Centralizing treasury management in China: The rationale of the central reformers

The Chinese central government, spearheaded by the Ministry of Finance, launched a bold reform of the treasury management system in 2001, centralizing the disbursement of budgetary funds. This article analyzes the rationale of institutional reform from the perspective of the central reformers. Traditionally, governmental bank accounts in China were fragmented between and within levels of government, hindering budget implementation and intergovernmental transfers, as well as fomenting corruption. The centerpiece of China's treasury reform is the establishment of the Treasury Single Account (TSA), which serves to both strengthen expenditure controls and improve cash management. However, while the treasury reform promises to make significant strides in improving fiscal control and countering the misuse of public funds, its implementation remains imperfect and incomplete. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

城中村犯罪热点研究:以深圳L村为例

城中村一直被笼统地描述为犯罪高发区。利用深圳L村2007、2008年的犯罪记录,发现城中村的犯罪并不是平均分布的,城中村中居住区的犯罪密度最高,其次为商业区和村落周边区域,工业区的犯罪密度最低。城中村的犯罪热点主要集中在居住区、商业区等人员密集的区域、村落周边等偏僻地点。犯罪热点形成的原因在于,偏僻的地理位置、复杂的地理环境、高度拥挤的居住环境导致区域的监控能力弱,犯罪容易实施。从犯罪预防的角度,对不同区域的热点,应提供不同的解决途径,居住区的犯罪防御应主要解决防盗问题,商业区主要解决欺诈和打架问题,周边地区应主要解决抢劫问题。     

实施电子政务对我国现代化进程的意义

进入信息时代,电子政务是新的政府工作模式,网络化是必然的选择。实施电子政务对我国现代化进程具有十分重要的意义,它是建设符合我国国情的现代化、信息化的政府,推动社会发展,加强国家安全保障的有力工具。     

Operations Psychology: The Singapore Police Experience

The field of operations psychology has predominantly been concerned with supporting military operations. However, with the evolving role of policing from traditional patrolling roles to major planned security operations, operations psychology is gaining importance in enhancing police deployments and crisis management operations. This paper documents the Singapore Police’s experience with using operations psychology in major operations and proposes an Operations Psychology Framework to think about the possible operations psychology contributions in enhancing major police operations.     

Using Rwandan traditions to strengthen programme and policy implementation

Implementing change is far harder than making policy pronouncements that call for change. Rwanda, in the 20 years since the 1994 genocide, has made substantial progress in turning around its economy and in meeting key Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Real GDP in Rwanda grew at a rate of over 8% per year in the past years, the percentage of the people living in poverty has dropped by 14%, and UNDP reports that Rwanda is on track to meeting many but not all MDGs by 2015. Rwanda's progress in economic and social spheres stands out in Africa, where many countries, despite commitments to the MDGs, lag behind on performance. The difference in Rwanda is the leadership's attention to implementation, and the incorporation of endogenous practices, particularly into planning and accountability. This article is based on observations of practice at national and community levels and of policy design and implementation. It is a by-product of a study of the impact of different approaches to community health delivery systems in Rwanda, completed as part of the author's doctoral dissertation, and also of the author's experience working within the government in Rwanda.     

Household Saving Behaviour in an Extended Life Cycle Model: A Comparative Study of China and India

This paper examines the determinants of household saving in China and India over the last few decades using the life cycle model, with appropriate modifications to account for the expected benefits of pension saving. Consistent with the predictions made in the life cycle model, higher income growth promotes more household saving, and higher age dependency does the opposite. An increase in the inflation rate appears to encourage household saving. Interestingly, the evidence suggests that an increase in expected pension benefits tends to discourage household saving in China in the long run, but the reverse is found in India.     

Gang affiliation,aggression, and violent offending in a sample of youth offenders

Abstract

Gang affiliation, aggression, and violent offending were examined in case files of 390 youth offenders aged between 16 and 18 years. Results indicated that youth offenders who were gang members and those who were not gang members but exposed to friends in gangs had a significantly higher likelihood of violent offending compared with a reference group of youth offenders who had neither gang affiliation nor friends in gangs. Additionally, youth offenders who had friends in gangs but were themselves not gang members had a lower likelihood of violent offending than youth offenders who were gang members. Finally, results showed that a history of aggressive behavior was significantly associated with violent offending. Implications such as the need to address the influence of delinquent peers and need to address the management of anger and aggression in youths will be discussed. Also, findings point towards the need for prevention and early intervention work.     

List of Contributors

In this paper we extend earlier work on the effects of disparate retirement rates on the partisan composition of the contemporary House of Representatives (1954–2006). Gilmour and Rothstein had posited that the Grand Old Party's (GOP) ‘permanent minority’ status in the House between 1954 and 1994 was the principal cause of this differential. Contrary to expectations, we find that even after their takeover of the House in 1995, Republican Members of Congress (MCs) continued to leave the chamber voluntarily at higher rates than their Democratic colleagues, both to retire completely from public life and to seek higher office. Ceteris paribus, even as the GOP made considerable offsetting gains in its ability to re-elect incumbents and to retain open seats, this continued disparity significantly attenuated the size of their legislative majority and contributed to their ousting as the majority party in the elections of 2006. We conclude the paper with some speculations regarding the reasons for the persistence of relatively high rates of Republican retirements.     

Genetic data for the 13 CODIS STR loci in Singapore Indians

Allele frequencies for the 13 CODIS short tandem repeat (STR) loci included in the AmpFISTR Profiler Plus and AmpFISTR Cofiler kits (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, USA) were determined in a sample of 174 unrelated Indians in Singapore.