bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Evolving Federations and Regional Public Deficits: Testing the Bailout Hypothesis in the Spanish Case
Authors: Lago-Peñas Santiago
Published: October 2006

High debt autonomy and low tax autonomy often characterize evolving federations, making the bailout hypothesis very attractive in resolving subcentral government deficits. However, meeting both conditions is not enough to conclude that bailout expectations are the main reason for a potential deficit. There are many other factors affecting expectations and the real behavior of the agents involved: central government, subcentral governments, and the financial markets. Empirical research is the only means by which to determine the relevance of the bailout problem in each situation. To demonstrate this argument, the author describes an exhaustive analysis of the Spanish case. The main conclusion is that deficit seems to be better understood by a more traditional model of fiscal choices than by bailout expectations.
Tax Policies and Federalism
Authors: Penniman C
Published: October 2006

Federal issues in current proposals to ‘reform’ the national income tax in Washington and some possible impacts of the ‘reforms’ on the US states and their local governments are presented.
Local Business Taxes in Britain and Germany: Assessment of Comparative Burdens 1960–1984 by Use of the ‘Costs of Capital’ Methodology
Authors: Bennett R J , Krebs G
Published: October 2006

This paper contains a review of the local systems of taxation in Britain and Germany as well as the policy debate. The main contribution, however, is to evaluate the burdens of the two fiscal systems on the user costs of capital. Comparisons are made first within each country of the burdens of local business taxes on different assets, sectors, owners, and sources of finance. Comparisons are then made between Britain and Germany over the period 1960–84 by adding progressively higher levels of standardisation: Standardised depreciation rates, inflation rates, distribution of assets and ownership, and capital allowances. From the empirical results it is demonstrated that local taxes decrease the aggregate real rates of return on investment projects by 0.6% (1960 and 1970) and 0.8% (1984) in Germany, and by 0:6% (1960), 0.7% (1970), and 1.1% (1984) in Britain. Thus, although aggregate burdens were comparable in the 1960s and 1970s, recent developments in Britain have resulted in a significant increase in local tax effects. These developments are even more strongly developed for particular assets and industries.
The Local Business Tax in Germany from the Local Authority Point of View
Authors: Milbradt G H
Published: October 2006

A wide range of criticisms apply to the present local business tax in Germany: It is incompatible with a rational tax system; the definition of the tax base is inequitable; it is unstable through the economic cycle; it is very unequal between areas; it leaves local finance vulnerable to economic declines; it is not perceptible; and it has been subject to reforms at federal level which have taken no account of local needs. However, from the point of view of local government the tax has many advantages: particularly, that it is a large source of revenue, it is fairly autonomous, and it links businesses to local authorities. Reform is nevertheless required, but it is argued that this should be based on revitalisation of the present business tax, primarily by widening its tax base or by the institution of a new tax on the local value-added.
The Reform of Local Business Taxes in Germany
Authors: Albers W
Published: October 2006

In this paper the criticisms of the local business tax in Germany and the main reform proposals are outlined. Each of the main proposals is then evaluated in detail. It is concluded that the proposal for a local value-added tax would be detrimental to economic growth, would distort international competition, would be very complicated, and has political impracticalities. The use of a share of the national turnover tax is a preferable solution for part of local revenue and could be allocated to the Land Kreise; a second component could be provided by increasing the local share of the federal income tax. The revitalisation of the present business tax is rejected.
The Incidence of Business Rates: Preliminary Estimates
Authors: Mair D
Published: October 2006

There is little previous research on the effects of local rates on manufacturing industry in the United Kingdom. An outline of a post-Keynesian approach to tax incidence is presented. From data for UK manufacturing industry, 1973–1982, it is seen that business rates have not been met through the wages share of net output. The relationship between business rates and markups suggests that up to 95% of rates increases may have been paid out of profits. A more rigorous general equilibrium model is required to confirm this result.
Regional Development: The Reagan-Thatcher Legacy
Authors: Chisholm M
Published: October 2006

During the 1950s and 1960s, it seemed that our understanding of regional growth processes had progressed far enough for confident policy prescriptions to be advanced. From the vantage point of the 1980s, that assurance seems to have been misplaced. The paper contains a review of the debate on regional growth processes and the policy implications, in the context first of Britain and then more generally. It is shown that there has been a strong move away from the advocacy of traditional redistributive, and essentially zero-sum, policies to the view that intraregional policies to foster the supply potential are more appropriate. This shift in emphasis is partly attributable directly to the current high rates of unemployment. Probably more important has been the associated emergence of the monetarist/supply-side challenge to Keynesian demand-management orthodoxy. This macroeconomic debate is briefly reviewed and the implications for regional policy indicated. In the concluding section, an outline is provided of the supply-side approach to regional development that seems relevant for the foreseeable future, not as a replacement for traditional redistributive policies but as a necessary, and hitherto somewhat neglected, complement.
Constitutional Remedies for Government Overload
Authors: Peeters Y J D
Published: October 2006

