Financial Literacy and Retirement Planning among Government Officers in Malaysia

ABSTRACT

This study examines the level of financial literacy, financial behaviour and retirement planning behaviour and its dynamics among Malaysian government officers involving 320 employees working in the federal government administrative centre in Putrajaya and Kuala Lumpur using a questionnaire. Findings show high level of financial literacy, good financial behaviour but a mediocre in retirement planning behaviour, and only education and personal income positively influence financial literacy. Age and gender of officers do not influence financial literacy. Furthermore, financial literacy does not correlate with retirement planning and neither does it mediate the relationship between financial behaviour and retirement planning.     

Indispensable,yet Invisible: Drinking water management as a local political issue in Swedish municipalities

ABSTRACT

Local policy-makers’ incentives to address an issue is conditioned by how they perceive public attention. Our study focuses on drinking water management at the municipal level in Sweden. Provisioning and management of drinking water is a responsibility of the local governments. Interviews with local politicians and public administrators in seven municipalities reveal that local policy-makers think that citizens view provisioning of drinking water as a taken for granted service, and also lack knowledge of and interest in drinking water issues. Public attention is further seen as a double-edged sword since engagement in water issues often is a result of problems with water provision. The findings are discussed from a theoretical perspective of the role of agenda-setting in public policy. It is argued that the view of policy-makers of citizens as unengaged negatively affects the incentives to bring drinking water to a prominent place on the local policy agenda.     

Municipality size,political efficacy and political participation: a systematic review

ABSTRACT

It is an old adage that local government is a training ground for democracy. Its human scale means that political amateurs can contribute effectively and meaningfully to the politics of a state. But in a political climate seemingly driven to consolidate local government into ever larger units, can a not so local local government still elicit an efficacious and participatory citizenry? This paper explores the effect of municipality population size on two important aspects of democratic culture: political efficacy and political participation. Via a two-part systematic review, the paper examines how extant empirical literature bears on the relationship between size and both of these aspects, hypothesising that political efficacy plays a mediating role between size and participation. The findings are unequivocal: citizens of smaller municipalities feel a greater sense of political efficacy and participate to a greater degree in local politics.     

Technological Innovation and Its Impact on Public Sector Efficiency and Performance: Aerial Imagery in Property Tax Assessment Administration

ABSTRACT

Technological innovations can help public organizations deliver higher quality public goods and services at lower average costs. While a considerable literature exploring the determinants of technology adoption and diffusion exists, much less is known on whether technology innovations improve public sector outputs. This study investigates the impact of high-resolution, oblique aerial imagery, an increasingly common technology used by local governments in the US, on the inspection efficiency and quality of property assessment administration. Aerial imagery is often argued to be a low-cost substitute to in-person inspections of property. Drawing on data from 2013 through 2017 for property assessing districts in Texas, aerial imagery use is found to improve the rate at which properties are inspected as well as improve the quality of assessments. The results further provide evidence that investments in aerial imagery are best justified on budgetary grounds rather than as a means to improve organizational performance.     

The Politics of Discontinuity and Its Medium Term Policy Outcomes: Evidence from Ghana

ABSTRACT

It is common knowledge in Ghana that during political transitions, programs set in previous Medium Term Development Plans (MTDP) by prior governments are abandoned without regard for their wider national implications. While the economic impacts of these political transitions have been researched, till date no known studies have taken a holistic look at the relation between political transition and the level of MTDP target achievement. This article attempts to fill this research gap using Ghana as a case and the policy learning and political business cycle literatures as organizing frames. Using annual MTDP data and semi-structured interviews with 25 officials who were involved in the implementation of MDTPs at the national and local government levels, this article finds that aberrations in target achievements across the entire period between 2001 and 2016 were the result of financial constraints and the pressures to adjust to political change.     

政府诚信是和谐社会建设的关键

构建和谐社会,必须从政府诚信治理开始.要建设政府诚信,就必须大力强调管理公共化、政务透明化、普遍规范化、行政法治化.其一,要大力发展民主;其二,要强化对权力制约体制、机制的建设;其三,要建立健全监督制度;其四,要重视舆论监督作用;其五,要创建和完善社会参与决策管理的机制;其六,创立和发展诚信体系.     

Results of the Corporate Affairs Survey 2004

The Corporate Affairs Survey 2004 confirms that companies with representation in Brussels continue to increase their communications expenditure. This confirms a trend already identified by the European Centre for Public Affairs in various publications¹ during the 1990s. Realising the importance of public opinion in policy making, the majority of companies are increasing the size of their Brussels staff, with a deliberate emphasis on communication and further resources in public affairs. As most companies recognise the special skill sets of consultants, many plan to continue relying on the latter, particularly in the area of public relations. Copyright © 2004 Henry Stewart Publications     

中国传统用人思想的借鉴价值

我国入世后,面临多方面的挑战,从一定意义上说,人才方面的挑战最为严峻.人才问题是关系党和国家事业发展的关键问题.而中国传统用人思想源远漉长.广博深邃.在中国古代众多的经史子籍文献中,它包含着丰富的用人思想,其中有的达到了很高的水平,至今仍闪耀着真理的光辉.正因为如此,才使我国在几千年文明发展史中,创造了诸如文景之治、贞观之治、开元盛世及康乾盛世等多次辉煌.深入研究和总结中国历代名家用人的成功经验和失败教训,继承和借鉴其理论精华,对于提高当代领导者的用人水平有着重要的现实意义.     

行政决策听证及其存在问题、对策初探

现行听证会给公众造成了听证走过场的不良印象;对策是制定行政程序法典,扩大听证范围,公开征求民意渠道,延长听证时间,建立代表意见回应机制,分离听证组织机构与决策机关。     

从“全能”到“有限”——论当代行政思维现实转换

全能政府的思维模式是计划经济的必然产物,市场z经济的确立和完善需要有限政府.经济体制的转轨必然要求行政理念和方式的现实转换.本文从全能政府思维的现实困境、有限政府的理想状态以及市场经济的现实要求等方面,阐述当代行政思维转换的必要性,进而探讨如何实现从全能政府到有限思维的当代转换.