The Impact of Fiscal Decentralisation on Education and Other Types of Spending

Scholars have argued about the impact of fiscal decentralisation on public spending for a long time without coming to any firm theoretical and empirical conclusions. In contrast to earlier studies, this paper looks at the impact of fiscal decentralisation across different types of spending. The conventional wisdom of a “race to the bottom” in taxes and spending as a consequence of fiscal decentralization is juxtaposed to the recent literature on expenditure competition, which posits that expansive local competition results in higher spending in fiscally decentralized countries. We argue that the effects of fiscal decentralization should be seen most clearly for those types of policies which are provisioned mainly on the local/regional level. Empirically, we find a robust and positive association between fiscal decentralization and aggregate levels of education spending. However, when looking at public policies provided at the national level (e.g. pension policies), fiscal decentralisation is associated with lower levels of aggregate spending. The argument is tested empirically by means of cross‐sectional regressions as well as a pooled time series analysis of education, pension, social and total public spending in OECD countries from 1980 to 2001.     

人口老龄化与农村老年医疗保障制度

人口老龄化导致老年人医疗服务需要增加。然而,经济因素制约了老年人医疗服务需要向需求的转化,阻碍了老年人健康状况的改善。为实现世界卫生组织(W H O)提出的“健康老龄化”目标,促进全面建设小康目标的实现,必须为老年人尤其是收入低且几乎没有任何医疗保障的大量农村老年人建立医疗保障制度。建立制度面临筹资来源少、技术难度高、医疗卫生条件落后等制约因素,需要采取“低水平、广覆盖、采用多种模式、利用各方力量、加强配套设施”的发展策略。通过建立农村老年医疗救助、合作医疗、“时间储蓄”等多种制度,提供完善的医疗供方体系,保障农村老年人的基本医疗需求,促进其健康状况的改善。     

The “timeline” method of studying electoral dynamics

To study the evolution of electoral preferences, Erikson and Wlezien (2012) propose assessing the correspondence between pre-election polls and the vote in a set of elections. That is, they treat poll data not as a set of time series but as a series of cross-sections—across elections—for each day of the election cycle. This “timeline” method does not provide complete information, but does reveal general patterns of electoral dynamics, and has been applied to elections in numerous countries. The application of the method involves a number of decisions that have not been explicitly addressed in previous research, however. There are three primary issues: (1) how best to assess the evolution of preferences; (2) how to deal with missing data; and (3) the consequences of sampling error. This paper considers each of these issues and provides answers. In the end, the analyses suggest that simpler approaches are better. It also may be that a more general strategy is possible, in which scholars could explicitly model the variation in poll-vote error across countries, elections, parties and time. We consider that direction for future research in the concluding section.     

《WTO谅解》--对GATT解决争端机制的发展

<WTO谅解>对GATT解决贸易争端机制的发展主要体现在一是确立了贸易争端解决机构(以下简称DSB)对贸易争端的强制管辖权,主要表现为对其前身GATT"共识"(CONSENSUS)程序地巧妙颠倒;二是司法独立,在世贸组织内部实行分权制,建立一套相对独立的司法制度;三是对解决争端量化时限,有控制地允许交叉报复.     

转型时期中国政治资源的充分开发

转型时期,中国政治资源的开发受影响政治资源总量的多种因素制约。而这一时期,政治资源严重流失的现状,使其充分开发显得尤为紧迫。转型时期,中国政治资源的充分开发主要通过两种途径来实现。一是对中国政治资源利用经验的总结分析,二是对国外政治资源利用经验的借鉴。     

Intra-household gender inequality: hidden dimensions of poverty among Polish women

This paper challenges recent findings from quantitative studies of poverty in post-communist countries which deny the existence of gender differences in poverty in post 1989 Poland. The author uncovers hidden forms of the feminization of poverty by studying it from the micro-perspective of the family and the household. This perspective highlights gender differences in the division of labor, leisure time, as well as the fact that it is women’s primary responsibility to secure the basic needs of the family. This study presents strong evidence for a variety of ways in which men and women experience and endure poverty differently in an impoverished area in Poland, a fact which is associated with the role of culture, history and tradition in shaping gendered patterns of reaction towards poverty and hardship. The paper is based on the content analysis of in-depth interviews collected during a field research conducted within the project “Old and new forms of poverty in Poland” (1997–1998) and “Poverty, Ethnicity, and Gender inTransitional Societies (1999–2000).¹     

根据损伤组织中C─反应蛋白的含量及分布推断损伤时间

作者应用酶联免疫吸附分析和免疫组织化学方法，检测大鼠切创创缘C-反应蛋白含量及分布的变化，探讨它们与损伤时间的关系及其来源。结果表明通过检测损伤组织中C-反应蛋白的含量及分布可推断伤后30分钟至5小时内的损伤时间，并证明C-反应蛋白可由肝细胞合成，组织损伤可诱发肝细胞合成C-反应蛋白。     

投资项目可行性分析的根本性误区及纠正

对长期投资项目进行可行性分析是投资决策中的一项常规工作 ,但由于现行分析指标体系在分析假设、指标设计、分析方法等方面存在着严重的缺陷 ,从而使许多可行性分析结果非常好的投资项目在其实施后实际效果并不理想。为了降低投资风险 ,提高可行性分析的准确度 ,需要引入不可行性分析的理念 ,考虑投资时滞和投资的等待价值 ,对现有的指标体系和分析方法进行纠正。     

四川藏区警务人才状况调查报告

四川藏区自然环境恶劣、警务社会资源稀缺、警务重心相对独特,警务人才建设面临着警力不足、个人能力与警务时空要求不匹配、警务人才队伍稳定性差、警务专才稀缺、警务人才待遇低等问题。应当在回应和吻合藏区警务时空背景前提下,改革藏区警务人才培养模式、调整藏区人民警察招录政策,提升警务人才的核心能力,建立拴心留人机制,以切实推进藏区警务人才建设。     

LETTERS

正I would like to thank you for publishing my letter in your issue of Janu-ary 2014.It sent an excellent message about the good international relations not only between China Today and myself,but also between thePeople’s Republic of China and the Republic of Rwanda in particular,andthe African continent as a whole.I wish to express my appreciation for the series of career articles by Robert Parkinson,CEO and founder of RMG Selection.I would,there-fore,like to take this opportunity to suggest that China Today considers publishing job announcements in every issue.I am convinced that this would increase the magazine’s readership exponentially and readers would benefi t from the opportunity to seek new jobs,get new jobs and