In this paper, various forms of governmental organisation are presented in the light of their capacity to overcome overload. After the importance of municipalities has been stressed, two administrative devices are presented: decongestion and deconcentration. Further questions for and against decentralisation are analysed and the concepts of regionalism and autonomy explained. It is argued that the cornerstone of the rights of substate government is the principle of subsidiarity. The conclusion is made that federalism is the only fundamental solution to guaranteeing this principle as well as preventing governmental overload.
Tax Assignment in Multilevel Systems of Government: A Political-Economic Approach and the Case of Spain
Authors: Bennett R J
Published: October 2006

In this paper the question of tax assignment in multiple-level systems of government is addressed. Existing economic theory of fiscal federalism, which is the main source of information on tax assignment, is reviewed and various criticisms of this theory, as a normative theory, are outlined which indicate major difficulties in application to practice. Where a strong desire for decentralisation exists, such as in Spain, an alternative political-economic approach is suggested. This is then used to comment on developments in Spain where, it is concluded, the present assignment of taxing powers is insufficient to guarantee the autonomy of the regional governments. For Spain, regional access to a share of the VAT or personal income tax is suggested as the best option for tax reform in order to offer sufficient regional tax autonomy.
The Political Economy of Federalism: A Critical Appraisal
Authors: Wiseman J
Published: October 2006

In this paper I present a survey of the economic literature which is concerned with federal public finance. I argue that it is difficult to derive policy-relevant normative propositions about federal financial relations, but that it is possible to suggest means by which one could improve the efficiency of policy decisions. There is a review of the discussion of the Buchanan and Scott contributions of the 1950s and 1960s, and it is concluded that it is easier to discover significant questions than agreed answers. Practical considerations of geography, regional economy, and administrative separation of powers are then introduced. The argument is that the normative economic definition of equity and efficiency may have little relevance to the practical policy-question of forming and maintaining a federation. I conclude with a proposal for linking the attempt to solve questions of regional and national policy through a network of committees—one for each of the following areas: budget coordination, regional equalization, common standards, stabilization, and economic growth.
Devolution and Regional Disparities in the Philippines: Is There a Connection?
Authors: Silva Joseph A
Published: October 2006

The 1991 Local Government Code of the Philippines brought about a far-reaching transfer of authority and resources to its local governments. Despite bringing benefits to the nation as a whole, and to the individual local governments, devolution has also had some negative consequences. Although regional disparities were present in the country prior to devolution, their recent rise has coincided with the implementation of devolution. Regional disparities are analyzed in relation to general macroeconomic policies and trends, such as industrial policy and increased trade, and particular socioeconomic features of the Philippines, such as the significance of investments and migration. These policies and trends, coupled with faulty transfer systems and differing levels of efficiency and capacity, suggest that devolution is hampering the pursuit of regional equity. Hence it is concluded that, although many factors are resonsible for the spatial inequities, devolution in its present form plays a direct and interactive part in preserving and/or promoting regional disparities in the country.
The Public Choice Approach to Tax Reform
Authors: Brennan G
Published: October 2006

The public choice approach to tax reform involves a number of distinguishable strands. In the first place, there is a strand in which there is posited a view that taxes emerge, like all other public decisions, from political processes and, therefore, are to be explained in terms of the characteristics of political institutions. In the second place, there is a strand in which it is conceived that taxes are part of the institutional structure, in some way logically prior to other policy choices. One element in this strand is the ‘cost-share’ perspective, in which taxes are seen as analogous to the prices that voters pay for public services. On this view, changes in tax arrangements by altering those prices can be expected to alter public expenditure levels. An alternative element is the ‘Leviathan’ perspective, in which taxes represent the fiscal powers of the state, and in which changes in tax arrangements will alter the extent of these powers and thereby the extent of state expenditure activities. In both these latter perspectives, taxes are to be treated quasi-constitutionally: The institutional arrangements under which tax reforms are decided become an important object of attention. Furthermore, the feedback effects of tax changes on expenditure levels become an explicit part of any proper analysis.

