Caribbean electricity restructuring: an assessment

This article assesses the privatisation of the electricity sector in two Caribbean countries, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, to determine if they have been successful and whether they have contributed benefits to the respective societies. Two general methods are applied in assessing the success of the divestments; attainment of governments' stated objectives and commonly used utility performance metrics together with social and customer focus indicators. The results indicate that the stated objectives were broadly achieved, and the privatisation and its attempts brought benefits to the consumers and the society in general. The short to medium term benefits were accrued through lower labour costs per unit of electricity, higher performance of plant and operations and business led decision‐making. Long‐term benefits are accrued through the reduction or elimination of electricity supply deficits. However, although the basic privatisations were successful, the absence of an adequate regulatory framework in one case may have reduced the quantum of benefits through failure to enforce continuous improvement in the privatised generation company, and reductions in worker rents in the public distribution company. Further, benefits were reduced by long divestment processes, accompanying strategic drift, opportunity costs from delayed sale proceeds and efficiency enhancement, and the costs to sustain interim operations. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

中国大气保护公共支出的绩效评价——基于各地区环境数据的比较分析

对我国各省的大气环保支出的绩效进行评价表明,大气公共支出绩效的提高与地方环保机关的工作水平和工作效率紧密相关。在客观条件一定的情况下,地方环保部门是能够通过自身效率的提高来促进大气环境的改善。     

Performance of Public–Private Partnerships and the Influence of Contractual Arrangements

This article seeks to answer two research questions: does public-private partnerships (ppp) live up to its promises to government? How do contractual arrangements affect ppp performance? We propose a conceptual framework to evaluate ppp performance by comparing actual project outcomes to government goals in initiating the partnerships, and to explore how a set of contractual arrangements affect the ppp performance on each identified goal. The framework is applied to a comparative case analysis of highway ppp experiences in the commonwealth of virginia (us) since the 1990s. The results show that these ppp cases were successful in accessing innovative finance, but their performance was mixed on reducing construction risk and transferring revenue risk. Generally improved over time with later projects, the ppp performance was affected not only by interaction among contractual arrangements –private partner selection, financial arrangements, role division, risk allocation, and project characteristics – but also by authorizing and supportive legislation in the policy domain.     

以绩效预算制度为核心的财政预算交易成本控制研究

财政预算的本质，是社会公众与政府之间围绕预算资金使用和公共产品供给进行的委托代理交易。作为交易，财政预算存在交易成本，即财政预算的运行程序成本。制度经济学认为，交易成本过高会降低交易绩效。那么财政预算的交易成本过高也会降低预算绩效。为了控制财政预算交易成本，应当在预算法中构建一种有效的内部激励机制，保证预算执行主体的本位利益与社会公共利益挂钩，促进预算执行主体自觉地以社会公共利益最大化为目标运用财政资金，即绩效预算法律制度。     

后女性主义与性别表演：“网红”及“网红经济”分析

2016年，“网红”成为传媒和经济领域都颇引人注目的一支力量。从女性主义的角度来说，在外形方面，高度同质化的“网红”迎合了男性的色情窥视，也强化了对女性的性别刻板印象。但是“网红”体现出来的巨大经济力量却又在一定程度上挑战了现有的性别秩序。而2016年最为引人注目的 papi 酱，虽然和其他“网红”有着相似的一面，但更以其自身的特质吸引了众多的女性粉丝，体现了网络文化异质多元的一面。     

行政规范性文件绩效评估的价值取向

行政规范性文件绩效评估是政府绩效评估中的重要内容,其对行政规范性文件能够起到有力的监控作用。明确行政规范性文件绩效评估的价值取向是开展评估活动的基础,既能使评估活动有一个正确方向,也能对评估活动起到指导作用。但在近年来的评估实践中,对其价值取向往往存在着许多错误的认识,如认为其仅限于促进社会经济发展、加强行政管理等方面,也有将其定位于普适性的价值,不切合行政规范性文件绩效评估的具体实践。行政规范性文件绩效评估作为一种专项评估活动,其价值取向应当体现在法治行政、人本法律观和服务行政三个方面。     

我国地方政府绩效评估指标数据仓库的代表性对象选取和构建——以江苏四市为研究点

在中国这样的大国,各个地区之间在自然、地理、历史、社会等很多方面千差万别,由于这种异质性的存在,地方政府绩效评估指标的设计是一项噪音很多的系统工程,利用数据挖掘技术建设绩效指标数据仓库并进行挖掘可以有效解决这种异质性问题。论文首先通过标准比的形式,探讨了如何在我国筛选研究对象问题,然后通过将数据挖掘引入政府绩效评估指标设计研究,并以Microsoft SQL Server 2005作为数据挖掘软件,以江苏四市(苏州、南京、盐城、徐州)作为研究对象,在处理国家统计年鉴、地方统计年鉴、部门统计年鉴、政府及其各部门的工作计划与方案、工作记录等海量信息的基础上建立了四市的数据仓库,为进一步进行指标挖掘打下了基础。     

论法律选择中的替代条款——兼评《涉外民事关系法律适用法》第41条

替代条款要求在案件与一国有更密切联系时,排除冲突规则对案件的适用,发挥最密切联系原则的矫正功能。替代条款是法律选择的灵活性超越确定性的明证,是＂方法＂对＂规则＂的融合和革新,是英美法的自由裁量主义和大陆法的严格规则主义的较量。替代条款的盛行同样诠释了法的正义价值和安全价值之间博弈发展的古老命题,彰显了法律现实主义在冲突法领域的一度勃兴和鼎盛。《涉外民事关系法律适用法》在合同领域没有采用我国已有立法和各国立法中的替代条款,实为一大憾事。     

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.     

Adolescent Siblings’ Looking Glass Self-Orientations: Patterns of Liabilities and Associations with Parenting

A looking glass self-orientation refers to the tendency to incorporate the opinions of social partners to form a self-representation and approve of one’s self. These orientations were assessed for two adolescent siblings in 438 families with surveys accessed on-line. Younger (M = 11.6 years, SD = 1.8) and older (M = 14.3, SD = 2.1) siblings and their mothers (82.7% European-American) participated. The siblings shared similar orientations in relying on either classmates or the other sibling for approval, prior to self approval. Relying on classmate approval was significantly associated with adjustment and academic performance as reported by both the self and mothers. Siblings were also identified as sources of approval with implications for adjustment, but the magnitude of the associations with adjustment were lower. Comparisons of the older and younger siblings revealed that both groups were equally as liable to poor outcomes when reflecting the opinions of classmates or siblings. The results of SEM analyses implicate parenting characterized as coercive, rejecting, and chaotic in association with the tendency to rely on others for approval. A mediating role for looking glass self-orientations in associations between parenting and depressive symptoms, anxiety or academic performance was also found.