Creating an enabling environment for housing: Recent reforms in Mexico

Abstract

A recent World Bank policy statement on housing advocates the reform of government policies, institutions, and regulations to enable housing markets to work more efficiently. The policy statement identifies several instruments that governments can use to address housing market constraints, and to improve the performance of the housing sector as a whole, while paying particular attention to the needs of the poor.

In recent years, the government of Mexico has employed many of the enabling instruments described in the World Bank's housing policy statement. This article reviews the role of housing in the Mexican economy and the major reforms that the Mexican government has implemented to improve the operation of the housing market so that private lenders and home builders can play an expanded role in addressing the country's housing needs. The World Bank has supported the government's reform program, and since 1985 it has lent more than $1.2 billion to Mexico for low‐income housing projects.     

公众预期对我国房地产宏观调控政策影响分析

1998年以来中国的房地产宏观调控发展历程经历了五阶段,各阶段公众预期呈现出不同的特征,并对调控政策效果产生了影响。因此,房地产市场调控政策的出台必须从调整房地产市场供求关系、建立长效机制、加强媒体与舆论的引导和管理以及保持政策的连续性、稳定性和长期性等加强公众预期管理等方面考虑。     

Transforming Scotland's Public-sector Housing through Community Ownership: The Reterritorialisation of Housing Governance?

In recent decades, UK public-sector housing has increasingly been problematised, with government solutions focusing on modernising the sector by transferring ownership of the housing from the public to the voluntary sector through stock transfer. This promises to transform the organisation of social housing by devolving control from local government to housing organisations located within, and governed by, the communities in which they are based. The Scottish Executive's national housing policy of community ownership is the epitome of this governmental rationale par excellence. Drawing upon empirical research on the 2003 Glasgow housing stock transfer, this paper argues that, whilst community ownership is underpinned by governmental rationales that seek to establish community as the new territory of social housing governance, the realisation of these political ambitions has been marred by emergent central–local conflict. Paradoxically, the fragmentation of social housing through the break-up of municipal provision, co-exists with continued political centralisation within the state apparatus.     

大陆集体土地征收补偿制度改革探讨--基于两岸土地征收的比较视角

土地征收不可避免，因涉及重大的利益调整，既需规范，也需谨慎启动。两岸虽然土地制度不同，但土地征收改革面临共性问题，在基本征收程序设置、利益衡量机制上均具有相似性。相比之下，大陆集体土地征收启动的前提条件失之于宽，政府享有事实上不受限制的征收权并缺乏制衡机制；补偿额未考虑所有权让渡，仅部分弥补使用权价值；在补偿价的形成方式上，剥夺了集体土地所有者的市场主体地位，同时，集体所有权虚置，土地集体所有权的共有人被架空。通过适当界定征收目的性限制，转变城镇化建设思路，克制征地行为的启动与征收规模；承认土地集体所有权平等独立的市场主体地位，市价补偿，打破土地供给垄断；明确征收相对人与重构集体经济组织并举，构建开放性的制衡机制，有助于平衡、保障各方利益，完善征地补偿制度。     

THE MARKET PROVISION OF MANDATORY SOCIAL SECURITY: Protecting the Public Interest in Perpetuity

Pressures to introduce market reforms to public social security system emerged as a reaction to state welfare paternalism, drawing strength from the spirit of liberalism and emphasizing the virtues of the marketplace. Market reform advocates seek to shift the prevailing social security paradigm away from community solidarity to individual responsibility, with a view to divesting government of some of its statutory social security responsibilities. Market reform of public social security provision redefines the public‐private boundary, making socio‐political governance more a process of co‐ordination, steering, influencing, and balancing pluralist interactions, with the civil service increasingly expected to act as trustee of the public interest. What, however, the public interest is and how it differs from private interest is problematic and it should reflect the shared values that create social bonds and identity within a society. The daunting twin challenges facing governments are to design a set of regulatory arrangements that can protect the public interest in perpetuity, and to resist calls for government subsidies to support the economic rent expectations of privatized providers. To meet these challenges the “hollowed‐out” state must become a “smart” state.     

房价“双轨制”的双重效应与政策取向

房价"双轨制"是指目前我国住房市场并存的两种价格制度体系,房价"双轨制"具有利弊双重效应:适应"渐进式"改革和不完备市场体系的需要,符合现阶段多元化社会结构解决和改善住房条件的需求,有利于调动房地产商的积极性,明确政府的责任,促进社会的和谐稳定。但房价"双轨制"与商品的本质和市场经济原则相矛盾,在运行操作上有很大的难度,容易造成社会福利的流失和形成新的社会不公平。房价"双轨制"的政策取向是:在供需矛盾突出的体制过渡时期不能取消而且要继续强化房价"双轨制",促进住房公平,加大保障性住房建设力度,增加住房的有效供给。     

