Spillovers of state policy innovations: New York's hazardous waste regulatory initiatives

States are often seen as policy laboratories where innovations are tried that may later be adopted by other states or the federal government. Engendering such experiments may, however, promote spillovers on other states. We analyze several of New York State's policy initiatives from the 1980s that were intended to influence the selection of waste management technologies by hazardous waste generators. Time series analysis of hazardous waste manifest data reveals that constraints on land disposal of certain wastes and a tax on hazardous waste generation and disposal were associated with shifts to lower-risk technologies for waste management. The policies also constrained imports to in-state land disposal facilities and may have led to increased exports for incineration and recycling, thus shifting some of the risks of hazardous waste to other jurisdictions with less stringent regulations or lower taxes on waste generation and management.     

Reduce transaction costs? Yes. Strengthen property rights? Maybe: The First Nations Land Management Act and economic development on Canadian Indian reserves

Economic development on Canadian Indian reserves is hindered by the fact that aboriginal peoples living on these reserves lack efficient and effective property rights. In 1999, the federal government passed the First Nations Land Management Act, which allows participating First Nations to develop their own land codes for administering their reserve lands. After analyzing two First Nation land codes in Ontario and Saskatchewan, this paper finds that land codes are effective mechanisms for addressing drag on on-reserve development.     

The incentive effects of property taxes on local governments

This paper applies the ideas of Brennan and Buchanan (1977, 1978, 1980) to local property taxes. When local governments maximize their revenues, property taxes provide incentives for adequate amenity provision. Local amenity provision determines property values which then determine local tax revenues. As long as the demand for housing is inelastic, property-taxes will provide stronger incentives for local governments than lump-sum taxes. As current property values reflect expectations about future amenity levels, property taxes create incentives for even the most myopic government to invest for the future. Local property taxes can also act to limit the incentives of localities to tax; there are cases where higher levels of local property taxes lead to lower overall tax burdens. These ideas are applied to the tax reform in the late 1970s; one reason that tax reform may have been so successful is that in a period where land prices are driven by many forces other than government amenities, property taxes lose their value as incentive devices.     

论我国农地市场化流转中的政府责任

农地市场化流转是我国农地产权制度的诱致性创新。当前我国农村土地流转中,由于诸多障碍因素,市场机制难以发挥配置土地资源的基础性作用。从增强市场机制在农村土地流转中的基础性作用出发,政府应该从直接的农村土地流转活动中退出,多方面为农地市场化流转创造有利条件,加快推进农地流转进程。     

Producing Provincial Space: Crown Forests,the State and Territorial Control in British Columbia

This paper presents three ways in which Crown forest administration in British Columbia at the turn of the 20th century helped to facilitate effective provincial control of territory. First, officials discursively constructed timbered spaces as a shared trust for British Columbia's citizens. Secondly, they produced useful geographical knowledge and a spatial architecture that would facilitate on-going surveillance. Finally, officials constructed resource spaces of sustained production, monitored and controlled by trained experts. Thus, Crown forest administration solidified provincial claims to vast swaths of territory. The analysis highlights the importance of considering the on-going geographies of land and resource management as a fundamental part of processes of dispossession and reterritorialisation.     

当前中国机关事务管理研究中的前沿问题——资产管理、层空关系和集中统一方式

当前我国机关事务管理研究领域仍有诸多前沿问题有待深入研究。在资产管理方面,广义党务机关的资产管理、机构变动情况下的资产管理和土地使用权资产管理是需要着重研究的问题。在不同层次机关和所处空间地域方面,驻地政府参与上级机关的机关事务运行保障、同一空间地域机关事务中通用服务整合、垂直机关的机关事务运行保障、异地办事处机关运行保障以及采取集中办公方式的规划问题是需要着重研究的问题。在机关事务运行保障所采取的集中统一方式中,组织集中统一方式、技术集中统一方式和内部市场交易集中统一方式是不同的方式路径,如何将这些不同的路径应用于不同的发展阶段,构建相应的发展战略,也是需要着重研究的问题。     

Market imperfections,government imperfections,and policy mixes: policy innovations in Singapore

Proper roles for government and market in addressing policy problems may be assessed by considering the duality between market imperfections and government imperfections. The potential of government interventions or market mechanisms as core policy instruments can be eroded by fundamental deficiencies deeply rooted in either government or market as social institutions. The impacts of such deficiencies are much more extensive than postulated by the existing theories. Analysis here, based on policy innovations in land transport and health care in Singapore, suggests how policy mixes might become the norm of response for addressing policy problems found in a range of sectors. The analytical framework presented may help to distinguish among different policy mixes according to their effectiveness, but also provides some useful guiding principles for policy design.     

