bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Local Interest and Representation: The Case of ‘Class' Interest among Labour Representatives in Inner London
Authors: Walker D
Published: October 2006

Arguments about the representativeness of local councillors in Britain often make assumptions about their disinterestedness. An introductory survey of the occupations of Labour Party councillors in London shows a high proportion of them may be ‘interested’ by dint of their public service affiliations. The concentration of public service interests among councillors poses problems for financial control in local government as well as for theories of representation.
The Unintended Consequences of Policy Initiation: A Study of the British Conservative Government's Property Policy in the 1970s
Authors: Cox A
Published: October 2006

This paper outlines the way in which governments often face immense problems in the successful implementation of their policies owing to unforeseen and unintended consequences. The case study is based on the Conservative Government's attempt to restructure the property market in Britain between 1970 and 1974. The paper argues that policy was initiated in ignorance of the environment in which it was to be implemented and created the conditions for an unintended boom in property prices. This unintended consequence forced the Government to react, but, it is argued, in so doing, it once again failed to appreciate how its policy ‘U’-turn would cause a crisis for the financial sector. Ultimately the Government was constrained by this problem and forced to change its policy for a third time. The conclusion which is drawn from this is that in a largely privately owned market economy there are limits beyond which governments cannot go in policy initiation without incurring unacceptable economic or political costs.
Local Government Finance in Britain: A Liberal Party View of Possible Reforms
Authors: Grimond L , Truscott P , Keith-Lucas B , Bennett R J
Published: October 2006

This paper outlines a number of possible reforms of local government finance in Britain against the philosophical background of reducing the power of government in aggregate and reasserting the independence of local authorities. The reforms suggested are for a simpler central grant, a local income tax (combined with self-assessment and year-end adjustment for present PAYE payers, with eventual noncumulative PAYE and credit income tax), a land value tax at national level to replace local nondomestic rates, charges for use of local services by industry and commerce, and a new independent revenue source for parish and community councils. These proposals are proffered as a review of one aspect of the political platform for change offered by the ‘centre’ political parties in Britain.
Political Benefits and Public Policy: Interpretation of Recent US Studies
Authors: Rundquist B S
Published: October 2006

A number of researchers have tested the general hypothesis that the spatial allocation of political benefits by the US federal legislature is linked to the electoral demands on congressmen. The evidence produced by these tests is equivocal. To account for this situation, the theory underpinning the electoral benefit hypothesis is extended to take account of congressmen's needs for political support.
The Spatial Theory of Electoral Competition: Instability, Institutions, and Information
Authors: Austen-Smith D
Published: October 2006

The author reviews the literature on the spatial theory of electoral competition, initiated by Downs. Two main lines of inquiry are distinguished. The first is concerned with the purely analytical properties of majority preference as an aggregation rule for mapping individual preferences into social preferences. And the second is devoted to providing explanations of the choices of political decisionmakers, and the consequences of these choices, within a simple plurality electoral system. These two lines are intimately related and in the review the author seeks to explore this relationship.
Redesigning Intergovernmental Transfers: A Colombian Example
Authors: Bird R M , Slack N E
Published: October 2006

This paper contains a description of the principal intergovernmental grant in Colombia, an evaluation of this program in terms of the rationales for such grants found in the academic literature and supported in Colombian discussion, and proposals for a revised grant formula and process that appears to be more workable and more likely to achieve the apparent objectives of government policy with respect to the existing program.
Federal-Provincial Financial Equalization and the Canadian Constitution
Authors: Auld D A L , Eden L B
Published: October 2006

The development of federal-provincial financial equalization in Canada is reviewed in this essay. Also included is a discussion of the 1982–1987 fiscal arrangements; an explanation of two competing philosophies of equalization—fiscal need and fiscal equity; and an exploration of some implications of the 1982 Constitution Act for the future of equalization in Canada. It is concluded that the 1982 Act offers substantial support to the narrow-based fiscal equity principle and that future equalization programs in Canada should therefore be similar to current practice.
Citizen Participation in Local Planning: A Comparison of US and British Experiences
Authors: Johnson W C
Published: October 2006

In both the United States of America and Great Britain, there have been widespread but inconsistent attempts over the past two decades to involve ordinary citizens in local land-use planning decisions. These illustrate the tension between the representative and participatory principles in local politics generally. Efforts to analyze them must distinguish between six different types of planning decisions and five categories of participation within these decision types. A survey of the literature from both nations indicates that participatory programs have a mixed record of accomplishments, according to the local political culture and structures, the attitudes of public officials and political leaders, and the aims and skills of the participants. At its best, citizen participation has provided certain benefits to local planning systems, but it has displayed such limitations that it must continue to take place within a framework of responsive and accountable representation.
Regional Effects of the Pollution Control Industry in the Federal Republic of Germany
Authors: Zimmermann K
Published: October 2006

