Indonesian Local Government Spending,Taxing and Saving: An Explanation of Pre‐ and Post‐decentralization Fiscal Outcomes*

As a result of Indonesia's decentralization program, local governments have gained significantly more responsibility for service delivery, considerably larger fiscal resources, and much greater authority over the use of those resources than before. The present paper develops a simple budget model to describe and explain the substantial differences in pre‐ and post‐decentralization local government fiscal behavior related to spending, taxing and saving. During the post‐decentralization period special attention is paid to the fiscal behavior of natural resource rich regions. Among other things, the evidence suggests that: post‐decentralization local government spending is partly responsive to increasing needs and partly the subject of elite capture; local government taxation has become more aggressive under decentralization and appears to be mostly driven by local bureaucratic expectations related to routine overhead budgets; and the increased savings of local governments during the post‐decentralization period is determined to a large degree by delayed central government transfer payments.     

The ‘new public management’ and the reform of public services to agriculture in adjusting economies: the role of contracting

This paper outlines the conditions under which contracting of different types succeeds in the provision of public services to agriculture. It observes that performance contracting has been widely attempted in adjusting countries but generally with little success, since it is demanding of resources, flexibility and motivation in government under conditions where these are scarce. Examples are drawn from agricultural marketing. Given the largely private nature of the services to agriculture currently provided by the state, the long-term reform strategy should be market development. Contracting out and management contracting may have a role in this strategy, particularly in better managed adjusting economies.     

Initial public offerings in the gaming industry: an empirical study

The fastest growing segment of the hospitality industry is gaming-related business. This industry has experienced record numbers of companies going public, and their stocks are considered favorable long-term investments. Research in the initial public offering (IPO) area suggests that investors acquiring stock at the initial offering price earn large returns. The purpose of this study was to determine if large returns are being experienced for IPOs in the gaming segment of the hospitality industry, and if these large returns were limited to investors who purchased the stock at the initial offer price. There were 14 gaming-related companies selected for the study. The conclusions supported research reporting that the highest returns from IPO investments are made when the stock is purchased at the initial offer price. This study concludes that returns based on the initial offer price were greater than the casino index and the IPO index. When the investor purchased the stock at the first day's closing price, however, returns compared to the two indices were surpassed only after holding the stock for 8 weeks.     

Reviewing Oates' insights in a repeated game setting

This paper analyzes the optimal assignment of public good policies to layers of a federal system in a repeated game setting. Under a centralized regime, public goods are financed jointly across regions, and a federal legislature decides on the regional quantities. Under a decentralized regime, public goods are financed locally, and governments play a non-cooperative provision game. We find that a centralized (decentralized) regime is more likely to provide the efficient public good policies in case spillovers are small (large). Received: September 2003, Accepted: October 2004 JEL Classification: H11, H41 I wish to thank Clemens Fuest, Anke Kessler, Christoph Lülfesmann, and an anonymous referee for valuable comments on this paper. Financial support by the DFG (SPP 1142) is gratefully acknowledged.     

Sources of Sectoral Growth in an Economy Wide Context: The Case of U.S. Agriculture

Growth in U.S. agriculture is linked to the non-farm economy through domestic terms of trade and factor market adjustments. With almost stable input growth, the relatively large contributions from growth in Total Factor Productivity (TFP) are passed on to intermediate and final consumers in the form of declining real prices for primary farm products. The resulting net growth in the real value of farm output (GDP) is relatively low (0.25% per annum). The decomposition of TFP suggests that public agricultural stock of knowledge and infrastructure are robustly associated with TFP growth, while spill-overs from private agricultural and economy wide research and development (R and D) are positive but, relatively small.     

公共投资建设项目决策建立听证制度探讨

公共投资建设项目的投入源自公共资源，项目的建设与公众利益息息相关，在项目决策中建立听证制度来广泛征求社会公众的意见具有重大的现实意义。本文分析了在公共投资建设项目决策中建立听证制度的作用，并从制定依据、制度形式、制订主体等八个方面对听证制度做了详细的探讨。     

英国城市的无障碍环境建设

随着残疾人问题的日益突出 ,英国对城市无障碍环境建设问题日渐重视。本文介绍了英国无障碍环境建设的有关立法、建筑规范、规划政策、规划控制与建筑控制的比较以及公众参与的情况     

监督:民主政治建设的关键

防止公共权力滥用的有效途径是建设民主政治,加强监督。监督是民主政治制度的关键所在,没有监督就没有民主。     

公共部门绩效管理系统再造

公务员绩效管理是公共部门人力资源管理的核心。本文通过深入分析我国当前公务员考核存在的问题,重点从理论上探讨了绩效管理系统的开发与设计,从实践上探索了绩效管理系统的实施与操作。     

大力发展表外业务,提升银行竞争力

随着存贷款利差的缩小，传统的银行业务利润水平普遍下降，表外业务作为一种创新型的业务，将成为我国银行新的利润增长点。分析我国银行表外业务的现状，指出发展表外业务应注意的问题。