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.     

Women's interpretations of the right to legal abortion in Mexico City: citizenship,experience and clientelism

In April 2007, after a period of intense social debate, the Mexico City Legal Assembly legalized abortion during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, which was an unprecedented development in women's rights in Mexico. Within the context of a proliferation of public discourses about women's citizenship rights changes in women's social status in Mexico, this article explores the extent to which the newly legalized character of abortion is interpreted by women as a right. Drawing on 24 interviews with women who had a legal termination of pregnancy between 2008 and 2009, this research shows that legalization opens up new and complex relationships between women as subjects of rights and the state. Such relationships are expressed as three discursive figures: legal abortion (1) as a concession from the government, (2) as ‘excessive’ tolerance by the state, and (3) as a right to be protected and guaranteed. The analysis shows that women's interpretations of the right to legal abortion are mediated by profound transformations, which Mexican society is currently undergoing. These include changes related to a shift from a clientist political culture to one more framed in terms of citizenship, the subjective effects of family planning policies, and their ambivalent relationships with Catholic notions of women and motherhood, and the effects of feminist discourses of women's citizenship, abortion, and reproductive rights.     

A Common Future and a Common Identity： The Transformation Process of Political and Social Identities in the South Caucasus Countries

In reflecting on the case of the South Caucasus （Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia）, one of the most popular perspectives is its lack of a common identity. The main argument is that it is a culturally diverse region with old-fashioned, ethnically exclusive nationalism. From this point of view, the process of the formation of a European identity in the region acquires particular importance. A European identity could act as a catalyst for bringing the region together. This identity could be considered as based on much more than just political orientation but fundamentally grounded in common values. This comprehensive integration in the South Caucasus can be achieved through the formulation and acceptance of a common political identity based on the political orientations of the South Caucasian States and their citizens. The main question that this study tries to answer is how people in the South Caucasian countries identify themselves in terms of a European identity. A suitable analysis is increasingly important at both the micro and the macro levels. The author examines the people＇s attitudes in the three South Caucasian states toward Western culture, states, and organizations, drawing on opinion polls conducted by the Caucasus Research Resources Center （CRRC）. The author seeks to analyze attitudes toward the West in the South Caucasus on a macro as well as on a micro level. The author seeks also to provide a much-needed analysis for decision making, based on empirical data that help understand public opinion toward the European Union （EU） in the countries of the South Caucasus, and that can contribute to the refinement of integration strategies.     

The Ambivalent Character of Reconstruction： Winners and Losers of the Lobito Transport Development Corridor

In Angola where poor and scattered communities extend over great distances, an efficient transport system is very important. Nevertheless, in the post-war context its reconstruction has an ambivalent character. On the one hand, it is an indispensable part of the process of economic reconstruction and development where it is possible to identify complementary linkages influencing the dynamics of road and railway reconstruction that can reduce poverty. On the other hand, the post-war transport economy, like the war transport economy, is a site of private accumulation and change where social stratification goes in parallel with increased socio-economic inequality and unfavourable conditions in the labour transport market. The infrastructural reconstruction process is not fulfilling its potential for generating domestic linkages or multiplier effects through wage employment of Angolans. The creation of employment and other income earning opportunities have been limited, meaning that communities might lack the financial capacity to make use of the transport network. The ambivalent character of the modernisation of the transport system was already a feature in the first half of the 20th century as the transport network＇s creation of regional and national spaces with new centres and peripheries established a new hierarchy of social groups and gave rise to significant cultural changes. The effects of roads, railways, and other new means of transport were experienced in very different ways by different actors （means of wealth as well as poverty; inroads of repression as well as paths to personal liberation; and as tools of fragmentation as well as of unification）.     

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.     

Stature Estimation from Various Foot Dimensions Among Slovak Population

The foot measurements are important in forensic field as they can be used as body height predictors for an individual. The morphology of human feet shows the variations and therefore the aim of this study was to find the relation between stature and foot measurements and to generate population‐specific equations. We measured the stature and bilateral foot measurements of 71 volunteers ranging in age between 18 and 27 years using standard measurements technique. The results revealed nonsignificant bilateral differences in all sex groups (p < 0.05). Sex differences were found to be significant in all foot measurements (p < 0.001). The highest significant and positive correlation coefficients with stature were observed for foot length in males (r = 0.759), in females (r = 0.722), and in the sex‐mixed group (r = 0.865). According to the nonsignificant sex effects on the relation between stature and foot dimensions, the regression equations were computed only for the pooled mixed‐sex group. Our study provides equations that can help to estimate stature from foot measurements among Slovaks.