Almost all government policies have spatially differentiated impacts that are usually rather unintentional and often in conflict with the goals of spatial policies. Calculations based on data from an empirical study of 693 firms belonging to the pollution control industry in the Federal Republic of Germany show that industrial environmental policy exerts some significant influences on different types of regions, especially favoring ‘structurally sound regions’. A benefit tax/transfer scheme is designed to reconcile environmental and regional policy goals, to meet environmental targets, and at the same time to maintain the differential levels of financial assistance allocated to the dissimilar types of regions. Since the goals and instruments of environmental and regional policy are overlapping to an ever-greater extent, such problems (and perhaps such solutions) should be seriously considered in order to avoid inconsistencies between closely related environmental and regional policies.
Military Spending and the US Defense Industry: Regional Patterns of Military Contracts and Subcontracts
Authors: Malecki E J
Published: October 2006

Military expenditure is the largest category of discretionary spending in the US federal budget. As such, its spatial patterns are also among the most concentrated. An analysis of recent defense spending data indicates that ten to fifteen states receive between them at least 70% of military contracts, and higher proportions of high-technology and research-related contracts. Examination of subcontracting data reveals that little wider dispersion of defense spending occurs to states outside the core areas in the West, on the East Coast, and in a few interior locations.
Spatial Scientists and Representational Democracy: The Role of Information-Processing Technology in the Design of Parliamentary and other Constituencies
Authors: Johnston R J , Openshaw S , Rhind D W , Rossiter D J
Published: October 2006

A recent court case has raised a number of issues relating to the nature of representative democracy in Britain. In particular, the importance of equality of electorates among constituencies relative to other criteria employed in the redistricting procedure has been raised. The court findings emphasised the subjectivity inherent at all stages of the redistricting process at present. We describe procedures, combining data analysis and mapping, whereby such subjectivity can be restricted to the later stages, so allowing the final decisions to be made in a fully informed context. Such procedures raise issues relating to public contributions to the various stages of the redistricting process, and a speculative final section to the paper extends the ideas that we outline.
Stability and Change in the Views of Representatives: Some Evidence from Southeast England
Authors: Prentice R C
Published: October 2006

To what extent is a councillor's political party membership a likely determinant of his views on processes of policymaking in local government? In this paper, evidence is presented from two local authorities in Southeast England. Two specific questions are addressed. First to what degree is party political membership a useful surrogate for views? Second, to what extent are the collective views of party members stable in the medium term?
Fiscal Equalisation and Australian Federalism, 1971–1981
Authors: Walmsley D J
Published: October 2006

Australian federalism in the 1970s was characterised by marked vertical and horizontal financial imbalance, a trend towards ‘big government’, and increasing government involvement in social policy. These characteristics presented a challenge to a system in which the federal government dominated revenue and the states dominated expenditure. The challenge was met by altering the method of transfer payments within the federal system. Attempts to adopt a clear principle of fiscal equalisation in such transfer payments were thwarted however by political expediency.
Towards a Kaleckian Theory of the Short-Period Incidence of the Property Tax
Authors: Mair D
Published: October 2006

The British property tax, or rates, is a major tax about whose economic effects little is known. The bulk of the theoretical and empirical analysis of the tax has been done in North America and is wholly within the neoclassical paradigm of tax incidence. The restrictive assumptions and partial equilibrium nature of the neoclassical approach limit its usefulness. In this paper the author shows how the short-period incidence of the property tax can be incorporated within a post-Keynesian model of tax incidence developed by Asimakopulos and Burbidge out of original ideas of Kalecki's. The results obtained from this post-Keynesian approach are compared with the neoclassical results. It is concluded that the post-Keynesian approach offers a more truly general equilibrium and logically coherent framework for the analysis of property tax incidence.
The Regulatory Crisis: Does it Exist and Can it Be Solved? Some Comparative Remarks on the Situation of Social Regulation in the USA and in the European Economic Community
Authors: Reich N
Published: October 2006

The ‘regulatory crisis’ has become a common paradigm on both sides of the Atlantic. It seems to be corroborated by economists pointing to inefficiencies of regulation. Political scientists have discovered implementation lags, and legal scholars complain about an overburdening of the legal system.

