Civil services in Western liberal democracies have undergone significant changes since the early 1980s, so much so that many of the traditional assumptions underpinning their role and operating practices have been fundamentally questioned. This volume explores a number of themes inherent in this transformation process and the significant problems encountered in modernizing civil services. The commitment to modernizing public services has been a constant trend of Western governments and has encompassed many approaches under a variety of labels, such as new public management and reinventing government. As a result of such developments, the public services of many countries have been transformed, with civil services being singled out for particular attention. This book critically examines the application of the modernization agenda in the old Commonwealth, the USA and Western Europe, including the institutions of the EU. Particular attention is given to developments in the British civil service, including the implications of devolved government, human rights legislation, and the Blair government's attempts to improve the policy process. For students and academics of public administration, public policy and comparative politics, this book will provide unrivalled coverage of one of the most critical issues in contemporary public management and policy.

A traditionally conservative country in financial matters, India enacted a series of reforms in response to its balance of payments crisis in the early 1990s. But since then only halting progress has been made, raising concerns about India's rising fiscal deficit, inefficiencies in its financial system, and its still relatively closed economy. This book analyzes some of the complex issues currently facing the Indian economy. Looking at India in the international economy, the first section examines reforms of policies toward trade and capital inflows, including issues in exchange rate policy and international business prospects. The second section addresses banking and financial markets, tracking the reforms to date and establishing the need for upgraded technology. The final section compares India's fiscal performance with that of other developing countries, highlighting worrying trends, and presents concrete policy recommendations to advance Indian reforms.

There is a long-standing difference amongst public economists between those who think that collective choice must be formally acknowledged, and those who derive their policy recommendations from a social planning framework in which politics plays no role. The purpose of this book is to contribute to a meaningful dialogue between these two groups, in the belief that the future of both political economy and of normative public finance lies somewhere between the two approaches. Some of the specific questions addressed in the book include: does public finance need political economy? Should collective choice play a role in the standard of reference used in normative public finance? What is a 'failure' in a non-market or policy process? And what have we learned about the theory and practice of public finance from three decades of empirical research on public choice? The book also provides a practitioner's view of the political economy of redistribution. The distinguished list of authors, many of whom are pre-eminent in their fields, includes Robin Boadway, Geoffrey Brennan, Albert Breton, AnIbal Cavaco Silva, Walter Hettich, Gebhard Kirchgassner, Dennis Mueller, William Niskanen, Hirofumi Shibata, Eugene Smolensky, Heinrich Ursprung, Frans van Winden, Stanley Winer and Donald Wittman. The importance of political economy to any understanding of why public policy evolves as it does is now widely accepted by public finance scholars and practitioners. This book goes a step further by considering the role of collective choice in defining what constitutes 'good' or 'better' policy. It will be an essential companion for all scholars of public finance and political economy.

This open access handbook, Ten Crises systematically traces the economic historyof China from 1949 to 2020, unravelling the complex domestic and global factorsleading to the cyclical crises identified by WEN and his research team, andexamining the corresponding counteracting policies and measures by thegovernment to resolve or defer the crises. The book offers profound insights intoChina's endeavours and predicaments on the path of modernization, andcontemplates opportunities and lessons for the forging of alternative trajectoriesnot only for China but also for the global south: to reconstruct rural communitiesfor integrated cooperation and governance, and to revitalize ecological civilization.

To accompany the hugely sccessful 'Methods for Economic Evaluation of Health Care Programmes 2e', this book is a thorough and rigorous discussion of the methodological principles and recent advances in the rapidly advancing field of theory and practice of economic evaluation in health care. Written by an internationally acclaimed group of authors, the book provides an in-depth discussion of the latest theoretical advances and gives comprehensive reviews of the available literature. The book covers the main areas of economic evaluation, including the methods for measuring costs and outcomes, the collection of data alongside clinical studies, ways of handling uncertainty, discounting and issues relating to the transferability of economic data.

