public good whereby the sum of the marginal rates of substitution between the public good and some numeraire private good for all agents who benefit frqm the public good must be equal to the corresponding marginal rate of transformation, i.e., XMRS = MRT. This rule can be implemented in a decentralized fashion if the government has enough financing instruments available, e.g., person-specific lump sum taxes and government debt. However, whether or not the first-best benefit rule can be implemented when the government only has control over relative prices is an open issue. Pigou (1947), Diamond and Mirrlees (1971), Dasgupta and Stiglitz (1971), Atkinson and Stern (1974), Pestieau (1974), and more recently, Wildasin (1979, 1984, 1985), King (1986), and Batina (1987) have considered the effect of decentralizing the government's policy on the optimal first-best benefit rule for a public good. It is generally true that if the government cannot completely control the economy because of a lack of policy instruments, then the first-best benefit rule governing the provision of the public good must be modified as a result.
This article examines the evolution of garden city ideas in the United States during the twentieth century. It distinguishes between four sets of goals: environmental reform; social reform; town planning, and regional planning. Much of the literature on American garden city movements focuses on the general political failure of its advocates to achieve key social reforms and regional planning objectives. By contrast, the accomplishments in environmental reform and town planning have been far more successful. Though Ebenezer Howard's proposals did not lead to widespread adoption in their purest form, urban decentralization and subâurbanization have produced significant improvements in the building of higherâquality and lowerâdensity housing and in providing more open space and greenery for a large segment of the population. This pattern of planning and development may be viewed as âthe garden metropolis.â Its relationship to garden city ideas is best symbolized by the central role of Thomas Adams, the British planner who served as a leading proponent of the garden metropolis in the United States. Many of Adamsâ policy recommendations, including his strong support for mass home owership initiatives, were later implemented by the Federal Housing Administration beginning in 1934. The FHA, through its mortgage insurance programs, its property and neighborhood standards, and its Land Planning Division, was extremely influential in shaping the growth of the garden metropolis, especially during the 1940s and 50s.
On Taking Substituted Judgment Seriously I am a long-time advocate of patients' rights in general and the right to die in particular, but i believe the U.S. Supreme Court rendered the right decision in Cruzan. This is not a comfortable position for me. I have witnessed the lingering death of members of my immediate family three times in the last five years. My heart goes out to the Cruzan family. But the Court's unwillingness to overturn Missouri law is no more to blame for the Cruzans' plight than is your and my unwillingness to kidnap Nancy and spirit her away to a place where she can die in peace. The Court, in my opinion, did not have legal authority to do what the Cruzans asked of it. The U.S. Supreme Court does not sit as a super legislature over the states. It has no authority to rule on the wisdom of state laws or general power to promulgate uniform rules of state law. The Court has only the power to strike down state laws that conflict with federal law, including the U.S. Constitution. Thus, when the Court refused to invalidate Missouri's and convincing requirement for substituted judgment, it was saying only that it did not find the requirement to be in conflict with the Constitution or other valid federal law. It was not approving of the requirement or imposing it on all those states that have not adopted it, but merely saying it was permissible for Missouri (or any other state) to make that requirement part of its law--if it wanted to. For the Court to have overturned the Missouri requirement as unconstitutional, it would have had to find that the measure had been motivated by an illegitimate state purpose, or that the state purpose it advanced and the reasons for advancing it by the means chosen were clearly out-weighed by the burden imposed upon individual liberty interests. By neither of these tests is Missouri's approach to substituted judgment unconstitutional. If Missouri's approach burdens individual liberty interests, so does that of every other state that employs substituted judgment for PVS cases. By requiring clear and convincing, evidence of substituted judgment, Missouri prevents death decisions for some persons who are in PVS. But so do those states that do not require clear and convincing evidence for substituted judgment. Such states do not allow death decisions where there is no evidence for substituted judgment, or where the patient's family has not reached a death decision for the patient. What reason is there for thinking that Missouri's procedural safeguards that cause many PVS patients to be continued on life support are unconstitutionally burdensome but those of other states are not? Missouri's purpose is requiring the safeguards is the same as the presumed purpose in other states--to ensure that death is in fact what the patient would want for herself. This is centainly not an illegitimate state purpose. If the liberty interest here is that of patient choice, it can be argued that Missouri's higher standard of proof is designated to protect that interest. In contexts where less important liberty interests were at stake, the Court has not only allowed use of a clear and convincing standard, but at times required it. Similarly, denying family members a general power to make death decisions for patients is arguably more protective of patient liberty than less. âŠ
This paper considers the relative centralization or decentralization of public finance, and relates the equity and efficiency issues to the special features of developing economies. The paper considers the centralization of taxation and service provision in Indonesia in relation to these theoretical principles and indicates ways in which we may expect decentralization to proceed in the Indonesian context.