转型时期的农民工住房问题——一种政策过程的视角

从政策过程的视角论述农民工住房问题纳入国家政策层面的可行性,可为解决农民工住房问题提供政策方向。本文从杜布林冲突的系统分析模型出发,建构“黑匣子”公共政策过程分析模型,并运用成本-收益分析、政府分权理论等,从政策执行的角度来检验政策方案。通过政策输入过程分析,识别形成农民工住房问题的实质因素,并分析农民工住房问题转变为政策问题的实践约束条件。通过对政策执行约束条件的分析得出：农民工住房政策的逻辑起点不是农民工住房质量,而是附加在户籍制上的城乡二元体制结构。研究认为农民工住房问题本身无法作为良好的政策问题纳入中央政府决策范围。建立农民工住房保障体系并允许农民工有条件地享受城市住房保障政策,或直接取消城乡二元结构,都不是解决农民工住房问题的最优政策,但前者作为渐进的决策途径,还是有助于缓解社会转型矛盾的;政府应当制定改革户籍制的长远目标,并在此框架下坚持改革和创新,逐步实现住房保障的城乡一体化。     

On the political economy of the financial crisis and bailout of 2008–2009

U.S. policies to promote home ownership and other banking regulatory decisions helped to create a highly leveraged international market for mortgage-based securities. Declines in the price of housing, consequently, had major effects on the balance sheets and portfolios of financial institutions throughout the world. The political response to the financial crisis has been rapid and large. In general, differences in the effectiveness of government policies show the advantage of standing institutions at crisis management relative to innovative legislation.     

Manufactured housing: A study of power and reform in industry regulation

Abstract

This article is a case study of the National Commission on Manufactured Housing and its attempt to reform the regulatory system. It describes the importance of manufactured housing as an affordable alternative to site‐built housing and tells how efforts to reform the regulatory system through a consensus process initially succeeded but ultimately failed.

The article shows that while the consensus process was essential to get agreement among conflicting parties, consensus will hold only when all parties are sufficiently dissatisfied with the status quo to endure the cost of change. While the short‐term prospects for reform are dim, the long‐term prospects are more promising, as a few large manufacturers offer better warranties and as programs devolve from the federal government to the states.     

Beginnings of Real Estate Brokerage in Moscow

Abstract

This article describes the private housing transactions that are emerging as a large portion of Moscow's housing stock is transferred into private ownership and becomes available for sale or rent. An industry of real estate brokers is developing to facilitate those transactions. The structure of this industry is evolving and, so far, reflects the fragmented nature of the housing market it serves. No industrywide practices or standards have been developed.

It is not clear whether the U.S. model for maximizing information available to real estate brokers and their clients—the multiple listing service based on exclusive listing contracts—will be followed in Moscow, or even whether this is the model best suited to the Russian housing market. Furthermore, the nature and timing of government regulation of real estate brokerage will require careful design to avoid restricting competition and limiting the efficient pricing and housing mobility that can result from a well‐functioning real estate market.     

Privatizing Public Nursing Homes: Examining the Effects on Quality and Access

This study examines the effects of local government divestment on quality and access to care for Medicaid recipients in privatized nursing homes. The central hypotheses are concerned with the impact of new ownership on both aspects of organizational performance. The analysis indicates that privatization of nursing homes involves a complex set of trade-offs. Changing organizational ownership to for-profit increases the number of regulatory violations, decreases residents' quality of life, but does not influence Medicaid admissions. While no decline in quality is found among divested nonprofit facilities, access to care declines in the comparison groups of nonprofit homes. The author concludes that as counties minimize their roles as service producers, federal, state and local governments should enhance their regulatory capacity by improving quality assurance mechanisms and providing adequate reimbursement for low-income clients.     

对我国“大部制”改革若干问题的思考

大部制顺应了市场经济和服务型政府建设的要求,它是成熟市场经济国家与服务型政府职能相一致的政府组织体制,是与西方地方自治前提下的中央地方权力功能性分立相一致的。中国的国情决定我们在实行大部制改革过程中应深刻调整中央地方的关系,协调与党的机构、人大政协机构的关系,从决策、执行、监督相一致的高度设计,打破目前部门利益格局的权力运行框架。     

FHA restructuring proposals: Alternatives and implications

Abstract

This article evaluates problems of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) under its current structure, develops criteria for judging alternative structures, and suggests one alternative—an assigned risk pool—that encourages efficiency in the insurance function while still promoting low‐ and moderate‐income housing. A historical introduction explains how the current institutional relationships came about and created FHA's problems.

FHA's decline resulted from the mixing of a heavy social agenda with the basic insurance objective, a destructive reorganization of the Department of Housing and Urban Development that caused FHA to lose control and focus, and government's inherent inability to respond to market signals. Yet the economic rationale for government involvement in FHA functions is strong. An FHA organized as an independent government agency, a government‐sponsored enterprise, or even a privatized entity structured as an assigned risk pool could improve efficiency of underwriting, pricing, and administration while achieving the redistributional objectives.     

