Evidence-based policy as public entrepreneurship

In the 21st century, evidence-based policy has garnered significant attention in both theory and practice. Scholars have levied various criticisms of evidence-based policy making, suggesting the need for a new analytical framework. I argue that evidence-based policy can be understood as public entrepreneurship: a systemic process in which actors exercise judgment and collaborate regarding policy change. Experts, policy entrepreneurs, and policymakers have functions in this process. Evidence is viewed as a resource that may or may not further entrepreneurial plans, and the institutional environment shapes plan revision. To illustrate, I analyse ‘Housing First’ homelessness policy in the United States.     

Employee benefits and public policy

The first expression of public policy regarding privately sponsored employee benefit programs occurred in 1921 when Congress authorized tax deductions and tax deferrals for employee stock bonus and profit sharing plans. Today, following numerous additional enactments, there is an annual tax expenditure for employee benefits of some $100 billion. Universal availability of privately sponsored employee benefits is clearly a goal of public policy. That goal has not been attained. It is the thesis of this article that the goal will not be attained by means of tax incentives alone; that an inequity exists between taxpayers who enjoy coverage and those who do not; that there are serious problems with our benefit system even for those who enjoy coverage; and that mandated benefits must be considered as a means of fulfilling public policy.     

公共政策运行中的信息不对称及其治理

我国城市公共政策在运行过程中,普遍存在着信息不对称的问题,其形成原因主要包括政府自利性、科层制的局限性、信息传递通道不畅以及信息成本高。信息不对称对城市公共政策的制定、执行、评估、监控和终结等有着重要的消极影响,可能导致政策失效,应通过不同方式加以治理。     

Barriers to innovation and public policy in Catalonia

The present paper analyses the link between firms’ decisions to innovate and the barriers that prevent them from being innovative. The aim is twofold. First, it analyses three groups of barriers to innovation: the cost of innovation projects, lack of knowledge and market conditions. Second, it presents the main steps taken by Catalan Government to promote the creation of new firms and to reduce barriers to innovation. The data set used is based on the 2004 official innovation survey of Catalonia which was taken from the Spanish CIS4 sample. This sample includes individual information on 2,954 Catalan firms in manufacturing industries and knowledge-intensive services (KIS). The empirical analysis reveals pronounced differences regarding a firm’s propensity to innovate and its perception of barriers. Moreover, the results show that cost and knowledge barriers seem to be the most important and that there are substantial sectoral differences in the way that firms react to barriers. The results of this paper have important implications for the design of future public policy to promote entrepreneurship and innovation together.

解读从紧的货币政策

2007年12月中央经济工作会议提出,2008年要实施稳健的财政政策和从紧的货币政策。文中根据从紧的货币政策的背景及内容,分析央行采取的从紧货币政策措施,并指出在实行从紧货币政策中应注意的问题。     

基于多中心治理的公共政策产出机制研究

公共政策产出存在多种机制：政府主导的“内生型”、公众有限参与的政府“回应型”、多中心治理下的“网络型”等。多种政策产出机制在各民主制国家都是并存的,只是由于民主政治发展程度不同,三者所占比重不等而已。在治理理论成为一种政治思潮的今天,多中心的“网络型”政策产出机制受到更多欢迎和关注。这既给传统的政策产出机制带来了一系列影响,也使得该机制的不足得以暴露,如何进一步优化这一政策产出机制成为亟待解决的问题。     

The development of industrial clusters and public policy

This paper assesses the relationships between public policy and the development of industrial clusters. A conceptual model of the relationship between public policies and the development of industrial clusters is developed and tested using data from 43 European industrial clusters. The results indicate that most government policies have no significant impact on the growth of industrial clusters or for the development of co-operation within industrial clusters. There is limited evidence that packages of government policies that are specifically geared towards improving the local asset base are effective in overcoming obstacles to growth of industrial clusters. However, when age is used as a control variable the weak relationship between policy packages and growth of industrial clusters disappear. The results indicate that individual and packages of public policies are not strongly connected to either high levels of co-operation, or high growth in industrial clusters. Moreover, no clear evidence was found that high levels of co-operation were associated with growth in industrial districts. In the light of the failure to find clear-cut associations between public policies and the development of industrial clusters the paper outlines a research agenda to help to increase our understanding of these issues.     

Optimal capacity with stochastic demand

A model focusing on the choice of capacity in an environment with stochastic demand is presented. The paper establishes the conditions under which bias in traditional econometric measures of capacity utilization may occur. As illustration, the model is applied to the Norwegian vessel-building industry. The results from traditional econometric studies in this industry are adjusted using the results from the model presented. The analysis indicates an upward bias in the traditional capacity utilization index; the excess capacity in the analyzed industry, as determined by deviation from the optimal, stochastically-adjusted level of capacity, is higher than that determined by traditional econometric measures. However, the author is reluctant to draw definitive conclusions from the empirical part of the paper due to uncertainty regarding data and assumptions made. The empirical implementation is primarily illustrative and should be interpreted as such.     

Bringing History In: Policy accumulation and general policy alienation

Research mainly looked at problems public professionals have with specific policy programmes. However, policies are not developed in a vacuum. Public professionals are often confronted with (a series of) policy changes, intended to refine, replace or complement other policies. This policy accumulation results in professionals having a certain predisposition towards policies in general. To conceptualize this predisposition, we introduce the term general policy alienation. We investigate whether the earlier developed policy alienation scale can be adapted to measure general policy alienation. Our analyses show that the scale performs satisfactorily. Theoretical relevance, as well as directions for practical applications are discussed.     

