Political Consensus and Fiscal Outcomes

It is becoming difficult to maintain consensus in a period of economic austerity, and this possibly challenges the ability of democratic institutions to take decisions on tough economic questions. In order to find out how political consensus influences fiscal outcomes, this article sets out to analyse the association between political consensus and public expenditure growth. The results show that political consensus is positively associated with both budgeted and actual expenditure growth, but also negatively associated with budget overruns. This indicates that political consensus comes at a cost, while at the same time politicians may be better at sticking to budgets if political consensus exists. The analysis is based on a pooled regression analysis of the local governments in Denmark in the years 2008 and 2009 using a data set combining survey data with administrative data on the local governments.     

The economic perspective on public administration

Public administration as a body of thought and field of study is changing from a paradigm dominated by political science to an eclectic array of theoretical contributions from all of the social sciences, particularly economics. Basic education and training in economics is essential to an effective contemporary public administration. Without a fundamental understanding of economics the “do-it-yourself-economics” which is practiced in policy-making contributes to basic errors in policy.

As the size and significance of the public sector has grown, increased attention has been paid to the discipline of public administration. What began as a structured way of describing the operation and structure of public management and public organizations has evolved into a discipline that has a much broader scope—the analysis of policy making in the public and not-for-profit sectors. In addition, employment in the public administration profession is more likely to be viewed as a vocation rather than as an avocation, in contrast to the past.

Once the repository of generalists in the areas of public management and organizational behavior, public administration has become a hodgepodge of individuals with varied backgrounds and training. This has resulted in a discipline that has notable strengths and weaknesses. A major weakness, and source of criticism from outsiders, is the discipline's lack of a paradigm—there is no easily identifiable intellectual structure. Its strength lies in the diverse theoretical, conceptual, and methodological contributions borrowed from other disciplines.

The most prominent contributor has been political science, where the discipline of public administration had its origins. Political science's influence on public administration still is evident: numerous public administration programs are located in political science departments; a large number of faculty in public administration programs are political scientists by training; and public administration professional societies and publications are dominated by political scientists.

Economics has made forays into public administration and established garrisons in some of the larger and more prominent programs. But, economics has failed to have a distinct impact on everyday public policy making. This is evident in many policy decisions that lack much semblance of basic economic understanding on the part of decision makers. Recent examples include the handling of the federal deficit, solutions to airway and airport congestion, the war on poverty, housing programs, dealings with international trading partners, proposed solutions to the third world debt crisis, resolution of the acid rain problem, and so forth.

Although other explanations can be offered for the absence of good economic reasoning in many policy decisions, a lot of the blame lies with public administration's failure to adequately integrate economics. Economics does not wield substantial influence in either the discipline's curricular matter or administrative structure. This failure partially can be attributed to a lack of understanding of what economics has to offer the discipline and partially can be attributed to the insolent demeanor of many economists.

This paper proposes to discuss what role economics can and should play in public administration. First, the relationship between public administration and economics is discussed. Second, deficiencies within the economics discipline that keep it from becoming an integral component of everyday policy making are discussed. Finally, ways to better blend economics into public policy making are proposed.     

对审判管辖中级别管辖的反思

审判管辖中的级别管辖解决的是上下级法院在受理第一审刑事案件上的权限划分。现行刑事诉讼法的级别管辖制度存在一些现实的缺陷,具体表现为管辖的标准过于抽象、客观上导致中国被告人和外国被告人诉讼地位的不平等以及法院的功能过于复杂。有许多学者和专家也提出了一些不同的修改意见,其中认为取消最高人民法院的一审管辖权是十分恰当的,对中级人民法院管辖的判处无期徒刑或者死刑的标准应当以法定刑格来确定。     

The Relationship of Chronological Age, Age at Injury, and Duration of Injury to Employment Status in Individuals with Spinal Cord Injury

Employment status following spinal cord injury (SCI) has important implications for financial and psychosocial well-being. Several age-related variables-in particular chronological age, duration of SCI, and age at SCI onset-have been identified as being associated with employment among individuals with SCI. Cross-sectional investigations of this topic are complicated by methodological and statistical issues associated with aging and disability. The purpose of the current study was to examine the associations between three aging variables and employment status in individuals with SCI through a series of regression analyses. Six hundred twenty individuals with SCI completed a survey that included measures of demographic characteristics, pain, psychological functioning, physical functioning, fatigue, and sleep. The results indicated that chronological age and age at SCI onset were significant predictors of employment status. A significantly greater proportion of individuals aged 45-54 were employed compared to those aged 55-64 even after controlling for biopsychosocial variables. Additionally, there was a negative linear relationship between percent employed and age at SCI onset, and this relationship was not accounted for by the biopsychosocial variables. The analyses used in this study provide one method by which to disentangle the effects of different age-related variables on important SCI outcomes in cross-sectional research. Continued research in this area is needed to better understand age-related effects on employment status, which could be used to help maximize the quality of life in individuals with SCI.     

侦查终结相关问题辨析

侦查终结是公安机关办理刑事案件的最后程序,在刑事诉讼中起着承上启下的关键作用。我国的侦查终结制度在理论和设计上存在诸多缺陷和弊端,造成了司法应用的混乱。设立侦查期间、明确侦查终结条件、建立案卷材料全部移送制度及完善监督制约和救济机制,是解决目前存在问题的有效途径。     

Why football players may benefit from the ‘shadow of the transfer system’

Transfer restrictions have a long tradition in professional sports but came under heavy attack in recent years (e.g. Bosman ruling, Monti system). Based on a bargaining model with stochastic player productivity, we show that less restrictive transfer rules reallocate ex post bargaining power from players to clubs. This reallocation is efficient and in the ex ante self-interest of players. The right to charge transfer fees enables clubs to insure their players. The players, in turn, benefit by converting risky future income into riskless current income. Overall, player utility is higher under more than under less restrictive transfer rules.

关于建立犯罪被害人国家补偿制度的思考

最近几年的几个典型案件体现了我国犯罪被害人及其亲属因罪犯无力赔偿致使合法权益无法得到恢复的现实问题,限于中国国情,结合相对合理主义的观点,中国应建立和刑事附带民事诉讼相接轨的犯罪被害人国家补偿制度。