By reviewing some witnesses of the US discussion and by comparing this discussion with trends in Europe [European Economic Community (EEC) and member state level] I attempt to reshape the issues. Regulation has to be discussed with reference to perceived market failures and instruments used by the political system to cope with them. Pressure is put upon ‘social regulation’, that is, regulation of market deficiencies affecting ‘diffuse interests’ of consumers, environment, etc. Despite the rhetoric, the welfare state has not regulated too much but too little: It suffered from the reductionism paradox which is seemingly inherent in social regulation and becomes more apparent in federal (USA) or quasi-federal (EEC) vertically integrated political and legal systems. The modern discussion about ‘deregulation’, regulation ‘by incentives’, or regulation ‘by negotiation’ has not been able to overcome the structural deficiencies which limit attempts at social regulation.

The regulatory crisis is defined in terms of the dwindling legitimacy of the welfare state to keep markets both running and ‘clean’. The more people perceive this dilemma, the more the crisis will shift from ideology to reality.
Use-Value Land Taxation and Conservation Economics: An Assessment of Tax-Zoning, with Implications for Conservation Easements
Authors: Yamauchi H
Published: October 2006

Conservation economics of use-value land taxation is used to explain the intertemporal incentive effects of progressive versus regressive taxes on the stock and flow component of land into different uses. Such an approach is used to resolve inconsistencies between traditional rent theory, land-use policy, and tax assessment practices in Hawaii. Analytical implications also extend to the problem of valuing conservation easements with respect to urban pressure on prime irrigable lands.
An Externality Approach to the Cost Sharing of Social Overhead Capital
Authors: Nosse T
Published: October 2006

A definition of social overhead capital based on an ‘externality’ approach is proposed to explore the principle underlying cost sharing of social capital formation. First, in considering the relation of social capital to social services, the conventional ‘institutional’ definition and the simple ‘functional’ definition of social capital are criticised on the basis of their nonacademic and inconsistent interpretation. I propose instead a consistent definition of social capital based on an economic analysis of its external effects. Second, by separating the production side from the consumption side of public services in the public sector (and also in the private sector), four types of externalities of social capital (to the private sector) are distinguished. Finally, it is shown that these externalities can be taken as the theoretical bases for developing rules for cost sharing of social capital formation under the criterion of best allocation of resources. A forecast is then made of the size of these externalities, together with their feasibility of acceptance in actual public policy.
Regional Policy and Management Jobs: The Locational Behaviour of Corporate Headquarters in West Germany
Authors: Olbrich J
Published: October 2006

Since the mid 1970s, there have been attempts in West German regional policy to relocate jobs in the expanding service sector to the assisted areas. Based on the locational behaviour of the headquarters of industrial companies, the possibility and usefulness of a decentralisation of management jobs is examined. In view of the location requirements and the mobility of those tertiary functions requiring highly qualified personnel, an increasing importance accruing to the leading locations for headquarters can be expected. The financial incentives to relocate have proven too weak. A policy of forced decentralisation, however, would not be useful, because of the already decentralised location structure in West Germany when compared internationally. A further decentralisation would detract from the function of the leading locations as national growth centres and would endanger their international competitiveness. A policy to activate the endogenous development potential of disadvantaged regions is therefore more suitable than long-distance relocations of service industries to the assisted areas.
The Dynamics of Policy Formation: Income Tax Rates in Israel, 1948–1975
Authors: Radian A
Published: October 2006

In this paper, an attempt is made to show the importance of incorporating ‘politics’ into tax designs. Models of optimal taxation generally offer limited policy-relevant guidance, since they either ignore politics altogether or make wrong assumptions concerning goals and rules of the game. One such common error is the assumption that governments attempt to promote ‘equity’. A case study of changes in the top marginal rate of income tax in Israel demonstrates how goals, values, constraints, and opportunities shape the definition of policy problems and the solutions that are eventually chosen.
Cost of Waiting, Risk, and Individual Action: The Case of Public Housing
Authors: Willis K G
Published: October 2006

