Are We Better Off if Our Politicians Have More Information?

The model of public policy studied in this paper has heterogeneous citizens/voters and two public goods: one (roads) chosen directly by an elected policy‐maker, and the other (pollution) stochastically dependent on the amount of roads. Both a one‐country and a two‐country version of the model are analyzed; the latter displays externalities across the countries which create incentives for free riding and strategic delegation. The welfare effects of providing the policy‐maker with information about the relationship between roads and pollution are investigated, and it is shown that more information hurts some—sometimes even all—citizens. In particular, the opportunity not to create an institution for information gathering can serve as a commitment device for a country, although with the unfortunate effect of making the overall outcome even worse. Implications for the welfare effects of “informational lobbying” are also discussed.     

政府采购制度:强化财政支出管理的必由之路

长期以来,我国财政资金使用效益不高,开支浪费大,监督机制不健全,并由此产生腐败现象,阻碍了经济的发展。建立政府采购制度是解决上述问题的重要途径,也是强化我国财政支出管理的必由之路     

运用信息技术构建民众参与的乡镇治理机制研究——福建省晋江市L镇经验分析

通过对福建省晋江市L镇“L镇在线”局域网站对政务工作影响的叙述和分析,认为信息技术能有效地推进政务公开和基层民主,畅通沟通渠道,提高政府机关工作效率。乡镇局域网站构建了民众参与的乡镇治理新机制,这一机制的潜力还没有完全挖掘,未来还有很大的提升空间。     

地方政府公共投资与区域经济增长的差异性分析

文章采用全国31个省、自治区和直辖市1995~2008年的面板数据,构建动态面板数据模型,考察了地方政府公共投资对区域经济增长的影响。研究表明,1995年以来我国地方政府公共投资总体上推动了区域经济增长,但不同公共投资项目的拉动效应在区域间存在着较大差异。     

Innovative practices in public procurement partnerships: The case of the United States

Public procurement partnerships represent a new approach to conducting government acquisition. These partnerships are predicated on the notion that governments today simply lack the requisite knowledge, skills and financing to provide core public services and acquire sophisticated services, IT and knowledge development by themselves. Instead, governments need to enlist the collective energies of the governmental, business and non-profit (third) sectors. This research looks at the concept of public procurement partnerships in the United States and the major trends promoting their use. Two case examples of public procurement partnerships are presented; one from the perspective of a government partner, the other from the perspective of a private (third) sector partner.     

物流管理信息化的两轮助推器

企业核心竞争力的塑造和维待必须以高效的物流为前提。企业逐渐认识到在以4P为核心转向以4C、4R为核心的网络经济条件的市场竞争机制下，物流在提高企业效率、降低成本、提高效益、加强竞争力等方面及在产品开发、采购、分销等各业务流程中部发挥着至关重要的作用，高效的物流运作离不开物流管理信息化的支持。企业管理的信息化为物流管理信息化引路，物流管理信息系统的构筑是物流管理信息化实施的保障。     

注册会计师与被审计对象合谋行为分析

作为独立性最强的注册会计师审计,对促进我国证券市场的稳定和健康发展起到了重要作用。但近年来系列审计失败事件的不断曝光,注册会计师与被审计对象合谋行为逐步引起了人们的重视,本文对审计合谋动机、产生的条件进行了剖析,并有针对地提出了相关对策及建议。     

(De)Politicization Dynamics in Public–Private Partnerships (PPPs): Lessons from a comparison between UK and Flemish PPP policy

This article analyses the (de)politicization dynamics in complex and technical matters like public–private partnerships, which is necessary given its social impact and budgetary consequences for the years and generations to come. The global financial crisis provides an excellent window of opportunity to present this argument, because PPP policy needs to reinvent itself. We argue that PPP policy needs to be (re)politicized at the broader societal and discursive levels, which means that their public nature is recognized and that policy alternatives are debated in the public forums. The ‘Private Finance Initiative’ reassessment process in the UK may serve as an example.     

Do accountabilities change when public organisations transform to service systems: A new conceptual approach

In this conceptual paper, we discuss from the service systems perspective how accountabilities differ from a hierarchic and organisational perspective within the domain of New Public Management, looking to shed new light upon accountability as a research topic. The concept of service systems and their accountabilities are scrutinised and the role of integrated social and health care services is discussed in particular. The main argument in the text is the changing nature of accountabilities as the public organisations are being transformed into service systems. To date, the understanding of accountability has remained structural by nature – such is the case also for productivity measurement – but the shift from organisations towards services systems means that accountability ought to be considered as processual by nature. By processual it is meant that accountability should be considered as flows within systems – that is: flows between agents the content of which we argue includes not only knowledge on the outputs of public services, but also values, empathy and thus multi‐layered understanding of accountability. The paper concludes with practical insights for managerial purposes on the basis for this accountability shift.     

The effect of concentration and market power on food prices: evidence from Finland

This research examines empirically the relationship between economies of scale, concentration, and market power in food retailing. With unique, local market data available Finland, the analysis could investigate the impact of both local concentration and industry-wide concentration (which can be interpreted as multimarket contact) are taken into account in the evaluation of grocery retail competitiveness. The results show that the main factor affecting market power is the size of the retail firm. Larger share grocery retailers, for both the local and the national markets, carried higher mark-ups. At the same time, no firm-level scale economies were found from these larger firms. I conclude from these findings that the main purpose of large grocery retail mergers is to gain market power not efficiency.