Ex-Pirates in Somalia: Processes of Engagement,Disengagement, and Reintegration

This study addresses how and why individuals in Somalia get involved in piracy activities, and how and why some of these individuals eventually disengage from such criminal groups. Based on qualitative interviews with 16 ex-pirates and pirate associates and a number of other locals and experts, the study provides first-hand insights into some of the conditions, circumstances, and processes which may serve to discourage involvement and continued engagement in piracy. Furthermore, it analyses factors and circumstances which may encourage and facilitate disengagement from these criminal activities and reintegration into non-criminal economic activities and social relationships. The lack of employment and livelihood motivated individuals to engage in piracy. However, disappointment about the lack of expected profit, coupled with the prospect of a licit income, influenced some to end their piracy involvement. Another important factor was the strong statements by local Muslim leaders that piracy was haram (forbidden). This was often reinforced by family and community objections to their involvement in piracy. Family members also played important roles in facilitating their disengagement. The ‘Alternative Livelihood to Piracy’ project played a positive role in facilitating disengagement from piracy, working closely with local religious leaders and the communities.     

An Empirical Assessment of the Municipal Financial Situation in Spain

ABSTRACT

Public finance theories state that both political and socioeconomic factors must be considered in order to explain governments' finances. On the one hand, “partisan politics matters” thesis argues that progressive parties contribute to increase public deficit. On the other hand, Roubini and Sachs' weak government hypothesis (1989a Roubini , N. and J. D. Sachs . 1989a . “Political and Economic Determinants of Budget Deficits in the Industrial Democracies.” European Economic Review 33 : 903 – 938 .[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], 1989b Roubini , N. and J. D. Sachs . 1989b . “Government Spending and Budget Deficits in the Industrial Countries.” Economic Policy: A European Forum 8 : 99 – 132 .[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) states that the higher the government fragmentation, the higher spending, deficit and debt. Accordingly, our work evaluates whether municipal ideology and political strength have an impact on public expenditures and taxes. With this aim, we analyze a representative sample of Spanish municipalities (2,729) for the year 2005. We find an influence of the size of the political majority on the municipal financial situation. However, we do not find evidence of the impact of the government's political ideology. Economic and population variables are found highly significant. Our data also show a “flypaper” effect in the Spanish municipal sector.     

Consensus Among Public Managers as Strategy for Standardization of Performance Indicators

ABSTRACT

The usefulness of performance indicators increases when organizations compare their data. However, most discussions have failed to emphasize two lines of action that could improve the relevance of such comparisons: a) agreement among service managers on the indicators to be used in the evaluation; b) homogenization of the indicators to be used by organizations, and of the process used to calculate them. In this context, this paper proposes a methodology based on the participation of and consensus among managers, which helps to standardize the construction and presentation of performance indicators. The aim of this proposal is to improve the comparative evaluation of organizations. Finally, in order to test the proposal, a practical application is carried out on the local culture departments of nine large municipalities in southern Spain.     

Determinants of Financial Transparency in Government

ABSTRACT

The search for enhanced transparency and accountability in government organizations has inspired studies to identify the key factors that facilitate greater disclosure of public financial information. With the advantages provided by the meta-analysis technique, applied to a sample of studies, we identify the most significant factors and incentives underlying the decisions adopted by public managers on policy strategies regarding information transparency and public responsibility. Our study shows the variables analyzed to be positively associated with the disclosure of public financial information, but also that this depends on the context in which the research is carried out. The most influential variables were the moderator variables of the administrative culture and of the measurement unit for the variables.     

Determining Factors of E-government Development: A Worldwide National Approach

ABSTRACT

The implementation of e-government aims at simplifying and improving the relationships and transactions between public administrations and their users or customers. In this vein, the objective of this work is to analyze the factors that promote the development of e-government in the national governments of 192 countries worldwide, differentiating between developed and developing countries. Our findings emphasize that the development of e-government requires that countries have a degree of economic development that enables their citizens to have a certain standard of living, both economic and cultural, as well as important internal government reforms which promote administrative effectiveness. Once these essential factors are fulfilled, the national government's online presence is favored by governments that rule with a majority in their parliaments and with an important fiscal capacity.     

Aid and Trade – A Donor's Perspective

One reason donors provide foreign aid is to support their exports to aid-recipient countries. Time series data for Germany suggests an average return of between US$1.04–$1.50 for each US dollar of aid spent by Germany. Although this is well below previous estimates, the value is robust to different specifications and econometric approaches. Interestingly, we find strong evidence of crowding out between bilateral donors in the sense that bilateral aid from other EU members significantly reduces exports from Germany to the recipients. The evidence suggests that, in the long run, aid causes exports and not vice versa. We discuss the implications these findings might have for aid volumes and allocation.     

An interpretation of argentine economic growth since 1930∗Part I

This study uses pairing of Mexican‐owned manufacturing firms and firms with direct United States investment, to examine the effects of ownership structure on firms’ performance and sources of technology. Results suggest that in terms of profitability, growth and export performance the Mexican firms were competing successfully during the period 1966–73. Furthermore, the basis for this strong posture by the Mexican manufacturers was not due to a heavy reliance on foreign technology imported through formal channels, but rather is linked with internal innovative activity and the use of domestic consultants.     

An interpretation of Argentine economic growth since 1930. Part II∗

This article focuses on the measurement of embodied technological change. It develops the core-machinery approach to capital measurement, which is based on an engineering perspective on technological change. Using technical characteristics of different types of machinery, technical progress in the capital stock can be decomposed into incremental innovation in existing machinery and radical shifts to new technologies. The usefulness of this approach is illustrated by an analysis of embodied technological change in the Indonesian spinning and weaving industries. The core-machinery measure is compared with more traditional measures of the capital stock which are based on price information. Strengths, weaknesses and relevance of the new measure are discussed.     

Aid Absorption and Spending in Africa: A Panel Cointegration Approach

This article focuses on the macroeconomic management of large inflows of foreign aid. It investigates the extent to which African countries have coordinated fiscal and macroeconomic responses to aid surges. In practice, we construct a panel dataset to assess the level of aid ‘absorption’ and ‘spending’. This article departs from the recent empirical literature by utilising better measures for aid inflows and by employing cointegration analysis. The empirical short-run results indicate that, on average, Africa's low-income countries have absorbed two-thirds of (grant) aid receipts. This suggests that most of the foreign exchange provided by the aid inflows has been used to finance imports. The other third has been used to build up international reserves, perhaps to protect economies from future external shocks. In the long run, absorption increases but remains below its maximum. Moreover, we also show that aid resources have been fully spent, especially in support of public investment. There is only weak evidence that a share of aid flows have been ‘saved’. Overall, these findings suggest that the macroeconomic management of aid inflows in Africa has been significantly better than often portrayed in comparable exercises. The implication is that African countries will be able to efficiently manage a gradual scaling up in aid resources.