Blockchain Papers

Daniel Berkowitz, Beth Mitchneck

No abstract is available for this record.

David J. Teece

No abstract is available for this record.

Nancy Makri

No abstract is available for this record.

Robert L. Heinkel, Maurice D. Levi

No abstract is available for this record.

P. Bodorik, J.S. Riordon, J.S. Pyra

No abstract is available for this record.

Jacques Cellier

In response to the problems faced by large, centralized organizations, many developing countries are exploring ways to decentralize the management of their road networks in order to use funds more efficiently and to reduce the size of central government. This note discusses taxonomy of administrative and financing decentralization options and proposes a framework for analysis.

Christian Harm

In Germany, small firms are financed chiefly by small banks, which are grouped into two systems: the savings banks (Sparkassen) and the credit cooperatives. The government actively supports the financing of investments in small industry - especially business start-ups. The author explains how small firms are financed in Germany. The author contends that small and meduim-size firms contribute a lot to the German economy. Small firms are not subject to the control institutions - such as supervisory board seats, proxy voting and equity holdings - that shape the relationships between large firms and large banks. The author also points out that small banks, which are part of a decentralized market structure, over come imperfections in the financial market by building institutions that supersede the market mechanism. The savings bank and credit cooperatives systems have each developed an internal capital, not unlike those within large banks operating nationwide. Only central institutions participate in the domestic money market, to place the system's excess liquidity or to raise funds to cover the systems deficits. Also, the funding programs of the government banks can be seen as a refinancing mechanism that especially helps small banks. The same is true for rediscountable trade bills.

Mike Burmester

No abstract is available for this record.

Alphonso O. Ogbuehi, Ralph A. Bellas

Discusses the effect of a decentralized approach to research and development facility location in the multinational corporation. Presents the comparative advantages of locating R&D facilities in strategic locations around the world. Examines the commitment required by a corporation to have an effective and flexible international research organization. Suggests that, if a company wants truly to be a “player” in the international marketplace, one that is able to compete on both product quality and cost, a decentralized structure which allows for the establishment of autonomous R&D entities is necessary. Substantial risks are involved. Presents research and actual company histories to suggest that these risks could be offset with benefits from the strategic placement of research and development centres on a worldwide basis.

Riitta‐Liisa, Kolehmainen‐Aitken

Abstract Papua New Guinea decentralized a wide range of health functions to provincial governments between 1977 and 1983. The national Department of Health (DOH) was given no role in provincial budget and staffing decisions, and the national health budget was fragmented into the health components of provincial budgets. The impact of decentralization on health workforce development was particularly severe and largely unforeseen. Many difficulties were inherent in the manner in which decentralization regulations structured power relationships. Others arose as a result of the administrative confusion and inflamed relationships that accompanied the forceful transfer of power from a very reluctant national DOH to the provinces. Even though policy formulation and planning were retained as national functions, decentralization hampered their effective execution. Human resource data bases deteriorated, responsibility for planning became confused, and the ability of the DOH to implement its planning decisions was compromised. In reality, health workforce planning was carried out by the Departments of Finance and Planning, and Personnel Management through the annual budgetary process of provincial financial limits and staff ceilings, without any attempt to assess health service needs, either in the country as a whole or between the provinces. Decentralization brought a need for new management skills, and it complicated administrative relationships between training institutions and the provinces. The Papua New Guinea experience has shown that in a decentralized health service, there is a great potential for conflict between national goals and the aspirations of individual provinces. To achieve an equitable, appropriate and effective staffing of services, standards must be formulated as the basis for planning and conflict resolution. Effective linkages between central government departments and between the national and provincial health authorities must be developed, and management and technical skills of health managers improved.

H.J. Park, E. Mitsoulis

No abstract is available for this record.

Y. Nakano, Y. Ushida, K. Tada

No abstract is available for this record.

Tim Bollerslev, Ray Y. Chou, Kenneth F. Kroner

No abstract is available for this record.

Ronald E. Shrieves, Drew Dahl

No abstract is available for this record.

Maria Eugênia Leite Duarte, Roberta Andrade Lauria, Vinícius Schott Gameiro

No abstract is available for this record.

Savin Jogan

The previous communal system in Yugoslavia (since 1955) did not prove viable. Owing to its great size (nearly 500 km 2 and more than 40,000 inhabitants), municipality in this period didn't affirm itself as a real community. Having many abilities in developmental planning, it was at the same time dependent on the state in the spheres of finance and normative regulations. The difference between the sphere of local government (LG) and state politics was substantially blurred. Given the changing social conditions (introduction of market economy, political pluralism and the forms of parliamentarian democracy), the need for repeated establishment of the system of local government based on the altered position of citizens in the political system becomes evident. In this environment it is necessary to reestimate the experiences of LG in particular Yugoslav regions (republics) before World War II, and simultaneously, take selectively into account the experiences and development in other developed European countries. This article compares the constitutional regulations of LG among particular Yugoslav republics, and between them and the characteristic orientations in other European countries, enlightening it with the aspect of actual processes and demands of centralization and decentralization, regionalism, moving the regulation of communal and other everyday needs closer to the people in LG, all in the sense of post‐behavioristic trends of the “bottom‐up” approach to the processes of decision‐making.

