Fiscal Institutions,Credit Ratings,and Borrowing Costs

This paper investigates the impact of fiscal institutions on state government borrowing costs. We find that institutions have both a direct and indirect effect on interest costs paid by state governments. Revenue limits are associated directly with higher interest costs; expenditure limits, stricter balanced budget rules, and restrictions on state debt issuance are indirectly associated with lower interest costs because they lead to higher credit ratings. It appears that investors and bond raters incorporate information on fiscal institutions into their assessment of state government credit quality.     

Bureaucrats–Enterprise Negotiation in China's Enterprise Reform at the Local Level: case studies in Guangzhou

This article explores the implementation of SOE reform in China at the local level, using case studies in Guangzhou as illustration. It is argued that local government spearheads a reform agenda that puts locally-defined state objectives first, not necessarily favouring enterprise restructuring. A full-fledged negotiation model does not exist in SOE reforms because all enterprises are controlled by the state and have to comply with top-down policies and orders. Government-enterprise relations and the degree of entrepreneurial power depend largely on the economic strength of the enterprise, with the boomers getting a good economic bargain while the laggards fail to gain sympathy from government. Enterprise workers are largely at the mercy of restructuring decisions that come from bargaining and at times collusion between managers and local bureaucrats.     

Value Recapture: A Rose by Another Name

The fuel crisis, increased federal funding, and urban center development and redevelopment are all increasing the pressure for rapid transit systems in urban areas. As with other publicly funded developments, such systems often lead to an increase in value of privately owned land near transit stations. This is due to the enhanced commercial, industrial, and residential development potential created by superior access and concurrent generation of intense local activity. Such an increase in value is unearned-a windfall, in essence. Arguably, it should accrue, at least in part, to the public agency which incurred substantial expenditures in developing the public facility-the cause of the value increase in the first place. Such an accrual of value could be offset against the public cost of the improvement. This article deals with several proposed methods of such “value recapture”: “excess” or “supplemental” condemnation, tax assessment, intergovernmental cooperation and air rights development.     

Russian cultural penetration of Syria‐Palestine in the nineteenth century (PART II)

The Baha'i Faith: The Emerging Global Religion. By William S. Hatcher and J. Douglas Martin. San Francisco and London (Harper &; Row, 1985). Pp. 226. Illus. Index. £11.95.