Blockchain Papers

Beatriz Armendáriz de Aghion

No abstract is available for this record.

Anand N. Asthana

No abstract is available for this record.

Myung-Hwan Huh

During the five-millenium history of Korea, 1995 was the first time mayors and governors were elected by local residents, instead of being appointed by the central government. This could be the starting point of fiscal decentralization in this country, and, whether intended or not, this has the potential of enhancing allocational efficiency through the realization of local preference in the provision of local public services. Hence, this research aims to review and analyze the indigenous characteristics of the current local public finance system from the view point of the western normative theory, and develop a more equitable revenue sharing formulas to support Korean new fiscal decentralization. Since this is one of the first attempts to examine the evolving local autonomy squarely using the lens of normative theory of intergovernmental relations, its results could make a great contribution to the theory of local public finance in Korea. This research has developed two conceptual frameworks for the new revenue sharing formulas, and presented their aid simulations. The first model is the economic activity model, which tries to measure economic income of residents by measuring the level of economic activity in each jurisdiction. This model improves on the existing system, because it could motivate local governments to utilize the flexible tax rate system, and measure non-tax revenue as well. The other one is the expenditure need model, which measures the expenditure needs beyond local control in the form of expenditure need index. By controlling for expenditure needs beyond local control in the revenue sharing formula, mayors and governors could fairly compete with each other to provide better services with less cost. Unfortunately, lack of relevant data as well as service quality measures have confined this research to develop aid formulas for only garbage/road services instead of for overall local public services of city governments. This research finds that the fiscal capacity measure derived from the economic activity model and the expenditure needs indices from the expenditure need model are highly consistent with the reality of Korean city governments. Moreover, aid simulations for garbage/road services using the revenue sharing formula in this dissertation would result in a very different distribution of aid than the present formula. With the development of relevant data of service quality for local services, this approach could be a foundation for the new general revenue sharing formulas to support fiscal decentralization in Korea.

JI Mi-nbo

According to the actual necessity of promoting the escalation of our industry and improvement of our investment and financing structure, it is very essential and imperative for our country to develop the industry investment fund. This article analyzed several system arrangements for venture capital to avoid agency risk: decentralizing, adopting the investment strategy stage by stage, strengthening the control and monitor of enterprises, establishing effective incentive mechanism, improving fund market and manager market.

Caroline Hoxby

I construct an agency model of local public goods producers with special reference to public schools. The model assumes that households make Tiebout choices among jurisdictions, but it has more realistic assumptions about information and the cost of residential mobility. I examine producers' effort and rent under local property tax finance and centralized finance. I show that, if there are a sufficient number of jurisdictions to choose among, conventional local property tax finance substantially reduces the agency problem and associated loss of productivity. Specifically, I demonstrate that local property tax finance can attain about as much productivity as a social planner with centralized finance can, even if the social planner is armed with more information that a real social planner could plausibly have. The key insight is that decentralized Tiebout choices make some information the social planner would need verifiable and other information unnecessary.

Сергей Владимирович Шишкин

There are three main problems at present in the area of health care: — an imbalance between the amounts of state financing for health care and the guarantees offurnishing medical assistanceto the citizenry at no charge; — a lack of coordination in the activities and contradictions in the mutual relations of the entities receiving state financing for health care, engendered by the decentralization of management and transition to a system of mandatory medical insurance; — an absence of competitive behavior among insurance organizations and medical institutions, despite the adoption of the institutions of a market economy into the system of health care.

Du Wei

An identification scheme based on a parity check matrix of error correcting codes over F G(2) was proposed in the paper “A New Paradigm for Public Key Identification” by J.Stern. The identification scheme of J.Stern is generalized in this paper, and a new identification scheme based on a parity check matrix of error correcting codes over F G(q) (q is a prime) is proposed. The limitation on the weight of mysterious datum s is changed into the limitation on the distribution of code elements of s. It is proved that the given protocol is a zero knowledge interactive proof in the random oracle model, and it is shown that the scheme is more secure than the scheme of J.Stern when parameters are selected properly.

