Private Investment, Public Aid and Endogenous Divergence in the Evolution of Urban Neighborhoods

This paper offers a novel explanation for urban blight and endogenous divergence in the overall quality and wealth of neighborhoods and simultaneously derives the salient features of actual urban renewal and other aid programs from optimizing government behavior based on collective public preferences. These features appear when the objective of such public aid programs is to restore the ex ante distribution of wealth or property values within a blighted neighborhood, while equilibria exhibiting deficient levels of private investment and blight itself can arise when residents accurately anticipate the potential provision of public aid to an affected neighborhood and ex ante investment in private insurance diminishes neighborhood eligibility for such aid. Examples of antipodal equilibria in which urban renewal programs entirely crowd out local private investment or in which neighborhood residents invest in efficient levels of private mitigation illustrate these results, which stand in direct contrast to both traditional explanations of urban blight and to the new “social-interaction” models of neighborhood divergence.     

巨灾风险管理供给及其主体——基于公共物品角度的分析

本文以公共物品理论为分析工具,对巨灾风险管理供给及其主体进行了分析研究。论文首先探索了巨灾风险管理的公共物品属性,然后从理论和现实两方面对巨灾风险管理供给主体及其优劣进行了分析比较,最后对中国巨灾风险管理的属性、巨灾风险管理供给主体的选择以及不同主体的基本职能提出了我们的判断和建议。     

Budgeting and governing for deficit reduction in the UK public sector: act three ‘accountability and audit arrangements’

This paper explains how the UK central government has changed accountability and audit arrangements for local government in England, while retaining its approach to setting annual budgets within the context of multi-year spending reviews. It highlights how dismantling the institutions and processes that monitored outputs and outcomes for spending, such as public service agreements and comprehensive area assessment, meant that top-down accountability became focused overwhelmingly on financial conformance rather than organizational performance for local government. Supplementary reforms to increase the transparency or ‘visibility’ of public administration, and thereby enable greater bottom-up accountability, have resulted in a performance assessment system that is neither rigorous nor standardized. The overall result is a weakening of local accountability arrangements.     

Improving value and certainty in defence procurement

Defence procurement is notoriously complex and risky. This article analyses the factors which are unique to defence and those which are general to the public sector. It proposes some practical improvements for UK defence procurement (and overseas equivalents), across its value chains and suppliers, and also within the public sector.     

Corporate suppliers and customers and accounting conservatism

We argue that a firm's suppliers and customers prefer it to account more conservatively due to information asymmetry and these stakeholders' asymmetric payoffs with respect to the firm's performance. We predict that a firm meets this demand for accounting conservatism when suppliers or customers have bargaining advantages over it that enable them to dictate terms of trade or whether trade occurs at all. We show that when a firm's suppliers or customers have greater bargaining power, the firm recognizes losses more quickly. Our findings provide insights into how a firm's powerful suppliers and customers are associated with its accounting practices and also support the contracting explanation for accounting conservatism.     

The relationship between supplier control and competition in public sector outsourcing

The aim of this article is to develop theory and contribute to empirical studies about how the effectiveness of bureaucratic controls in public sector outsourcing is contingent upon supplier competition, and why and how this interaction plays out differently for hard and soft types of outsourced services. In previous inter‐organizational management control (IOMC) research there is a contradiction between theory and empirical results concerning how bureaucratic control and supplier competition interacts in aligning suppliers. While IOMC theory suggests competition reduces the need for bureaucratic control, empirical studies clearly indicate the opposite. We extend previous research and theorizing by differing between the outsourcing of hard and soft types of services and by testing the joint effect of bureaucratic control and competition on supplier alignment. The empirical case for testing theory is outsourcing by competitive tendering in the public sector. We use transaction level data from 166 local government suppliers in Sweden. In accordance with our prediction, the effect of bureaucratic control in aligning suppliers decreases with supplier competition when hard types of services are outsourced. For soft types of services, our results indicate that bureaucratic control is not contingent upon supplier competition. Furthermore, we show that when supplier competition is low the effect of bureaucratic control on supplier alignment is stronger for hard than for soft types of services. These results constitute an important contribution to the central notion of the interplay between bureaucratic control and competition in the IOMC literature.     