These various strands are discussed in this paper, and the question is posed as to whether the public choice approach, in whatever variant, can be satisfactorily and coherently ‘tacked on’ to a more orthodox tax-reform line.
The Attempt to Reform Taxation in the United States
Authors: Davies D G
Published: October 2006

In the first section of the paper the causes behind the demand for tax reform in the United States are investigated. They include issues associated with bracket creep, the redistribution of income, low rates of return on saving, sluggish economic growth, capriciousness of the tax system, and problems associated with the averaging of income, the marriage tax penalty, automatic stabilization, and the cost of administration.

In the second part of the paper there is an examination of the four most influential tax proposals that culminated in the 1986 tax law. The economic effects of the new levy are investigated.

In the final section of the article the prospects for genuine tax-reform in the United States are examined. It is argued that, under existing political institutions and incentives, there is little hope for meaningful reform. Data are produced to support this hypothesis.
A Framework for Research on Transport Communications, and Mobility
Authors: Masser I , Nijkamp P , Reichman S
Published: October 2006

In the paper the authors outline the framework for research on transport, communications, and mobility, which underlies the network strategy currently being undertaken by the eighteen member countries of the European Science Foundation. They highlight the need for greater emphasis to be given, by policymakers throughout Europe as a whole, to the broader social and economic consequences of current trends in the field, and suggest that joint endeavour in this field is of paramount importance in order to exploit the research potential of the European countries.
The Impact of Technological Change
Authors: Frybourg M
Published: October 2006

How can technology be better utilized to meet socioeconomic needs? Technological change is closely related to societal change. At the level of the firm, technology is a tool to achieve and sustain competitive advantage but radical innovation is system oriented and involves infrastructure. The paramount role of information technology has to be emphasised. Two new concepts are emerging; Just in Time/Total Quality Control (JIT/TQC) and Electronic Data Interchange (EDI). So-called value-added-networks or VANs are catching on in Western countries. The bottlenecks are the costs, the externalities, the lack of standardization, and the system incoherence. Brief case-studies are developed: The new generation of metros, high speed trains, the motor industry, and intermodalism with utilization of High-Cube containers. The findings of these studies show that organizational innovation has to go along with technological innovation.
Policy Analysis: A Story
Authors: Brög W
Published: October 2006

Policy analysis is an important element in the communication process between planner and administrator, researcher and adviser, and decisionmaker and politician. Its impact on this process depends, to some degree, upon the intelligibility of its presentation. In policy analysis, however, one often tends to use specific language which is not (or not easily) understood by decisionmakers/politicians. This paper is based on the assumption that the use of every day language and of real-world examples would significantly improve the attention given policy analysis, and thus improve its impact on the decisions to be made. In order to achieve this an unusual approach has been adopted: A new Minister takes office in a hypothetical state and is immediately exposed to ‘conventional’ advice. His attempts to relate this advice to the real world fail all too often. Finally, he quits.
The Potential Gains from Creative Accounting in English Local Government
Authors: Smith P
Published: October 2006

In each of the years in the period 81/82 to 85/86 the Government has set individual expenditure targets for English local authorities. Penalties, in the form of withdrawal of grant, were incurred if these targets were exceeded, and this suggests an incentive to reduce expenditure. However, targets were based on previous years' budgets, so there has been a simultaneous incentive to maintain high levels of reported expenditure in order to secure higher targets in the future. By use of dynamic programming, I explore in this paper the pattern of budgets required by local authorities in the years 82/83 to 85/86 in order to maximise grant receipts, whilst maintaining constant expenditure in real terms. It is found that increases in grant of up to 50% can be engineered by shifting reported expenditure between the years in question.
Post-Chernobyl Prospects for Nuclear Power in the United Kingdom
Authors: Openshaw S
Published: October 2006

The future of nuclear power in the United Kingdom is finely balanced. The relevant factors are discussed in the context of geographic arguments related to siting and safety. Aspects of the ‘British approach’ to nuclear power regulation, licensing, siting, and emergency planning are briefly described. Last, the planning intentions of the state power-utilities are reviewed and the impact of a new party-political dimension assessed.
Technology Policy at the Crossroads of Economic Policy and Physical Planning
Authors: Nijkamp P , Stöhr W
Published: October 2006

Technology policy must be considered as a tailor-made endeavour towards the creation of specific innovative activities in specific sectors and at specific locations. It therefore cannot be implemented only from the national level but must be aimed at mobilizing also the self-organizing potential at regional and local levels. Technological change and regional structures turn out to be closely interrelated.

