Institutional Differences and Local Government Performance: Evidence from Property Tax Assessment Quality

Abstract

This article examines the relationship between institutional differences embedded in local governance structures and government performance in the specific context of property assessment. In order to provide deeper insight into why certain governance structures perform better than others, we focus on the impact of nested levels of institutions—constitutional-level and substantive-level rules of governance—beyond the conventional perspective of the form of government. Based on panel data of cities and towns in New York State between 1993 and 2010, our analysis indicates that, among other institutional arrangements, municipalities employing the council–manager form with appointed assessors are most likely to achieve higher levels of assessment quality (uniformity) of the residential property. This indicates that having politically independent (more career-oriented), low-powered appointed governance structures rather than politically risk-averse (more voter-oriented), high-powered elected counterparts are more likely to be effective at reducing risk in tax equity issues, thus providing better financial performance.     

Is Any Publicity Good Publicity? Media Coverage,Party Institutions,and Authoritarian Power-Sharing

Existing literature identifies nonofficial media as a tool for rulers to gather information from below. We argue that such media also help identify threats among elites. Motivated by profit, partially free media tend to cover politicians who challenge implicit norms of the regime. These political elites are perceived as threats to the power-sharing status quo, which leads peers to sanction them. We test this argument with evidence from the Chinese Communist Party’s intraparty elections of alternate Central Committee members in 2012 and 2007. With Bayesian rank likelihood models, we find that candidates who appeared more frequently in various partially free media received fewer votes from the Party Congress delegates, and this pattern is robust after accounting for a series of alternative explanations. Detailed case studies also show that low-ranked candidates have more partially free media coverage because they broke party norms.     

Don’t push too hard. Examining the managerial behaviours of local authorities in collaborative networks with nonprofit organisations

In recent years, collaborative networks have been at the forefront of theoretical, empirical and practical research into local governance. Nevertheless, the managerial behaviours local managers should employ in order to improve the performance of these networks are unclear. Following scholars' examinations of governance and the complementary relationship between government bodies and nonprofit organisations, we empirically examined – so far as we know for the first time – the relationship between local authority managerial behaviours towards nonprofit organisations, and the performance of collaborative networks. We found that above and beyond micro- and macro-level factors, the more the local authority employs inclusive governance and financial support behaviours towards the nonprofit organisation, the higher the performance of the collaborative network. In addition, the more the local authority employs monitoring-controlling behaviours, the lower the performance of the collaborative network. Theoretical and practical implications of our findings are developed in the context of local governance.     

The Political Side of Consociationalism Reconsidered: Switzerland between a Polarized Parliament and Delicate Government Collegiality

This paper builds upon the concept of “coalescent elite behaviour” which is crucial in consociational theory, but contested regarding its actual conceptualization. Contrary to Lijphart's (1968) original assumption that elites are generally committed to an “overarching cooperation”, we hypothesize that institutional venues must be taken in account. Thus, the aim of this paper is twofold: Conceptually, we try to clarify the nature of “amicable agreement” regarding two core institutions (i.e. parliament, government), and regarding executive‐legislative relations. Empirically, we follow a two‐step empirical approach that combines a cross‐time comparison of the decision‐making process regarding the revision of the Swiss basic pension scheme (AHV) with a cross‐case assessment following Fischer's two‐dimensional typology. More generally, our findings serve to inductively refine the “political side” of consociationalism.     

充分发挥乡镇（街道）工会重要作用——关于石狮市乡镇（街道）工会建设的调查

乡镇工会在工会组织体系中是“承上启下”的一个环节,作用十分重要.石狮市作为福建省最早步入改革开放的县级市,是泉州地区经济社会发展的重要窗口.石狮市总工会紧跟改革开放步伐,把乡镇总工会建设作为服务城乡经济社会发展的关键环节来抓,在加强乡镇工会的地位和作用、完善乡镇工会的组织体制和运行机制、改善工会工作的环境和条件等三个方面,进行了积极的实践和探索,为全省乃至全国乡镇工会工作提供了许多可资借鉴的经验.     

转型时期俄罗斯政治制度探析

俄罗斯实行宪政民主制度,要求有一部至高无上的宪法。并在宪法范围内推行民主制度,经过几年的改革,目前俄罗斯宪政制度的框架已基本建立起来。俄罗斯政治制度的最大特点是其过渡性,目前的民主化进程正处于由高度集权政治向民主政治过渡阶段——权威政治的初始阶段,要建立起真正现代意义上的民主政治制度还有漫长的道路要走。     

Drug counselling behind the prison wall: staff responses to collaborative challenges

In the last decade, 13 Drug Counselling Units (DCUs) have been established in Norwegian prisons. These units are to offer prisoners with substance use problems coordinated treatment and rehabilitation so they can better cope with their problems during imprisonment and after release. Key means in achieving these goals are to establish inter-agency collaboration between the prison service and the specialist health services. Psychologists, social workers and prison officers from these institutions are to form an inter-professional team in the collaborative process. This study explores the challenges these occupational groups face when they collaborate within this organizational frame. The results show that the occupational groups experience two of the same types of challenges, but that they respond differently to them. The pattern of responses impacts collaboration, both in positive and negative ways. However, all occupational groups endeavour to maintain a high standard within the institutional framework provided by the Norwegian prison system. This article discusses how the responses of the occupational groups in the collaborative processes in the DCUs are influenced by their affiliation to the DCUs, as well as the system of management and professional logic.     

权力人腐败的机会主义动因及其矫治

人类经验表明,权力腐败实质上是权力人的违法腐败。机会主义人性行为分析证明,权力人的腐败本源于权力人的机会主义人性,是人性利己与利他矛盾内耗的外在表现。通过对"左"右倾机会主义、代理人机会主义和权术机会主义的观察也发现,如果没有有效的制度规则约束,权力人从本性上必然会利用机会甚至创造机会滥用权力,作出谋求私利最大化的机会主义"败德"行为。因此,为了防止权力人的腐败,就需要以多重制度设计抑制权力人的机会主义心理,约束权力人的败德行为,矫治权力人的权力滥用。不过,值得注意的是,人类对权力人机会主义腐败的治理将是一场需要战胜自我本性的持久战,要打赢这场反腐持久战,必须坚持不懈地推进国家反腐治理体系和治理能力的系统化、协同化与现代化。     

北京市某区社会资本举办医疗机构现状及管理对策

本文首先对社会资本举办医疗机构的设置现状进行描述,进而分析其存在的问题,提出针对性的管理对策,为加强卫生法制建设,依法管理社会资本举办医疗机构提供建议。     

The innovative personality? Policy making and experimentation in an authoritarian bureaucracy

Why do local officials in an authoritarian bureaucracy experiment with policy, even when directed not to do so by central‐level officials? This study suggests that policy experimentation in this institutional environment can best be understood as an interaction between the structure in which local officials are embedded and individual‐level personality attributes. Leveraging a new data set from a series of original surveys with local policy makers in mainland China, conducted between 2016 and 2018, we discern three baseline personality types: authoritarian, consultative, and entrepreneurial. We thereafter examine the individual‐level characteristics of local officials who will innovate irrespective of a centralization of bureaucratic power and interests, as currently experienced under Chinese President Xi Jinping. We find that local policy makers engage in policy innovation when they are more focused on resolving governance problems and that increased risk reduces but does not eliminate their willingness to innovate. Based on these findings, we contend that future studies of policy innovation should use an evolutionary framework to examine the interaction between preferences and selection pressures.