In this paper the concept of waiting time for public housing is explored; the individual's decisionmaking process on whether to join the housing queue is modeled; how long he/she is prepared to wait for public housing is assessed; a methodology to evaluate the cost of this waiting time is proposed; and estimates of some likely values of this cost are made. The cost of waiting is of more than esoteric interest, impinging on several questions of policy, such as the use of waiting times as indicators in assessing need, the sale of council housing, and the efficiency of a nonprice method of resource allocation. The model predicts the maximum length of time a person will be prepared to wait, given his/her life expectancy in the authority's house, the relative cost to the person of alternative housing, and his/her time-preference rate. Risk preferences are also incorporated to assess the ‘risk premium’: The extra cost a person would sacrifice to be certain of obtaining public housing at a specified time. Estimates of the cost of waiting are derived from the model and also from a questionnaire survey of housing waiting-list applicants in North Tyneside Metropolitan Borough.
Coping with Risk: The Case of Gas Facilities in Scotland
Authors: Snowball D J , Macgill S M
Published: October 2006

Aspects of the publicly acknowledged assessment of risk in siting-decisions in Scotland for potentially hazardous North Sea gas processing-installations are considered. Safety issues were of concern to the respective local authority councils and planning departments, the Health and Safety Executive, the developers seeking planning permission, and, in various instances, port authorities, Secretaries of State, and public-interest groups. The assessment of potential risk to the public by each of these main agencies is analysed and evaluated, illustrating key features from a decade which has seen significant changes in the art of risk assessment in the United Kingdom and elsewhere in the world, and related, though rather more modest, changes in practice.
Turkish Youth—Occupational Opportunities in the Federal Republic of Germany
Authors: Mehrländer U
Published: October 2006

In this paper, I examine the factors influencing the economic adaptation and occupational achievement of Turkish adolescents in the Federal Republic of Germany using the data obtained from an original survey of 430 Turkish adolescents and 380 parents (mostly fathers) carried out in twenty-two cities. The conclusion reached in this paper is that integration of these minority groups will not be achieved easily or quickly.
Dilemmas in International Migration: A Global Perspective
Authors: Papademetriou D G
Published: October 2006

The impacts of the international migration process both on receiving and on sending societies are evaluated in this paper. For the former, the issue has become increasingly politicized and a mood of restriction is in evidence. This mood, in turn, and the policies which it spawns, clashes with the interests of individuals and of state actors among the less-developed countries who seek to expand access to ‘desirable’ destinations among advanced industrial societies—in spite of mounting evidence that emigration, in its current forms, has only marginally positive developmental effects.

Also in this paper, international migration is placed in a theoretical context through a discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of two major competing schools: The classical-liberal one and the Marxist-neo-Marxist one. It is concluded that for labor importers, resort to international migration has been a tentative economic success, though, increasingly, a social and political liability. Results are equally mixed for labor senders. Policy recommendations focus mostly on avenues through which the costs of the migration process can be contained while the benefits are enhanced.
Direct Foreign Investment: A Migration Push-Factor?
Authors: Sassen-Koob S
Published: October 2006

The concern is to explore the impact of economic internationalization on the formation of labor migrations. General conditions historically at work in most migrations may continue to operate and even be prevalent. The question is whether the internationalization that characterizes the current period contains additional conditions promoting migrations. Direct foreign investment is used as an indicator for internationalization. The focus is on investment for export manufacturing because (a) the main countries sending the new immigration to the USA are key locations for this growing type of direct foreign investment, (b) export production is a central feature in the economies of these immigrant-sending countries, and (c) being labor intensive, this type of investment has created significant numbers of jobs in the countries where it is concentrated and therefore should act as a deterrent to emigration. The key finding is that intervening processes, such as the feminization of the new proletariat and the disruption of traditional work structures, can contribute to transform a situation of high growth into one promoting emigration.
Mobilisation of the Law
Authors: Blankenburg E
Published: October 2006

This paper offers a discussion in behavioural terms of legal practice in its widest sense. It presents a framework for assessing how the law is mobilised by the legal customer. This mobilisation includes the entire social process, from problem identification in legal terms (termed ‘framing’) to the consultation of lawyers and the use of the courts. It is demonstrated that mobilisation in this sense is a much more common social process than litigation and that between the two extremes of litigation and ‘framing’ there exists a substantial ‘funneling’ process. An assessment of the social aspects of this process is given, and some comparative results for Germany, in the context of a theory of litigation, are presented.
Planners, Politicians, and the Development of the Hospital Services of Newcastle upon Tyne, 1948–1969
Authors: Mohan J
Published: October 2006

