicate that the marginal effects of municipal own‐source revenues on local expenditure exceed those of intergovernmental transfers. No statistical evidence in support of the flypaper hypothesis within the context of municipal expenditures in South Africa is found.     

新公共管理运动背景下的中国乡镇政府体制改革

我国现行乡镇政府管理体制问题重重,浙江、山东等省份以新公共管理运动为指导,成立农村社区服务中心,乡镇政府职能重点向公共服务和社会管理转变,是对新公共管理运动的最好诠释。     

事业单位分类改革的公共服务与制度逻辑

事业单位一直是我国公共服务供给的主体,要提升公共服务供给水平,必须将推动事业单位分类改革与公共服务供给主体与方式改革有机结合起来。通过事业单位分类改革,开放公共服务领域,形成政府、事业单位、社会组织、企业、公民个人等多主体参与、多种机制并行的多中心公共服务供给体系。体制理论、组织理论、制度理论和治理结构理论构成公共服务供给多中心体系运行的核心理论基础,而非营利是公益事业单位运行的基础。     

The impact of trade facilitation factors on South Africa's exports to a selection of African countries

Economic growth can be enhanced through increased trade among countries, provided the correct institutional structures are in place. A country's trade is dependent not only on its own trade facilitation reforms but also on those of the trading partners. This paper, using an augmented gravity model, examines trade facilitation factors that impact on South Africa's exports to other selected African countries. The results of the estimation reveal the following. An improvement in the customs environment within the importing country provides the largest gain in terms of increasing trade flows, followed by the regulatory environment and domestic infrastructure. Furthermore, adjacency and common language impact positively on South African exports, while distance between countries impacts negatively on it. Being part of the Southern African Development Community is also enhancing exports from South Africa, compared with being part of the East African Community.     

Capacity building challenges in Malawi's local government reform programme

Since the advent of multiparty democracy in June 1994, the Malawi government has embarked on a local government reform programme involving political and administrative decentralisation to promote democratic governance, local development and effective public service delivery. However, the wholesale adoption of the decentralisation process tends to ignore a critical debate on capacity challenges in local government. The main argument is that the success of the reform programme is contingent upon the availability of adequate capacity in local government institutions. Therefore, this article examines the critical contingencies, namely administrative, technical and economic capacity, in the context of local government reform and decentralisation in Malawi. The major conclusion is that capacity problems, including the lack of appropriately trained personnel and a shortage of funds, seriously hamper effective public service delivery. Thus, there is a need for implementing comprehensive capacity building programmes, including training and development, and financial management strategies to attain the desired objectives.     

The experience of private investment in the South African water sector: The Mbombela Concession

South Africa is a water-stressed country that over a protracted period has suffered from poor water service delivery. The major problems are inefficient operations, lack of capacity in spending allocated budgets, unclear management structures, and a long-term decline in capital expenditure. Economists have long argued that private investment will bring good fiscal control and efficient structures and will improve service delivery. However, there may be trade-offs between this improved economic efficiency and the necessity to pursue more egalitarian social outcomes. The purpose of this research is to explore the experience of private-sector investment on operational efficiencies and social objectives in the South African water sector in the Mbombela Concession. The study concludes that, in this case, private investment has enhanced service delivery by improving efficiency, technical skills and the capacity to spend allocated budgets without any significant negative impacts on equitable water distribution.     

Linear and Nonlinear Cointegration of Purchasing Power Parity: Further Evidence from Developing Countries

Abstract

The last quarter of the twentieth century was characterized by economic reforms in many formerly state-dominated economies. Among them, the reform attempts by China and India have attracted increasing attention in the popular media and academic research. This paper contribute to this research by using institutional theory to analyse the reforms in China and India and develop a framework to explain how reforms evolve. This study contributes to the theoretical understanding of the dynamics of reform, helps policy-makers to formulate reform strategy, and international business executives to project the developmental trends in two of the world's largest emerging markets.     

The habits of highly effective community development practitioners

This paper is the result of a study aimed at answering the question: ‘What makes effective community development practitioners effective?’ In it, all the articles published over a 10-year period in the Community Development Journal, International Social Work, Journal of Community Practice and Social Work (South Africa) were subjected to a secondary analysis. This made it possible to identify eight ‘habits of effectiveness’. This set of habits can form a credo to guide a practitioner's service delivery. It also provides a list of criteria to help identify ineffective habits and confirm effective ones.     

Effects of inclusive public agricultural extension service: Results from a policy reform experiment in western China

The top–down public agricultural extension system in China and its early commercialization reforms during the 1990s have left millions of farmers without access to extension services. A pilot inclusive agricultural extension system was introduced in 2005 to better meet the diverse needs of small-scale farmers. Three key features of the experiment are (1) inclusion of all farmers as target beneficiaries, (2) effective identification of farmers' extension service needs, and (3) an accountability system to provide better agricultural extension services to farmers. This paper describes design of the reform initiative and examines its effect on farmers' access to extension services. Based on farmer supplied data from six counties for the years 2005 to 2007, this paper shows that inclusive reform initiatives significantly improve farmers' access to and actually received of agricultural extension services as well as their adoption of new technologies. Implications for further reforms to the agricultural extension system are also discussed.     