A literature review on the relationship between risk governance and public engagement in relation to complex environmental issues

Abstract

Over the last two decades demands for greater public engagement have emerged in policy circles and academia, particularly when it comes to risk-related decision-making, or risk governance. However, the literature shows there is a lack of evidence when it comes to the impact of public engagement initiatives and significant questions remain over who to include, what processes to follow and what outcomes to expect. Furthermore, the literature exhibits contradictions in how researchers with different theoretical approaches attempt to answer these kinds of questions. This paper therefore proposes a systematic literature review in order to map the current breadth and variation in the literature and to identify any major variations from previous findings. A methodical search query has been applied to Scopus and Web of Science to search for academic articles. These were subsequently assessed for their suitability through a structured literature selection process. The results identify a number of methodologically different approaches in which knowledge on risk governance and public engagement has been developed. These diverse approaches are eventually grouped into clusters based on similarities in co-citations and references that are identified through bibliometrics and a subsequent content analysis. The proposed clusters have been labeled risk governance; environmental science, policy and governance; disaster risk management; science and technology studies; post-normal science; and public understanding of science. These six clusters are ultimately discussed and differentiated based on their main features which is particularly relevant for researchers and policy-makers seeking to get an understanding of, or broaden their disciplinary engagement with, risk governance and public engagement.     

The Certification Role of Large Customers in the New Issues Market

This paper examines the certification role of large customers and finds that IPO firms that have product market relationships with large customers experience higher valuation and better long-term performance compared to IPOs without such relationships. This higher valuation is more pronounced when product market relationships are able to alleviate IPO uncertainties, when the businesses of large customers and their IPO suppliers are closely related in downstream markets, and when large customers have stronger certifying abilities. Finally, we find that large customers realize significant positive abnormal returns around their suppliers’ preliminary prospectus filing dates, suggesting that some of the benefits from product market relationships accrue to large customers.     

Accountability and Transparency in English Local Government: Moving from ‘Matching Parts’ to ‘Awkward Couple’?

Although excessive transparency and accountability demands can have a counterproductive effect on organisational performance (Bovens, 2005), longstanding hierarchical accountability structures to ensure financial conformance in English local government continue to endure. Interestingly however, the previously top‐down regime for performance accountability in English local government has been replaced by bottom‐up mechanisms such as greater transparency and a more open market for public services. Using the framework developed by Hood (2010), this paper will show how such reforms mean that transparency and accountability are moving from being ‘matching parts’ to an ‘awkward couple’, and how this has significant implications for public services.     

REGULATING THE ACCOUNTABILITY OF CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS?*

The paper investigates the reasons for regulating the accounting, management and performance of charitable organisations. It is argued that there exists a priori reasons to expect the public would demand regulation of this industry. This is primarily so that the transaction costs of bilateral bargaining between the public and charities are minimized, and to improve the security of possible donors against the proclivity of some agents to make false and misleading statements. However, existing regulations may be counterproductive by giving the public the impression that regulation achieves these aims when in fact it has not. Other possible inconsistencies in the way regulations have been applied are identified.     

The effect of capital structure on a firm's liquidation decision

A firm's liquidation can impose costs on its customers, workers, and suppliers. An agency relationship between these individuals and the firm exists in that the liquidation decision controlled by the firm (as the agent) affects other individuals (the customers, workers, and suppliers as principals). The analysis in this paper suggests that capital structure can control the incentive/conflict problem of this relationship by serving as a pre-positioning or bonding mechanism. Appropriate selection of capital structure assures that incentives are aligned so that the firm implements the ex-ante value-maximizing liquidation policy.     

Government contracts and US bond yield spreads: A study on costs and benefits of materialized political connections

In a 1991–2013 sample of bonds issued by US public firms, we find that the cost of debt (yield spread relative to comparable Treasuries) of suppliers to government agencies is contingent on the strategic importance of the supplier's industry. The yield spreads for strategically unimportant government suppliers are higher than for firms that are not government suppliers. If government contracts serve as tangible evidence of political connections, these higher yield spreads indicate that weaker corporate governance as a cost of political connections outweighs the benefits of said connections. For the subsample of government suppliers from strategically important industries, where the benefits of implicit bailout guarantees and revenue stability outweigh the corporate governance problems, the cost of debt is lower than for firms that are not government suppliers. The higher (lower) cost of debt for strategically unimportant (strategically important) suppliers is confined to contracting with the federal government. Our findings are robust to alternative variable and sample specifications, and to endogeneity concerns.     

A strategy framework for performance measurement in the public sector

This paper looks at a little-studied question: what are the strategic choices behind the selection and implementation of performance measurement practices in public sector entities? The paper presents a new strategy framework which provides a structured approach to the many options available for measuring performance effectively. The framework is primarily intended for large public sector organizations, such as municipalities, but will also be useful in smaller entities.     

