Decentralisation and corruption: evidence from drinking water sector

This article presents empirical findings regarding the relationship between decentralisation of provision of water supply and corruption in provision of services. The current policy advice from the international agencies of aiming for decentralisation as an end in itself is questioned. The conventional wisdom that decentralisation brings management closer to the service recipients and is therefore likely to reduce corruption is also disputed. Drawing on a large database from two large Indian states of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, the interaction between various actors is analysed. We find that the level of corruption in water supply agencies run by local governments is higher than that in the agencies run by the regional government. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Le défi de la rétention des jeunes travailleurs : le cas de la fonction publique québécoise

Abstract: In the next few years, Quebec's public service will be facing a problem of labour retention. With many public-service employees due to retire, the number of young people old enough to enter the job market will likely not be sufficient to fill the voids created by their departure. At the request of the Treasury Board Secretariat, we conducted a survey of young public servants in an effort to determine whether they were planning to leave the public service in the next few years and, if so, the reasons for their decision. This study presents the results of that survey. We noted a certain dissatisfaction surrounding issues related to working conditions. However, we also found that a good number of young public servants identify with the objectives of the public service. The government can certainly gain important benefits from this in order to position itself as an “employer of choice.”     

Urbanization Patterns,Information Diffusion,and Female Voting in Rural Paraguay

We use a field experiment to evaluate the impact of two informational get‐out‐the‐vote campaigns to boost female electoral participation in rural areas of Paraguay. We find that public rallies had a small and insignificant effect either on registration or voter turnout in the 2013 presidential elections. Households that received door‐to‐door canvassing treatment were 4.6 percentage points more likely to vote. Experimental variation on the intensity of the treatment at the locality level allows us to estimate spillover effects, which are present in localities that are geographically more concentrated, which may favor social interactions and diffusion of information. Reinforcement effects on the already treated population are twice as large as diffusion effects on the untreated. Our results underscore the importance of taking into account urbanization patterns when designing informational campaigns.     

Longitudinal Associations between Parental Support and Parental Knowledge on Behavioral and Emotional Problems in Adolescents

Journal of Youth and Adolescence - When testing longitudinal effects of parenting practices on adolescent adjustment, an integrated consideration of externalizing and internalizing behaviors is a...