Abstract Decentralization is an increasingly fashionable theme in the development literature. This paper attempts to distil from experience in a number of countries some basic considerations that should be taken into account by wouldâbe decentralizers with respect to intergovernmental fiscal relations and local taxation. After a brief review of the nature of the problem and the economic case for decentralization, four basic principles of reformâtransparency, stability, flexibility, and incrementalismâare put forward as useful guidelines to the restructuring of governmental finances and functions that seem needed in many developing countries.
This paper considers the relative centralization or decentralization of public finance, and relates the equity and efficiency issues ot the special features of developing economies. The paper considers the centralization of taxation and service provision in Indonesia in relation to these theoretical prinicples and indicates ways in which we may expect decentralization to proceed in the Indonesian context.
The 1980s were a decade of federal fiscal devolution. Federal cutbacks reflected the Reagan administration's commitment to decentralization and the realities of federal budget deficits. Cutbacks increased fiscal pressure on state and local governments, while restrictions on their borrowing capacity made it more difficult to use long-term tax-exempt debt to raise revenue in the short term. These restrictions also made it more difficult to finance public-private partnerships. To cope, state and local governments improved management techniques, transferred functions to the private sector and to other units of government, diversified their revenue systems, and looked for more discretionary revenue. Revenue enhancement was often limited by restrictive statutes, intergovernmental competition, and public opposition. Growing cynicism about the fairness of taxes prompted passage of the Tax Reform Act of 1986. This act significantly affected state and local taxing and borrowing. It did little, however, to allay state and local fears that the federal government would continue to capture more revenue for itself. As we enter the 1990s, the major question will undoubtedly be, Which governments can or should pay for what?
The present article is a critical account of the official report from the Commission of Inquiry on Health and Social Services in Quebec (la Commission Rochon). This report is first examined in light of the socio-political context of Quebec society in the '80s with a particular emphasis on factors which directly influenced the development of the Commission's work. The author then presents the main elements of the report. He stresses the quality and appropriateness of studies bearing on Quebec social evolution during the last 20 years and on the identification of health and social problems in the present time. He reminds us of the radical diagnosis made on the organization of health services. The principal options for more adequate health system orientations are then studied in the context of debates following the report publication, two years ago, particularly concerning issues of regional decentralization and financing. The author finally stresses the new challenges of today in social health management, while showing the profound continuity existing between the Commission's works and those of the Castonguay Commission, at the beginning of the '70s.
Abstract Abstract. Recent approaches to the notions of randomness and proofs are surveyed. The new notions differ from the traditional ones in being subjective to the capabilities of the observer rather than reflecting âidealâ entities. The new notion of randomness regards probability distributions as equal if they cannot be told apart by efficient procedures. This notion is constructive and is suited for many applications. The new notion of a proof allows the introduction of the notion of zero-knowledge proofs: convincing arguments which yield nothing but the validity of the assertion. The new approaches to randomness and proofs are based on basic concepts and results from the theory of resource-bounded computation. Elements of this theory are presented only to the extent required for the description of the new approaches. This survey is not intended to provide an account of the more traditional approaches to randomness (e.g., Kolmogorov Complexity; see also Bennettâs account in this volume) and proofs (i.e., traditional logic systems). Whenever these approaches are described it is only in order to confront them with the new approaches.
ĐĐ»ĐžĐœĐŸŃ ĐŃŃŃĐŸĐŒ, Larry Schroeder, Susan Wynne
The terms of reference for the Decentralization: Finance and Management Project posed the following question: How can the likelihood of maintaining rural infrastructure be increased in developing countries so that rural infrastructure facilities are sustained over time rather than allowed to deteriorate long before their expected useful lives are completed? This report focuses on the institutional arrangements within which rural infrastructure facilities are financed, designed, constructed, operated, maintained, and used. Several case studies drawn from the authors' own experiences, from those of various donor agencies and from the academic literature are presented to provide both successful and unsuccessful real-world examples of infrastructure sustenance efforts. As the relationships between theoretical concepts and the practical problems of infrastructure sustenance is not always obvious, these case studies serve to illustrate the concepts discussed here.
