International Cooperation to Manage High‐Skill Migration: The Case of India–U.S. Relations

Highly skilled people are among the most valuable factors of production in the contemporary world economy. Some have characterized the competition among nations for these people as a “brain drain” or “war for talent,” which imposes significant costs on the countries of emigration. However, the distribution of costs and benefits that results from high‐skill migration is not necessarily zero‐sum or fixed. It may be altered through international cooperation, producing a self‐reinforcing “win–win” scenario for sending and receiving countries. Bilateral cooperation, focused on specific sectors affected by migration, is the most promising approach for realizing such a scenario. This paper explores the prospects and potential for such cooperation between India and the United States, which comprise what is probably the world's largest high‐skill mobility relationship. After sketching the broad contours of the relationship, we explore the prospects for mutually beneficial cooperation in three specific fields of high‐skill migration: information technology services, medicine and nursing, and graduate education.     

China–Japan interaction in the Middle East: a battleground of Japan's remilitarization

As most studies on Middle East–East Asian relations focus on the interregional dimension, the manner in which relations between East Asian powers influence, and are influenced by, their policies in the Middle East are largely overlooked. Attempting to add another layer to the study of Sino-Japanese relations, this article explores whether Sino-Japanese rivalry extends to the Middle East. This undertaking requires a conceptual distinction between measures related to Sino-Japanese competition in the Middle East and measures which are related to their rivalry. Building on a minimal definition of interstate rivalry, the article argues that neither the effort to secure energy supply nor their economic or political competition there is shaped by their rivalry. The only field that can be associated with that rivalry is Japan's quasi-military activity in the Middle East, which may enhance its security policy's revision. That, in turn, causes much concern and criticism in Beijing, thus assigning the region a certain role in their relations.     

The Danish ‘Competition State’: Still Along the Third Way?

This brief review article addresses the question of whether the so-called “competition state” was “abandoned” during the recent Danish election of 2019, which brought the Social Democrats back in government under the leadership of Mette Frederiksen. During the prior Social Democratic government of 2011-2015, led by Helle Thorning-Schmitt, this concept was introduced as a highly controversial policy concept and came to summarize the government’s program of economic reforms and recovery. The concept was subsequently strongly criticized in broader public political discourse as well as by the Social Democratic party and Mette Frederiksen herself. It is thus worth considering, whether the competition state reform program has been “buried” with the recent election, as this might imply a more radical break or discontinuity away from the “third way” competition state reform program embarked upon by most western European Social democrats since the 1990’s. This article will, first, briefly review the public discussion about the competition state in Denmark, before it, second, will recapitulate the academic debate about the competition state and clarify the concept. Third, it will review central tenets of the economic policy of the Thorning-Schmitt government of 2011-2015, as well as, fourth, the announced reform program of the new Social Democratic government. Finally the article will contrast and compare the two programs, and conclude that the “competition state” to a large extent endured the election of 2019, even if the Frederiksen government seems to lead the Danish competition state into reform trajectory towards increasing dis-universalization of social security and pensions.     

Lobbying and compromise

The compromise enhancing effect of lobbying on public policy has been established in two typical settings. In the first, lobbies are assumed to act as “principals” and the setters of the policy (the candidates in a Downsian electoral competition or the elected policy maker in a citizen-candidate model of electoral competition) are conceived as “agents”. In the second setting, the proposed policies are solely determined by the lobbies who are assumed to take the dual role of “principals” in one stage of the public-policy game and ‘agents’ in its second stage. The objective of this paper is to demonstrate that in the latter setting, the compromising effect of lobbying need not exist. Our reduced-form, two-stage public-policy contest, where two interest groups compete on the approval or rejection of the policy set by a politician, is sufficient to show that the proposed and possibly implemented policy can be more extreme and less efficient than the preferred policies of the interest groups. In such situations then more than the calf (interest groups) wish to suck the cow (politician) desires to suckle thereby threatening the public well being more than the lobbying interest groups. The main result specifies the conditions that give rise to such a situation under both the perfectly and imperfectly discriminating contests.     

