Blockchain Papers

Jean-Paul Faguet, Fabio Sánchez Torres

No abstract is available for this record.

Iwona Otola

Describing the process of public sector decentralization is a aim of the article. Increasing the responsibility and competence of local government units is aimed at a taken of decentralization process of the sector of the public finance. Thanks to granted competence, the local authority together with the community take decisions concerning the path of the development of given local government unit. In the article tasks and competence of government units on different level were discussed. Also critically, issues connected with financial resources of local government units and the connection of these resources with the expenses side were presented.

International Monetary Fund

This paper focuses on the IMF’s training program as part of the Medium–Term Strategy (MTS) for capacity building in member countries.1 It updates Executive Directors on the current features of the program, reviews the efforts that have been made in recent years to strengthen the curriculum and to enhance value for money, and considers options for boosting external financing of training through charging and increased donor contributions. The paper also provides background for addressing the following issues: — Are the objectives of IMF training fully consistent with the broader objectives of the institution? And are these training objectives being met? — Is Fund training efficiently organized—i.e., is the current degree of decentralization sensible? — Are adequate evaluation and feedback mechanisms in place? —In the absence of market signals and with a large unsatisfied demand, how can we determine the “right” volume of training and how can we assess its worth?

José R. Repullo, José Manuel Freire

El Sistema Nacional de Salud (SNS) presenta una compleja situación de equilibrio, que aunque puede ser satisfactorio a corto plazo, plantea grandes problemas de sostenibilidad y gobernabilidad; el incierto balance del proceso de descentralización sanitaria en España señala claramente la senda de buscar nuevas alternativas organizativas para hacer efectivas las ventajas de la descentralización, a la vez que ser capaces de aprovechar las economías del sistema y conseguir la equidad pretendida. Se proponen cuatro líneas de actuación: redefinición del SNS en torno al aseguramiento público y derecho cívico igual para todos; replanteamiento del sistema de financiación y del papel del fondo de cohesión; redefinir el papel del gobierno central y el Ministerio de Sanidad, y crear un nuevo organismo, la Agencia del SNS con un Comisionado que de soporte organizativo e identidad al SNS como ámbito de acción cooperativa. The Spanish National Health System (SNHS) is currently in a complex equilibrium which, even if acceptable in the short term, faces major sustainability and governance challenges; the so far inconclusive outcome of the SNHS decentralization process clearly underlines the importance of seeking new alternatives to effectively bring about the real benefits of decentralization, while taking advantage of the system's economies of scale and achieving its equity objectives. To this end, four lines of action are proposed in this paper: first, redefine the SNHS based on universal public coverage, as a civic right and equal for all; second, reframe the financing system and the role of the Cohesion Fund; third, review the role of central government and its Ministry of Health, and fourth, create of a SNHS Agency headed by a Commissioner, for providing an organizational framework and identity for the SNHS, and serving as the cooperative body of the seventeen Autonomous Communities’ Health Services.

Hiroaki Kitamura

The 20th century has been called the era of centralized authoritarian rule.On the other hand, the 21st century is known as the era of devolution.In this lecture, I will first explain the reasons why a decentralized society, that is, devolution, has become necessary.Second, I will give a general outline on the OECD system of fiscal relations across government levels.Third, I will examine the present state of the reform for decentralization that has been undertaken in Japan in recent years, and fourth, I will investigate the situation of local government finance in the age of devolution in reference to the principles of the European Charter of Local Self-Government.

