Performance Review and Assessment of Public Managers: Some Evidence from Local Governments in Italy

Performance review and assessment (PRA) of public managers has been adopted in several countries, but we still lack detailed knowledge of what affects the effectiveness of PRA systems. Based on interview data and on a survey of Italian public managers, this article aims to investigate this issue by developing and testing a preliminary model of perceived effectiveness of PRA. The results suggest that PRA perceived effectiveness seems related to the clarity of the organizational design, the quality of the PRA process, the involvement of public managers in the PRA process, and the use of PRA results for tightening control.     

Demonstrating Access to Public Services Diagrammatically

The Nomogramma di Gandy is a practical analytical tool and presentational method that can be applied to the subject of access to public services, such as universities, prisons, and hospitals. Illustrative examples are provided. It is flexible, requires minimal data, and can compare access across many geographical areas in one presentation. It addresses the need to appreciate the dynamics that can exist behind summary statistical analyses that focus on net changes, and can show trends over time. Such visual scanning of multiple data points and their relative juxtapositions, enables many common thinking errors to be minimized, if not completely avoided.     

Electoral Risk and Redistributive Politics in Mexico and the United States

What strategy does a rational party follow in allocating discretionary expenditure? This article conceives redistributive politics as an investment strategy where expenditure allocations respond to electoral risk. To show the effects of risk, it provides evidence from Pronasol in Mexico and an analysis of New Deal spending in the United States. The analysis finds that the federal administrations in both countries responded to systematic electoral risk. Spending diversification into risky voters was a rational response to chances of losing elections. The analysis hence connects electoral volatility with redistributive spending.     

The Limits of Emotivism. Some Remarks on Professor von Wright's Paper "Valuations"

According to the old tradition in ethical theory that Professor von Wright attempts to revive in his paper "Valuations," value judgments are to be viewed as nothing but expressions of approving or disapproving emotional attitudes. The present paper argues against this view on the grounds that (i) to have an emotional attitude towards an object o does not merely mean to express our liking or disliking of it, but to make a genuine (i.e., true or false) judgment about o ; and that (ii) this judgment, and not the emotional attitude o arises in us, is what we are justified to properly call a "value judgement."     

Can foreign aid reduce income inequality and poverty?

This paper’s goal is to examine the effect of foreign aid on income inequality and poverty reduction for the period 1971–2002. Since simple cross-country regressions cannot be taken as ‘true’ time series findings we focus on dynamic panel data techniques, which allow accounting for potential simultaneity and heterogeneity problems. We find some weak evidence that foreign aid is conducive to the improvement of the distribution of income when the quality of institutions is taken into account; however, this result is not robust. This finding is consistent with recent empirical research on aid ineffectiveness in achieving economic growth or promoting democratic institutions.     

Psychological and behavioral adjustment in female youths with high or low psychopathic traits

The aim of the present study was to analyze the role of psychopathic traits in female juvenile delinquency. Using a sample of 236 young females from the Juvenile Detention Centers of the Portuguese Ministry of Justice and schools in the Lisbon area, a group of female youths with high psychopathic traits (n = 118; M = 15.84 years of age; range = 14–18 years of age) and a group of female youths with low psychopathic traits (n = 118; M = 15.77 years of age; range = 14–18 years of age) were formed based on the Portuguese version of the Antisocial Process Screening Device-Self-report (APSD-SR). The results showed that young females with high psychopathic traits start engaging in criminal activities and come into contact with the justice system earlier in life; exhibit higher levels of behavioral problems, conduct disorder, delinquent behaviors and serious criminality; and demonstrate lower levels of self-esteem and pro-social behavior. The importance of some variables in predicting group membership (high versus low psychopathic traits) was established through a binary logistic regression. Our findings reinforce the importance of the psychopathy construct for the early identification of potentially high-risk female youths and for the assessment of female youths who have already come into contact with the judicial system.     

Gunshot residues on dry bone after decomposition-a pilot study

Abstract: Very little literature exists concerning radiochemical and microscopic analyses of gunshot wounds in decomposed material, and even less concerning skeletonized samples; the most advanced technologies may provide useful indications for the diagnosis of suspect lesions, especially if gunshot wounds are no longer recognizable. However, we know very little of the survival of gunshot residues (GSR) in skeletonized samples. This study examined nine gunshot wounds produced on pig heads which then underwent skeletonization for 4 years, and four gunshot entries on human heads from judicial cases which were then macerated to the bone in water; the samples underwent scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive X‐ray (SEM‐EDX) analysis. Positive results for GSR were observed only in four of the nine animal samples and in all four human samples. Among the human samples, two lesions showed Pb and Sb, one lesion only Pb, and one Pb, Sb, and Ba. This pilot study showed the survival of GSR in skeletal material and therefore the crucial importance of SEM‐EDX analyses on skeletonized material. Further studies are needed in order to ascertain the role of environmental modifications of GSR.     

Spatial patterning of vulture scavenged human remains

This article presents the results of a pilot study on the effects of vulture modification to human remains. A donated body from the Willed Body Donation Program was placed at the Forensic Anthropology Research Facility (FARF), an outdoor human decomposition laboratory located at Texas State University-San Marcos. The effects of vulture scavenging on the timing and sequence, and the rate of skeletonization, disarticulation, and dispersal were observed via a motion sensing camera and direct observation. Using GIS (Geographic Information Systems) and GPS (Global Positioning System) technologies and spatial analytical methods, the transport of skeletal elements was mapped in order to analyze dispersal and terrain-influenced patterns of active vulture scavenging. Results showed that the initial scavenging took place 37 days after placement at FARF. This delay in scavenging differs from previous research. After the initial appearance of the vultures, the body was reduced from a fully-fleshed individual to a skeleton within only 5h. This underscores the potential for errors in postmortem interval estimations made at vulture scavenged scenes. Additionally, spatial analysis showed that skeletal elements were dispersed by vultures to lower elevations, and that the disarticulation and dispersal of the skeletal elements occurs early in the scavenging sequence.     

The resources of corruption: Some reflections from the Italian Case

This article focuses on the resources used in corrupt exchanges and the complex network of actors involved. The empirical analysis is drawn from research into the Italian case, and is based on judicial investigations, a newspaper-based data bank, and interviews. Defining corruption as a market for political rent, the analysis focuses on the “commodities” which flow from the public to the private sectors (in particular, influence over political decisions and information) and those which flow in the opposite direction (such as bribes, influence on the mass media etc.). Resources which corrupt agents use to reduce the costs of “producing” corrupt services are also explored as well as the risks involved in hidden exchange. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.