Competition and Choice in New York City . Social Services

Privatization is intended to improve public services by introducing competition and choice. Does privatization of social services result in competition? To answer this we studied New York City's experience with contracts for three services: shelters for homeless adults, home care, and employment training. A total of 132 contract awards to nonprofit agencies were examined. The evidence suggests the procurement procedures were competitive and followed good practices. There was significant competition in terms of the number of announcements issued, the number of requests for proposals distributed, and the number of proposals ultimately submitted‐an average of 2.48 proposals per award. Contracting for homeless shelters has produced a voucher‐like system with desirable features. Vouchers are also used for some employment training and could be used for home care. Such systems can introduce even more competition and choice for clients of social services. Problems of contracting with nonprofit agencies are reviewed.     

“WOMEN'S PRISONS” AND “MEN'S PRISONS”: SHOULD PRISONERS BE CLASSIFIED BY SEX?

What are the differences between “women's prisons” and “men's prisons”? That question is answered in this article, which documents that many institutions “for” women do not provide services designed specially for women, or anyone else. Moreover, some women's prisons provide fewer vocational, recreational, and educational programs than do institutions “for” men. Given the growing literature on the disparity of services and on the relative deprivations faced by many women prisoners, the author questions whether segregation by sex should continue to be used as a major premise of prison classification systems.     

FISCAL STRESS AND HEALTH POLICY IN THE A.C.T.*

Abstract: Since 1981, the financing of the‘ ACT has been subject to five inquiries by the Commonwealth Grants Commission. These inquiries have incorporated the ACT into the fiscal equalisation process between Australian states and territories. and have significantly affected the ACT'S general revenue grants from the commonwealth. The inquiries produced evidence of generous commonwealth funding of the ACT compared with the other states. This funding has given rise to “over-spending” on service provision by the ACT government. The ACT government is not currently responsible for all identified “over-spending”. being buffered to some extent by transitional allowances recommended by the Grants Commission. The ACT government is, however, experiencing fiscal stress for the “overspending” for which it is responsible. This stress is expected to increase in the future as the ACT government comes to bear the full burden of all “overspending”. A significant cause of the “over-spending” identified by the Grants Commission was health services expenditure. This situation has raised a number of interesting questions. Is the “overspending” on health a conscious policy decision to produce a higher quantity/quality combination of health services in the ACT? Or does it represent inefficiency? What policy options are appropriate in view of the “over-spending” on health? This paper addresses these questions using data from the Grants Commission inquiries and a recently released study of hospital utilisation and costs in Australia. It is concluded that, at least with respect to public hospitals in the ACT. excessive stafting is the primary cause of “over-spending”. There is little evidence to support an argument that this “over-spending” is resulting in superior health outcomes for ACT citizens.     

Price competition and the acquisition of weapons systems

The acquisition of major weapons systems by the Department of Defense shares many elements of traditional “natural monopoly” problems in that efficiency considerations often require that only a single producer exist. This article examines the costs and benefits associated with introducing added producers as a means of stimulating competition. The costs are largely those entailed in transferring technology from the firm that originally developed the system to other potential producers, costs that are concentrated at the beginning of the acquisition period. The benefits are manifested primarily in the form of possible reduced acquisition costs spread over the acquisition period. Under appropriate circumstances, the use of price competition to allocate production contracts can be cost-effective. Some familiar analytical techniques help program managers to recognize such circumstances.     

“Social licence to operate” and the human services: A pathway to smarter commissioning?

Externalised service provision is now an embedded feature of Australia's service delivery architecture. However, the lessons drawn from two decades of contracted service delivery suggest that “competition” is an imperfect platform for the delivery of public services, especially where issues of trust in government come into play. Could the concept of a “social license to operate” (SLO), which has been in use in the natural resources sector for over two decades, help to facilitate the conferral of greater trust, credibility and legitimacy upon governments, and externalised service providers in social policy spaces?     

THE HOUSE OF COMMONS LOOKS AT THE CIVIL SERVICE*

Abstract: The 1977 report on the Civil Service by the Expenditure Committee of the U.K. House of Commons contains much to interest Australian readers. It recommends abolition of the Administration Trainee Scheme and an extension of the “Open Structure” to Assistant Secretary level; the establishment of a higher management course; the re-activation of the Pay Research Unit; and the appointment of part-time “outsiders” to the Civil Service Commission. Although luke-warm to the Fulton doctrine of “hiving-off”, the Committee favours the creation of more “accountable units” in departments. The centrepiece of the Report is the recommended return of key Civil Service Department functions—manpower control; management services; and internal responsibility for monitoring efficiency—to Treasury. The role of Parliament in improving efficiency is not neglected; it is proposed that the Exchequer and Audit Department conduct audits of management efficiency and effectiveness and that the use of select committees to review Executive activity be extended. The Committee was divided on the issue of whether officials serve ministers as well as they should, but the Report does contain proposals which are seen as “strengthening the minister's arm”. Overall the Report reflects the Committee's limited resources; analysis is often inconclusive, or at best, partial (particularly in areas such as the central organization of government and relations between the centre and departments), and the document seems to lack a clear strategy and sense of direction. However, the Committee's work does compare favourably with that of many other inquiries into the Civil Service.     