Ulrike Neumann, Anja Hagen, Matthias P. Schönermark

Because great interest in an efficient range of effective medicinal innovations and achievements has arisen, many countries have introduced procedures to regulate the adoption of innovative non-medicinal technologies into the benefit catalogue of solidly financed health care insurances. With this as a background, this report will describe procedures for the adoption of innovative non-medicinal technologies by solidly financed health care insurances in Germany, England, Australia and Switzerland. This report was commissioned by the German Agency for Health Technology Assessment at the German Institute for Medical Documentation and Information.In order to find the relevant literature and information, systematic literature research, a hand search and a written survey were carried out. All the selected documents (chosen according to defined criteria for inclusion and exclusion) were qualitatively evaluated, summarized and presented on a chart using a framework developed for this purpose. All the countries in this report require that some innovative non-medicinal technologies undergo evaluation by a central governing body. This evaluation is a prerequisite for adoption into the benefit catalogue. The process of evaluation can differ (e. g. the people and institutions concerned, the division of the synthesis of evidence and overall evaluation, processing the evidence). Similarities do exist, such as the size and composition of the governing bodies or the overreaching criteria according to which institutions must make their recommendations. This is how all the countries examined in this report determine how the benefits and effectiveness of the innovations, as well as their cost-effectiveness, can be chosen as criteria for the evaluation. Furthermore, there are many criteria which differ from country to country (social and ethical aspects, possible effects on the health system, etc.) and which are also relevant to an evaluation. The preferred types of clinical studies for these evaluations are randomized controlled trials. However, all institutions do allow for other types of evidence (e. g. expert opinion) when no other study types of a higher evidence level are available. In addition, all the countries are willing to allow unpublished or confidential information (e. g. from manufacturers) to be included in an evaluation. It is important to remember that the decisions made by the central governing bodies do not necessarily become conditions for the introduction of innovative non-medicinal technologies. There is a host of other requirements which determine how these innovations can be introduced. This means that a large number of non-medicinal technologies make it into the medical care system via these other decision-making processes. Often, these innovations are unevaluated and differ from region to region. Every country has established a system of observation and registration for medicinal products. These systems are meant to document any incidents with the innovations and to confer responsibility on certain organizations. All in all, no country has a central authority which systematically investigates the effects of newly introduced innovative non-medicinal technologies on medical care in general. However, Australia and England both carry out a review of innovations in some areas (e. g. by means of special commissions). In principle, the starting point for improving regulations of innovative non-medicinal technologies lies in the extension of transparency, the shortening of decision-making time (especially the central decision-making processes), the further development of evaluation methods, more flexibility and increased capacity in the governing bodies' decision-making processes and also, if needed, in the creation of a single authority to act as contact for people who are interested in introducing an innovation into the benefit catalogue.More research is required, especially in the area of decentralized decision-makers and how they actually decide whether or not to introduce innovative technologies into the core care system (methods, criteria, etc.). In view of this, it would also be interesting to see how the application of innovations actually happens in practice once their adoption has been approved by the corresponding governing bodies.

Byung‐Hyun Park

No abstract is available for this record.

Claude Lopez, Susana Nudelsman, Matias Alfredo Gutierrez Girault, Jose Siaba Serrate

No abstract is available for this record.

Fabian Garavito

No abstract is available for this record.

Hans‐Georg Petersen

The paper tries to shed some light on the problems of centralization and decentralization within an economic union and the federal member states. Integration and decentralization are not opposite policy strategies but both meaningful if the single public goods and services supplies are analyzed in more detail. Both strategies doubtlessly have advantages, which can be realized if the manifold possibilities are combined in an efficient approach of good governance. Best practice approaches in inter- or supra-national integration, fiscal federalism and taxation do exist and have to be successfully implemented. Obviously such a modern fiscal policy has to be accompanied by an appropriate monetary policy, which in an economic union has to be carried out by an independent central bank as one of the necessary countervailing powers in a democratic setting. A modern fiscal policy strategy efficiently controls budget deficits, which naturally have to be limited to finance reliable public investments. Such strategy has to be safeguarded through modern methods of budgeting and fiscal planning. Modern public management with a clear code of conduct for the government officials ensures corruption free administration.