Stephen Martin

No abstract is available for this record.

Austin D. Swanson, Richard A. King

Changes in public policy with respect to governance structures require complementary changes in public policy concerning the financing of educational services. Drawing on their findings from studies in Australia, England and the USA, the authors present a framework to clarify what is happening in the restructuring of school governance and to project the implications for public policy concerning the finance of schooling. The political system is represented by a decision matrix which arrays the decisions that have to be made about financing schools (who gets what, when and how) with the primary decision makers (society, the educating profession and families). The decision‐making process is shown to be a dynamic one, causing the nature of acceptable decisions to change along with political‐economic environments and with priorities given to policy objectives. Using the model, the implications of alternative centralization/decentralization strategies for school finance policy are examined under varying circumstances.

T.Y.C. Woo, S.S. Lam

No abstract is available for this record.

Authors unavailable

No abstract is available for this record.

Allison Greenspan

Bangladesh has a population of 115 million people, and the economic growth rate of 3.7% during the 1980s was undermined by rapid population growth. The annual population growth rate was 3% in the 1960s and early 1970s, 2.5% between 1981-91 decreasing to 2.3% in 1991. The average of number of children is 4.6/woman compared with 7 in the 1960s. Infant mortality dropped from 150/1000 births in 1976 to 118/1000 in 1991. Life expectancy rose from 47 to 54 years. The 1991 Contraceptive Prevalence Survey showed that 39.9% of married women under 50 use contraceptives in 1991 vs. 18.6% in 1981. The use of modern methods increased from 10.9% in 1981 to 31.2% in 1991, while traditional methods rose from 7.7% to 8.7%. Sterilization was most prevalent in 1981. 29,000 female family planning (FP) workers were aggressively engaged in dispensing FP services in 1990. The Social Marketing Company sells pills, condoms, and oral rehydration salts through 130,000 retail outlets. The 1989 Contraceptive Prevalence Survey showed that 40% of pill and condom users obtained them from this network, and 95.4% of women knew about 4 methods of contraception. In 1990 there were 120 private organizations providing contraceptive services. Some of the components of the government FP program include field worker distribution door-to-door of injectable contraceptives (50% injectable usage rate in the Matlab project); recordkeeping activities; a satellite clinic network with access to contraceptive services; and decentralization through the Upazila (subdistrict) approach. The logistics system of FP has improved the warehousing, transportation, and management information system. Foreign aid (mainly USAID) financing of contraceptives helped avert 14.4 million births between 1974-90. The increase of contraceptive prevalence to 50% by 1997 would avert another 21.9 million births during 1991-96 (replacement fertility requires 70% prevalence.

Akihiro Fukui, Masami Maeda, Susumu Tamai, Yuji Inada

No abstract is available for this record.

Julio Frenk

The article first proposes a framework within which to assess the potential of health sector reforms in Latin America for primary health care (PHC). Two dimensions are recognized: the scope of the reforms, content, and the means of participation that are put into play. This framework is then complemented through a critique of the often-sought but little-analyzed PHC reform strategies of decentralization and health sector integration. The analytical framework is next directed to the financing of health services, a chief aspect of any reform aiming toward PHC. Two facets of health service finance are first distinguished: its formal aspect as a means for economic subsistence and growth, and its substantive aspect as a means to promote the rational use of services and thus improvement of health. Once finance is understood in this microeconomic perspective, the focus shifts to the analysis of health care reforms at the macro, health policy level. The article concludes by positing that PHC is in essence a new health care paradigm, oriented by the values of universality, redistribution, integration, plurality, quality, and efficiency.

Alfred C. Holden

The case is strong for declaring an inadequacy of export finance for small business. In 1988–90, the documentation has expanded beyond that of academic research and claims by the Small Business Administration to Congressional testimony by exporters and bankers, surveys by trade associations of manufacturers and bankers, and investigations by the Government's export finance agency as well as our central bank. Nonetheless, small business is exhorted to look abroad in its marketing efforts and so to participate in reducing the U.S. trade deficit. As one means of alleviating this international marketing challenge, the Export‐Import Bank of the United States (Eximbank) has moved to convert a pilot program of 1988–89 into a fall‐fledged decentralized effort to deliver export finance to qualified small firms. The intention is that carefully trained administrators in selected states will be able to match qualified exporters with financial institutions and thereby assure that the small firms receive working capital in adequate quantity to meet terms and conditions of an export contract. While Eximbank's staff is poised to support the marketing and credit analysis work of the state/local administrators, this paper examines the need for a fully cooperative effort among four parties or groups in the face of a national retrenchment by many banks in the provision of export finance for small firms.