Bringing accountability for results to government in British Columbia

In British Columbia, Canada, an initiative is underway to introduce results-focused accountability reporting for government ministries and Crown corporations. This significant change is coming about through a unique collaboration of government, the Legislative Assembly, and the Office of the Auditor General of British Columbia. This article describes: the background leading to the initiative; the conceptual framework, including the areas of government covered by the initiative and the methods of accountability reporting; the issues around implementation of results-focused government, including education and cultural change at administrative and political levels; and the success of the initiative to date. While the real success of this initiative will only be evident in a few years' time, the coming together of many parts of government to develop a common vision of what government should look like, and the development of a better understanding by all the parties to this process of one another's position and priorities, are already paying dividends.     

我国土地调控失灵的制度经济分析

中国城市化发展的直接后果就是大量农用地转化为非农用地,耕地资源日益减少.对此,中央政府加强了土地调控力度,严格保护土地资源.但地方政府有与中央不同的目标,而现有的土地产权制度为地方政府规避中央的调控政策提供了可能性.在梳理现代产权理论的基础上,深入剖析了土地产权的三重分割问题,即土地国有和"全民所有"的分割,所有者与管理者的分割,以及中央政府与地方政府的分割.地方政府实际上获得了管理和经营土地资源的直接权力,而又无需承担相应的长期后果.这一方面激励地方政府超常经营土地的行为,形成所谓"土地财政"现象;另一方面造成土地保护陷入集体行动困境.由于土地管制和市场调节双重失灵,尽管中央政府不断收紧土地闸门和信贷闸门,对土地开发市场的调控效果仍不明显,土地资源的低效率运用未见实质性改观,耕地保护压力仍然很大.     

我国社会管理体制的历史变迁与深化改革

与经济、政治体制改革相适应,我国社会管理体制改革经过了高度一元化社会管控阶段、传统管理体制逐步解体、残补模式和现代社会治理四个阶段的变迁,并在管理理念、管理目标、管理主体、管理体制机制和管理方式等方面呈现出规律性的演进特征。按照新型社会管理体制模式的要求,深化社会管理体制改革必须在凝聚社会共识、转变政府职能、发育社会组织、创新运行机制、完善社区管理等方面实现突破。     

农村土地权属管理中存在的问题及解决对策

农村土地权属管理是明确农村土地所有权、使用权归属,化解农村土地权属争议的一项重要管理工作。目前,我国农村土地权属管理中还存在着土地权属争议复杂、处理难度大,立法模糊、适用法律不统一,以及基层土地权属管理制度不够完善等一系列问题。为此,必须进一步完善土地立法,明确土地确权原则,加强依法行政,加大对土地权属争议的调处力度,重视有关土地政策法律的宣传工作,同时注重借鉴其他国家和地区的土地管理经验,从而扎实推进农村土地权属管理工作的有效开展。     

电子政务悖论与政府管理变革

电子政务工程绝不是简单的IT在政府中的应用,电子政务作为新技术,其实是政府经营系统的一部分,必须和经营系统的各部分相互协调才可以发挥其作用。政府再造是电子政务实施的理论依据。电子政务是借助信息技术来实现的政府再造,是新时期政府管理变革的一个良好的契机。我们应该在继承政府再造先进理论成果的基础上整合电子政务系统,防止信息悖论在电子政务中重演。电子政务败因和电子政务项目的复杂性有直接关系。复杂性可以从4个维度来描述:衔接、变革的幅度、人员、时间。这4个维度可以说是电子政务项目成功的关键成功因素。最后,给出了我国当前在电子政务建设中实现政府管理变革的出路。     

Paradoxes of Public Sector Customer Service

The use of customer service ideas in government continues to be widespread, although the concept and its implications for public sector service production and delivery remain poorly developed. This paper presents a series of paradoxes related to customer service and its use in government. The central and most troubling paradox is that customer service techniques and tools applied to government may lead to increased political inequality even as some aspects of service are improved. The argument is structured by examination of the following: the predominant structural features of service management in theprivate sector, the assumption that customer satisfaction is a central objective of service firms, the understanding of customer service that informs current federal reform efforts, and the operational and political challenges of customer service as a public management objective.     