Corporate Leverage and Specialized Investments by Customers and Suppliers

A company's performance in the product market depends in part on the willingness of its suppliers and customers to invest in the relationship—to make specialized investments of human as well as financial capital that may have no value outside that relationship. Consistent with Stewart Myers's concept of debt overhang and underinvestment, the authors hypothesize that companies can encourage their suppliers and other key stakeholders to make such specialized investments by limiting their use of debt financing, thereby addressing their stakeholders' concerns about their long‐term performance and staying power. In this article, the authors report the findings of a recently published study of a sample of U.S. industrial companies during the period 1984‐2003. Using the benchmark input‐output accounts for the U.S. economy, the authors identified supplier and customer industries for each company in their sample while also collecting data on the firm's actual suppliers and customers from Compustat's segment files. Using empirical proxies for the intensity of specialized investments, they find that companies that operate in environments requiring specialized investments by suppliers and customers tend to operate with lower levels of debt. At the same time, the authors report evidence suggesting that the suppliers and customers of highly leveraged companies make lower levels of specialized investment than the suppliers and customers of less leveraged firms.     

基于动态模糊评价的通信运营商合作伙伴选择模型及实证研究

基于三网融合背景下通信运营商合作伙伴选择影响因素的多样性和差异性,建立备选企业的共性指标和特性指标,结合BP神经网络、模糊评价和组合赋权的方法,提出基于BP神经网络的动态模糊综合评价模型,从现状和未来发展趋势两个方面对合作伙伴进行综合评价选择。以湖南移动推进城市光网建设为例,展示了合作伙伴选择的原理和过程。模型可以为通信运营商企业客观、全面、动态地评价和选择合作伙伴提供有效的决策支持。     

Complexities of Productivity Policies in the Finnish Public Sector: Knowing How to Do More with Less?

This paper examines public sector productivity policies as complexities between what is ‘known’ in policy principles and what is ‘done’ in everyday policy practice. Such complexities are explored in two productivity policy cases within Finnish local government: municipal amalgamations, and the low‐threshold concept of healthcare service. Utilising quantitative and qualitative data from Finnish local government the paper demonstrates the tensions between productivity policy principles, interpretations for productivity improvement (‘knowing’) and final outcomes for actually applying (‘doing’) productivity policy. The paper argues in favour of a new understanding for the research and practice of public policy and management.     

Die Nutzung des Internet durch österreichische Versicherungsunternehmen

This paper compares the internet activities of Austrian insurers within a survey of all members of the Austrian Insurance Association. The analysis is structured according to potential interests of new customers, existing customers, the external sales force, financial intermediaries, investors, the general public, job searchers, and suppliers of inputs. Austrian insurers use the internet primarily for a general presentation of their company and products as well as for linking interested customers to their conventional sales force. Few insurers integrate their relation to suppliers, job searchers, investors, or their external sales force into their homepage. A full business transaction including binding quotes and full contracting through the internet is only provided by few insurers for selected products. Consequently, few cross border internet activities can be found.     

Strategic performance management: A balanced approach to performance management issues in local government

The drive for reform in the public sector worldwide has focussed attention on the measurement of performance in public sector organizations. This is particularly true in local government. Local government has traditionally been concerned with measuring the delivery of primary objectives, or results, at the expense of secondary objectives, or the determinants of organizational performance. Current strategic management literature suggests that there should be a strong linkage between strategic plans and performance measures.Kaplan and Norton’s (1992) balanced scorecard and Fitzgeraldet al. ’s (1991) results and determinants framework can provide this linkage. This paper reports on research into performance management systems in local government using the four dimensions of the balanced scorecard: financial, community, internal business processes and innovation and learning. It shows how the focus in this system of local government has been on the results of council work, ie. financial performance and to a lesser extent on how the community views performance. Local government performance measurement pays much less attention to the determinants, or means of achieving long-term, sustained organizational improvement in internal business processes, and innovation and learning. Whilst these issues are recognized as important, there are few measurement processes in place to manage performance in these areas. Strategic performance management demands an approach that recognizes the importance of a focus on both results and the means of achieving these results. This paper highlights a suggested framework for strategic and balanced local government performance measurement.     

DEVOLVED BUDGETARY MANAGEMENT IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT: LESSONS FROM A SHIRE COUNTY

The changing environment of public sector organisations has, in recent years, focused attention on the management processes employed to achieve effective service delivery as economically and efficiently as possible. One approach has been the importation into the public sector ofa number ofprivate sector management strategies and practices, most notably those based on devolved bud- getary management principles. This paper analyses the approach of a large local authority to the implementation of devolved budgetary management, based, in large part, on interviews with line managers to whom budgets were devolved. It examines the process of devolution within the authority and the reactions of line managers to that process. It concludes that while the implementation of truly devolved budgetary management is an important, and perhaps essential, managerial technique in the 'new' local government environment, it should not be implemented in ways which ignore the differ- ences between public and private sector organisations and between different local authority departments.