Analysts of the location of public facilities have tended to ignore the decisionmaking processes whereby these facilities are located. Therefore a detailed consideration of the development of the acute hospital services of Newcastle upon Tyne from 1948–1969 is presented in this paper. In particular, the arguments both for and against a proposal to locate the city's third general hospital at Freeman Road, in northeast Newcastle, are focused upon. Attention is drawn to divisions and divergences of opinion and strategy both within and between various branches of the state, and it is argued that any interpretation of state practice must be sensitive to such divisions and to the specific local circumstances in which state policies are articulated. In a concluding section, the broader theoretical implications of this evidence are drawn out.
The Redistributive, Stabilising, and Insurance Effects at the Territorial Level of ‘Federal’ Government Budgets
Authors: Bosch Núria , Espasa Marta , Sorribas Pilar
Published: October 2006

The authors' aim is to estimate the redistributive, stabilising, and insurance effects of the ‘federal’ budgets of Australia, Spain, the USA, and the European Union, at the territorial level. This analysis was carried out for the budget as a whole through regional fiscal balances, and separately for revenues and expenditures. The methodology used was a panel data econometric model. The authors' main conclusion is that in all the cases considered the expenditures have higher effects—redistributive, and combined stabilising and insurance—than the revenues, and that the size of the whole European Union budget should be increased in order to enable the development of redistributive policies.
Regional Autonomy and the One and Indivisible French Republic
Authors: Kofman E
Published: October 2006

Regional social movements in France had proposed since the 1960s new territorial divisions and autonomy for the regions. The Left in opposition had taken up these demands and has implemented, since coming to power in 1981, a programme of decentralisation to all administrative levels. However, the reforms at the regional level can be seen primarily as an extension of the existing établissement public régional and thus have not satisfied the aspirations and demands of autonomist and separatist movements. This tension between national and regionalist views of decentralisation is then examined in relation to Corsica, the only region to be granted a statut particulier.
Ethnic Nationalism in the Soviet Union: Territory, Cleavage, and Control
Authors: Smith G E
Published: October 2006

The purpose of this paper is to challenge the widely held viewpoint in Western studies of the USSR that ethnic nationalism is necessarily a threat to the Soviet state. After questioning of the premises upon which a conflict-based theory of nationality relations has been constructed, it is argued that by focusing on the cross-patterned reticulation model of social and ethnic stratification that we will be in a better position to understand why the politicisation of national identities cannot be assumed to be automatic or uniform. Ways in which the state controls the politicisation of ethnoterritorial cleavages are then explored, by focusing on the internal passport system, the federal structure, and language planning. The problems faced by a nationalistically sympathetic cultural intelligentsia in mobilising support around ethnoterritorial cleavages is also touched upon. The paper concludes with a summary of what socioeconomic and political changes are likely to fuel the engines for political action where easily identifiable ethnoterritorial cleavages and a sympathetic regional political leadership make this possible.
A Reappraisal of Public Choice Theory of Intergovernmental Relations
Authors: McKay D H
Published: October 2006

In the search for maximum economic efficiency in the allocation of functions of government to different levels, public choice theory implies a number of (mainly) decentralising policy options. In this paper are demonstrated a number of internal confusions and inconsistencies within this theory, and it is concluded that the two main versions of the theory can as easily lead to centralising policies as to decentralist solutions. Empirical applications of public choice analysis are also fraught with problems. In particular, President Reagan's New Federalism with its combination of decentralisation of power to the states together with a sorting out of functions between different levels of government is shown to be incompatible with existing economic theories of intergovernmental relations.
Centralisation and Decentralisation: A Framework for Comparative Analysis
Authors: Page E , Goldsmith M J
Published: October 2006

One of the reasons for the paucity of comparative studies of central — local government relations is the absence of a common set of terms and concepts which may form the basis for comparison. Commonly used terms, such as ‘centralisation’ and ‘decentralisation’, are highly ambiguous. In order that comparative study may develop, it is important to isolate the salient dimensions along which patterns of central-local relations vary cross-nationally. On the basis of an exploration of central — local relations in European unitary states, there are three main dimensions for comparison: The functions of local government, the discretion that local authorities have in carrying them out, and the patterns of access between the political and the administrative elites of the centre and locality.
Regional Innovation Policy: Problems and Strategies in Britain and France
Authors: Cooke P
Published: October 2006

