Die Bildungsfinanzen der Schweizer Kantone. Der Einfluss sozioökonomischer Bedingungen,organisierter Interessen und politischer Institutionen auf die Bildungsausgaben im kantonalen Vergleich

This article seeks to explain cross‐cantonal variation in public education expenditure between 1985 and 1998. Four possible explanations are located: socio‐demographic and socio‐economic pressures, the impact of political institutions, the partisan theory, and the power resources of organized interests. Taking the research advantage of Swiss federalism our findings provide strong evidence that educational expenditure is systematically related to the socio‐demographic and socio‐economic pressures in a given canton. Furthermore, consensus democracy promotes educational finance, while the decentralization of the cantonal polity lessens the educational policy output. Finally, the instruments of direct democracy as well as partisan variables do not seem to account for differences regarding the budget expenditures on education in the Swiss cantons.     

Bright Lights,Big Cities? Metropolisation,Intergovernmental Relations,and the New Federal Urban Policy in Switzerland

Disparities between increasing urban economic power and cities' limited political autonomy have put pressure on intergovernmental relations in many countries. Some authors have claimed that this process leads to a strengthening of the position of cities with respect to higher state levels such as regions or the nation state. The aim of this article is to test this hypothesis for the case of Switzerland. In the first part, we show that, due to the existing intergovernmental framework, the current dynamics of urbanisation (which we describe as “metropolization”) have produced specific problems for governance in Swiss urban areas: spillovers in the distribution of costs and benefits, new political cleavages between core cities and surrounding communes, as well as increasing autonomy conflicts between cities and cantons. In the second part, we argue that initiatives taken in order to tackle these issues of urban governance have contributed to transforming Swiss federalism. “Politikverflechtung” is increasing in urban areas. In particular, the new federal urban policy has introduced a new vertical dimension of co‐operation between cities, cantons and the Confederation. Although Swiss cities have gained new influence in the process, we conclude that cantons still hold the key position. Therefore, like other federalist countries, Switzerland has not experienced a considerable strengthening of urban governments with respect to higher levels. Nevertheless, current developments in this area can be seen as a move away from the hierarchical pattern of co‐operative federalism towards a more heterarchical pattern of multi‐level governance in Swiss intergovernmental relations.     

西部地区运用财税政策吸引FDI效果的实证研究

90年代中后期国家陆续给予了西部地区一系列优惠政策,但从西部地区吸引FDI的总量和质量来看,都远远低于全国水平。本文对西部地区财税政策吸引FDI的效果进行分析,观察外商投资者对于财税政策的敏感程度,提出吸引FDI的相应对策。     

联邦制与中国统一问题的历史回顾和现实分析

中国近代史上的联邦制主张及其实践的失败,表明联邦制在当时缺乏可行性;早期中国共产党由主张联邦制到放弃联邦制的转变,也表明中共党人对联邦制及中国国情的认识不断深化;当代台湾学者所提出的运用联邦制来实现海峡两岸统一的主张,仍不具有可行性。     

政府公共服务事权划分混乱的成因与对策

公共服务事权在政府间的划分是建立分级财政体制的核心和基础,然而历史和现实原因使得我国当前的事权分配较为混乱、不尽合理,造成诸多问题。本文详尽分析了事权混乱的成因,并在此基础上提出今后公共服务事权划分的基本原则与思路。     

Federal Institutions and Multinational Investors: Federalism,Government Credibility,and Foreign Direct Investment

Political risk is an important factor in the decision to invest abroad. While the investment potential might be lucrative, there is always the risk that the host government will expropriate the profits and assets of the foreign investor. Political institutions, however, can serve as constraints on the actions of political actors in the host country. We argue that federal structures lower political risk. Joint-reputational accountability in overlapping political jurisdictions increases the likelihood that investment contracts will be honored. Empirical analyses of cross-sectional time-series data for 115 countries, from 1975–1995, are used to study how political institutions affect foreign direct investment (FDI) flows. After controlling for the effect of relevant economic and political variables, we find that both democratic and federal institutions help attract FDI, although the additive effect of democracy and federalism is small. This is not surprising; democratic systems already have low political risk; they do not need the additional credibility that the federal system provides to attract FDI. In contrast, we expect that federal structures significantly improve the trustworthiness of less democratic states. Empirically, we find that less democratic countries with federal political systems attract some of the highest levels of FDI.     

二元财政政策影响农村居民税负的数量分析

由于非正式财政的存在、统计技术的不成熟和统计制度的不透明,农村居民的实际负担无法从官方数据中反映出来。但是,从城乡差距入手,可以利用各类公开出版发行的统计资料,运用数理经济模型间接测算出中国农村居民每年的实际税率和政府每年从农业部门转移出去的农业剩余。测度结果表明,自1957年以来,农村居民的负担被严重低估,同时,虽然近年来,农村居民的负担略为减轻,但是,高税率的长期存在还是不可避免。因此,缩小城乡差距的政策不但要注意加大对农业部门的投入,而且还应该关注农村税负的减免。     

联合国财政改革的国际法分析

联合国自成立以来,就持续受到财政紧缺的困扰,财政问题尤其是会员国拖欠会费问题,制约着联合国的正常运转和联合国改革的全局。联合国组织本身的局限性以及缺乏强有力的欠费制裁机制,是联合国财政改革的内在需求。改革的主要思路是开源节流,节约开支、精简预算并寻求可行的新财政来源,辅之以有效的欠费执行机制。以国际法为基础,在国际政治与国际关系的互动中推进联合国财政改革,是当前国际社会共同的目标。     

Fiscal and political determinants of local government involvement in public-private partnership (PPP)

ABSTRACT

In this article, we estimate the main determinants of local government’s engagement in public-private partnership (PPP) projects using logistic panel regression. We use data from 2478 municipalities and cities in Poland from 2009 to 2016. The results show that municipalities with higher levels of indebtedness have a higher probability of opening PPP tenders while local units that are more dependent on central grants or receive more European grants are less engaged in PPP. We also found that the mayors of municipalities and cities with stronger electoral competition engage in PPP with a higher probability. These results are important for discussions on the efficient use of PPP. They show that local government decisions made in conditions of fiscal constraint and political struggle can blur the PPP’s value-for-money aim.     

Assessing the effectiveness and efficiency of a police service: the analytics of operational reviews

Concerns over rising costs have forced police services to balance increasing fiscal and operational pressures. Discussions of the resources and requirements of police, however, are generally only informed by political expediency and traditional practice. Operational reviews (ORs) can be used to document the demands on police, their capacity to respond, and ways in which they can become more efficient and effective. Drawing on an OR of a major urban Canadian police service, this article provides a broad outline of the components of an OR and the analytics that can be used to answer these key questions.