Public sector performance and decentralization of decision rights

In recent years, governments have introduced several reforms, often adopting management mechanisms traditionally associated with the private sector. This article looks specifically at the impact of decision‐rights decentralization, along with accountability mechanisms, on performance. Twenty public sector organizations, experiencing a shift from rule‐based to outcome‐based control mechanisms and benefiting from different levels of autonomy and decision margins, were studied. Results show a link between the degree of power delegation and increased organizational performance. The units benefiting from greater freedom with respect to financial and human resources decisions experienced the greatest margin of performance increase. These findings underline the importance of considering the level at which measures are defined and the elements included in the measurement mechanisms (outcomes or rules).     

Are Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers Associated with Reductions in Poverty and Improvements in Well-being?

Should Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) be the tool for implementing the new Sustainable Development Goals, as they were for the Millennium Development Goals? Surprisingly, despite the controversies around them, there has never been a quantitative evaluation of PRSPs. This paper estimates the impact of having a PRSP on various targets of the Millennium Development Goals. Results suggest that countries under PRSP treatment achieve much greater reductions than control countries, in head count poverty and infant mortality, while also achieving greater improvements in primary school enrolments and gender parity.     

The enterprise and industrial composition of new British portfolio foreign investment, 1865–1914

Source Material on the South African Economy 1860–1970 by H. Hobart Houghton and J. Dagut. Vol. 1, 1972, pp. 369; Vol. II, 1972, pp. 247; Vol. III, 1973, pp. 263. Cape Town: Oxford University Press.