Outsourcing: Uncovering the Complexity of the Decision

ABSTRACT

Outsourcing is a phenomenon that, on the surface, is used to reduce costs and enable an organization to focus on its core competencies. In researching into outsourcing and whether this assumption holds true, this article focuses on public health organizations where outsourcing has been applied to both clinical and non-clinical services. In the cases observed, public sector managers assumed contracting would lower production costs for peripheral services whose outcomes could be easily measured and monitored. Clinical services were not usually outsourced because these core services were more difficult to measure. In implementing contracts for non-core services, decision makers' political and ideological objectives overshadowed management imperatives that are necessary for effective contract design and implementation, leading to poor service outcomes and little cost savings. Choosing the “right” services to contract does guarantee good outcomes such as lower costs and improved labor flexibility, but it is necessary to understand that optimum outcomes are only achievable if the service is clearly non-core, has measurable outcomes, and has low transaction frequency. It is also clear that outsourcing will not remove management problems; it simply adds another layer of complexity on top of managing staff who still provide the service.     

What Services are Public? What Aspects of Performance are to be Ranked? The Case of “Services of General Interest”

ABSTRACT

In this article, we focus on the difficulties in evaluating the performance of so-called services of general interest. These services generally include such services as water and electricity supply, telephony, postal services, and public transport, where providers are subjected to certain universal service obligations. Because of the tensions between European internal market requirements and these universal service obligations, there exists considerable debate on the criteria to be used to evaluate the performance of these services. In addition, the status of these public services as “public” or “essential” services is disputed. Rankings of the performance of these services will always reflect a certain dominant definition of performance. Ranking schemes as a result both reflect and create performance.     

Testing a Predictive Model of Voter Behavior on the 2000 U.S. Presidential Election

Abstract

Utilizing a predictive model of voter behavior, this study identified the motivations behind a sample of voters who cast a ballot for George W. Bush and AI Gore in the 2000 presidential campaign. The motivations of the voters were differentiated on the basis of the “value” they sought in a president. In other words, just as companies in the “commercial marketplace” have to create value to attract customers, so does a candidate in the “political marketplace” who is seeking to carve out a niche for himself that separates him from his competition. Pairwise discriminant analysis is used to identify the motivations behind the choice behavior of voters at both the candidate and party level. The results reveal the complimentary roles that the political party and each candidate's campaign organization played in their respective marketing strategies.     

Coexistence of public and private job agencies: Screening with heterogeneous institutions

In response to the analysis of bureaucracies and the finding of inherent inefficiencies, public choice theory argues for an increase in competition by contracting out government services and deregulation. The paper explores the effect of coexisting public and private employment services in a model with private information of the worker about her ability and unobservable effort choice. The employer's use of an efficient unemployment exchange and an efficient private agency may lead to optimal screening with first best contracts. This is due to the assumption that good types of workers lose more human capital than bad types in periods of unemployment or mismatch. In contrast to standard screening contracts, a bad type of worker earns an information rent if the employment exchange is inefficient, but the employer chooses not to use the private agency for good types.     

Nonprofits as Local Government Service Contractors

Despite the growing role that contracts with nonprofits play in local service delivery, only limited attention has been directed to why some cities rely more on nonprofit organizations to produce services or how political institutions influence the role nonprofits play in service delivery. To investigate these issues, the authors present a transaction cost explanation that focuses on how political system characteristics and structures of service markets shape the costs of negotiating, monitoring, and enforcing contracts for local governments. The findings indicate that forms of government, mayoral turnover, racial segregation, and the market of nonprofit producers influence the role of nonprofits in delivering elder services, but decisions to contract exclusively with nonprofits are subject to different influences than decisions to jointly produce service with a nonprofit organization.     