For this theme issue contributions have been invited on general aspects of technology policy (Zegveld), on its regional implications (Malecki and Nijkamp), and on the relevance of sectoral policies and entrepreneurial strategies on the spatial diffusion of innovations (Dyckman and Swyngedouw). In further papers, three spatial types of technology policy are represented: A spatially deconcentrated major technology project in the form of the French technology city Sophia-Antipolis (Perrin), a decentralized three-tier national technology policy in Japan (Kawashima and Stöhr), and a federal setting of technology policy in the case of the USA (Premus).

In drawing conclusions from the papers in this theme issue, its editors discuss the question of how technology policy and regional policy can join to help create a broad entrepreneurial and innovative climate at the local scale.
Technology and Regional Development: Some Thoughts on Policy
Authors: Malecki E J , Nijkamp P
Published: October 2006

In this paper the spatial dimensions of technological developments are discussed. Special attention is given to entrepreneurship and the factors favouring the rise of new enterprises. A major component of such an incubator profile, the information infrastructure, is discussed more thoroughly (inter alia on the basis of a cross-national comparison). Last, the implications for regional policy and technology policy are spelt out.
Trends in Israel's Agriculture Budgets
Authors: Shepher Z , Mevorach B
Published: October 2006

The past two decades have witnessed widespread agreement that the incidence of budgetary allocations, requests, and more so approvals, is accounted for by both economic and political environmental factors, aside from incremental budgetary behavior.

In accord with the emphasis on the environmental determinants of budgetary allocation, we find the gross investment in agriculture in Israel to follow the theoretical lines offered by Western researchers: The requesting side relies on inertia more often than the approving side; the approving side is more political, situating the budget in a larger, more universal, context.

The results indicate that there is a relative drop in investments in agriculture under the Likud control in Israel and thus give further confirmation to the apparent Conservative discrimination against agriculture.
Principles of Environmental Economics and the Political Economy of West German Environmental Policy
Authors: Miller J R , Miller L
Published: October 2006

We begin by recognizing that environmental economics has an influence on environmental policy. We describe two schools of environmental economics: A standard school, an outgrowth of the standard economics paradigm; and an alternative school, one which is more normative in nature, which calls for radical economic change largely through a change in individual values and a transformation of industrial society. The policies and proposals of West German political parties are examined in terms of the principles of these two schools. We conclude that both schools are well represented across the political spectrum, from the fundamentalists in the Greens to the present governing coalition.
School Integration Impacts on Residential Change: Evaluation and Tests
Authors: Clark W A V
Published: October 2006

The assertions of links between school segregation and segregation in housing are evaluated in a case study of housing patterns and school integration in part of the Los Angeles metropolitan region. The indices of separation/segregation show that although schools in many instances were integrated with voluntary and then mandatory pupil assignments, the housing patterns changed little. However, there was a substantial increase in private school enrollment. This latter response is consistent with the residential choice literature which indicates significant white flight when there is intervention in school systems.
The Utility of the UK Pollution Panels in Achieving Integrated Pollution Control
Authors: Wood C
Published: October 2006

The nature of the pollution process predicates a need to integrate the activities of the different bodies engaged in controlling environmental pollution. In Britain, it has been suggested that integrated control (the best practicable environmental option—BPEO) could be achieved by local liaison in the form of pollution panels. Because pollution panels have general aims, are usually large, do not usually include all the relevant control authorities, meet infrequently, and cover only 11% of the districts of England and Wales, and because industrial members are reluctant to discuss their affairs in ‘public’, it is concluded that they are not, as presently constituted, the appropriate bodies to implement the BPEO concept. Some of the pollution panels have, however, created the ‘climate of opinion’ and the informal contacts which would enable specific BPEO cases to be discussed by technical working groups drawn mainly from the panel's membership. Nevertheless, informal local liaison does not appear to be a particularly promising method of achieving integrated pollution control.
The Military Industrial Firm, Economic Control, and Local Development
Authors: Ettlinger N , Crump J R
Published: October 2006

Most US military technology is produced by military industrial firms (MIFs). The federal government substantially funds these firms, and provides the principal MIFs with a steady flow of profitable contracts. Unlike civilian-oriented firms, MIFs virtually have guaranteed profits, and need not emphasize cost minimization as a survival strategy. Instead, MIF management strategy focuses on information gathering, lobbying efforts, and marshalling the MIF labor force in order to influence the contract awards process. The operation of MIFs depends upon a set of alliances within defense-dependent communities and among local leaders, MIF management, Congress, and the Pentagon. These relationships empower MIF management, ensure MIF longevity, and provide a community with employment and an economic base. Endogenous control, a commonly cited ingredient of local or regional development, may be achieved in defense-dependent communities, despite external funding. The power and control exercised by MIFs may not, however, represent a sufficient condition for ‘development’, given problems of inefficiency that tend to characterize these specialized firms.
A Model of Educational Outcomes at Local Authority Level, with Implications for Local Expenditure Needs
Authors: Bramley G
Published: October 2006