Judit Kálmán

Observation of the first and second generation of literature on fiscal decentralization together with further branches of political economy, e.g. specifically on the political economy of intergovernmental grants and the widening literature on political business cycles leads to a puzzle: decentralization is a continuing policy trend however in reality there are downsides, institutional, political and other factors that do interfere with decision-making and can increase the chances for inefficient policy outcomes. Infrastructure investment finances at all levels of government are especially prone to election cycles and corruption. Driven from the above context the basic research question guiding my work is: whether local infrastructure policies in Hungary are really designed according to efficiency considerations? What politico-economic factors might affect central and local governments’ allocations on infrastructure investment? To complete this goal, a closer look at municipal capital investment financing in Hungary takes place. Related to the main research question several themes emerge and hypotheses are checked on the effects of the revenue base, local need and socioeconomic indicators on local investment strategies and financing constructions or grant allocations. Does grant financing mean a less careful financial planning? What is the importance of lobbying through different channels? I also search for - and in fact do find evidence of electoral cycle effects and partisan considerations (effect of similarities in political color of central and local governments) in intergovernmental grant distribution and in municipal investment activities. These issues to be researched call for a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods. Some of my hypothesis are tested on limited data from a 2004 survey of city mayors in Hungary. Hypotheses on cycles, determinants of investment outlays of local governments and grant recipiency are tested with linear and Probit panel regressions respectively on a panel dataset comprehensive for all Hungarian local government budgets from 1993-2003, a period bridging three election cycles, linked with some demographic,socioeconomic data and local election data. Findings can add to the discussion on reforming local government finance system overall, on the agenda in Hungary for quite a while, but perhaps also to the new literature on the political economy of failures, delays in socially beneficial reforms. What this dissertation certainly does contribute to is the fairly small pool of international empirical evidences available on political budget cycles, especially at the sub-national level and the emerging literature on the political economy of intergovernmental grants providing the case of one transition country that irrespective of the fact of by now being an EU member sometimes shows certain similarities to the developing ones.

Andrew Kiggundu

ABSTRACT\nPrioritizing public tramjport in large cities requires huge amount of money.\nIn Kuala Lumpur for example, public transport services are relatively poor and inefficient due in part to the inability by the major operators to mobilize ample investment capital. Besides, the new funding systems such as the Public Transportation Trust Fund (PTTF) may not be able to solve the problem because they are still unclear and incoherent. Other key challenges are: lack of a pro-transit policy. rapid motorization. urban decentralization as well as dependence on fare\nrevenue and banks to fund new investments. CrucianF. due to the poor design of private rail concessions, government intervention has been inevitable.\n\nKeywords: large cities, public transit, Kuala Lumpur, funding

Phillip J. Bryson

The Czech Republic and Slovakia, like other transition countries in Central and Eastern Europe, have given significant lip service to fiscal decentralization and engaged in public administration reforms. But the subnational governments of their public finance systems still lack relative autonomy, which could be addressed partly through developing independent revenue sources for their municipalities and regions. Currently, such independent revenue sources include the proceeds of a strictly nominal property tax as well as those of a small set of local user fees and taxes designed and approved by the central governments. Together they represent only about 5 percent of total municipal budget revenues.

Mushfig Jabir Aliyev

The thesis deals with problems facing municipal financing in Azerbaijan. Following the exploration of the options for a better design of local government financing.

Innocent Buberwa Rugambuka

ABSTRACT\nA students’ Loan scheme is one among many alternatives for financing higher education in various countries around the world. Tanzania is one of the countries that have been practicing loan scheme system for financing higher education sub-sector. The purpose of this study is to examine the performance of the students’ loan scheme in Tanzania basing on the views of the stakeholders, mostly higher education students who are the main beneficiaries of the scheme.\n\nSome university students at the University of Dar es Salaam, the policy makers and policy implementers in the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology and the Higher Education Student Loan Board respectively, were identified for the study. The study was guided by two research questions. These are: what is the performance of higher education student loan scheme in terms of the procedures for loan application and money disbursement; and does the student loan scheme contain the structures for loan recovery to the extent of being able to recover the loan?\n\nA qualitative strategy has been used in this study. Multiple methods were used for data collection, namely semi-structured interview, group discussion and documentary analysis. Twelve students of different academic years of study and student leaders at the student organization level, two policy makers and two policy implementers were interviewed. Twenty students were involved in a focused group discussion. And various documents including policy documents, guidelines and website documents were analyzed. Data collected was analyzed by induction process.\n\nThe findings show that the loan scheme in Tanzania is partly not performing well in terms of application procedures, disbursement of funds to students and loan recovery. Therefore to make the loan scheme perform at the convenience of the stakeholders, it is recommended that the government should decentralize the HESLB to district level (establish the district offices). By doing so some services such as distribution and collection of loan application forms and means-testing can be done at the district offices. In addition, it is recommended that the loan application forms can also be stationed at Advanced Secondary Schools to make it easy for the applicants to access them as most of the applicants are students from these schools.

