{"title":"Determinants of institutional quality: an empirical exploration","authors":"J. Alonso, Carlos Garcimartín, Virmantas Kvedaras","doi":"10.1080/17487870.2020.1719102","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17487870.2020.1719102","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Recent literature has underlined the role that institutions play in the process of development, making it essential to understand why differences exist in the quality of institutions across countries. The goal of this study is to investigate the determinants of institutional quality. Our results confirm that institutional quality is conditioned by variables that can be modulated by public policy, such as income per capita, international openness, education, taxation, and patterns of income (re)distribution. Our conclusions differ from the pessimistic outlooks of works highlighting deterministic factors, such as colonial or geographical factors, as determinants of institutional quality.","PeriodicalId":51737,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Policy Reform","volume":"23 1","pages":"229 - 247"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2020-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/17487870.2020.1719102","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46629645","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A modeling framework for enhancing aid effectiveness","authors":"J. Lin, K. Vu, K. Hartley","doi":"10.1080/17487870.2018.1551137","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17487870.2018.1551137","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The development literature lacks consensus about the link between aid effectiveness and governance improvement. A basic rational actor model is introduced to clarify how donors can influence recipient behaviors and more broadly how foreign aid can support or impede governance quality improvement. Adopting the underutilized perspective of donor behavior, this study identifies mechanisms through which aid hinders governance improvement and offers substantive recommendations about how donors can enhance aid effectiveness, including strategies for donors to raise the level of effort recipients devote to project success.","PeriodicalId":51737,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Policy Reform","volume":"23 1","pages":"138 - 160"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2020-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/17487870.2018.1551137","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44919245","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"From turnpikes to toll-roads: a short history of government policy for privately financed public infrastructure in Australia","authors":"Sebastian Zwalf","doi":"10.1080/17487870.2020.1716754","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17487870.2020.1716754","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Australia has been a world leader in the use of privately financed public infrastructure projects (PFPI), otherwise known as public private partnerships (PPPs), since their first use in the modern-PFPI-era commencing in 1980. This article argues that Australian PFPI has evolved through four key phases and tracks the key inflection points in debate. Critical dimensions in these phases include the enabling policy apparatus, tax status, competitive tension, risk transfer, accounting treatment, value-for-money, government guarantees and hybrid finance. It suggests that the evolution of PFPI policy can be attributed to political tendencies, responses to public scrutiny and advances in technical approaches.","PeriodicalId":51737,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Policy Reform","volume":"25 1","pages":"103 - 120"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2020-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/17487870.2020.1716754","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41751995","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Re-interpreting re-municipalization: finding equilibrium","authors":"B. Voorn, Marieke L. van Genugten, S. van Thiel","doi":"10.1080/17487870.2019.1701455","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17487870.2019.1701455","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The remunicipalization literature posits that municipalities increasingly reject privatization in favor of in-house service delivery. A frequent interpretation is that remunicipalization therefore demonstrates a rejection of business-like service delivery in local public service delivery. We perform a systematic review of the literature on remunicipalization, to argue why this interpretation may be inaccurate. First, remunicipalization often involves corporatization, and these public corporations are very business-like. Second, cost savings are often at the root of remunicipalization rather than political ideology. We call for a more nuanced debate on remunicipalization in the literature.","PeriodicalId":51737,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Policy Reform","volume":"24 1","pages":"305 - 318"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2020-02-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/17487870.2019.1701455","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44397348","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Politicians, bureaucrats and the public–private choice in public service delivery: anybody there pushing for remunicipalization?","authors":"Daniel Albalate, G. Bel","doi":"10.1080/17487870.2019.1685385","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17487870.2019.1685385","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Empirical evidence on remunicipalization remains scarce, and even more so as regards potential differences in the roles played by politicians and bureaucrats in service delivery reform. We use information obtained from a survey of Spanish municipalities to investigate differences in the service delivery preferences of politicians and technical staff, as well as differences in their respective propensities to reform. The results we obtain suggest that bureaucrats have both a stronger preference for private participation in service delivery and for reforming services than do politicians.","PeriodicalId":51737,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Policy Reform","volume":"24 1","pages":"361 - 379"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2020-01-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/17487870.2019.1685385","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48988323","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
C. Campos-Alba, Emilio José De La Higuera Molina, G. Pérez-López, J. Zafra-Gómez
