THE IMPACT OF GREATER AUTONOMY ON EFFICIENCY OF WORK AND QUALITY OF SERVICES IN PUBLIC SERVICE PROVIDERS: A CASE OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS

ABSTRACT: The paper analyses impact of greater autonomy on efficiency of work and quality of services in public service institutions. Autonomy is one of the key principles of New Public Management that, according to the theory, increases performance in public service providers. However this assumption has been scarcely researched in practice. To narrow this gap, the experimental reform that implemented greater managerial and financial autonomy in 13 Lithuanian state vocational schools was chosen for research. In order to analyse the impact of autonomy after the reform, maximally similar institutions (those that underwent the reform and that did not) are compared using quantitative (incl. counterfactual analysis) and qualitative methods. The results indicate that institutions that have been reformed tend to have better efficiency and quality of services, even though this relationship is not causal. Moreover, the research challenges the notion that such results came from greater autonomy. Finally, the logic of the NPM of as to why more autonomous institutions perform better is also challenged.     

Viewing Tax Policy Through Party‐Colored Glasses: What German Politicians Believe

Abstract. The process of globalization has an important impact on national tax policies. Most of the literature does not focus directly on the political decision‐making process and assumes that the desired tax policy is responding to objective underlying tradeoffs. Based on an original survey of members of the German national parliament (Bundestag) in 2006/07, we document a strong ideological bias among policy‐makers with respect to the perceived mobility of international tax bases (real capital and paper profits). Ideology also influences, directly and indirectly, the perceived national autonomy in tax setting and preferences for a European Union minimum tax for companies. There seems little consensus as to what the efficiency costs of capital taxation in open economies are, even though our survey falls in a period of extensive debate about, and actual adoption of, a company tax reform bill in Germany.     

公平偏好在劳动契约中的作用探讨

劳动契约是典型的不完全契约,一般认为自利的工人仅仅只会做出最低程度的努力水平,而近年来的实验与行为经济学发现工人的选择并不完全符合自利的假设,工人的努力程度还会受到其公平偏好的影响,由于工人的选择直接影响到企业的获利状况,故企业在制定工资水平时应该考虑工人对公平的诉求。     

注册会计师职业道德低下的原因及对策

注册会计师职业道德低下的根本原因是见利忘义、见利忘德。同时,注册会计师专业胜任能力低,执业环境以及注册会计师审计制度本身存在缺陷也导致了注册会计师职业道德低下。提高注册会计师职业道德的对策是：进一步完善注册会计师职业道德规范体系、组织形式和风险约束机制;加强注册会计师职业道德监管力度;严格准入制度。     

第三方仓储物流企业盈利模式探讨

文中主要论述了第三方仓储物流企业三大类共四种不同类型的盈利模式,包括空间仓储服务模式、增值服务模式和基于供需管理平台的服务模式,其中基于供需管理平台的服务模式可分为作为初级阶段管理增值模式和高级阶段的供需网控模式。文中最后还提出了模式转换的建议措施。认为,前两种模式是过去和当前第三方仓储物流企业的主要盈利模式,后两种模式则代表着企业未来的发展方向。     

基于库存调剂的易逝品供应链合作利益分配问题探讨

本文将解决多人合作博弈问题的Shapley值方法用于解决两级易逝品供应链合作利益分配问题。考虑由一个供应商和两个零售商所组成的两级供应链模型,零售商与供应商不合作时,零售商根据供应商的批发价确定订货量,合作时共同决定库存,零售商之间的合作为共同决定订货量且通过库存调剂(转运)共享库存,三方合作可获最大利益,采用Shapley值法可合理分配合作利益,从而使合作更稳定。     

An empirical investigation into the gravitation and convergence of industry return rates in OECD countries

Tests are offered for the hypotheses that sectoral average profit rates and incremental return rates are gravitating around or converging towards a common value. We study data for various OECD countries relying on an econometric method able to account for residual autocorrelation and cross‐sector correlation. Our null hypotheses receive only a mixed empirical support. This is interpreted as the result of various kinds of limitations to capital mobility. Policy implications are discussed.     

Estimated non-linearities and multiple equilibria in a model of distributive-demand cycles

We introduce the results of a non-parametric estimate of the US wage-Phillips Curve into a simplified version of the model of the wage-price spiral by Flaschel and Krolzig (2008). Making use of Okun’s law, the non-linearity in the wage inflation-employment relation translates into a non-linearity in the so-called ‘distributive curve’ of the economy. Exploiting the observed non-linearity in extending an otherwise standard demand-distribution model (Taylor 2004 Taylor, Lance. 2004. Reconstructing macroeconomics. structuralist proposals and critique of the mainstream, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.  [Google Scholar]), we provide a dynamical analysis both in wage-led and profit-led effective demand regimes. In a profit-led scenario, shown to be the empirically relevant case for the US economy, there are two stable equilibria of Goodwin (1967 Goodwin, R.M. 1967. “A growth cycle”. In Socialism, capitalism and economic growth, Edited by: Feinstein, C.H. Cambridge, , UK: Cambridge University Press.  [Google Scholar]) growth cycle type, identified as a stable depression and a stable boom, and a saddle-path stable equilibrium in between them. Both stable steady states are surrounded by trajectories that cycle counterclockwise around their basins of attraction. The obtained type of growth fluctuations can be verified by a long phase cycle estimation for the US economy using a method developed by Kauermann, Teuber and Flaschel (2008 Kauermann, G., Teuber, T. and Flaschel, P. 2008. “Estimating loops and cycles using penalized splines”. Bielefeld: CEM working paper.  [Google Scholar]).