PBB in American Local Governments: It's More than a Management Tool

Despite academic findings that performance information seldom is used in appropriations decisions, many professional organizations and governments continue to press for integrating performance information into local public management, planning, and budgeting processes. Is it possible to reconcile such inconsistencies? Looking beyond the executive–legislative relationship and departmental appropriations, the author examines the budget implications of applying performance information at the subdepartmental program level. Case analysis of Indianapolis’s IndyStat initiative underscores that performance measurement application is positively related to intradepartmental program budget changes. Hence, performance‐based budgeting (PBB) can improve local budgeting despite severe political constraints. Still, successful use of PBB requires strong executive leadership, and its effects remain less visible at the departmental level or within the wider political arena of legislative bargaining. The author concludes by recommending some rethinking of the current analytical focus of PBB both in future research as well as recommended practice.     

社会信任和社会质量：浙江社会质量调查的数据分析与评估

根据社会质量理论,社会凝聚和社会团结是考察社会质量的基本维度.因此,对社会信任的研究就成为反映社会状况的基本议题.基于社会质量指标体系而开展的对当前我国相关群体的社会信任状况的调查,可以揭示当代社会人的观念和社会状况的变化,并据此评估社会质量.这一研究将有助于我们加深理解中国社会的社会质量,寻找增进社会信任和提升社会质量的有效途径.     

Have Cities Shifted to Outcome‐Oriented Performance Reporting?—A Content Analysis of City Budgets

“Outcome” orientation has been emphasized in performance measurement and reporting in recent years. Using budgetary documents of the largest cities in the United States, this paper analyzes more than 4,800 performance measures reported by 21 cities to show that clear progress toward outcome‐oriented performance measurement has been made. It also shows that the selection of performance measures differs among types of municipal services and is driven partly by professionalism in city management and the influence of professional organizations. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of the findings and potential future improvements of performance reporting.     

The Soviet and the Post-Soviet: Street Names and National Discourse in Almaty

Abstract

While discussing Kazakhstan's post-Soviet identity, scholars treat ‘Kazakhisation’ as a given, and the substance of the process of developing such an identity is usually ignored. This article gives an insight into this process by analysing the politics of street names in Almaty and its relation to collective memory in post-Soviet Kazakhstan. It is argued that the so-called ‘Kazakhisation’ of the country has been shaped primarily by the Soviet legacy, and it is in no sense pursuing the elimination of the Soviet past, or moving essentially anti-Russian lines. In fact, the post-Soviet discourse of the Kazakh nation is not a rupture but a continuation of Soviet discourses.     

Making space for a new role – gender differences in identity changes in couples transitioning to parenthood

Changes in life roles reflect the process of reorganization of identity, which is an important component of adaptation during transition to parenthood. During this family transition gender differences are significant. Despite the fact that in Western societies women and men are encouraged to share family and work responsibilities, female self-concept is more strongly associated with motherhood, whereas men still highly value the role of a breadwinner. Therefore, relative perceived and desired salience, and directly assessed importance of main life roles (a spouse, a worker and a parent) before and after the birth of the child were examined. One hundred and eighty-seven couples participated in the study. The perceived (relative and directly assessed), and relative desired salience of a parental role increased after the child’s birth in both genders. Women valued the parent role higher than men who deemed the worker role more salient to their identity after the child’s birth. Spouse identity seemed to be created in the couple itself as both partners assessed it similarly. Inclusion of couples and repeated measurement of all variables allowed for the analysis of complex changes in self-perceptions in transitions to motherhood and fatherhood.     

A Quiet Revolution or a Flashy Blip? The Real ID Act and U.S. National Identification System Reform

In 2005, Congress passed the Real ID Act despite decades of stalemate in reforming the U.S. national ID system. Using John Kingdon’s policy streams framework, the authors examine the development of reform ideas, the opening of a policy window and the shift in the national mood after the 9/11 attacks, and the legislative tactics by the George W. Bush administration that led to the passage of the act. The analysis illustrates the significance of policy entrepreneurship in national crises but also raises questions about the permanency of policy reforms and the ethical responsibilities of public administrators in such times.     

A note on the aggregation of slack and shortage in centrally planned economies

This note attempts to identify the key methodological problems that remain unsolved in the controversy about the aggregation of slack and shortage in disequilibrium econometric models of centrally planned economies (CPEs). The procedure of ‘smoothing by aggregation’ implemented by Burkett (1988) is critically reviewed and found wanting, despite possible attribution to Kornai (1980) for justification. We argue that the procedure neglects the problems of resource immobility and hoarding that have prevailed in CPEs. Even from a neo-Keynesian perspective, it is at odds with a rigorous microeconomics of rationing that takes into full account the substitution and income effects of spillovers. One important issue is that saving may actually be reduced because of a tightening of the ration. These considerations throw serious doubt on the validity of the smooth trade-off between slack and shortage that forms the basis for econometric estimation and lead to concern that the Walrasian configuration cannot be identified from the estimation results.