Domestic Regulation and the WTO: The Case of Water Services in Developing Countries

Trade liberalisation of environmental services, and water services in particular, under the current WTO General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), has been widely advocated as a means of increasing private sector participation in the water sector in developing countries. Recognising that effective regulation is needed to ensure that the potential gains from private sector involvement are fully realised, the paper considers the relationship between national regulatory autonomy and GATS liberalisation in water services. The empirical evidence on the impact of private sector involvement in the provision of water services in developing countries is reviewed, and a number of reasons why water privatisation has been problematic in lower‐income countries are identified, including transaction costs and regulatory weaknesses. The study concludes that developing countries with limited regulatory resources should adopt a cautious approach to services liberalisation, by sequencing market liberalisation measures to match the development of their regulatory institutional capacity.     

Whistle Blowers: Saints of Secular Culture

Neither the corporate view of whistle blowers as tattle-tales and traitors, nor the more sympathethic understanding of them as tragic heroes battling corrupt or abused systems captures what is at stake in whistle blowing at its most distinctive. The courage, determination and sacrifice of the most ardent whistle blowers suggests that they only begin to be appreciated when they are seen as the saints of secular culture. Although some whistle blowers may be attempting to deflect attention from their own deficiencies and others may be disgruntled employees, the most serious instances involve a level of moral sensitivity that approaches religious proportions that are baffling for a culture that has dispensed with sainthood.     

Contractual Practice and Land Conflicts: The ‘Plant & Share’ Arrangement in Côte d'Ivoire

This paper tackles the broad issue of agrarian contracts, property rights and conflicts in the context of rural Côte d'Ivoire. Since the beginning of the 2000s, a new type of contractual arrangement has been developing rapidly: the ‘Plant & Share’ contract. Through such a contract, a landowner provides the land to a farmer who develops a perennial tree crop plantation; when production starts, the plantation, the plantation and the land, or the product is shared. The aim of the paper is to discuss the conflictive features of the arrangement. I argue that this contract, in spite of its potential for tensions and conflicts, constitutes an alternative to the much more conflictive land sales that currently dominate extra‐familial land transfers in the country.     

Regulatory Focus Intensity and Evaluations of Retail Experiences

Previous research indicates that consumers differ in their evaluation of and response to similar retail experiences. Reporting results from three studies, the current research proposes consumers’ regulatory focus intensity as one possible source of this variation. Study 1 examines how consumers’ regulatory focus intensity influences their in‐store behavioral intentions following good and bad shopping experiences. Study 2 illustrates how consumers’ regulatory focus intensity impacts their future loyalty intentions after satisfactory retail experiences. In Study 3, the researchers explore how retailers can employ regulatory framing in their communication messages to increase the future loyalty intentions of those chronically less loyal consumers. Lastly, theoretical and managerial implications as well as limitations of this research are discussed.     

Diversify and prosper: Peasant households participating in emerging markets in northeast rural China

Following the sequence of radical rural reforms commencing in 1978, many peasant households in the People's Republic of China (PRC) have been actively diversifying away from time-honored grain production. This article examines the microlevel rewards accruing to a sample of village households located in the northeast province of Liaoning. In particular, we identify and then measure how such diversification affects household income, the level of employment, and the returns to labor. Two explanatory variables are constructed as surrogates for income-source diversification in a series of household production functions. Our results provide robust evidence that households that move from grain enhance significantly several indicators of their economic well-being.     

Exchange rates, tax-subsidy schemes, and the revenue from foreign trade in a centrally planned economy

Conclusions It has been argued that while in the traditional analysis of the classic CPE the exchange rate has only an accounting function, inappropriate methods of national income accounting can lead to changes in the exchange rate generating changes in the real economy, provided that trade in unbalanced in foreign currency prices. This thesis was explored by examining the way the profits from foreign trade were calculated by the Ministry of Foreign Trade, and then transferred to the state budget. It was shown that the correct measure of the state's increased command over domestic resources from engaging in foreign trade, derived from the implicit taxes on that sector, was the ministry's profits on its domestic operations, the first term in (2). However, evidence was presented which suggested that its profits on foreign currency account measured in domestic currency, the second term in (2), were also passed over to the state budget. This implies that transferred profits from foreign trade will overstate the underlying command over resources when there is a balance of payments surplus, and understate them when there is a deficit. The consequence of this is that the domestic economy faces a series of erratic, though small, inflationary and deflationary impulses, regardless of changes in the exchange rate.The theoretical role of the preisausleich system was explored in some detail and it was argued that, although the system has been designed to insulate the domestic economy from external disturbances, there were clear reasons why it had come to play a major part in revenue raising. Specifically, it is administratively convenient to tax resources at their point of entry into or exit from the economy; the taxation of foreign trade widens the tax base and reduces the visibility of the tax system. But, of course, this grafting onto the preisausgleich of a second major function of revenue raising does lead to the development of a further channel through which external disturbances can pass into the domestic economy. That is external disturbances impact on the domestic economy not only through the production and welfare effects of changing exports and imports, and through whatever tenuous links are allowed between foreign and domestic prices, but also insofar as those disturbances affect the ministry's profits from foreign trade. In short, foreign economic disturbances show up in variations in the position of the non-inflationary government budget constraint. To that extent the second function of the preisausgleich impairs its ability to perform its original insulation function. In a minor way, the successful non-inflationary performance of the insulation function has always required adjustments in the government budget constraint. But the growth in the importance of foreign trade taxation has magnified the importance of this phenomenon, and led to a trade-off between the two functions.University of Bath. Initial research for this paper was carried out under ESRC grant HRP 7417/1.     

Industrial relations in Denmark: problems and perspectives*

Most studies on Scandinavian industrial relations have inevitably focused on Sweden, and little has so far been written on Danish industrial relations[1]. This article highlights the similarities and differences between the Danish system and the ‘Swedish model’, and examines some of the current issues in Danish industrial relations.     

Audit Committee Effectiveness in Victorian Local Government

This research addressed the questions: do audit committees (AC) in Victorian local government function effectively? Qualitative and quantitative data were collected to measure the perceptions, attitudes and perspectives of mayors, chief executives and chairs of the AC. The results were compared with perceptions of committee members of the Local Government and Shires Association of New South Wales and board members of the Municipal Association of Victoria as the representative bodies of local government in New South Wales and Victoria. There was a similarity of views in relation to: (1) inputs of an AC; (2) the behavioural nuances of the rigour of debate, trust and effective communications; and (3) the relationships with councillors and management. Limitations to effectiveness included: (1) attraction and retention of members; (2) the variability of expertise and the skills of the members; (3) continuing professional development for members; (4) ‘gaming’ behaviours; (5) power games associated with the appointment process; and (6) domination of the AC by members or management. The suggested way forward is the reinforcement of a strong governance culture in local government and an effective AC providing oversight of compliance, governance, internal control and risk processes.     

Managing absence in an NHS hospital

Absence studies often pay little attention to institutional settings. This study of a large hospital looks at factors affecting absence, and worker attitudes to time off. It reveals a highly committed workforce, but one with low morale, deeply distrustful of a management initiating rapid changes.