Competition and switching in public service markets: Can they reduce inequalities?

Regulatory reforms to public infrastructure services across European Union (EU) countries were aimed at increasing consumer welfare by introducing competition and choice into service markets. However, empirical evaluations have questioned whether these reforms have benefitted all consumers, suggesting that vulnerable groups of service users (especially those with lower levels of formal education), might be locked into poorly performing services. We assess the relationship between the level of competition in electricity and fixed telephony markets in EU countries and evaluate the affordability of these services for different socio‐educational layers. Our findings show that – although in countries where there is a relatively high frequency of switching, inequalities between socio‐educational groups are smaller and eventually disappear – competition as such does not play a part. These results suggest that demand‐side regulation that successfully enables consumer switching has the potential to equalize social welfare, thereby reflecting a possible convergence of regulatory instruments and the central aims of the welfare state in this context.     

农村基础设施多中心治理：理论基础与现实路径

建设资金短缺、物品属性多样和治理主体多元,使农村基础设施的多中心治理成为可能和必要;其治理效果受行政体制因素、经济因素、社会因素和相关激励机制等方面的影响。在当前制度背景下,要改善农村基础设施多中心治理,不但需要明确各主体的职责、建立多元的筹资模式,还要改善农村基础设施治理的表达和供给机制。     

Next generation engagement: Setting a research agenda for community engagement in Australia's infrastructure sector

The global infrastructure sector is thriving. But community opposition to major projects is also rising. Australian examples demonstrate the policy backflips, reputational pitfalls, and financial costs of project delays and cancellations. Failures to engage communities are surprising, given the widespread adoption of community engagement (CE) principles and the increasing professionalization of CE roles. If acceptance of the need for CE in infrastructure is more widespread than ever, why are we not seeing smoother project delivery, reduced protest, and cost savings? This paradox is the driving force behind the Next Generation Engagement project. This article offers a practitioners’ perspective to introduce the project and present key findings from its 12‐month pilot study aiming to establish a transdisciplinary, industry‐led research agenda for CE in Australia's infrastructure sector. The article contributes to our understanding of CE literature and research codesign. It maps out the top five priority themes for future research to support infrastructure selection, planning and delivery. The research agenda provides guidance for policy, and practice, offering consolidated, research‐based insights for policymakers and practitioners.     

走向全民健康保险:论中国医疗保障制度的转型

中国已经进入全民医保的时代,但医疗保障体系呈现碎片化的特征,其内部的若干制度安排之间出现了不协调。中国医疗保障体系亟待进一步转型,转型的重点和方向是将基本医疗保障体系从现行分散化、碎片化的社会医疗保险制度,改造为集中化、一体化的社会医疗保险制度,即全民健康保险。推进全民健保是"发展型社会政策"的体现,具有同时促进经济增长和社会发展的双重功效。从短期来看,这是一种简单易行而又可持续的减税计划,可以促进经济增长,有助于经济发展模式的转变;从长远来看,全民健保制度的建立标志着"社会性基础设施"的建设又迈上了一个新的台阶,这必将为中国福利国家的重建奠定基础。     

反垄断法基本原则的确立及其意义

反垄断法基本原则也是反垄断法的准则,是反垄断法的价值理念和立法宗旨的展开和延伸,对反垄断法具有的高度不确定性可能带来的不正义具有弥补的作用。     

关于“管道燃气初装费”相关法律问题分析

本文认为,我国各地征收的“管道燃气初装费”是不平等的行政性强制收费,目前的三类收费模式均存在不同程度的法律问题.解决这一问题较为可取的途径不是移植国外两部制气价等制度,而应将初装费并入地方政府城市基础设施配套费予以征收并完善相关征管制度,在主管管网建设基本饱和、补偿金每年支出较少的地方应逐步取消本项收费.     

China as an institution-builder: the case of the AIIB

As China is entering into the center stage of the world arena, it has become more proactive in regional and global institution-building. Globally, it has been actively involved in the G20 affairs and will be hosting the 2016 G20 Summit in Hangzhou. Regionally, it came up with a major initiative for a new institution, namely, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). This article aims to analyze the new institution's formation, goals and institutional arrangements as well as its implications.     

New shop owners in old buildings: spatial politics of the apparel industry in Kyrgyzstan

This article adopts a political economy approach with insights from the political geography literature to illuminate how the apparel manufacturing sector in Kyrgyzstan has thrived in a region known for significant challenges in electricity access and availability. In contrast to studies that have analyzed the role of state policies and informal relations in promoting industrialization, we focus on how myriad shop owners gain access to elite-controlled, privatized urban infrastructure through owner–tenant relations in a new market economy. Drawing upon original interviews with Bishkek-based shop owners, we find that despite the challenges associated working in these spaces, including poor infrastructure and exploitative relationships with owners, they remain due to the constant provision of electricity and convenient location. We contribute to understanding how everyday shop owners make sense of and grapple with production challenges in a new market context, against the backdrop of Soviet infrastructural legacies and post-Soviet privatization processes.     

Digital Infrastructure for Diversity—On Digital Bookshelf and Google Books

Diversity is a core value of cultural policy, and new global digital conditions for creative industries mean new challenges for diversity at a national level. Internet has become a new infrastructure for services and platforms, and global actors as Google and Amazon are changing the play. This article concerns digitization of books, the collection of the National Library of Norway and cultural policy. The results indicate the National Library's digital collection contributes to diversity in terms of demography, content, dissemination and techno-cultural aspects. For policy makers, libraries and researchers the study demonstrates a national digital service's contribution to expanded diversity.     

Surveillance of environmental movements in Canada: critical infrastructure protection and the petro-security apparatus

A convergence of post-9/11 security governance practices and a dependence on extractive economies has resulted in changes to the way Canadian policing agencies classify environmental movements. We detail how the category of ‘critical infrastructure protection’ (CIP) now enables surveillance of environmentalists under the banner of national security. We examine the growth of CIP as a security category, its changing character from the Cold War to the present, and the role of threat entrepreneurs. We demonstrate that CIP networks have institutionalized collaborations between national security agencies and energy corporations, creating a petro-security apparatus that aims to suppress dissent. We conclude with reflections on what surveillance regimes driven by the petro-security apparatus mean for debates about national security and social movements.