Local Government Management

In the United Kingdom (UK), the Labour Government is seeking to achieve fundamental change in the way local authorities are led and managed. To this end, it has introduced political and managerial reforms, central to which is the concept of ‘best value’. This new agenda, to which local authorities must respond, builds upon the changes which resulted from the Conservative era 1979–1997. Although Labour has abolished the centrepiece of Conservative policy towards local government, i.e. compulsory competitive tendering (CCT), Labour shares the belief of successive Conservative governments that local authorities must radically improve the way services are delivered. This article considers the nature of the changed local government environment in the UK, including the role, policy and service provision debates which have occurred in local government. It provides a conceptual framework within which to consider the degree of change which has occurred in local authority management. A typology of responses to change and a model by which past and future change may be gauged are suggested.     

Measuring Local Government Transparency

Despite the importance of government transparency to promote accountability and prevent maladministration, empirical research has failed to produce proper tools to assess and compare government transparency practices. Most contributions to the topic do not address it from a stakeholder’s perspective, particularly in selecting the indicators to include in transparency indexes. This paper contributes to the debate by developing a municipal transparency index based on information available on local government official websites. The methodological approach borrows insights from the decision analysis literature to structure the index through a participatory process. An application to the Portuguese local government setting is briefly discussed.     

Local Government Charge!

Professor C. D. Foster, with two co-authors, Richard Jackman and Maurice Perlman of the London School of Economics, concluded a massive tome in 1980 on local government financing with the estimate that only 10% or less of local government expenditure was on public goods (cf article by Erank van Dun, p. 28). Yet Whitehall politicians and local Councillors have acted for years as though the only way to confine cuts in (or raise) local expenditure was by raising rates. Simon Mabey, Westminster City Councillor, argues that charging is the long-neglected instrument of local financing.     

The Next Green Paper on Local Government Finance

What is the role of local government? David King claims that countries with strong local government are richer than those without, but argues that it could shed some of its functions to the market.     

Local Government Imperialism

Local government has attracted increasing criticism in recent years. It has been investigated by committees of enquiry. Central government has tried, but failed, to control its expenditures. Its trade unions can disrupt everyday life by strikes. What is wrong? This Open Letter diagnoses the crucial cause as the failure to subject local services to the measurement and discipline of price.     

Divergence in HR Functional Roles in Local Government

Abstract

In spite of a growing body of research on the position and role of HRM and the HR function in organizations, local government HRM has not received the attention it deserves. This article contributes to research on the role of the HR function by deploying a discursive perspective on how HR managers construct their function's role in the context of Finnish local government. Five discourses are located in the talk of HR managers, which show emerging discursive tensions and contradictions in the roles of the HR function in local government.     

浅谈银行如何有效防范地方政府融资风险

在94年国家进行分税制改革之后,财政收入向中央政府集中,这加剧了各地方政府事权与财权不平衡的局面,政府融资平台为地方政府拓宽了融资渠道。进入2008以来,受国际金融危机的影响,我国实施了宽松的货币政策和积极的财政政策,推动了各地方政府融资平台飞速发展,在应对金融危机方面起到了重要作用。但是地方政府融资债务疯狂增长下其隐藏的风险已经逐渐凸显出来,值得我们关注。本文从银行的角度浅析了银行如何防范来自地方政府融资的风险。     

债务率、偿债压力与地方债务的经济增长效应

研究目标：中国地方政府债务对于经济增长的门限效应。研究方法：基于债务率,即债务存量与地方政府综合财力的比值的视角,利用中国30个省份2010~2014年年底的地方债务余额数据,对地方债务的经济增长效应进行了实证研究。研究发现：中国地方债务存在明显的经济增长门限效应：当债务率高于112%左右之后,原本正向显著的经济增长促进作用基本趋近于无,而其作用渠道可以明确为如下传导机制,债务率高企带来地方政府偿债压力从而影响经济发展导向的财政支出。研究创新：引入债务率指标并基于偿债压力视角分析了地方债务对于经济增长的作用机制。研究价值：对于我国地方政府债务的管控治理和风险防范,具有重要的参考价值。     

浅析我国地方政府债务风险管理问题

本文归纳总结了我国地方政府债务形式、债务活动过程以及我国地方政府债务形成原因,从而提出化解我国地方政府债务风险的几点建议。     

地方政府培育企业自主品牌的机理研究

本文首先基于价值链理论将企业自主品牌运营能力的层级结构分解为研发能力、生产制造能力以及市场营销能力。然后,结合转型时期的政府职能定位,探讨了地方政府培育企业自主品牌的内在机理,以期为地方政府培育辖区自主品牌提供理路支撑。     