This book presents a comprehensive analysis of tax consequences in an oligopolistic market. It provides the reader with a systematic and precise way of understanding the research content of tax incidence. A major feature of the book is its analysis of tax incidence from both domestic and international oligopolies. Then, by examining various oligopoly models, it approaches the essence of domestic and multilateral tax issues. Starting with the general theory of commodity tax incidence in an oligopoly, the topics addressed in this book include tax reform, environmental regulation, and policy coordination in international oligopolies. In addition to the usual oligopoly model, managerial oligopoly, the public pricing problem for firms in an oligopoly, and mixed oligopoly are dealt with. By presenting individual issues and explaining the relevance of each topic, this book is highly recommended for readers interested in policymaking and the global market in relation to the interdisciplinary developments of public economics, regional economics, and international economics. This book is also valuable as an advanced textbook on applied economics.

This book discusses local area planning in the Lombardy region of Italy. The book provides valuable insights about the development of local welfare systems and the territorial organization of social services through the analysis of the evolution of the Local Area Plan, which lies at the intersection of sub regional governance and of social services delivery models. Using Lombardy as a case study, this brief analyzes the structural conditions influencing the establishment of Local Area Plans, their effect on inter-municipal cooperation, and the need for possible reforms. The book is organized as follows: the first chapter presents a reconstruction of the national and regional framework, analyzing the structure of ties and opportunities within which Local Area Plans are called to act. The second chapter provides a review of the extant literature on Local Area Plans and introduces the theoretical framework used by the volume. The third chapter details legislation introduced in Lombardy to reform the governance structure of Local Area Plans by supporting a process of reorganization and aggregation. The fourth chapter presents some cases of Local Area Plan aggregation. The final chapter presents the conclusion and some brief considerations about the future of social planning. Providing an empirical analysis of local service delivery, this book will be useful to scholars and practitioners interested in public administration, welfare, local government, non-profit and public organizations, and management.

This book comprehensively addresses the economic and social implications of the COVID-19 pandemic. In each chapter of the book, the effects of the pandemic on different economic and financial sectors are discussed. The book tackles many topics and issues that are of relevance in the post-pandemic world. Some of these issues are the effects of the pandemic on countries' budgets, tax systems, financial and economic policies, and management, in addition, the evaluation of the pandemic in terms of migration and refugees, the historic comparison of its effects with other pandemics, the social media reflections of the pandemic and the global governance discussions. The book also considers the effects of pandemic on the use of digital currencies and the effects of digitalization of employment and robot employment.

Joern Grosch betrachtet Steuertatbestande, in denen eine Person Einkunfte erzielt, eine andere Person jedoch Steuerschuldnerin wird, wie im Fall der Organschaft, der Mitunternehmerschaft, der Kommanditgesellschaft auf Aktien und Hinzurechnungstatbestande des AStG ( 7 ff., 15 AStG). Der Autor zeigt, dass viele Probleme mit der Rechtstechnik einer Ergebniszurechnung zusammenhangen, die die Einkunfteerzielung und Steuerschuldnerschaft trennt. Der Ergebniszurechnung stellt er Alternativen gegenuber, die deren Probleme vermeiden. Daruber hinaus werden Fragen der Trennung von Einkunfteerzielung und Steuerschuldnerschaft im Abkommensrecht dargestellt und Loesungen dazu entwickelt.

This book discusses the role of public-private partnerships (PPPs) in global transportation infrastructure. Seen as a way to provide vital services in an era of shrinking government budgets, public-private partnerships have become an increasingly important part of travel infrastructure worldwide. This book describes and analyzes the structure of various models of PPPs in various countries, evaluating their effectiveness, and drawing policy implications for future use. Written by leading international researchers and practitioners in the transportation field, each chapter is a case study on the adoption, implementation, and outcome of transportation services in different municipalities. Taken together, these diverse case studies provide an integrated framework for evaluating and using PPPs. Providing rigorous empirical analysis of PPPs in transportation, this volume will be of interest to researchers in public administration, political science, and economics as well as practitioners and policymakers involved in establishing and monitoring PPPs in transportation.