Horst Siebert

In continental Europe, the unemployment rate has risen continuously from a low level of below 3 percent in the early 1970s to more than 10 percent in the late 1990s. If those who are in governmental employment schemes and in early retirement are included, the unemployment rate runs as high as 20 percent in quite a few European countries, including France and Spain. The basic rule for a stable employment situation in an economy is: nominal wages should stay in line with labor productivity growth plus the increase in producer prices. In a situation of high unemployment, however, when the unemployed are to be integrated into the labor market, the productivity rule has to be modified: the increase in real wages should stay below the productivity growth rate until a satisfactory level of employment has been obtained. The most elegant approach to creating more employment is to improve labor productivity. If an economy succeeds in raising labor productivity, there is more scope for real wage increases or for more employment. We should, however, not overestimate the potential of an economy to increase labor productivity. If we want to integrate the unemployed, average labor productivity in the economy is likely to decrease. We should be realistic enough as to expect trends in Europe to be similar to those in the United States, where labor productivity per hour has increased by less than 1 percent per year since 1980. The task for Europe is to change the institutional setup of labor relations, to move wage formation closer to the market process, and to allow greater wage differentiation. It is unlikely that the "social partners", i.e., the trade unions and employers' associations, will be able to change the rule system sufficiently. Therefore, it is necessary to change the legal rules, especially those in favor of the unemployed, for instance, by introducing a legal right for each individual to enter the labor market at a wage of his or her choice. If continental Europe wants to reduce unemployment, it will have to change the impact of the welfare state. With respect to the level of benefits provided by unemployment and health insurance, a distinction should be made between large risks and small risks for the individual. Such a distinction between large and small risks would allow the costs of the social security system to be reduced, thus lowering the tax on labor. Insurance against large risks would be mandatory, small risk coverage would be optional. With respect to financing the welfare state, more choice should be given to the individual as concerns the insurance coverage that he/she desires. One serious issue concerning social welfare payments is determining the extent to which the level of social welfare benefits should be scaled down for those who are able to work in order to increase the incentive to work and the intensity of the search for work. A related issue is whether unemployment benefits should be reduced in their level or in the length of time they are paid in order to intensify the job search and reduce the reservation wage. • Shifting the employment issue to the EL) level would take attention away from the need to decentralize wage formation, i.e., to negotiate wages at the level of firms. It would be an incentive not to undertake the necessary steps to solve national unemployment problems and it would shift the financial burden to those countries that are successful in reducing unemployment. It would elevate the national labor market cartels to the EU level and it would blur the lines of responsibility. National governments would shift their responsibility to the EU level. This would be an extremely dangerous development for European integration because the European cause would become the scapegoat of failed national policies.

Hyung-Woo Lee, Jung-Eun Kim, Tai-Yun Kim

No abstract is available for this record.

LarsP. Feld

55. Kongress des International Institute of Public Finance (IIPF), 23. - 26. August 1999 in Moskau (Russland).####

Michael Walton Clover

This study was designed to determine the flexibility that the principals of Cumberland County Schools in Fayetteville, North Carolina preferred when implementing financial site-based decision-making in their schools. The current budget framework limits the principals to approximately three percent of the total allotment in which independent flexibility is permissible. To complete the research, the fund categories representing areas of educational functions and service in the school system chart of accounts were evaluated. Seventy-two principals in the Cumberland County Schools were asked to indicate by priority their desire to gain flexibility over budget categories from the chart of accounts that have the greatest potential for improving the learning process (50 principals participated). The principals represented elementary, middle, and high schools. A three-phase process of data collection and analysis was incorporated in the study. First, an analytical hierarchy process was used to identify priorities of budget categories by the school principals. This format allowed for multiple criteria variables to be employed. Secondly, a survey instrument was used to obtain the principals' views of financial site-based budgeting. The analysis of this data included determining the frequency with which the categories were selected. Finally, a random sampling of the 50 principals that participated in the two earlier phases were interviewed so that gaps in the data could be identified. The findings indicated that principals in Cumberland County have a strong desire to gain control over the funds they feel will help them improve the learning process. The ABCs (Accountability and High Standards, The Basics and Maximum Local Control) reform movement in North Carolina is a vital step in preparing students for the twenty-first century and the principals agreed that financial flexibility should be an ingredient of this reform. The principals did not indicate a desire to revamp the school finance process, but desired to have more flexibility in the use of funds associated with instructional programs. It was determined that the category of employee salaries and benefits, which was the first choice of their top four priorities, was the one in which they had the least flexibility at the school level. The analysis of the data from the asses interviews revealed that, from this single intervention of budget decentralization believed they could make significant changes in their educational programs without adding additional funds to the educational budget.