Urban Policy Mobilities Research: Introduction to a Debate

An increasing number of scholars are focusing attention on the circulation of urban policies and the concept of ‘policy mobilities’. This collection of short commentaries identifies emerging areas of interest and contention for urban policy mobilities researchers. Exploring issues from conceptual dualisms and topological thinking to interdisciplinarity and slow methodologies, the commentaries offer refinements and suggest new pathways for urban policy mobilities research in the future.     

Can academe achieve quality in small firms policy research

Small Business Centre, Durham University Business School, Mill Hill Lane, Durham DH1 3LB, UK

The overall objective of this paper is to review, in the light of substantial growth of research in the small firms area over the past decade, some of the key issues involved in ensuring that research is relevant to policy makers. The paper is both academic and pragmatic. It has the following specific objectives: (l) to provide an overview of some of the ‘myths’ as to what constitutes quality in research; (2) to define research and policy research in particular; (3) to consider critically issues of research methodology and explore how different methods used by academics can lead to very different results; (4) to review the role of academics and academic institutions in policy research and to consider some of the difficulties that may result from endeavouring to introduce research on small business into traditional academic departments; and (5) finally, to make recommendations as to how to improve the overall framework in such a way that small business research can be more effective in the 1990s than it was in the 1980s.

Overall the paper is written with a view to provoking discussion on key issues of making small business policy research more effective.     

公务员住房与城市公共住房政策的协调研究

在城市公共住房政策的大背景下研究和设计公务员住房政策对于后者发展的合理性和稳定性具有重要的意义。本文以公务员住房政策与城市公共住房政策的协调为研究对象,主要结论如下:城市公共住房政策面临的是租不起房和买不起房两种巨大的供需缺口并存,而公务员住房问题主要表现为购房的供需缺口。公务员住房政策应以实现内部的公平和全社会的公平为方向,改变完全按职级轮候职工住宅和发放住房补贴的做法,由直接提供转向按困难程度和职级结合的货币化补贴为主,对补贴后依然存在购房困难的公务员,才提供职工住宅和周转房。     

当前经济环境下物流服务创新与政策对策

文中首先提及当前经济发展环境对物流业产生的影响,提出只有创新求变才能转危机为机遇。     

中国政府针对高房价现象的公共政策研究

房地产业是关乎国计民生的重要产业,但是近年来,中国的房价持续上升,高房价给居民的生活带来了沉重的负担,同时也影响了我国的经济发展水平与城市化进程。因此,政府采取一定的政策措施抑制高房价现象成为一个重要的课题。本文从公共政策的角度入手,研究中国的高房价现象。文章介绍了公共政策及房地产价格的概念,分析了房价飙升的现状及原因,提出了政府抑制房地产价格不断上涨的政策措施。     

我国货币财政政策存在区域效应的实证分析

货币财政政策是现代国家干预经济的两个最重要的宏观调控政策，关于它们的研究文献数不胜数，但是长期以来一直没有对两政策实施后的区域效应给予足够的重视。本文结合目前我国东中西三大经济地带的经济发展已经存在明显差距的现实，通过两地区的简约化模型对1978-2004年间我国货币政策与财政政策在东部和中西部两个样本地区的作用进行了实证分析，结果表明，我国货币财政政策确实存在区域不对称效应，特别是货币政策，具有明显的区域影响差异。     

On the contribution of public procurement to entrepreneurship and small business policy

Public procurement in industrialized nations accounts for a significant share of gross domestic product; hence it is imperative for local, regional and national economic development to utilize this potential. However, previous discussions of entrepreneurship and small business policy have by and large marginalized public sector procurement. As a contribution to giving greater salience to the linkages between regional development, entrepreneurship and public procurement, this paper presents empirical results of a qualitative study into local government authorities in the United Kingdom. In particular, it draws out a range of enablers and barriers for sourcing from small- and medium-sized enterprises that were perceived by procurement managers. The focus on public sector procurement furthermore leads to a more systematic theoretical elaboration of entrepreneurship policy as being based on legal authority or the market or network effects from geographic proximity.     

我国房地产调控政策目标的选择与平衡

“高烧不退”的房地产市场已经成为我国经济社会健康发展的“重负”。尽管中央政府针对高房价展开了“暴风骤雨”般的密集调控,然而房地产调控政策的整体效果并不理想,社会上甚至形成了一种“越调越涨”的心理预期。房地产调控之所以陷入“越调越涨”的怪圈中,行政体制不合理是其外部制约因素,而房地产调控政策目标选择和调控方式不当则是政策本身的缺陷。鉴于此,厘清房地产调控政策的基本目标及内涵,根据调控政策环境的变化,科学、灵活地对政策目标进行选择与平衡,是保证房地产政策调控有效性的首要环节和先决条件。     

广东地方高校发展产学研合作的政策研究

随着社会分工的细化,产学研的发展越来越成为经济发展的增长点。地方高校在开展产学研的过程中同时实现了技术创新和技术转化,为区域经济提供了新动力。本文基于广东地方高校发展产学研中的突出问题,从不同角度提出政策建议,为推动产学研的发展提供政策支撑。