Public Finance and Parliamentary Constitutionalism analyses constitutionalism and public finance (tax, expenditure, audit, sovereign borrowing and monetary finance) in Anglophone parliamentary systems of government. The book surveys the history of public finance law in the UK, its export throughout the British Empire, and its entrenchment in Commonwealth constitutions. It explains how modern constitutionalism was shaped by the financial impact of warfare, welfare-state programs and the growth of central banking. It then provides a case study analysis of the impact of economic conditions on governments' financial behaviour, focusing on the UK's and Australia's responses to the financial crisis, and the judiciary's position vis-a-vis the state's financial powers. Throughout, it questions orthodox accounts of financial constitutionalism (particularly the views of A. V. Dicey) and the democratic legitimacy of public finance. Currently ignored aspects of government behaviour are analysed in-depth, particularly the constitutional role of central banks and sovereign debt markets.

Individuals make decisions but they do not do so in a social vacuum. The goods they buy are frequently status-symbols in a zero-sum game which some will win and some must lose. Their consumption of commodities is subject to the constraint that what one can do, all cannot. The pressure of coalitions and interest groups, the self- interest of politicians and bureaucrats may all work against a solution being found for some of the most urgent social and economic problems of our times. These problems form the centrepiece of the economic approach to social interaction that has been pioneered by Anthony Downs, Mancur Olson and Fred Hirsch. This book seeks to examine and evaluate their important theories of collective action.

This open access book presents an alternative to capitalism and state socialism through the modelling of a post-market and post-state utopia based on an upscaling of the commons, feminist political economy and democratic and council-based planning approaches. It discusses the left's need to explore non-capitalist modes of production, the inability of green or socialist market economies to produce real social and ecological change, and the need to look beyond traditional ideas of reform and revolution. The book discusses how a socio-economic organisation beyond money, wage labour, patriarchal division of work and centralised state planning may look like. It develops an approach to societal transformation based on seed forms of commons practices and social movements. This book will be relevant to activists, students and researchers interested in fundamental social change, political economy and feminist and Marxist economics. This is an open access book.

This volume presents the most robust and useful methodology for the derivation of investment criteria for the evaluation and planning of public investment projects - public investment criteria. The methodological approach solves inherent defects of traditional methodology, namely an ad hoc application of the benefit-cost analysis in the static content. Although this approach originated in the water resources development project of the Harvard group, the authors' methodology has achieved a discrete and dynamic inter regional input-output programming model by which: (i) establishment of priorities among potential investment targets by taking account of economic benefits that are brought by implementation of a set of selected projects, and diffusing into the whole national economy, and (ii) rational allocation of limited public funds to the selected investment projects are consistently made, based on the opportunity cost criteria in the dynamic content. As these benefits make up a source for the stream of further created capital funds for public as well as private sectors over the planning time horizon, optimal re-investment of thus created capital funds are solved recursively in the endogenous model by approaching the turnpike path of the whole national economy. As an optimal solution, the allocated levels for trunk expressway network as well as for other transport facilities, which are balanced with the allocation for industrial capital formation, are obtained by period and by region. In the background of these processes, the imputed price and opportunity costs as a sort of contemporary "god" are always latent. Readers with basic mathematical knowledge will learn functional and practical meaning of the opportunity costs (and the imputed price) in the evaluation and planning of investment. Conquering this small obstacle will be a source of strong self-confidence for society, a worthwhile objective. Other applications of the methodology are also included in this book, which is helpful for practitioners frequently using the feasibility study method as well as experts who wish to understand the theoretical arguments related to public investment criteria. As one of the applications, there is a numerical solution of a composite transport system in which the amounts of roads, railways, and ports are derived quantitatively, not qualitatively. These are results of authentic public investment criteria that are built in the inter-regional input-output programing model.

The research purpose of this book is to advance the reform of the existing international monetary system through the establishment of a new international currency standard that is a super-sovereign currency. International Monetary System provides international economic activities rules for the human society. It has significant influences not only on international economic activities of various countries but also on their domestic economic activities as well. Since the disintegration of International gold standard in 1971, studies on reform of international monetary system have remained as the important research themes for international economic research fields. Improvements of international monetary system to facilitate worldwide economic developments have been interests to all. Thus this book has valuable theoretical contributions. Since the collapse of Bretton Woods System, the current international monetary system of Jamaica System has come into being. Under Jamaica System, the sovereign currency US dollar has acted as the main international currency. This has caused vulnerability of money standard, instability of exchange rate system, and frequent occurrences of currency crises. Calls for international monetary system reforms have increased under these circumstances. Various programs such as improved international gold standard system, expansion of Special Drawing Rights, as well as establishment of single world currency surface. So this book has significant practical contributions as well. The major contribution of this book is the proposal of new scheme of establishment of supra-sovereign international currency. This is an entire new reform program that differs significantly from any past or current reform programs in international economic research fields from all over the world.