The formation of housing policy in New York City, 1960–1970

During the 1960s, policy makers at three levels of government attempted to place New York's public housing in middle-income neighborhoods. The high cost of providing public housing, a desire for economically segregated neighborhoods and racial prejudice caused voters to reject this reform of housing policy.Since voter rejection caused a reduction in public housing construction, deterioration and abandonment of existing housing acquired added significance. By 1970, the consensus view among public leaders was that rent control caused housing abandonment and that liberalization of rent control was needed. Thus, public policy targets in the low-income housing market shifted from emphasis on construction programs to emphasis on preservation of existing housing. In the future, further information on the cost and difficulty of housing preservation is likely to require additional adjustments in housing policy targets.I am grateful to Frank Kristof for comments on an earlier draft and to Don Sexton and John Keith for their helpful suggestions on the topic. Comments by an anonymous referee were most appreciated.     

中国政府与国企关系的回顾与思考

20世纪70年代末期，政企分离作为经济体制改革的一个基本目标被确立下来，如何重新安排政府和企业在市场中的各自角色，建立适应市场经济要求的新型政企关系，成为改革的焦点，总结30年政企关系改革的经验，有着十分重要的现实意义。     

State reform and the ‘privatized state’ in Paraguay

This article uses Paraguay, in Latin America, as a case study in order to examine the difficulties of introducing state reform where the state itself has a long history of control by private interests. It shows how the ‘privatized’ nature of the Paraguayan state is central to an understanding of how it has functioned and responded to recent reform efforts. The article provides an overview of the Paraguayan public sector and identifies several of its peculiar features that are relevant to understanding the state reform process: its small size, high levels of inefficiency and ineffectiveness, rampant politicization and endemic corruption. The article examines the three major components of an externally driven state reform process that began with democratization in 1989: privatization of loss‐making state corporations, civil service reform and decentralization. It shows how the ‘privatized’ nature of the state has proved a major obstacle to these efforts and is a major factor in explaining their limited success. The article concludes by offering a pessimistic assessment of the likely prospects for state reform and highlights the danger that Paraguay could descend into a ‘failed state’. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

治理现代化视野下机关事务管理创新:从制度优势到治理效能

作为保障机关有序运行的重要制度设定,机关事务管理面多事杂任重,创新机关事务管理是实现从“制度优势”转向“治理实效”的重要一环。实现机关事务管理现代化,其本质是从“广度”到“深度”的深刻转变:新时代下的机关事务不再仅仅强调业务广度方面上的面面俱到,更期望其能在强化政府自身建设、优化政府职能等更深层面扮演积极角色。改革开放以来,我国不断推进机关事务领域改革,不仅仅是对其职能的不断调整,其本质在于对宏观行政体制变革的主动回应与渐进调试,是国家治理体系建构中的重要一环,并在此过程中逐渐形成职能现代化、体制法治化、行为职业化、能力智慧化等制度优势。基于行政管理要素构成的分析视角,职能体系、职权范围、管理体制、人力资源都将是创新机关事务管理的必要路径。     

政府、市场与公民社会的良性互动

20世纪80年代以来,西方国家在对市场失灵与政府失效进行纠错的基础上,提出了治理与善治的行政改革理念和模式。善治的实质在于实现政府、市场与公民社会之间的良性互动,以此来弥补政府和市场在调控和协调过程中的某些不足。治理和善治在一定程度上反映了公共行政发展的规律和趋势,借鉴和吸收其合理因素,对于推进我国的行政改革,促进我国社会资本的形成和转化,实现我国的善治具有借鉴意义。     

论社会中介组织对中国社会发展的影响

经过了20多年改革，中国社会的组织结构发生了深刻的变化，各类社会中介组织以前所未有的速度和规模发展起来，在数量和种类大大发展的同时，其组织独立性明显增强而合法性也日益得到确认，在中国社会中承担着越来越多的功能和职责，也成为人们在日常生活中越来越直接和频繁地与之接触或交往的对象。中国的社会中介组织将同政府部门和市场部门一起，直接决定着整个中国社会在新世纪里的发展。     

创建高绩效政府是行政体制改革的必然要求

创建高绩效政府是世界性的政府改革趋势,是当前行政体制改革深化发展的必然要求。高绩效政府具有较高的政府绩效,体现了政府的强大能力,能够服务于当前和未来的社会需求,是政府形象建设的一个重要方面。在此过程中,需要以公众满意度作为衡量高绩效政府的最重要指标,进一步完善政府绩效管理,共同参与高绩效政府的创建,把创建高绩效政府作为行政体制改革的切入点。