Peter Cannon

We industrial researchers work at a dangerous crossroads, the nexus of science and money. R&D leaders, being more or less senior players, are perhaps most comfortable on the Science Road. This road is storied, long, varied, full of side shows, a wonderful bazaar of curiosity where insight as to What Might Be can advance us from stage to stage. For most of us, it has been and is a road of delight of the mind. Its length, expressed as mental travel, demands that we commit to it for many years, and so we seek patient leadership that knows that the product pipeline-our output-is variable at best. It's a long way between gas stations on this road. The intersecting road, that of money, is essentially discontinuous. Potholes and washouts on that route have terminal consequences, and seasons last three months at a time. Travelers on that road move between famine and feast, traps and snares, events of unexpected bounty and windfall. However, they can't carry it with them, and every three months or so, the gain or loss has to be recognized and surrendered to the toll collectors. Money Road travelers' survival depends on their last balance. In industrial work, the Money Road people deal with abstract statements of success or failure, and are responsible for the currently visible state of the firm. They tend to become our bosses, and they have a fairly short life expectancy. When our bosses come up empty on fuel on the Money Road, the rules under which Science Road folks work change fast. If we want continuity of experience for our people and their work on Science Road, we have to provide that shelter. Many of us have felt the discomfort of the associated career discontinuities, and are inclined to blame the different culture of Money Road, and to demonize the many MBAs traveling there, or even the possession of an MBA degree! Using the MBA as a scapegoat doesn't start at the right place. One might as well blame one's Modern Language teachers for any prompt destructive effects of globalization. This writer has traveled both roads, and survived any number of close calls at the crossroads (yes, some fender-benders, but never quite a total wreck) and looking at the culture clash (and there is one, along with a frequent generation gap) has come to somewhat different conclusions. Let's start with why we have MBAs at all, touching on the first and fairly successful application of their skills, then return to insights on the place of inventive people in our business, and close with comments on the ways in which industrial research managers are now expected to contribute. This is written from the viewpoint of a crossover career in industry and academe, running market-focused research programs of many hundreds of Ph.D.s, training researchers, preparing dozens of MBA candidates, as well as hundreds of scientists and engineers, within various universities. Starting with the joy of bench work, creating new products and processes, this career led to the more abstract world of the planning corporate auditor, then to creation of new jobs and companies, some from scratch and some from corporate discards. What's an MBA All About? The MBA is basically an American invention, and it has served its home well. Its origination is claimed by the University of Chicago, about 100 years ago, thus establishing a permanent claim to mental rigor in quantitative financial analysis. The degree came to popularity in the context of the rise of the giant, functionally managed, globally decentralized manufacturing company, itself a mimic of Roman imperial style. Both are long gone and further evolution has extended the scope to policy and to overall leadership, through consultation and shared learning. What is it now about? In its most concise statement, the MBA experience first teaches a required trust and collaboration between persons of profoundly different backgrounds. It is indeed iconic and formulaic in its emphasis on the language of finance to express purpose and performance, much as the conversations of airline pilots with ground controllers use a subset of natural English. …

Louis‐André Gérard‐Varet, Frédéric Rychen

Economic evaluation and the funding of infrastructure projects We study the meaning of the economic evaluation of public infrastructure projects. We point out the difficulties that arise when we try to assess the costs and the benefits. We deal also with the impact of the level of decision (centralized, decentralized) on the nature of the evaluation process.

D.H. Kaye

No abstract is available for this record.