H.G. (Mike) Jones and I had numerous meetings with EEGSA staff. We discussed rural electrification plans, reviewed documents, and collaborated on collecting information on decentralized energy alternatives. Meetings were also held with USAID/Guatemala, USAID/ROCAP, NRECA, MEM, PVOs, and equipment vendors. A preliminary draft report and spreadsheet for comparing decentralized power alternatives was completed. The report and findings were presented to EEGSA and the methodology transferred to EEGSA staff. A set of recommended followup activities was also presented to EEGSA.
The significant progress made during the UN International Water Decade is reviewed, eight years after its inception in 1981. Major issues remain, especially in rural areas. The advantages of an integrated water resource planning framework (IWRP) are explained, including the use of this process to develop a flexible strategy for the water and sewerage sector to meet national policy objectives. Economic efficiency in supply implies optimal service quality and least cost planning, while efficient pricing policy requires the implementation of longârun marginal cost based tariffs. Better sector organization, management, accountability, options for decentralization and innovative financing methods are also discussed.
The empirical evidence available for OECD countries suggests that economic factors play a major role and that demographic factors play a minor role in explaining differences in health care spending across countries. When countries are grouped on the basis of their health care systems, some significant cross-country differences result: countries with higher transfer rates (a larger share of collective financing) are not generally characterized by higher health care expenditures, and conversely, countries with a larger share of private financing (including higher coinsurance rates) do not have lower expenditures. Rather, the opposite holds true. Similar conclusions apply to the share of public versus private production of health goods. Furthermore, the results do not support the claims of those critics of universal public insurance systems who consider the expansion of the coverage to be a major source of expenditure growth. These findings cast serious doubt on the claim that cost containment can be achieved via market reforms that rely heavily on direct consumer payments and cost sharing as instruments of financing. A comparative analysis of the historic record of the United States, Canada, and the Federal Republic of Germany generally supports these conclusions; it also suggests that a greater degree of public penetration offers a better chance for control of health spending, particularly in periods of austerity. There is a strong presumption that health care systems relying on some overall control of spending generally are more cost-effective than those relying more on decentralized mechanisms of control. Services are more equitably distributed in relation to health and payment for health services is far more progressive in the former type of system.
We study two sets of models: independent percolation models in half spaces Zá”â»Âč x Zâ, and Ising/Potts models as well as the Fortuin-Kasteleyn (FK) random cluster models on branching planes T x Z, where Z is the one-dimensional lattice, Zâ = {0,1,2,...} and T is a Bethe lattice. We prove that for independent percolation in half spaces, the infinite cluster is unique whenever it exists. For the Ising/Potts models on branching planes, there are (at least) two phase transitions; that is, there exist(s) a unique Gibbs state, tree-like nonunique Gibbs states or plane-like nonunique Gibbs states corresponding to high temperature, intermediate temperature or low temperature. In the low temperature plus phase, the plus infinite cluster is unique and it "traps" the space T x Z and prevents co-existence of the minus infinite cluster. For the FK random cluster models (which are dependent percolation models) on T x Z, the number of infinite (open) clusters may be zero, infinity or one depending on the value of p--the probability of each bond being open. This is an extension of Grimmett and Newman's results for independent percolation on T x Z. We also prove that both the independent percolation model and the FK random cluster models satisfy a finite island property when p is close to 1. Chapter 1 is an introduction. Chapter 2 contains the proof of the uniqueness theorem for independent percolation in half spaces. The proof utilizes only a large deviation estimate and translation invariance of the models along the hyperplane Zá”â»Âč x {0}. The Ising/Potts models and the FK random cluster models on the branching planes are studied in Chapter 3. The methods are to use the FK representation of Ising/Potts systems as dependent percolation models to carry over Grimmett and Newman's results for independent percolation to the Ising/Potts models. However, in order to prove the plane-like behavior of the Ising/Potts models, the corresponding results for independent percolation are not sufficient and this led us to investigate independent percolation again and prove a new finite island property. Chapters 2 and 3 are independent. Readers with basic knowledge of percolation and Ising models can omit chapter 1 and read chapters 2 and 3 directly.