浅析政府行为对民营经济的影响及对策

民营经济的发展离不开地方政府的政策支持,也正是政府的这些制度安排给民营经济创造了良好的发展环境。通过对民营经济内涵的界定,重点探讨了民营经济发展与地方政府的关系,认为政府行为与民营经济的发展是正相关的关系,地方政府的不规范行为最终会影响了当地民营经济的发展。为此,应努力建设服务型政府,给民营经济营造良好的经营环境和融资环境,促进国民经济持续、健康、协调地发展。     

论政府绩效管理与绩效审计

通过对我国政府绩效管理框架的描述以及政府绩效管理体系下政府行为对审计目标、审计范围和审计质量等方面的影响分析得出:政府绩效管理与绩效审计之间存在密切联系,且这种联系是多向的、混合的,有时甚至还是负向的。为此,针对我国绩效管理方式、政府行为给绩效审计造成的不利影响,提出改进我国绩效审计的若干政策建议。     

政府与失地农民之间的利益博弈分析

在我国城市化过程中,地方政府征用了农民大量的土地,由于政府在征地过程中的强势地位,使其在征地过程中与农民进行博弈时,对农民的合法权益造成了极大侵害。分析政府与失地农民在征地时的利益博弈过程,将为我们促进农民合法权益的维护提供借鉴。     

How to De-politicise Local Government

What will be the consequences of the Community Charge? Professor Patrick Minford argues that the poll tax will de-politicise local government.     

中国地方政府消费支出效率及其区域差距演化

本文利用两阶段研究框架分析分税制改革以来(1994～2006年)中国各省级政府消费支出的效率、区域差距演化及其影响因素.第一阶段,运用DEA非参数方法,以地区生产总值为产出,核算31个省(市、区)政府消费支出的效率得分,并描述支出效率的区域差距演化;第二阶段,利用面板数据受限Tobit模型,以各省(市、区)效率得分为因变量,分析政府消费支出效率区域差距演化的影响因素.结果表明,东部地区的政府消费支出效率显著强于中部和西部地区;区域间差距自分税制改革以来逐年缩小,尤其是东部和中部地区的效率差异在2006年前后已基本消失.区域间政府消费支出效率之所以出现了明显的趋同,既得益于中西部地方政府行政效率的提高,也得益于人力资本在区域间分布日趋平衡.     

浅谈如何预防我国地方政府土地管理行为失范

结合自身工作实践分析了地方政府土地管理行为失范的特点,探讨了地方政府土地管理行为失范的危害,提出了一些具体预防措施。     

Local Government Modernization: UK and Comparative Analysis from an Organizational Perspective

This article analyses three strands of local government modernization. The first takes an overview of the development of 'modernization' and 'improvement' of local government in the UK under the Labour government since 1997 and the overall programme of reform. We discuss both the shifts and the continuities with the previous decade and a half of the 'new public management' of Conservative administrations. We examine the implicit assumptions about how to achieve organizational and cultural change, arguing that much modernization is premised on a mechanistic metaphor of organizational change. The second section of the article examines other metaphors and theories of organizational change, arguing for the need to consider institutional and organizational perspectives in analysing local government modernization. The third section of the article then applies some organizational concepts to the comparative analysis of local government modernization.     

Industrial Relations in Local Government

David Green, for six years a Labour Councillor in the North East and a university economist, analyses the self-interested obstruction to reform that some Labour and other councillors urged in the interest of the local public. If his analysis applies elsewhere in local government, the urgency of reform by Patricklenkin becomes apparent and insistent.     

分税制下的地方政府行为激励与房地产市场改革

本文分析了分税制下地方政府介入房地产市场的原因和影响;指出地方政府领导在财政收支压力和政治晋升压力的作用下,通过深度介入房地产市场获得经济发展的资金来源以缓解财政压力,进而获取政治晋升的机会;揭示了地方政府介入房地产市场对经济社会发展造成的一系列深层次矛盾,并最终拉动了房价的上涨。要改变这种局面需要为地方政府建立稳定可靠的收入来源,并对当前的土地出让制度进行深入改革。     

政府投资项目跟踪审计探析

近年来,随着国家固定资产投资规模的扩大,中央和地方各级政府投资支出占财政支出的比例越来越大,投资项目全过程跟踪审计已经成为审计部门对大中型政府投资建设项目审计的主要方式。通过实践已取得了较好成效,人们对跟踪审计也有了较全面认识,但由于对投资项目实施跟踪审计是由事后静态审计向事前、事中全过程的延伸,有一些问题亟待进一步探索。文章结合审计实践,分析了当前跟踪审计中存在的主要问题,同时有针对性地提出了具体应对对策。