Outsourcing Public Service Delivery: Management Responses in Noncompetitive Markets

Capturing the benefits of competition is a key argument for outsourcing public services, yet public service markets often lack sufficient competition. The authors use survey and interview data from U.S. local governments to explore the responses of public managers to noncompetitive markets. This research indicates that competition is weak in most local government markets (fewer than two alternative providers on average across 67 services measured), and that the relationship between competition and contracting choice varies by service type. Public managers respond to suboptimal market competition by intervening with strategies designed to create, sustain, and enhance provider markets. In monopoly service markets, managers are more likely to use intergovernmental contracting, while for‐profit contracting is more common in more competitive service markets. The strategies that public managers employ to build and sustain competition for contracts often require tangible investments of administrative resources that add to the transaction costs of contracting in noncompetitive markets.     

“They might read a fly speck”: musical literacy as a discursive resource in Louis Armstrong's autobiographies

Jazz has been described as a music in which the “oral” element plays a crucial role, in opposition to Western “classical” music, seen as a chiefly “written” tradition. Although such an image is frequently advocated by critics and musicians themselves, it is also true that it can generate ambivalence and negative outputs, such as the persistent myth of “primitivism” and “naivety,” often associated with jazz music. Building on Social Semiotics and Critical Discourse Analysis, this study aims at analyzing how the representations of “orality” and “literacy,” that emerge in some autobiographical narratives by Louis Armstrong, are generated, and how they can work as semiotic and discursive resources. It argues that the different depictions of musicians, and the attitude displayed toward musical literacy, are sensitive to the historical, societal, and political context in which texts have been produced and published, as well as to the narrator's willingness and ability to resist or subvert dominant discourses. Moreover, the characterization of a musician (or a category of musicians) as able or unable to access musical literacy can also serve local purposes, such as expressing the narrator's stance toward narrative characters.     

Serving Clients When the Server Crashes: How Frontline Workers Cope with E‐Government Challenges

Implementing e‐government in the contemporary American state is challenging. E‐government places high technical demands on agencies and citizens in an environment of budget austerity and political polarization. Governments developing e‐government policies often mobilize frontline workers—also termed “street‐level bureaucrats”—to help citizens gain access to services. However, we know little about how frontline workers cope in these challenging circumstances. This article fills this gap by examining frontline workers implementing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Based on a qualitative analysis, the authors find that frontline workers “move toward clients” when coping with stress: they bend the rules, work overtime, and collaborate in order to help clients. They are less inclined to “move away” or “move against” clients, for instance, through rigid rule following and rationing. In other words, frontline workers try to serve clients, even “when the server crashes.” Frontline workers, then, can play a vital role in the successful implementation of e‐government policies.     

Governing criminal markets: The role of private insurers in kidnap for ransom

The intersection between the formal and criminal economies presents a range of intractable coordination and enforcement problems. Who orders and facilitates the interactions between private, legal entities, and criminals (potentially) engaged in kidnap for ransom? I analyze the contracts, protocols, norms, and agencies created by insurers to govern this unusual market. Stringent insurance contracts, effective security measures, and orderly resolutions create a profitable market for kidnap insurance. Underwriters manage moral hazard and adverse selection. Business risk consultancies minimize the kidnapping of insured workers, high‐net‐worth individuals, and travellers. Crisis responders ensure that hostages are treated well, keep ransoms moderate and stable, and discourage kidnappers from reneging on agreed ransoms. The state, private sector, and mafias incentivize cooperation and enforce contracts. Understanding this complex polycentric governance architecture is crucial for remedying current trends in “terrorist” kidnap for ransom.     

GLOBALIZATION'S IMPACT ON STATE-LOCAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT POLICY

The growing exposure of the U.S. economy to international competition, popularly termed globalization, over the past two decades has brought some momentous changes affecting the American economy, society, and life styles. Not surprisingly, these changes have been reflected in growing political turbulence and shifts in policy paradigms as well. This symposium explores the effects that globalization has had on economic development policy and practice by state and local governments in the United States. Part I charts and seeks to explain“The Expanding Global Linkages” of state and local governments over the last several decades. Part II on the” Potential for Transformation “then argues that the economic transformations set off by globalization are pushing state and local development policy toward strategies that should overcome some of the problems associated with the previous strategy dubbed “smokestack chasing.” Yet, caution is certainly necessary before accepting such optimistic interpretations. Part III, therefore, presents several analyses suggesting that smokestack chasing “struck back” and that blind reliance on free markets and entrepreneurs hip can be dangerous to a community's social and economic health, indicting the existence of “Pitfalls in a Changing Universe.”