Recent developments in behavioural economics have deeply influenced the way governments design public policies. They give citizens access to online simulators to cope with tax and benefits systems and increasingly rely on nudges to guide individual decisions. The recent surge of interest in Behavioural Public Finance is grounded on the conviction that a better understanding of individual behaviours could improve predictions of tax revenue and help design better-suited incentives to save for retirement, search for a new job, go to school or seek medical attention. Through a presentation of the most recent developments in Behavioural Public Finance, this Element discusses the way Behavioural Economics has improved our understanding of fiscal policies.

The arrival of the welfare state in Western Europe brought with it a vast expansion in the role of government. That expansion led to fears that the increased expectations of citizens would lead to government overload and `ungovernability'. This book sheds new and surprisingly light on the whole idea of a crisis of ungovernability. It begins by examining the expanding scope of government in the post-War period. Drawing on a vast data set stretching back over the last two decades and right across Europe, the book reveals public attitudes towards the range and extent of government activity. Changes in the public's political agenda are identified, along with attitudes towards the size of government, taxation, and the equality and security goals of the welfare state. Attitudes towards government intervention in the economy, the environment, and the media are also examined. The final chapters assess the significance for governments of beliefs about the scope of government. Series description This set of five volumes is an exhaustive study of beliefs in government in post-war Europe. Based upon an extensive collection of survey evidence, the results challenge widely argued theories of mass opinion, and much scholarly writing about citizen attitudes towards government and politics. The series arises from a research project sponsored by the European Science Foundation. Reviews of the series: `The quality of the empirical analysis is consistently high...[an] important collection of empirical studies addressing the debate about the "crisis of representation" in Europe.' Journal of Public Policy `These volumes contain the work of many of the most important scholars in the field of public opinion in Europe today...These five volumes represent a major contribution to comparative politics, especially the study of mass politics. The chapters provide a wealth of information about public opinion in contemporary Europe and the relationship between state and society...The volumes clearly will be read by all students of European politics...' Times Educational Supplement `The Beliefs in Government series is a monumental achievement. It tells us at least everything we want to know about the structure of European public opinion'. The Good Society

A growing ageing population makes the issue of pension funds ever more acute. This book assesses the major economic issues raised by occupational pension funds in twelve OECD countries: the USA, the UK, Germany, Japan, France, Italy, Canada, Australia, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland and the Netherlands, as well as Chile and Singapore. It combines theory and empirical data and concludes with a number of policy recommendations.

What are skill-mix innovations and why are they relevant? This systemic analysis of health workforce skill-mix innovations provides an overview of the evidence and lessons for implementation across multiple countries. The authors focus on six core segments of health systems: health promotion and prevention, acute care, chronic care, long-term and palliative care, as well as access for vulnerable groups and people living in underserved areas. In addition, the book analyses the roles of educational systems, workforce planning and policy, and financing within individual countries' healthcare organisations from a cross-country perspective. Although implementing skill-mix changes may be prone to stakeholder opposition or other barriers, this book helps identify ways to steer the process. The authors ultimately determine what skill-mix innovations exist, who may benefit from the changes and how to implement these changes within health systems. This Open Access title is the sixth book in Cambridge's European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies series.

The volume on China: The Bankable State rejects neoliberal consensus and focuses on crucial contributions of the Chinese state in shaping Chinese economy. This book makes crucial theoretical contributions to the study of local political economy of China. This book engages with Chinese state responses to challenges China faces in the processes of reform, transition and development of both commercial and non-commercial banks. This book explores Chinese economic growth and development policy processes and its uniqueness in the wider world economy. The book examines Chinese financial policy praxis and offers an insightful account of its successes for the wider resurgence of alternative political economy of local development. Additionally, this book also showcases state led entrepreneurship in China.