{"title":"Drivers of contracting back in local governments: analysing efficiency, opportunistic political cycles, political corruption and financial factors","authors":"C. Campos-Alba, Emilio José De La Higuera Molina, G. Pérez-López, J. Zafra-Gómez","doi":"10.1080/17487870.2019.1689359","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17487870.2019.1689359","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The main aim of this paper is to examine the likelihood of local governments remunicipalising public services that were previously contracted out. To do so, we studied a sample of 141 Spanish municipalities with between 20,000 and 50,000 inhabitants, with particular reference to contracting back operations conducted in the period 2014–2016, using a random-effects panel logit model. We found that local authorities that contracted back public services were mainly influenced by the wish to achieve higher levels of efficiency, by political behaviour in a pre-electoral year, and by political corruption detected in the previous year.","PeriodicalId":51737,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Policy Reform","volume":"24 1","pages":"347 - 360"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2020-01-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/17487870.2019.1689359","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49486370","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Adjusting an institutional framework to a globalising world: the creation of new institutions in the EEC, 1957-1992","authors":"Emmanuel Mourlon-Druol","doi":"10.1080/17487870.2019.1683009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17487870.2019.1683009","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article explores the development of all new EEC institutions between 1957 and 1992 within policy areas relevant to the possible development of a European single currency. It argues that if most institutions created pre-1992 were not crisis management institutions as would be the case post-2008, some important institutions were created in response to the perception of a structural international banking/political/economic crisis, particularly in the 1970s. This comparison in time underlines the continuity of reflections about the missing elements of a functioning single currency area, the obstacles to reform, and sheds light on the radical institutional changes that occurred post-2008.","PeriodicalId":51737,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Policy Reform","volume":"23 1","pages":"273 - 289"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2020-01-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/17487870.2019.1683009","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43919743","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The socio-economic value of satellite earth observations: huge, yet to be measured","authors":"A. Tassa","doi":"10.1080/17487870.2019.1601565","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17487870.2019.1601565","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Earth-observing satellites provide regular and accurate data that can support evidence-based decisions and public policies in a wide range of domains, potentially bringing huge socio-economic benefits. However, obstacles to effective data exploitation and poor awareness about their impacts risk hindering this potentiality and threaten the investments. Leveraging on the case of the Copernicus Programme, we review the challenges related to the full exploitation of free environmental space data and to the measurement of the related impacts. We then discuss the need for empirical approaches based on value-chain analysis with the objective to stimulate further societal and economic research.","PeriodicalId":51737,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Policy Reform","volume":"23 1","pages":"34 - 48"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2020-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/17487870.2019.1601565","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49181078","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Innovative behavioral regulatory agencies as second generation commitment devices","authors":"Francesc Trillas","doi":"10.1080/17487870.2019.1609358","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17487870.2019.1609358","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article analyzes how the commitment problem in economic regulation, and a solution based on strategic delegation, are affected by the non-standard rationality of agents that participate in the regulatory interaction. As a result, on the one hand, independent regulators are seen as part of a potentially more robust innovative regulatory system, and, on the other hand, their contribution to this system can be based on a wider range of instruments. Second generation commitment mechanisms that take this into account may be a key ingredient of reforms in the regulation of those industries that require a long run perspective.","PeriodicalId":51737,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Policy Reform","volume":"23 1","pages":"83 - 99"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2020-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/17487870.2019.1609358","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45567451","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Science, innovation, and public services: editorial introduction","authors":"Stefano Cló, M. Florio","doi":"10.1080/17487870.2019.1649149","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17487870.2019.1649149","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The quality of public services is critically influenced by innovation and, ultimately, by advances in basic research, which however embeds the feature of a global public good. Two broad issues emerge. The first concerns the evaluation of the socio-economic impact of science. What are the benefits and spillovers that R&D investments, research infrastructures and big science can bring to society? The second concerns which type of institutions and policies are most suitable for supporting R&D activities. These topics discussed in this article represent the core of the special issue “Innovation and Public Services: from the lab to enterprises and citizens”","PeriodicalId":51737,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Policy Reform","volume":"23 1","pages":"1 - 15"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2020-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/17487870.2019.1649149","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47324476","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}