More with Less? Fiscal Decentralisation,Public Health Spending and Health Sector Performance

Decentralisation is considered a panacea for deficient public sector performance by many. However, recent trends of health sector recentralisation in several OECD countries suggest the opposite. Taking on a cross‐country perspective, I examine two hypotheses, namely that decentralisation leads to an increase in public health spending (H1) and to poor health sector outcomes (H2). The evidence I present suggests that decentralising spending tends to lead to larger public health sectors and to poorer health sector outcomes. However, decentralising tax authority has no effect on the size of the health sector and may actually have a positive effect on health sector performance. The broader lesson is that while general fiscal decentralisation research tends to imply that its conclusions are valid for all policy areas in a similar way, sector‐specific insights can reveal a more nuanced view on the consequences of fiscal decentralisation.     

社会主义新农村建设中的政府能力——公共产品的视角

社会主义新农村建设是我国现代化的一个关键环节.从一定意义上说,社会主义新农村的建设过程就是农村公共产品供给效率的改善及供给结构的优化过程.从公共产品的视角出发,有利于深入探讨社会主义新农村建设中政府能力的本质、问题与成因,政府与乡村自组织的关系等重要方面.我们认为,政府是农村公共产品的主要责任者,政府供给农村公共产品的程度与质量是政府能力的重要表现;农民的自组织化是提高农村公共产品供给效率及促进基层民主发展的内在要求;厘清政府与乡村自组织的关系是社会主义新农村建设的应有之义.推进社会主义新农村建设,要求政府既能够承担农村公共产品的供给责任,又能够在公共产品供给中处理好与乡村自组织的关系,为此,应当划分好政府在农村公共产品供给中的责任;改革乡村治理结构,提升基层政府的能力;培育农村自治组织,提高农村公共产品的供给效率;处理好政府与农村自组织的关系,促进农村基层民主的发展.     

公共物品供给的交易费用多维度分析

制度分析学派通过不同制度的交易费用状况的比较,对各种制度的特征进行了较充分的分析.但是,对于公共物品的供给制度来说,由于公共物品的公共性价值特征导致的交易费用的复杂性,不能在单一维度的视角下笼统地仅考虑费用的数量大小,由此来评判制度安排和公共决策的好坏.因为除了信息不对称因素所产生的交易费用以外,有相当一部分被视为诱发交易费用的行为实际上是在体现和保证物品的公共性,这些费用表现为公共协商的成本和对损失方补偿的费用.试图从多种维度对公共物品供给中的交易费用进行分析,不仅对信息不对称如何产生交易费用进行了描述,还对公共协商和对损失方补偿产生的费用所表现出的公共性价值进行了解析;并借用了公共选择学派的广义宪政经济学理论,探讨了交易费用的最优解;最后倡导建立具有公共性特征的公共物品供给的交易费用现.     

经济法的可诉性与经济公益诉讼制度

经济法以社会本位为基本价值取向,以维护社会公共利益为根本宗旨。其在促进社会整体利益,保持国民经济健康、和谐发展方面起着其它法律部门不可替代的巨大作用。但由于经济法可诉性的缺失,其自身的价值和功能难以得到完全发挥。基于此,实现经济法的可诉性,建立经济公益诉讼制度,就成为解决和平衡经济纠纷、经济冲突的一条有效途径。     

Does the amount of participation matter? Public comments,agency responses and the time to finalize a regulation

The notice and comment rulemaking process is a fundamental part of how agencies write regulations. While this process is starting to receive more empirical attention, the question of how the number of comments that an agency receives affects its decision-making process has received little examination. This paper uses Boolean analysis to examine nine rules from two agencies at the Department of Health and Human Services and evaluates the impact of a high volume of comments on agency changes to proposed rules and the time an agency takes to finalize a proposed rule. These nine cases suggest that agencies are most likely to change their proposals when they receive a high volume of comments on highly complex rules that are not very politically salient. Highly complex rules are also likely to take a long time to finalize when there are many public comments however it is often other factors that cause a long delay between proposed and final rules.

论公共需求与供给：公共行政研究的基本主题

社会公共需求与政府公共供给的关系,是公共行政学研究的基本主题.公共需求与供给的关系发展史,就是一部公共行政发展史,也是一部公共行政学的发展史.公共需求与供给作为公共行政的基本关系,决定着公共行政学研究的基本框架,是我们构建公共行政学科学体系的基础.     

论法治之法

法治的实现以法制为前提,而良法又是法治的题中之义,也是法治的有力保障.本文试图从立法原理、立法宗旨、立法程序以及法律的价值取向等方面来分析何为良法,以求探讨在法治建设中如何使立法真正走上良性的发展轨道.     

加入WTO带给公安工作的机遇、挑战与对策

加入WTO是中国深化改革、扩大开放、加快发展的必然选择 ,也是实现整个社会长期稳定繁荣、经济持续增长的客观需要。入世不仅会使公安工作拥有更为广泛的服务空间 ,而且也将推动公安机关自身改革的进程 ,亦将拓展公安机关与国际间司法交往与合作的机会。但WTO是一把“双刃剑” ,在带来巨大利益的同时 ,也必然会给包括公安工作在内的社会生活各方面带来巨大的风险和挑战 ,社会治安将会更加波动 ,犯罪活动将会更加突出 ,文化侵袭将会更加严重 ,公安任务将会更加繁重。公安机关应采取积极主动的针对性措施 ,加强公安思想建设 ,全力维护社会政治稳定 ;加强公安队伍建设 ,全面提高公安民警素质 ;加强公安法制建设确保严格公正文明执法 ;加强公安作风建设 ,积极大力推行警务公开。从而更好地服从服务于经济建设 ,确保社会治安的持续稳定。     

New Public Management and Administrative Reforms in Nigeria

This study examines the Nigerian attempts to implement the New Public Management (NPM) reform. The paper aims at identifying the strand, the extent of progress made and the reason(s) for success/failure recorded. The author finds that the poor success story of the reform is as a result of the preference of the more attractive cost-saving neoliberal economic aspect to the more involving and demanding bureaucratic aspect, the inconsistencies in program implementation, and lack of strong political will common to adopting reform in developing countries. The article recommends that reforms require dealing with the critical challenges of institutionalization, inconsistency and legitimization.     

Public Administration Reform and Its Implications for Foreign Petroleum Companies in Kazakhstan

Since 2000, Kazakhstan has followed the New Public Management reform trajectory in modernizing its public sector and public service delivery. This article employs an actor-centered perspective to examine the effects of the public administration reform and its implications for foreign petroleum companies in Kazakhstan. The study builds on primary sources in the form of 81 semi-structured interviews with public servants, representatives of foreign petroleum companies and experts. The main conclusion is that the reform effects are ambiguous. Despite some success in greater efficiency of public services, many weaknesses remain, with highly varying implications for foreign petroleum companies.