FINANCIAL INDICATORS AND TRENDS FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENTS: A STATE-BASED POLICY PERSPECTIVE

Recent federal reports, the projected "new" federalism, research in financial and economic trends, and the emerging consensus concerning local government distress have highlighted the fact that no comprehensive or systematic federal, state, or local policies exist to deal with the problems that have been identified. The purpose of this article is to perform a statebased study of financial patterns and trends in local governments that have implications for state policy. Included in the analysis were correlations between constant dollar financial indicators and an instability index for four data points. The results of the analysis and trends suggest that certain consistent patterns which have implications for state policy exist.     

QUEENSLAND RAILWAYS AND EXPORT COAL*

Abstract: The article first sketches the sorry state of Queensland Railways before export coal haulage when road and air transport were undermining its traditional monopoly on freight and passenger services. It then documents the Railways' growing reliance, since the mid 1960s, on revenue and profits from transporting export coal. The negotiating process for setting freight rates and the increasing entrepreneurial approach adopted by the state are examined in some detail, particularly for the early Thiess and Utah agreements. Rough estimates of the Railways' profit from carrying coal are made from the Railways' published accounts and from Utah's figures. These figures are intended to suggest the order of magnitude of the sums involved rather than to be accurate estimates.     

THE INTERNATIONALIZATION OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND PUBLIC POLICY: IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHING

Increasingly, the nations of the world are becoming more interdependent among themselves. This is true not only in an economic sense, but in a political sense as well. The field of public administration has become internationalized, presenting a new challenge to both teachers and students of the discipline. The article argues that special attention should be given to teaching students how to manage policy interdependency. Furthermore, the interdisciplinary approach is advocated as a method of broadening students' perspectives in public administration. In concluding the article, the author offers several recommendations for improving public administration programs.     

THE NEW POLICY CHALLENGES OF FINANCIAL SERVICES GLOBALIZATION

Can nation states cope with numerous public policy challenges–ranging from regional financial crises to the failures of large financial services firms–posed by today's globalized financial and monetary landscape? As Benjamin Cohen has argued “governments must consciously adapt to a dramatic transformation of their status, from monopolists to oligopolists, if they are to adequately represent the interests of all their citizens in monetary affairs.” This article briefly examines the nature of the policy challenges facing states and reviews the findings of symposium contributors who explored the national, regional and international responses of states to the fast moving global financial and monetary developments.