Reviewing South Africa's marketing and trade policies for genetically modified products

South Africa is unique in that it has commercialised genetically modified (GM) crops and has a functional biosafety system, which allows for trade in both GM and non-GM crops, despite being surrounded by countries banning the use of GM products. This paper analyses the past achievements and evolving changes in marketing and trade policies for GM products in South Africa. A quantitative analysis of South Africa's GM imports and exports demonstrates the success of South Africa's flexible regulatory system. Yet a review of recent reforms indicates a trend towards more rigid trade and marketing regulations of GM products. This paper suggests five policy recommendations to improve rather than rigidify regulations and allow South Africa to adapt to global changes, manage risks and take advantage of potentially promising new GM technologies.     

Why Local Resources Management Institutions Decline: A Comparative Analysis of Van (Forest) Panchayats and Forest Protection Committees in India

Building and nurturing institutions are most challenging tasks in any development work. In this paper an attempt has been made to understand the rise and fall of institutions involved in the management of forest resources. This has been done through comparative case studies of Van (Forest) Panchayats of Uttaranchal and Forest Protection Committees of West Bengal in India. As has been documented, Van Panchayats have been created as a response to the people’s movement against forest reservation at the beginning of the 20th century. The concept of Forest Protection Committees under Joint Forest Management in India has recently emerged in response to the severe degradation of forest resources and the persistent conflicts and movements against the State. The paper goes on to explain the evolution, management systems and effectiveness of these institutions along with the issues they are confronted with in the management and protection of forest resources.     

Revolution and reform of economic policies: Lessons for South Africa from China∗

The process of revolution in China itself his undergone profound reform. The most important reforms are reflected in a new direction of economic policies which focus upon a revival of market processes. This shift to greater reliance upon markets provides substantial support for similar programmes to be undertaken by South Africa and the developing nations of Southern Africa.     

日本知识产权行政管理的改革及对我国的启示

知识产权行政管理是知识产权管理中最为重要的方面,目前我国知识产权行政管理体制存在的问题已经阻碍了知识产权战略的有效实施。本文分析了日本实施知识产权国家战略6年以来在知识产权行政管理方面的改革措施,认为我国应当从加强公共服务职能、建立统一的协调机构、建设知识产权中介服务三方面入手对知识产权行政管理进行改革,提高知识产权行政管理水平。     

Reform in the contract state: Embedded directions in public procurement regulation in South Africa

As South Africa contemplates another episode of public procurement legal reform, we trace the post-apartheid history of such efforts and consider critical issues moving forward. South Africa has over the last few decades followed the international trend of an expanding ‘contract state’. Public procurement is increasingly important to state operational and allocative concerns. South Africa’s public procurement regime is progressively configured into a centrally steered but decentralised organisational form. Inflected through domestic public procurement politics, however, the development of this organisational form has been truncated, with the establishment of only limited central steering capacity producing a public procurement regulatory regime which is weak, fragmented and incoherent, contributing to problems of state incapacity and corruption. In 2013 South Africa’s Minister of Finance announced a major push to reform South Africa’s contract state. The effort aims to better establish, locate and extend public procurement regulatory authority. It has begun to elaborate a centre-led, strategic and increasingly developmental procurement methodology. It is moving towards more flexibility, effectively an attempt to reduce rigidity in rules while building more robust and distributed disciplinary mechanisms, ones which take account of deficits in regulatory capacity and political will. We consider the potentials and pitfalls of these movements and suggest ways to optimise them.     

乡镇综合配套改革:"瘦身"、"变脸"、"织网"——以湖北省H县为研究个案

乡镇综合配套改革,是一项机构精简、事业单位整体转制和社会保障网全面建立的系统工程.本文对湖北省H县的乡镇综合配套改革情况进行了概述,认为此次乡改不是简单的精简机构和人员,而是围绕提供优质的公共产品,服务社会主义新农村建设这一目标取向展开的改革.     

Estimating the future health care cost of population aging in South Africa

ABSTRACT

This paper analyses the relationship between health care expenditure and population aging in South Africa using yearly data from 1983 to 2015. Empirical evidence from an Autoregressive Distributed Lag approach to cointegration indicates that old dependency and life expectancy are major drivers of public health expenditure in South Africa besides the income. Particularly, when structural breaks are controlled for, income exhibits a long-term elasticity with respect to health spending greater than unity; suggesting that South African public health care has become a luxury good over time. Interestingly, South African public health spending is found to be responsive to demographic development only in the long run. This is consistent with the micro evidence that health expenditure increases with individual age with significant impacts in the long term. Finally, using economic and demographic projections statistics, we find that public health expenditure could roughly double in the next fifteen years ceteris paribus.     

中国民营化:“西学东渐”后的一种新范式

兴起于20世纪80年代的西方民营化改革已经成为席卷全球的浪潮,无论是资本主义国家还是社会主义国家都积极投身于民营化的实践之中,"可以说,民营化已超越党派偏好或意识形态,成为了一种务实的得到广泛应用的治理方式和公共服务模式",并分别形成了以英、美、奥为首的三种典范,且日益深刻影响到中国公共事业改革。但由于制度和文化背景的巨大差异,师从西方的中国民营化改革还没有显著的实践效果,因此,我们在学习和借鉴西方民营化经验和教训的同时,我们必须对自身固有的模式进行理性的探讨,辩证地看待民营化之于中国公共事业改革意义。