Junaid Aḥmad

The note highlights the importance of
\n sound intergovernmental fiscal relations, and proper
\n regulation for successful sub-national borrowing, and
\n illustrates the potential macroeconomic hazards of
\n decentralizing borrowing powers, arguing that the impact of
\n a possible moral hazard problem, namely, the access to
\n financial markets by sub-national governments, may generate
\n unplanned liabilities for central governments. Yet academia,
\n and country experiences do not suggest adverse links between
\n decentralized borrowing powers, and the central
\n government's ability to maintain fiscal discipline, and
\n macroeconomic stability. Rather the key seems to lie in the
\n design of fiscal decentralization, particularly the
\n regulatory framework under which borrowing powers are
\n decentralized. The note outlines the reasons why
\n sub-national governments require access to financial
\n markets: to finance capital spending, and foster political
\n accountability, which can be achieved through direct
\n borrowing by central government, through a public financial
\n intermediary, or, through direct borrowing. As per designing
\n the regulatory framework, the note suggests better
\n information systems, bankruptcy laws, and access to tax
\n bases, in addition to separate fiscal/financial systems, and
\n sound legislation to impose budget discipline, enabling
\n access to capital markets to complement fiscal powers
\n devolution to regional authorities.

Iskandar Saleh

This study investigates the workings of the informal housing market and the ways house building is facilitated and financing obtained among lower-income households in a metropolitan area experiencing exploding population growth and decentralization. In capturing the dynamics of informal housing development, the study examines market operations in relation to the practice of location-permitting intended to facilitate access to land for formal housing development. Also studied is the inaccessibility of formal housing finance by households acquiring homes in the informal-sector. The study creates its own operational definition of informal housing market and segments the total market into submarkets useful for analysis. Using a multi-clustered stratified sampling technique, data for this study were randomly collected through an in-depth interview with households residing in selected informal settlements in the Botabek area on the fringe of Jakarta. The study findings indicate that: (1) the increasing amount of scattered informal land development in Botabek is at least partially a consequence of location-permit regulation which has forced a correspondingly large proportion of households to construct homes illegally; (2) the majority of households who participate in the informal market do so in order to avoid cumbersome and costly land titling registration and building permit processes; (3) mortgage loans are inaccessible to the majority of informal-sector households due to rigid requirements towards loan collateral and employment status of informal-sector households. The findings also indicate that: (1) The building cost of staged-construction (where the notions of self-help housing and saving while building are articulated) is much more affordable than that of conventional construction in either the informal market or the formal market; (2) Dwelling units in the informal market built using either staged construction or conventional construction, whether in areas under location-permit or not under location-permit, are generally of acceptable quality. However, the informal market will never provide total housing packages because informal settlements are generally built without adequate public services, such as drinking water, and sanitation and sewage facilities. Lack of tenure security for the majority of dwelling units in informal settlements makes it difficult for these settlements to obtain public services. The study concludes that to provide affordable houses for the majority of informal-sector households, the land titling procedure and regulatory permits governing formal housing markets should be reformed and informal-sector households' constraints to access formal housing finance must be lifted. For households using staged construction, all of these changes should be done in concert with the provision of new financing arrangements, possibly in the form of a line of credit, where a loan is drawn as a supplement to household savings from living in incomplete houses.

Jörg Brüdern, Alberto Perelli

Let r v (N) denote the number of representations of the integer N as a sum of v square-free numbers. We obtain unconditional and conditional bounds for the error term in the asymptotic formula for rv (N), when v > 3. The conditional bounds are essentially best possible for v > 4. The unconditional bounds are, for v > 3, essentially best possible with respect to the present knowledge on the distribution of the zeros of the Riemann zeta function. Proofs are based on the circle method. The main ingredients are a new pointwise estimate for the exponential sum S(a) over square-free numbers and a recent bound (see [3]) for the L2-norm of S(a) restricted to the minor arcs.