Britain's lagging economic performance is clearly tied to a failure on the part of British industry to innovate to the same extent as competitor economies. There is a spatial coincidence between the least innovative parts of Britain's innovation-poor economy and the traditionally depressed industrial regions. It has been suggested in government and academia that one way to help overcome both the problem of innovation lag and that of regional industrial decline is for Britain to adopt a regional innovation policy. In this paper the case for this is discussed in the context of the regional problem and in terms of problems posed by a market-led innovation process. A critical evaluation of one possible form of regional innovation policy based on the decentralisation of government research and development as carried out in France since the 1950s is presented. It is concluded that neither the present British nor French approaches are ideal but that some regionalised combination of them could be an improvement.
Dynamic Incidence in a Two-Sector Growing Economy
Authors: Homma M
Published: October 2006

The aim in this paper is to provide a systematic approach to the long-run incidence analysis in a two-sector growth model. For this end, a long-run incidence model as close as possible to the standard short-run incidence model shall be built, and a method of conducting the comparative dynamic analysis which evaluates the long-run factor income distribution will be developed. In so doing, the following three steps shall be taken. First, the logical structure of the long-run incidence model is carefully explored to clarify the relationship between the long-run incidence and the short-run incidence. Second, previous work is extended to cover the long-run incidence effects of other taxes such as commodity or wage taxes. Third, concrete propositions on the long-run incidence are established comparable to those on the short-run incidence.
Housing as Social Problem versus Housing as Historical Problem: The Case of Hungary
Authors: Sillince J A A
Published: October 2006

Two very different dimensions of Hungary's housing problem are investigated. One relates to historical factors, mainly the poor housing stock which existed prior to 1949, and is indicated by persistent housing shortages. The other dimension concerns access and allocation mechanisms, both in rented and owned accommodation, and raises questions of social policy. Thus there are at least two ways of evaluating housing policy: In terms of absolute levels of provision—usually measured by standards and shortages—and in terms of relative levels—measured by how fair is the access to housing of different types by different groups in the population. The first method reveals that Hungary, despite severe housing shortages, has made great strides in recent years. However, in terms of equality of housing provision, the problem which seems endemic to several Eastern European countries—the better-off groups get most of the available good quality housing at low rents—is persisting through into the owner-occupied sector as this sector begins to take off because of a large expansion since 1970 of mortgage credit.
Corporate Philanthropy: Implications for Urban Research and Public Policy
Authors: Wolch J R , Geiger R K
Published: October 2006

Corporate philanthropy has become increasingly important to organizations providing voluntary services, particularly in light of recent reductions in government funding for service delivery. This paper is a critical review of the existing literature on corporate philanthropy. It is found that social science research on the patterns of corporate giving and on the reasons for corporate largesse has focused on national level observations and analysis, leaving many unanswered questions about geographic variations in corporate contributions behavior, and about the role of corporate giving in local politics and policymaking. An agenda for additional research on corporate philanthropy is outlined, focusing on urban and regional geographic questions that need to be addressed if governmental decentralization and social expenditure curtailment policies are to be adequately evaluated on equity and efficiency grounds.
The Role of Intergovernmental Grants for Environmental Problems
Authors: Hagihara K
Published: October 2006

When grants are allocated from higher to lower levels in multilevel systems of government, multiple objectives associated with individual and collective welfare must be taken into account. A simple model, corresponding both to multilevels and to multiobjectives, for environmental problems is formulated in order to consider the role of intergovernmental grants explicitly. It is shown, through a case study of the model, that grant allocation plays a very important role in the case of environmental problems.
The Integration of Policies of Fiscal Equalization and Regional Policies: Theory and European Examples
Authors: Zimmermann H
Published: October 2006

Fiscal equalization between communities and regional policies towards regions seem to aim at the same objective: to relieve undesirable situations in specific segments of a given regional pattern. The purpose of the paper is to show that at a closer look the objectives and instruments, but also the underlying systems of regions, and finally the notion of regional disparity differ widely between the two approaches and do not allow for an amalgamation. This is exemplified by a look at typical policies in European countries, and at the end the different role of fiscal flows in each policy is pointed out.
Political Party Control and the Sale of Local Authority Dwellings 1974–1983
Authors: Hoggart K
Published: October 2006

The sale of local-authority-owned homes has been a controversial issue in Britain, especially since the 1980 Housing Act provided tenants with a ‘right-to-buy’ their homes. This paper is an analysis of whether the opposition of the Labour Party to these sales has been translated into a distinct antisales local government policy stance. All metropolitan and Greater London lower-tier authorities and a sample of one in five shire districts were investigated. The results show that Labour control was linked with reduced sales levels, even after allowance was made for council housing characteristics, tenants' wealth, and other relevant demand factors. Very recently Labour councils have had higher rates of public housing sales, suggesting that the Conservative Government has eventually been able to circumvent Labour opposition and ‘release’ previously ‘bottled-up’ demand for house purchasing.
Factors Affecting the Costs of UK VAT Compliance for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises
Authors: Hansford Ann , Hasseldine John , Howorth Carole
Published: October 2006

