Service quality and the optimum number of members in intermunicipal cooperation: The case of emergency primary care services in Norway

Intermunicipal cooperation (IMC) is often used as a mean to reap scale benefits. Most studies on the effects of IMC focus on cost savings, while service quality is overlooked. In this study, the focus is set on input quality in a service characterized by high asset specificity and need for redundancy: emergency primary care. We analyze how mode of governance affect performance by (1) measuring whether IMC versus single-municipal production affects input quality and (2) identifying optimum scale of operation; effect of the number of participants in the cooperation on input quality. The findings indicate that cooperation weakens the input quality of medical workforce, but that this negative effect is balanced out as the number of participants increases, indicating that cooperation needs to reach a certain size to achieve optimum scale of operation. Concerning equipment, both cooperation in general and an increasing number of participants decrease the input quality.     

Europeans and their money: Explaining public support for the common European currency

Abstract. Using public opinion surveys conducted in the member states of the European Union, this paper seeks to provide a systematic understanding of public support for the EMU project and European–level monetary policy authority. We develop models of support for EU monetary policy that incorporate a utilitarian component and elements of multilevel governance that is emerging within the EU. These models are tested at the aggregate level of survey respondents. The results show that variations in attitudes to the common currency are driven by collectively–based considerations of the costs and benefits associated with the common currency project as well as the interaction of European–level politics and the domestic politics of the member states.     

Wench Tactics? Openings in Conditions of Closure

Picking up the question of what FLaK might be, this editorial considers the relationship between openness and closure in feminist legal studies. How do we draw on feminist struggles for openness in common resources, from security to knowledge, as we inhabit a compromised space in commercial publishing? We think about this first in relation to the content of this issue: on image-based abuse continuums, asylum struggles, trials of protestors, customary justice, and not-so-timely reparations. Our thoughts take us through the different ways that openness and closure work in struggles against violence, cruel welcomes, and re-arrangements of code and custom. Secondly, we share some reflections on methodological openness and closure as the roundtable conversation on asylum, and the interview with Riles, remind us of #FLaK2016 and its method of scattering sources as we think about how best to mix knowledges. Thirdly, prompted by the FLaK kitchen table conversations on openness, publishing and ‘getting the word out’, we respond to Kember’s call to ‘open up open access’. We explain the different current arrangements for opening up FLS content and how green open access, the sharedit initiative, author request and publisher discretion present alternatives to gold open access. Finally drawing on Franklin and Spade, we show how there are a range of ‘wench tactics’—adapting gifts, stalling and resting—which we deploy as academic editors who are trying to have an impact on the access, use and circulation of our journal, even though we do not own the journal we edit. These wench tactics are alternatives to the more obvious or reported tactic of resignation, or withdrawing academic labour from editing and reviewing altogether. They help us think about brewing editorial time, what ambivalence over our 25th birthday might mean, and how to inhabit painful places. In this, we respond in our own impure, compromised way to da Silva’s call not to forget the native and slave as we do FLaK, and repurpose shrapnel, in our common commitments.     

The Effects of Tulsa's Pre‐K Program on Middle School Student Performance

As states have upgraded their commitment to pre‐K education over the past two decades, questions have arisen. Critics argue that program effects are likely to fade out or disappear over time, while supporters contend that program effects are likely to persist under certain conditions. Using data from Tulsa Public Schools, three neighboring school districts, and the state of Oklahoma, and propensity score weighting, we estimate the effects of Tulsa's universal, school‐based pre‐K program on multiple measures of academic progress for middle school students. We find enduring effects on math achievement test scores, enrollment in honors courses, and grade retention for students as a whole, and similar effects for certain subgroups. We conclude that some positive effects of a high‐quality pre‐K program are discernible as late as middle school.     

A Small Population Study on Friction Skin Ridges: Differences in Ridge Widths Between Latent and Inked Fingerprints

Morphological changes in the width of latent fingermark ridges occur naturally over time. This could be used to examine the aging process of latents and eventually estimate time of deposition. In a crime context, it is common practice to compare a questioned (aged) fingermark with a database of known (inked) prints. Therefore, in the absence of fresh fingermarks for aging purposes, it is of interest to reveal correlations between these two categories of fingerprints with regard to the widths of their ridges. The present study explores correlations of ridge widths between flat and rolled inked prints with latent fingermarks visualized with carbon black (CB) and titanium dioxide (TiO₂)-based powders among a small population of ten donors. Results revealed consistent differences between the ridge widths of latent and inked prints as well as flat and rolled impressions. Latent fingermarks visualized with CB and TiO₂ powders showed ridges with comparable widths.     

An exploratory study assessing compliance among municipal controllers and the possible explanations for their degree of compliance

Municipal controllers are sometimes confronted with requests from managers that contradict with the legal provisions. This raises the question how municipal controllers deal with these requests and whether this would impact their compliance. This article is a result of an exploratory study assessing compliance among municipal controllers and the possible explanations for their degree of compliance. The study has focused on one specific provision concerning accrual accounting, one of the elements of new public management (NPM), which is prescribed for Dutch municipalities. The study is based on a survey in 22 municipalities. The results show that the majority of municipal controllers who participate in this study deviate from this legal provision. There might be a relation between the orientation of the controllers and the degree of compliance. The position of the controller within the municipality can be a significant factor explaining this orientation. However, the size of the sample is too limited to generalize. The conclusions of this study undermine the idea that municipal controllers should act as business partners to the management. Finally, the study reveals a paradox: while one of the main elements of NPM is to shift more responsibilities to decentralized managers, this shift can lead to an increased principal‐agent problem, leading to a lesser degree of compliance.     

Understanding Sub-Saharan Africa’s Extreme Poverty Tragedy

Motivated by a recent World Bank report on achieving of Millennium Development Goals which shows that poverty has been declining in all regions of the world with the exception of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), this study puts some empirical structure to theoretical and qualitative studies on the reconciliation of the Beijing model with the Washington Consensus. It tests the hypothesis that compared to middle-income countries, low-income countries would achieve more inclusive development by focusing on economic governance as opposed to political governance. The empirical evidence is based on interactive and noninteractive fixed effects regressions and 49 countries in SSA for the period 2000–2012. The findings confirm the investigated hypothesis. As the main policy implication, in order to address inclusive development challenges in the post-2015 development agenda in SSA, it would benefit low-income countries in the subregion to prioritize economic governance. Other theoretical and practical contributions are also discussed.