Scientific Research on the Efficiency of Public Expenditures: How and Where is it Going?

ABSTRACT

Recent scientific research has advanced the measurement of the relative performance of organizations and the efficiency of public spending, based on analyzes of the services offered and results achieved. However, from the methodological point of view, there are several methods to analyze the performance and efficiency of spending in the private and public sectors. In this sense, the present study performs a systematic bibliometric review to analyze all scientific publications on the efficiency of public spending published in the last 20 years. The results show that most cost-efficiency analyzes have been limited to education and health expenditures and have used quantitative analysis, mainly through the application of data-involution analysis. The present review is a first step in mapping scientific publications on efficiency in public spending, which will support researchers and managers to make public spending more efficient.     

Land expropriation and displacement in Bangladesh

This paper examines land grabbing in Bangladesh and views such seizures through the lens of displacement and land encroachment. Two different but potentially interacting displacement processes are examined. The first, the char riverine and coastal sediment regions that are in a constant state of formation and erosion, are contested sites ripe for power plays that uproot small producers on their rich alluvial soils. The second examines new patterns of land capture by elites who engage gangs, corrupted public servants and the military to coerce small producers into relinquishing titles to their ever more valuable lands in and near urban areas. These historically specific and contingent land grabs draw attention to in situ displacement, where people may remain in place or experience a prolonged multi-stage process of removal. This contrasts with ex situ displacement, a decisive expulsion of people from their homes, communities and livelihoods. In both the char and peri-urban case, we signal new forms of collective action in response to involuntary alienation of land resources in a rapidly and violently transforming political economy. We conclude with a caution against naturalizing displacement, casting it as an ‘inevitable’ consequence of changing weather conditions in the former and population dynamics in the latter.     

Families in multi-problem situations: Backgrounds,characteristics, and care services

The article reviews practical experiences and theoretical reflections from the Dutch child and youth care sector on the provision of care for families with multiple problems. Emphasis is laid upon the complex relations between socioeconomic and psychosocial problems, and subsequent issues that may arise in arranging child and youth care. Furthermore, the current state of discussion in program development for the target group in the Netherlands is introduced. The originally English concept of families with multiple problems has been used only modestly in German-speaking countries. This is remarkable from an international perspective, especially considering the re-emerging prominence of social policies that define families as a site of social work practice in English-speaking countries. We conclude that the themes, as derived from our review open up possibilities for further international comparisons, and can provide valuable reference for the transnational discourse about child and youth care services for families with multiple problems.     

The German notariat and the European challenge¹

This article does not have an abstract     

A longitudinal study of adolescents' future orientation (time perspective)

This longitudinal study was designed to test hypotheses concerning the influence of environmental changes in different groups (educational status; sex) of adolescents on their future orientation (FO). FO was measured through a free-response questionnaire on which the subjects indicated their hopes and fears (which were later categorized into various domains of life by independent judges). On a second questionnaire the subjects adjudged their present and future life in various given domains of life. The sample consisted of 24 male and 24 female adolescents, aged between 14–16 years at the time of the first measurement; the second measurement took place two years later. Half of the subjects of each sex were students at a Gymnasium (preparing for university study) at both times of measurement (high social status). The other half of the subjects of each sex were in their last year at the Hauptschule (continuation of elementary education) at the first time of measurement, and had taken up employment (e.g., an apprenticeship) by the time of the second measurement (low social status). At the time of the second measurement relatively more hopes and fears were voiced in the domains of personal development and occupation than at the first measurement. Independent of time of measurement, low-status subjects voiced relatively more hopes and fears related to the occupational domain, and boys had a more extended FO than girls. Low-status subjects — as compared to high-status subjects as well as to their own judgments at the first measurement — believed to a greater extent that the materialization of their hopes and fears depended on themselves rather than on external forces. These results support the assumption that FO cannot be dealt with as a global concept and that FO can be modified by change in the external environments, such as entry into an occupation.This study was conducted at the Sonderforschungsbereich 24, Sozial- und wirtschaftspsychologische Entscheidungsforschung, Universität Mannheim (West Germany), and financed by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, with support from the Government of Baden-Württemberg. The three authors have contributed equally to this article.Received her Ph.D. from Universität Mannheim. Major interests are judgment and planning of small groups, adolescents, delinquents, and married couples.Received his Ph.D. from Princeton University. Major interests are small group processes, negotiation, and justice.He graduated from Universität Mannheim. Major interest is sociology of organizations.     

Comparative investigations on the uptake of basic substances into the human keratinocyte cell line HaCaT--a model for the uptake of xenobiotics into the keratinocytes of the hair follicle

The human cell line HaCaT was used to study drug uptake by keratinocytes as an in-vitro model to elucidate drug incorporation into anagen hair follicle. The basic drugs under investigation were taken up very rapidly resulting in a concentration plateau in the keratinocytes which was dependent on the drug concentration in the cell culture medium. The results obtained for HaCaT clearly demonstrated the existence of a partition-equilibrium between the extracellular and intracellular drug concentrations. Only small amounts of the offered drugs were taken up and remarkable differences were observed showing a decreasing uptake for imipramine > haloperidol > cocaine/benzoylecgonine. Total protein content in the culture medium was 3.5 +/- 0.3 mg/mL and the protein binding of the drugs to the foetal serum proteins was found to be negligible in the experiments. Overall, the in vitro findings were consistent with previous observations for in vivo drug incorporation into hair. In particular, an explanation was found for the correlation between the AUC-value and hair concentration observed in animal studies as well as for the generally low drug concentrations in non-pigmented hair.