企业对食品安全的组织化保障义务

企业依法对食品安全负有组织化保障的义务。食品安全管理员就是这种特定的组织之一。食品安全管理员的资格取得、与企业乃至国家之间的关系、安全管理的职责和地位,是组织化安全管理制度的重要内容。在制度设计时,国家应在确保食品安全的同时,既在一定程度上保证食品安全管理员的管理和建议得到尊重,另一方面也要维护企业的经营自由。     

我国城市土地出让制度的缺陷分析及其完善

目前我国的城市土地出让制度存在法律法规不健全、四种出让方式均易引发诸多弊端、土地出让过程缺乏有效监管以及出让金制度不完善四大缺陷。反映到具体实践中,则突出表现为城市土地出让过程中的权力寻租、"土地财政"、不公平竞争等一系列问题。必须从健全法律法规体系、完善土地产权制度、规范土地出让行为、改革土地出让金制度、加强土地领域廉政建设等方面,进一步改进和完善城市土地出让制度,使之更加适应城市化发展和经济结构调整的需要。     

Elk management and policy in southern Greater Yellowstone: Assessing the constitutive process

The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, USA, is recognized globally as a model for land and wildlife conservation, management, and policy. A major policy problem in the region is the highly contentious winter feeding of elk (Cervus elaphus) on 23 government feed grounds in western Wyoming through cooperative management under several state and federal agencies. Numerous non-governmental groups and concerned citizens are also affected by elk management or seek to contribute to management policies. The long-term controversy shows that this issue centers on how management and policy should be made and who should be involved in decision-making—the constitutive policy process. This paper examines and appraises the constitutive process in this case, including how competency, authority, and control are allocated. It also looks at how institutions, analytic techniques, procedures, and people are structured, selected, and included or excluded in decision-making processes. Our data come from a multi-method approach over the past decade, including participant-observation, historical literature, interviews, media analysis, and technical reports. Our analysis shows that institutional dynamics severely constrain the scope of deliberations, the production of practical problem definitions, and the search for improvements in elk management. We recommend that participants focus on the constitutive level of policy making, i.e., the underlying structure and functioning of policy processes, learn how these elements function and affect processes and outcomes, and learn to configure them in ways that embody democratic principles, serve common interests, and resolve policy problems.     

Learning how to be efficient property owners and accountable governments: the case of Kyrgyzstan's cities

As a result of government decentralization and property devolution from central to local governments, many city governments in transition countries became the largest real property owners in urban areas. For transitional countries lacking sufficient democratic traditions, efficient asset management represents a dramatic and multifaceted challenge. Kyrgyzstan happened to be among the first transitional countries where cities obtained systematic technical assistance in adapting the most advanced methodology of municipal asset management, which was recently developed under the auspices of the World Bank. Based on experience of work within five pilot cities, the article summarizes factors and methods that help develop a sense of strong ownership and internalization of new asset management vision and approaches among local officials and elected members of city councils. The article presents the experience of how the government of Uzgen, a city of about 40,000 people in South Kyrgyzstan, has changed its attitudes and approach regarding management of municipal property. The article demonstrates how two key processes—improving professional aspects of municipal asset management and developing local democracy though public involvement—have been reinforced by each other. One of the main lessons from Uzgen's experience is that municipal property asset management—because it deals with tangible issues—is a perfect focal point for developing local democracy and communication between a local population and its government. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Managing public commercial enterprises in Nigeria: The case of Kwara State commercial parastatals

Employing the usual profit criterion to evaluate performance of the commercial parastatals in Nigeria, as revealed in the case of Kwara State, the enterprises are a failure. The differences in the management of the parastatals and similar but private enterprises may have accounted for differences in performance. Among the features of management of the parastatals are the role of government in the appointment of chief executives without necessary regard to merit; the relatively poor conditions of service as obtained in the civil service; and the huge debts owed the parastatals by governments. To improve performance, the following measures should be adopted. There is need to remove commercial parastatals from the civil service to attract quality management staff while government control should be substantially relaxed. Improved funding should be guaranteed through the financial houses while government should settle their debts to the organizations. The issue of privatization is worth proper consideration with a view to selling the companies to the private sector.     

Citizen,Customer, Partner: Rethinking the Place of the Public in Public Management

Scholars and practitioners have long debated what role the public should play in public management. When members of the public interact with the administrative side of government, should they be treated as customers, as citizens, or in some other manner? This article takes as its premise that members of the public assume three principal roles relative to public management: as customers, as partners, and as citizens. After placing these roles in the context of the history of public administration, the article draws from recent research to recommend guidelines for how public managers can work effectively with the public in these several capacities.     

经济转型期的政府职能与土地市场发育

土地市场的发育和繁荣与政府所提供的制度规则与激励是分不开的。但由于经济转型期政府职能的“缺位”与“错位”等问题使土地市场的发育仍然存在许多不足。对经济转型期政府在土地市场发育中的职能缺乏规范的分析,对政府在土地市场发育中的职能认识不清是产生上述问题的原因。经济转型期政府职能定位不同于成熟的市场经济国家,对市场的培育非常重要。因此,政府应该在明晰土地权利、培育竞争主体、维护土地市场竞争秩序等方面发挥作用;同时,实施有效的公共政策供给以调控土地市场,从而维护土地市场的良性发育。