In this paper a model is presented of the determinants of selected outcomes of secondary education at local authority level in England. The purpose is to quantify the relative effects of different types of influence, particularly policy variables and socioeconomic environmental variables. This model is used to assess the feasibility and implications of applying an approach which involves an explicit goal of equalizing outcomes to the assessment of local expenditure needs. It is found that such a goal may be technically feasible, subject to a number of assumptions which should be investigated more fully. However, the redistribution of resources involved would pose considerable political difficulties.
Integrated Pollution-Control in the United Kingdom: Prospects and Problems
Authors: Owens S
Published: October 2006

In April 1987 the United Kingdom took an important step towards the ‘integrated’ or ‘cross-media’ approach to pollution-control with the creation of Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Pollution (HMIP). Significant legislative change is now proposed which will put HMIP on a statutory footing and enable it to take an integrated approach to the control of more serious problems of pollution, considering the impact on the environment as a whole. Integrated polution-control has been claimed to offer environmental and administrative advantages over a sectoral system, but these remain to be demonstrated in practice and some important conceptual, methodological, and institutional issues remain to be resolved as HMIP embarks upon implementation of the new approach. Political commitment to pollution-control, reflected in the availability of adequate resources, will be essential if real progress is to be made.
Allocational Effects of Reducing a State Grant to Local Governments
Authors: Jonsson E
Published: October 2006

The following is a study of how the welfare taxi services in Sweden have been affected by the introduction of a ceiling to their specific grants. The municipalities that were studied were found to have expanded the services at a slower rate since the introduction of the ceiling, and from this time there has been a greater use of fees to finance the taxi service.
Venture Capital Investment in Minority Business Enterprise: An Evaluation of MESBIC Investment Preferences
Authors: McNaughton R B , Green M B
Published: October 2006

The encouragement of minority entrepreneurship is frequently advocated as a means of promoting social and economic development. The Minority Enterprise Small Business Investment Company (MESBIC) program pursues this goal by increasing the access of minority business enterprise (MBE) to both human and financial capital. This research provides an exploratory empirical description of the regional, industrial sector, and funding-stage preferences of MESBICs. It is concluded that these preferences are largely antithetical to the formation and expansion of MBEs in growth sectors that offer the market potential for entrepreneurial takeoff. The primary problem seems to be the small size of the majority of MESBICs. Policies governing licensing requirements and administration should therefore be reconsidered.
Patterns of Preference for Venture Capital Investment in the United States of America, 1970–85
Authors: Green M B
Published: October 2006

In this paper a model of the spatial development of the American venture capital industry is provided. The investment preferences for both publicly and privately owned venture capital firms for the period 1970–85 are examined in light of this model. A median polish analysis of the investment preferences, for firms located in the sixteen largest venture capital centers, reveals a high level of regional parochialism in investment. Differences in risk aversion and industry choice are also found both by city type and by firm type. Implications for local development are discussed.
Does High Technology Polarize the Work Force?
Authors: Klak T
Published: October 2006

The well-known argument that high-technology industry polarizes the work force appears to be an extrapolation primarily from two patterns: The occupational characteristics of the semiconductor industry, and the seeming occupational polarization of the US economy as a whole. The proposition that high-technology industry is responsible for the polarization of work forces is operationalized and statistically assessed in this paper. Operating from a definition of ‘high technology’ used by government agencies, a county-level analysis of the relation between employment in high-technology firms and in various higher-skill and lower-skill occupations reveals only limited empirical support for the ‘high-technology work force polarization’ (hereafter HTWFP) argument. This suggests that generalizations about the occupational impacts of high technology have been overdrawn, and that further research should focus less on extrapolating to the general case and more on examining and comparing a variety of high-technology industries and their relationships to local labor-markets.
Institutional Design and Central—Local Strategies: Introducing the New Block Grants System in Norway
Authors: Aarsaether N
Published: October 2006

When special grants are replaced by block grants in a central–local financing system, central government steering of the communalized welfare sectors can no longer be based on economic incentives. In this paper the potential for central government control over welfare policies under block-grants conditions is discussed, with particular reference to the change in the Norwegian transfers system. It is argued that, given high ambitions for the welfare state at the central level, a central government may find legislation to be an insufficient means of control, and it may be more likely to search for new types of economic incentives to make the communes perform according to the priorities of the national welfare state. In doing so, however, the central government must find methods of legitimizing a partial return to old practices that do not contradict the principle of block grants.
Local Authority Responses to Grants: Different Types of Response and Equilibrium
Authors: Barrow M M
Published: October 2006