Viktória Vásáry, Andrea Elekes, Péter Halmai, Vasary, Viktoria · 6 authors

Can we agree fully with the statement, that “agricultural spending is a major distorting factor in the EU economy and a distinct obstacle to the Lisbon agenda’s implementation”? (Gros, 2008) Is it without question that Europe’s agriculture is in position to become sustainable and competitive without certain kind of common policy with no Community financing? Is it unambiguous in every respect, that the challenges facing the sector – globalization, trade liberalization, climate change, water management, Lisbon process, enlargement, changing preferences – could be answered at national level utilizing exclusively national financial sources? The answers to these questions are complex. So the purpose of the paper is multiple: - Exploration of factors justifying community level intervention. – Could be applied the bottom line of the “decentralization theorem” to budgetary questions and needs of the agricultural policy? According to our hypothesis the answer is considered yes. - Assessing present CAP - taking into account its ability to provide EU wide public goods (multifunctional elements serve in deed significant cross-border externalities) and to create EU value added. - Making an attempt to redefine EU’s agricultural policy through exploring objectives having a greater impact by being implemented at the supranational level and not at other secondary decision levels. – Making an attempt to outline a Common Rural Policy, a policy promoting the provision of public goods required by the society by means of targeted and decoupled economic policy measures. In order to attain the objectives of the paper we apply the theory of fiscal federalism, make analysis on EU public finances in a broader context.

Getaneh Gobezie

Microfinance opportunities have been successfully expanding in Ethiopia during the past fifteen years, including in remote villages, where the majority of people are engaged in smallscale agriculture, which is little supported by modern technology. Some of the key strategies for the success include: innovative adaptation of the group guarantee lending model, successfully customized to local Ethiopian realities; decentralization of operation, including a focus on using indigenous knowledge and resources in client screening and follow-up; appropriate strategies to deal with financing small scale (rain-fed) agriculture, often subject to season changes. However, much remains to be done. The outreach in micro-credit is estimated to have satisfied only a small proportion of the potential demand, while the growth of individual enterprises and the impact on clients' income remain low. It is becoming more and more challenging to further expand the micro-credit outreach, introduce inclusive finance to reach remote villages and very poor people, as well as ensure an impact on the lifestyle of clients. This is due, among other things, to poor infrastructure, particularly the road network and other communication channels, low level business support, as well as the 'entrepreneurship challenge'. This calls for a collaborative effort of all stakeholders in rural development. The present paper examines the opportunities and challenges faced while expanding access to microfinance to poor people in remote areas.

Ramona Dumitriu, Costel Nistor, Răzvan Ştefanescu

No abstract is available for this record.

Stephen Kaduuli

No abstract is available for this record.

Benjamin Lünenbürger

River floods can be very damaging. Since numerous human responses to floods are possible, the question arises: What is the organization of flood management that leads to the most efficient results? The dissertation first considers flooding and flood management in Germany. Based on that analysis, a theoretical, political-economy model of public flood defense is developed. The basic model is then extended to allow migration between upstream and downstream regions as well as between flood-prone areas and zones without risk. As different flood protection measures have quite different spatial characteristics, the distribution of responsibilities between the different actors is decisive for the overall performance of flood management. The distribution of public responsibilities among the different federal actors is crucial for two reasons. First, there are unidirectional upstream-downstream spillovers that raise the question whether decentralized or centralized provision of public goods is more efficient. Second, benefits from flood protection are concentrated to flood-prone areas near rivers. This concentration creates a natural heterogeneity of preferences for flood defense. These two aspects are also relevant for other issues in water management. Unidirectional spillovers and spatially heterogeneous preferences for public goods challenge the federal organization of flood defense. Following the lead of recent political-economy contributions to fiscal federalism, both aspects are investigated in a two region model with majority voting. Four different decision-making structures are compared: classical decentralization or centralization (based on jurisdictions containing voters both with and without preferences for the public good) and decentralized or centralized single issue authorities (whose jurisdictions, by definition, contain only high preference voters). Decentralized jurisdictions separate upstream and downstream voters, whereas a centralized jurisdiction comprises both groups. It turns out that centralized jurisdictions lead to a very low public good surplus and that either classical decentralization or decentralized single issue authorities achieve the best results under most conditions. The centralized provision of public goods is flawed because there is either an extreme over- or an extreme under-provision of the downstream public good. This can, however, be mitigated if there is a common standard for flood protection or if only the upstream provision of the public good is centralized. Whether or not these two solutions are beneficial depends on the magnitude of spillovers and also on the voting majorities in the two regions. Expanding the model to consider migration led to more complex results. First, citizens can migrate to flood-prone areas. Such migration flows can be induced by too large public flood defense, which is favored if citizens outside of flood-prone areas also finance the public good. Second, migration flow is also influenced by spillovers. The socially efficient population distribution is U-shaped with respect to spillovers. With symmetry assumptions, negative as well as positive unidirectional spillovers favour larger downstream populations. With myopic voters that neglect migration flow, this pattern is not achieved and the downstream population is large for positive spillovers and small for negative spillovers. Centralized jurisdictions are preferable to decentralized ones for smaller spillover effects if migration is possible. This argument is even stronger if voters take migration responses to the provision of public goods into account. The results shed light not only on the federal organization of flood management, but also on the institutional difficulties that arise from the current policy paradigm of the river basin approach to water management.