As firms grow, taxation and, in particular, value added tax (VAT), is one of the first areas in which they must deal with government regulations. It has been argued in the United Kingdom that regulatory requirements are burdensome and can even be a constraint on the development and growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The authors focus on SMEs and link the literature on VAT regulations and compliance costs to wider issues relating to SMEs. The costs of complying with VAT regulations are separated into core costs and total costs. Core costs are the mandatory costs that SMEs have to incur in order to comply with the VAT legislation and regulations. Total costs include VAT planning and one-off costs. For SMEs core costs represent a larger proportion of total compliance costs than is the case for larger businesses. A reduction in core costs would have a significant impact on the total VAT-compliance costs for SMEs. Factors expected to be associated with higher compliance costs are identified and tested in a multivariate framework. Empirical data were obtained from a survey of 4796 firms resulting in a final sample of 1085 firms and a response rate of 25.1%. Higher compliance costs (in absolute terms) are associated, inter alia, with increased turnover, newly registered firms, and increased complexity. Firms with higher compliance costs also perceived high psychological costs of VAT compliance. Compliance costs were also higher for individuals who did not have English as their first language, and individuals with special needs. The important implications of the findings for policy are highlighted.
Small Business Growth and Tax Policy in Canada—A Theoretical Model
Authors: Soufani Khaled
Published: October 2006

The author develops a theoretical model for considering the impact and the compliance costs of taxation on the liquidity and the financial situation of small firms in Canada. The model addresses the tax burden that faces small firms at their different stages of growth and development, but the emphasis is on the start-up phase where small firms need more cash or liquidity relative to businesses at more developed stages of the business life cycle. It is recognized that one of the ways of bolstering the availability of cash and short-term liquidity for small firms is to offer them tax incentives and to design a system that reduces their compliance costs. The author looks at the importance of the small business sector and the stages of development and growth of firms; presenting the small business tax policy, and then providing some policy and managerial recommendations. The author's intention is not to measure direct tax and compliance costs, but simply to reflect on some key policy parameters.
Local Authority Expenditure Reactions to Losses in Grant Aid: The Case of the Metropolitan District Councils
Authors: Barnett R R
Published: October 2006

This paper presents the results of an initial investigation into the expenditure responses of a group of local authorities in England to a loss in grant income. The Government has restricted grant aid to local authorities in an attempt to secure restraint in the expenditure of these authorities, but (until recently) local authorities have had the opportunity to make good any loss in grant income by increasing local taxes. A central issue is, then, how much restraint in local authority expenditure is secured by a given reduction in grant aid. Reduction in grant aid is measured in this paper in terms of its impact on the local tax rate (and the average local domestic tax bill) if a local authority is to maintain the real value of its spending. An incremental budgeting type model is developed and the empirical work is concerned with the financial years 1982–1983 and 1984–1985. It is found that in the later year local authorities have been less willing to reduce their expenditure in the face of loss of grant aid. It is also found that the response of the local authorities has become more political in the sense that a statistically significant difference has developed between the responses of Labour and those of non-Labour controlled councils.
Cost-Benefit Criteria for Urban Public Transport Subsidies
Authors: Dodgson J S , Topham N
Published: October 2006

In this paper cost-benefit rules for public transport subsidies are considered. Recent applications of cost-benefit analysis to the appraisal of bus service provision are surveyed, and justifications for public transport subsidy considered. The authors derive the cost-benefit ratio appropriate for considering the benefits to public transport users of a fare reduction financed through increased local taxation on housing services. The cost-benefit rules are then extended to allow for the impact of Central Government assistance through grants-in-aid, and to incorporate allowances for external benefits in the form of reduced road traffic congestion and for income distributional considerations. A cost-benefit rule appropriate for assessing the case for service-level improvements which reduce passenger waiting times is also noted.
Community Development Block Grants
Authors: Dommel P R
Published: October 2006

