Contracting in local public organizations: the institutional economics perspective

The institutional economics is one of the approaches to explain the utility of contracting of local public service provision. This paper described and critiqued the assumptions underlying institutional economics as it is used in organization theories. It also explains whether and why these assumptions hold in public sector organizations. Finally, it discusses implications from the institutional economics approach for the local agency. Local agencies taking new institutional economics perspective as the basis for its contracting decisions should take transaction risks and information asymmetry into account. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

农地调整的正当性思考

土地承包经营的初始公平因户内人口的变化而出现了集体内人均承包地占有不公的矛盾,因此直面现行农村承包地调整制度在现实运行中的缺陷并完善现行制度实有必要。主张对集体内人均承包地占有不公的现象进行调整,首要理由即是基于对农民利益的保护。从宪法的视野对调整集体内人均耕地占有不公现象的正当性进行思考,有助于农村承包地调整制度的进一步完善。     

Contracting for Energy Efficiency: The Diffusion of Novel Contracting Practices at Local Government Level

Abstract

Studies on contracting out have provided much needed knowledge about the effect of contracting on different types of services, yet much remains unknown about the antecedents driving the adoption of new contracting practices. The focus of previous studies that have addressed the antecedents of contracting has been on the financial benefit of specific services. This study incorporates the innovation diffusion literature to explore organisational and managerial influences on a novel contracting practice: the contracting out of energy efficiency improvement services in Danish municipalities. The paper finds that the antecedents driving the adoption of contracting out may result from inter-organisational influences as much as managerial factors.     

Breaking up a partnership to build a competitive market in Denmark’s ambulance service: how can studies of contract reversals learn from the sociology of markets?

ABSTRACT

paper analyses a case of contract reversal in the market for ambulance services. The paper suggests that the sociology of markets-literature provides insights into market institutions of importance to relations between government and contractors that will benefit contracting out theory. Building on document analysis and interviews with 19 key stakeholders, it is demonstrated how a regional government in Denmark tried to wrestle the service provision from a long-time private provider and create a competitive market, only to discover that the implementation of the new contract was beset by obstacles largely stemming from informal norms in the market and attempts of the existing provider to hamper market entry for challenger firms. The result was a contract reversal: from private provision to government-provided service delivery. The paper contributes to the contracting out literature by providing a more elaborate understanding of the institutional conditions under which contract reversals can take place.     

中国农村土地政策的调查与思考

土地政策变革或土地制度改革一直是我国农村经济体制改革的核心内容。总体而言,中国农地使用制度政策创新主要有五种类型:家庭承包责任制、两田制、规模经营、“四荒”使用权拍卖、股份合作制。比较几种政策类型的制度取向与绩效差异,可以明确当前中国农地制度政策设计的两大要点在于树立农户对土地使用的预期信念和土地资源合理配置。     

Promising Performance: The Overestimation and Underestimation of Performance Targets

This study examines goal setting in the federally funded, state-implemented Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP). Specifically, using federally determined criteria that states are supposed to use to set expected performance targets, I model the predicted performance targets and compare them against the observed performance targets. The purpose is to examine the determinants of performance target overestimation and underestimation in the WAP. The findings suggest that, where credible commitment to achieving performance targets is important (i.e., when grantees want to show top performance to attract grant money and federal partners), grantee governments are more likely to underestimate goals. However, where the aspirational nature of performance targets is more important than the credible commitment of achieving them (i.e., in an election year or partisan congruence with federal government), grantee governments are more likely to overestimate goals.     

公平观念与城市化过渡社区中居民的利益博弈——以X市PN社区为例的实证分析

城市化过渡社区是我国城市化过程中的一种特殊现象,城市化过渡社区的治理困境,一直是我国地方治理的重点问题和难点问题。首次采用质化研究方法,以X市PN社区为例,分析了城市化过渡社区中常住居民的公平观念及其利益诉求方式。揭示了城市化过程中作为弱势力群体的失地农民,为了维护自己的"合法"权益和生存权利,在过渡社区的日常生活中与地方政府进行博弈的方式;并且分析了这些博弈方式背后的理性因素及其启示意义。研究发现:土地征用制度和城乡二元结构制度安排的不合理,侵蚀了过渡社区中居民的利益,违背了社区居民的公平观念,加上市场经济生活不确定性带来的经济压力,降低了基层政府管理行为的合法性,激励了社区居民的隐性抗争行为。只有正确处理公平与效率的关系,政府的制度设计和管理行为才能取得长久的治理绩效。     

外包：公共服务事业改革的重要途径

在全球化的进程中,中国毫无例外地走上了公共服务市场化的道路。公共服务事业外包,作为政府民营化的一种最主要的形式,是公共服务事业市场化改革的重要途径。目前,公共服务外包的障碍机制有哪些,以及如何扫除这些障碍,使公共服务外包事业顺利发展是本文探讨的主要问题。     

身份与契约关系的协调——论土地承包经营权的流转与保护

当前,随着农民大量涌入城市,原先非农村集体经济组织成员进入土地承包经营,在这个过程中,非身份化是当前中国社会阶层分化的特征之一。在当今中国,如何在打破身份限制、实现劳动与土地自由流动的同时,保证那些不能成功实现转型的传统农民享有基本的生活保障,达到"优胜劣保",是解决全部农村问题的关键所在。如果我们的制度设计能够使整个社会在建立起契约关系的同时,适当保留传统农民的集体经济组织成员身份关系,以此作为实现农村社会保障的组成部分,无疑是一个较好的选择。     

以农为先有序统筹城乡发展——“万顷良田建设工程”理念及实践

探寻统筹城乡发展路径,必须转变农村现有资源配置格局,转变传统农耕作业方式和固有散居模式,推动实践创新;必须坚持社会主义方向,遵循市场规律,彰显中国特色,以效能优势提高统筹绩效;必须着眼城乡发展全局,集聚农村耕地、建设用地、劳动力资源、市场需求和服务资源,以资源集聚促进城乡一体;必须贯彻效益效率效用兼顾原则,集中有效投入,减少过程浪费,以务实态度追求统筹目标。万顷良田建设工程是以农为本的实践载体、统筹城乡的基础平台。