Game theoretic techniques are used to examine the case of local authorities facing a system of closed-ended central government grants. A diagrammatic exposition of the results from a previous paper is provided, and the results extended to cover alternative types of equilibrium. It is shown that local government behaviour may be Pareto inefficient in response to grants, the inefficiency being manifested in too high a level of local government spending. It is also shown that authorities which try to protect their local tax rate may be at a disadvantage relative to those which make a commitment to high spending.
Sclerosis, Convergence, and Taxes: Determinants of Growth among the US States
Authors: Rasmussen D W , Zuehlke T W
Published: October 2006

Three theories of economic growth are investigated using data for the US states. They are the ‘sclerosis' theory that redistributive coalitions slow growth, the ‘convergence’ theory which predicts faster growth in low-income economies, and the ‘supply-side’ theory emphasizing the disincentive effects of taxation. Simultaneous testing of these theories requires the use of a pooled cross-section time-series model which allows temporal variation in measures of income growth, sclerosis, and taxes. Each theory has some empirical support for the period 1961–84.
Explaining the Growth of Social Benefits in Advanced Capitalist Countries, 1960–80
Authors: Mahler V A
Published: October 2006

A number of political, economic, and demographic explanations are considered for the expansion of public social benefits in the advanced capitalist countries in recent decades. These explanations are then assessed empirically, by means of a pooled regression analysis, with reference to seventeen OECD countries over the period from 1960 to 1980. The study reveals that the most powerful factor in explaining the growth of public social expenditures is the proportion of the population that is elderly. Weaker, but statistically significant, positive relationships are also found linking public social benefits to electoral turnout, levels of unemployment and inflation, and dependence on foreign trade. There is little evidence of trade-offs between benefit expenditures and expenditures for defense. Nor is there a significant relationship between benefit expenditures and the self-interest of bureaucrats administering programs, the extent of unionization, or the partisan orientation of the national legislature.
Education as an Economic Development Resource
Authors: Hill E W , Rock H M
Published: October 2006

The relationship between labor-market conditions which are expected to exist in the United States in the year 2000 and current primary and secondary public education policy is examined in this paper. The role of educational attainment in the development of the economy is outlined and a policy model of the functions of publicly supported primary and secondary education is presented. The educational policy implications for the future structure of the US labor market are examined in the context of this model.
Gains and Losses from the Changes in the System of Grants Paid to English Local Authorities
Authors: King D N
Published: October 2006

The principal purpose of this paper is to contrast the present rate support grant system that applies to local authorities in England with the revenue support grant system that will apply from 1 April 1990. The paper begins by describing the two systems briefly and then seeks to show how much grant receipts per head might change if local authorities maintained their present spending levels after 1 April 1990. At collection-fund level, there would be gains exceeding £150 per head in some areas and losses exceeding £150 per head in others.

In the paper the factors causing these changes are analysed. In general, areas gain if they have high multipliers, overspend, and have high rateable values. Finally, the point is made that the people in any area also stand to gain or to lose if they end up paying less or more in nondomestic rates. It seems likely that changes in these amounts will do much to offset the changes in grant receipts.
Transforming Rural Local Government: Zimbabwe's Postindependence Experience
Authors: Helmsing A H J
Published: October 2006

This paper is a reflection on the recent trends and future of rural local government in Zimbabwe. The paper begins with a brief description of the dualistic and very unequal preindependence local government structures. The postindependence era is subdivided into two phases: A first phase of continued separate development, and a second phase in which former ‘European’ rural councils and the ‘African’ district councils are being amalgamated. The research is based on representative samples of audited accounts. The postindependence income and expenditure trends of the two main rural local authorities and of the District Development Fund are presented. Disparities between and within types of local authorities are calculated. Against this background the (amalgamated) Rural District Councils Act (1987) is examined and key issues are highlighted. The paper ends with a brief assessment of the policy experience.
Government Spending, Policy Outputs, and Policy Outcomes: Health Policy in Yugoslavia
Authors: Clark C
Published: October 2006