Suresh Sharma, Madhuban Lal Maskay

Considering the serious shortcomings of the conventional techniques, a new approach for the construction of rural roads has been developed in Nepal. This new “green road” approach is environment friendly, participatory in nature, and uses labour based technologies. The approach is based on the recognition that there are many stakeholders in the promotion of rural roads. Each of them is in a position to contribute to road construction in a unique way. While government and parastatals as well as people’s organizations may contribute in terms of planning, designing, financing, and management of the road, people at large would contribute through the sharing of indigenous knowledge in terms of local geology as well as by participation in the actual construction activities. Road construction is not seen as a one-time wage earning opportunity but also as a starting ground for self-help activities. The actual construction technique follows the philosophy of minimum disruption to existing vegetative cover and re-utilization of the excavated materials as construction material. Decentralized implementation, employment of local people, local ownership of the road and maintenance obligations, all contribute to the promotion of local capacity-building and self-help efforts. The economics of green road construction is highly favourable in terms of employment generation and utilization of local resources. * Monitoring and evaluation specialist associated with Impact Unit of GTZ Kathmandu. ** Project manager for Lamjung District in the Rural Development Programme of GTZ Nepal.

Arto Salomaa

No abstract is available for this record.

Satoshi Hada, Toshiaki Tanaka

No abstract is available for this record.

Wen‐Chung Kuo, Chi‐Sung Laih, Min-Jea Gau

Measurements of total cholesterol in the field by means of the Reflotron dry-chemistry system (capillary blood) were compared to total cholesterol obtained by a standardized conventional wet-chemistry method in a clinico-chemical laboratory (serum). A total of 1200 people participated in the study. Two identical Reflotron machines were used. In the first period of the study an excellent agreement was found between Reflotron measurements of a reference serum provided by the manufacturer (mean, 4.99 mmol/l; CV, 1.8%) and the stated value (4.97 mmol/l). In the rest of the study higher values and greater variation were found with the Reflotron (mean, 5.32 mmol/l; CV 5.2%). Clearly the Reflotron measurements in the latter period of study were not reliable. In the period with stable instruments most of the values obtained at the two Reflotron machines differed from each other by less than 10%, with a mean difference of 0.08 mmol/l. Reflotron (both machines) and wet-chemistry measurements agreed well for the first 500 participants in the study (mean difference, Reflotron-wet-chemistry, -0.008 mmol/l; 95% confidence interval, -0.035 to 0.019 mmol/l; correlation, 0.967). In this period most Reflotron values differed from wet-chemistry values by less than 9% below to 9% above. With the next 200 participants the Reflotron gave on average slightly higher values than wet-chemistry measurements. The coefficients of variation for measurement variation were higher for Reflotron that for wet-chemistry even in the period with stable instruments. In all parts of the study period a lower HDL-cholesterol level was associated with larger differences between total cholesterol determined by Reflotron and wet-chemistry.

Daniele Micciancio

We describe a general technique to simplify as well as to improve several lattice based cryptographic protocols. The technique is rather straightforward and is easily applied to the protocols, and gives both a simpler analysis and better performance than the original protocols. The improvement is global: the modified protocols are simpler, faster, require less storage, use less bandwidth and need less random bits than the originals. Moreover, the improvement is achieved without any loss in security: we formally prove that the modified protocols are at least as secure as the original ones. In fact, the modified protocols might even be more secure as the adversary gets less information. We exemplify our technique on the Goldreich-Goldwasser zero-knowledge proof systems for lattice problems and the GGH public key cryptosystem. Partially supported by DARPA grant DABT63-96-C-0018 and NTT grant 67627-00. 1 1 Introduction Various cryptographic protocols based on the hardness of la...

Tim Bell, Harold Thimbleby, Michael R. Fellows, Ian H. Witten · 5 authors

Modern cryptography can achieve levels of security and authentication that non-specialists find literally incredible. Techniques include information-hiding protocols, zero-knowledge proofs and public key cryptosystems; they can be used to support applications like digital signatures, digital cash, on-line poker and secure voting in ways that are provably secure—far more secure than the traditional systems they replace. This paper describes simple versions of such applications that have been used to give school-children and the general public a broad understanding of what can be achieved, and how.

Birgit Pfitzmann, Ahmad‐Reza Sadeghi

No abstract is available for this record.