This book covers several areas of economic theory and political philosophy from the perspective of Austrian Economics and libertarianism. As such, it deals with Epistemology and Methodology, Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, Labor Economics, International Economics, Political Philosophy, Law and Public Policy, all from the Austro-libertarian perspective. Hence, this book offers an integrated view of libertarianism and Austrian economics in the light of recent debates in the areas of economic science and political philosophy. Moreover, it builds from the foundations of the Austrian approach (epistemology and methodology), while the latter material deals with its application to the individual from the microeconomic perspective, which in turn allows an exploration of subjects in macroeconomics. Additionally, this work applies Austro-libertarianism to law, politics, and public policy. Thus, it offers a unified view of the entire approach, in a logical progression, allowing the readers to judge this perspective in full. Futerman and Block say that their book is not a manual, which I suppose it is not. But it is a collection of highly pertinent essays, from which you can understand what is mistaken in the orthodoxy of economics, law, and politics. The central term of art in Austrian economics is that phrase "human action." It is the exercise of human will, not the blind bumping of one molecule against another or one organism against another, as in the physical sciences... Futerman and Block distinguish Austrian economics as a scientific enterprise based on liberty of the will from "libertarianism" as an advocacy based on policies implied by such liberty. "Although Austrian economics is positive and libertarianism is normative," they write, "this book shows how both are related; how each can support the other." Indeed they do. Deirdre N. McCloskey, PhD UIC Distinguished Professor of Economics and of History Emerita, Professor of English Emerita, Professor of Communication Emerita, University of Illinois at Chicago

This book brings together insights and reflections following a set of interviews conducted with the main stakeholders involved in past, current, and future basic income experiments. It provides an analysis of some of the major elements and factors influencing experiments, as well of some of their most important outputs understood as results of their own experimental design, their sociological and political basis, and the epistemological status of their results. By pursuing a bottom-up strategy, where the interviews conducted take a pivotal role in the collection and analysis phase of the book, this book gathers key questions relating to policy experiments. Some questions reflected upon include the general idea of why one should engage and implement a basic income experiment, and the paradox consisting in the fact that most basic income experiments fall short of being closely considered "pure" basic income schemes. In facing the question and the paradox head-on, the book assesses questions of experimental design, the political and social context surrounding the policy, and the main results and what can they tell us about basic income.

This book provides an in-depth analysis of the distribution of funds by the National Program for Local Development (PNDL), Romania's largest state funded budget program. It provides an objective assessment of the way state budget funds are allocated at the level of county councils and municipalities in urban and rural areas. It covers allocations of the second phase of program implementation, namely the reformed PNDL II 2017-2020, which has double the volume of funds than the previous phase. Using a conceptual framework at the crossroads of sociology, public management, and public finance, this book provides necessary context for the complex funding environment of first and second tier level institutions in Romania. A comprehensive study on public administration, politicization, and development imbalances, this book will be of interest to researchers in public administration, sociology, and public finance, as well as politicians, civil servants, consultants, decision-makers, and representatives of responsible institutions with EU funds at national and EU level.

This volume presents selected contributions from the 2018 conference of the International Schumpeter Society (ISS). The selected chapters in this volume reflect the state-of-the-art of Schumpeterian economics dedicated to the three conference topics innovation, catch-up, and sustainability. Innovation is driving catch-up processes and is the condition for a transformation towards higher degrees of sustainability. Therefore, Schumpeterian economics has to play a key role in these most challenging fields of human societies' development in the 21st century. The three topics are well suited to capture the great variety of issues, which have the potential to shape the scientific discussion in economics and related disciplines in the years to come. The presented contributions show the broadness and high standard of Schumpeterian analysis. The ideas of dynamics, heterogeneity, novelty, and innovation as well as transformation are the most attractive fields in economics today and offer the most prolific interdisciplinary connections now and for the years to come when humankind, our global society, has to master the transition towards sustainable economic systems by solving the grand challenges and wicked problems with which we are confronted today. Therefore, the book is a must-read for scholars, researchers, and students, interested in a better understanding of innovation, catch-up, and sustainability, and Schumpeterian economics in general.The chapter "Industrial life cycle: relevance of national markets in the development of new industries for energy technologies - the case of wind energy" is available open access under a CC BY 4.0 License via link.springer.com.