Per J. Agrell, Jérôme Pouyet

This paper covers network investment problems under decentralized control of regulation, infrastructure ownership and management. The model features two countries managing domestic infrastructures, used simultaneously for downstream international service provision. Initially, the welfare losses from non-cooperative investment financing policy and access pricing are derived. The impact of strategic interaction between the countries' access prices on the choice of financing policy is investigated. Under strict budget balancing, there are no incentives for efficiency improving investments. Further, investment coordination is shown useless in the absence of regulatory coordination. Illustrations from European network regulation policy for energy and rail are presented.

Adenilda Maria Siqueira de Andrade, Alberice Maria Mendes, Cristiane S. Miguel Cabral de Vasconcelos, Maria Eliza da Mota Reinaux Paes Barreto

O Brasil vem redefinindo o perfil do seu sistema de saúde, reformulando papéis e funções de saúde pública na tentativa de construir responsabilidades locais. Este panorama originou um novo arranjo para o sistema municipal de saúde no qual busca-se a integralidade das ações de saúde a partir da dinâmica do financiamento. Trata-se de um estudo descritivo de base bibliográfica e documental. O estudo apresenta uma revisão sobre o processo da descentralização administrativa/financeira na saúde, sua repercussão no fortalecimento da atenção básica tendo a estratégia saúde da família como elemento propulsor da forte expansão observada nesse componente da atenção à saúde, bem como as conseqüências da descentralização na gestão dos trabalhadores de saúde. Discute o papel das Normas Operacionais do SUS, em especial da Norma Operacional Básica - NOB/96 com a implantação do Piso da Atenção Básica (PAB) como referencial para a ampliação dos investimentos na atenção básica, o papel relevante da Lei de Responsabilidade Fiscal que além de impor limites aos gastos, também estabelece diretrizes para a elaboração, execução e avaliação do orçamento público, e o Pacto pela Saúde firmado entre as três esferas de governo com a atenção voltada para os princípios e diretrizes articulados e integrados nos Pactos pela Vida, em Defesa do SUS e de Gestão. Destaca-se o forte papel indutor do nível federal de gestão do SUS, que através de mecanismos de financiamento reordena as ações e serviços de saúde no nível local

Sonia Esteban Laleona, Pablo de Frutos Madrazo, María José Prieto Jano

Traditionally, the academic debates about the benefits that the existence of multilevel government structures provide have been directly related to the gains in efficiency that derive from the processes of decentralization of the Public Sector. However, as of the last decades, the Public Finance has broadened its analysis towards other questions, one of them being if the fiscal decentralization influences positively in the economic growth of a country. The objective of this document is to provide a "reading guide" for this new line of investigation on the influence of fiscal decentralization on regional economic growth.

Anwar Shah

The book is divided into two parts. The
\n first part macro federalism provides a fresh look at
\n emerging constitutional challenges arising from
\n globalization and the information revolution, as well as the
\n dynamic-efficiency and growth implications of existing
\n federal constitutions. Several aspects of these systems are
\n examined: (a) institutional design to achieve internal
\n economic union; (b) policies for regional development; (c)
\n conduct of monetary policy; (d) coordination of fiscal
\n policies, with a special emphasis on tax harmonization; and
\n (e) management of risks of insolvency from sub-national
\n borrowing. The second part of the book local finance
\n provides a comparative perspective on local finances and
\n measures the progress of decentralized governance reforms in
\n developing countries.