Two major questions to which public policy analysis has been addressed concern the relative influence of economic and political factors upon governmental policy, and the degree of linkage between government spending and the policy outcomes produced by these outlays. These questions are examined with data on health care policy in Yugoslav local governments (communes). A causal model is constructed to estimate the relationships among five conceptual stages in the policy process: (1) socioeconomic context (regional culture and economic structure), (2) political context (liberalism and bureaucratism), (3) government spending level (health spending per capita), (4) policy outputs (hospital beds and doctors per capita), and (5) policy outcomes (percentage of births and deaths with medical attention, and infant mortality rate). The causal model shows that political determinants of policy are much more important than economic ones among Yugoslav communes. Bureaucratization and political liberalism are clearly much more important than development context in determining spending levels; and bureaucratization has by far the greatest impact on health outputs. Popular political culture, rather than economic context, furthermore, emerges as the predominant influence on health outcomes. These causal patterns also indicate the existence of substantial discontinuities among the three stages of the policy process because health spending has only a marginal influence on outputs and because outputs and outcomes are only slightly related at best. What Sharkansky calls the previous investment necessary to create bureaucratic complexes explains the first discontinuity, whereas the second results from different cultural mores about ‘health behavior’ and about interactions with governmental authorities and with the modern world in general.
A Style of Economic Regulation, France 1969–86: A Comparison between France and West Germany
Authors: Dumez H , Jeunemaître A
Published: October 2006

From the beginning of the early 1970s until the end of the 1980s, France developed an original style of economic regulatory policy which consisted essentially of smoothing economic shocks. This style has had several variations. This paper is an attempt to analyze these regulatory styles by comparing them with the policies followed by West Germany. The authors attempt to show that the abandonment of price controls as an instrument of economic policy, a decision taken by the Chirac government, marks the end of a unique French model of economic policy.
Modelling Interactions between Economic Development and Environmental Change: A Policy Life-Cycle Interpretation
Authors: Brouwer F , Nijkamp P
Published: October 2006

The main objectives of this paper are (1) to review some main trends from the past decades in assessing the interactions among development and environmental changes, and (2) to propose some future research directions. The so-called policy life-cycle hypothesis is used, which takes for granted that the political interest in new issues passes through various phases, ranging from awareness and agenda formation to policy strategies, solutions, and management. The potential impacts of projected changes in global climate and in technology on society and the environment may emerge a new wave of the policy life-cycle.
Determinants of the Growth of Transfers in the United Kingdom: A Causal Analysis
Authors: Levaggi R
Published: October 2006

Since the formulation of the well-known law of the ‘displacement effect’ there has been a relative concentration on public consumption expenditure as a determinant of public-sector spending. However, in the last few years transfers toward the personal sector have been the most dynamic item and could effectively have caused the observed fluctuations in government expenditure. A causal analysis approach is used to suggest a method for explaining their dynamics in the period 1960–88.
The Incidence of Business Rates on Household Income in the United Kingdom, 1979
Authors: Mair D
Published: October 2006

The incidence of local business rates on household incomes in the United Kingdom is examined by means of Input–Output Tables. Full forward shifting into prices is assumed and local rates are treated as an indirect tax on intermediate goods and services. Input–Output Tables and Family Expenditure Survey data for 1979 are used to identify the incidence of business rates by category of expenditure and household type. The analysis reveals that business rates are markedly regressive.
Neighborhood Rehabilitation and Policy Transfer
Authors: Dommel P R
Published: October 2006

In the mid-1980s, Britain initiated a new neighborhood regeneration program based on a US model, Neighborhood Housing Services. Both programs are based on a partnership between residents, the private sector, and local governments. The central objective of the British government was to reorient British national housing rehabilitation policy from its traditional public-sector, grant-based programs to the private-sector, loan-based system which characterizes US policy. The British program, Neighbourhood Revitalisation Services (NRS), began as a pilot program in four cities and was expanded to twenty-five more neighborhoods. Data suggest considerable reluctance among British homeowners to tap their own savings or borrow money to make home improvements in the NRS neighborhoods. That reluctance may stem from some disincentives built into the early stages of the new program. Thus, at least in the short term, the data suggest that the transition to the US private-sector model has not been readily embraced by British homeowners. In the long term, the success or failure of the policy transfer effort is likely to hinge on whether British homeowners can be convinced that the private-sector approach is here to stay and that a change of governments will not bring a return of the long-established public-sector model with its grant-based foundation.
Enterprise Zones: 1. Investment and Job Creation of State Government Programs in the United States of America
Authors: Erickson R A , Friedman S W
Published: October 2006

This is the first of two papers in which the programmatic structure and effectiveness of state government designated enterprise zones (EZs) in the United States of America are analyzed. The study is based on survey data from 17 states. Although the EZs are not the ‘miracle cure’ for economically distressed areas, as claimed by many proponents, notable investment and job gains have been achieved in many zones. Some traditional arguments against EZs, such as their presumed attraction of ‘sweatshop’ industries, the pirating of existing firms from surrounding areas, and the failure to provide jobs for zone residents are not substantiated. In the second paper, a comparative analysis of the effectiveness of state EZ policies is undertaken, with a focus on differences in zone settings and program structures.
Regional Discontinuities of Planning Objectives in the Republic of the Marshall Islands
Authors: Gorenflo L J
Published: October 2006

One of the most fundamental challenges facing the Republic of the Marshall Islands is changing regional organization, with population and economic resources becoming increasingly concentrated at two urban centers. Present national planning objectives focus upon developing the means to accommodate these centers. But such development strategies often encounter difficulties, for centralization on the order currently found in the Marshalls has neither historic nor sociocultural precedent. In this study regional change in the Marshall Islands is examined in terms of demographic development, and regional evolution assessed through complementary statistical measures of spatial autocorrelation, point-to-point temporal association, and spatio-temporal association. It is concluded that the current regional imbalance in population and human resources in the Marshalls represents a significant break from past trends which may well be unsustainable. Alternative regional planning strategies are suggested which appeal to the historic and sociocultural foundations of the area.
The Individual Travel-Cost Method and the Value of Recreation: The Case of the Montgomery and Lancaster Canals
Authors: Willis K G , Garrod G D
Published: October 2006

The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the use of the individual travel-cost method by using it to value informal recreation along the Montgomery and Lancaster Canals. Informal recreation covers all activities such as walking and sightseeing, for which no price or entry fee is charged. Consumer surplus on each type of informal recreation was estimated by the individual travel-cost method: Assessment of how much people were prepared to pay to undertake different activities. The Montgomery and Lancaster Canals provide examples against which to compare consumer surplus from informal recreation against public subsidies for their operation.
Private Investment in Rental Housing
Authors: Dent P , Doling J
Published: October 2006

The aim of this paper is to examine the investment record of the private rented sector as a way of understanding the prospects for private investment. A capital-asset-pricing model is used which enables investors, on the basis of the risk characteristics of investing in private rental housing, to quantify the rate of return they might require from investing in this sector. Aggregate data are used to show that in much of Britain fair rents have been greater than the target rate of return identified. It is argued that the reasons for disinvestment, as well as the challenge facing any policy initiatives which set out to attract new capital, are to be found in other characteristics of the sector, such as management costs, political risk, and the relationship with capital values in the owner-occupied sector. It is also argued that these additional characteristics are likely to have less of a negative influence on investment for middle-income, rather than low-income, tenants.
Enterprise Zones: 2. A Comparative Analysis of Zone Performance and State Government Policies
Authors: Erickson R A , Friedman S W
Published: October 2006

This is the second of two papers in which the programmatic structure and effectiveness of state government designated enterprise zones (EZs) are analyzed. With use of data on EZs from 14 states, the relationships are examined between job and/or investment gains and variables reflecting different state policies, zone locations, and zone settings. It is argued that, if states wish to purse EZ policies, they should focus on a small number of ‘retrievable’ zones, adopt a broad and quality package of business incentives, use no more restrictive designation criteria than needed, explore the possibilities of more direct targeting of existing state development activities into the zones, and seek strong local participation in the promotional effort.
Consensus and Dissension among Contemporary Environmental Activists: Preservationists and Conservationists in the US and Canadian Context
Authors: Steel B S , Steger M A E , Lovrich N P , Pierce J C
Published: October 2006

The longstanding conservationist versus preservationist perspective among environmentalists is investigated among contemporary environmental group members in Michigan and Ontario. Based upon survey data, it is clear that this dissension continues to exist among contemporary environmental activists. Moreover, a number of background characteristics, use preferences for public lands, and political and environmental belief constructs effectively predict conservationist and preservationist orientations. The Canadians in the study were more likely to have preservationist orientations when compared with Americans, and the self-identified behavior of these Canadian activists tended to be more protective of natural resources than their US counterparts. It is argued that such cross-national differences are a likely consequence of differing features of the US and Canadian political cultures.
Agenda Setting and the Rise and Fall of Policy Issues: The Case of Criminal Victimization of the Elderly
Authors: Cook F L , Skogan W G
Published: October 2006

In nearly all studies of federal agenda-setting processes, the focus is on how issues achieve prominence on policy agendas. Seldom dealt with is how some of those issues then disappear, without any substantial action being taken on them. In this paper the life course of a single policy issue—criminal victimization of the elderly—is examined, and the forces that caused this issue to rise and fall on the Congressional policy agenda are analyzed. Abstracted models of those processes—entitled the convergent-voice and the divergent-voice models of issue ascendence and decline—may prove fruitful for understanding the complete life course of many similar issues.