This paper summarizes the decentralization policy effects found in an eight-year longitudinal study of the community development block grant program in the United States of America. The effects studied were categorized as programmatic, institutional, and benefits. Attention is also given to the methodological and measurement issues associated with a study of a decentralized program which has operated within a context of shifting federal policies about the appropriate level of federal oversight of the program. The point of emphasis is that analysis of policy effects requires a sufficiently long observation period to be able to discern the continuities and discontinuities from previous policy or lack of a policy. Furthermore, longitudinal policy analysis is also likely to require alteration and refinement of measurement techniques as the research progresses.
A Field Network Evaluation of the Reagan Domestic Program
Authors: Doolittle F C
Published: October 2006

In fiscal year 1982, Congress accepted President Reagan's proposals to cut federal aid to state and local governments and increase the role of state governments in the administration of federal aid. In field research conducted at Princeton University the extent to which state and local governments replaced lost federal aid with their own revenues or found other ways to continue services previously funded by federal aid was examined. The overall impact of the changes on American federalism was also addressed in the research.
Towards a New Pattern of Strategy Formation in the Public Sector: First Experiences with National Strategies for Sustainable Development in Europe
Authors: Steurer Reinhard , Martinuzzi André
Published: October 2006

Despite lengthy debates about planning versus incrementalism, there is still no consensus on what strategy processes should look like in the public sector. In the environmental policy field, the decline of formal policy planning was nonetheless followed by a surge of national strategies for sustainable development (NSSDs). After summarizing this development, we highlight some key characteristics, good practices, and weaknesses of NSSDs with regard to participation, horizontal and vertical policy integration, policy implementation, and monitoring. It is shown that NSSDs go well beyond former environmental policy plans, not just in terms of their thematic scope, but foremost because they resemble evolving rather than static strategy processes. Finally, we explore what model of strategy formation may be adequate for the public sector in general. Based on the empirical evidence presented here and by drawing on strategic management theory, strategic public management is proposed as an ideal pattern for strategy formation, which reconciles planning and incremental learning.
Urban Economic Development and Intergovernmental Relations
Authors: Wolman H
Published: October 2006

The economies of many urban areas in advanced Western countries are experiencing serious pressures as a result of changes in international and national economies, in technology, and in the pattern of demand. The process by which urban areas respond to these changes frequently results in profound structural transformations of metropolitan economies, accompanied by serious economic and social dislocations. Increasingly, governments have found it necessary to respond to these changes. This paper is a summary of these developments and provides a context for the theme papers which follow.
Organizing Government for Regional Development
Authors: Savoie D J
Published: October 2006

How best to organize themselves for promoting regional development has posed as puzzling a problem to governments as coming up with viable solutions to problems of regional economic development. In this article the issues are reviewed and the approaches attempted to date are examined. The strengths and weaknesses of two popular organizational approaches—central agency and line departments—are explored. The article concludes with suggestions for a new government organization for the promotion of regional development which has a capacity, not only for delivering regional programs, but also for promoting regional concerns inside governments.
Incineration Politics and the Geographies of Waste Governance: A Burning Issue for Ireland?
Authors: Davies Anna R
Published: October 2006

The governance of waste in Ireland is highly contentious, with conflicts over many issues ranging from landfill expansion to charges for municipal waste collection. One of the most intense conflicts surrounds plans to introduce, over the forthcoming decade, incineration for municipal solid waste for the first time in the Republic. Such conflicts over waste incineration, and particularly over the siting of waste-incineration facilities, are not new phenomena and they have been examined empirically and theoretically through a range of disciplinary lenses and in different geographical contexts. These studies, although useful and interesting, rarely give close attention to the geographical strategies involved in such conflicts. The author's empirical investigation of incineration conflicts in Ireland reveals the centrality of a dynamic and evolving spatial dimension, both in the governing strategies adopted by the state in support of a system of waste management that involves a commitment to incineration, and in the transnational advocacy coalition approach adopted by antiincineration campaigners seeking alternatives to incineration. The author concludes that the scalar strategies surrounding incineration reveal the need for a more intricate analysis of power, politics, and place in the analysis of conflicts over waste governance, both in Ireland and beyond—an approach that may be more clearly articulated through a geographically informed understanding of governmentality.
Reevaluating Funding Mechanisms for UK Primary Care Trusts: A New Model of Secondary Care Usage Incorporating Lifestyle Data
Authors: Birkin Mark , Clarke Graham , Gibson Phil , Dewhurst Roger , Bobby Jacqui
Published: October 2006

This paper is concerned with modelling variations in the use of health-care services between small geographic areas. A range of potential explanatory variables are identified from a review of previous literature, ranging from social, economic, and demographic factors through access to services, and practitioner characteristics, to new measures of behaviour and lifestyle. Real admissions data for the city of Leeds relating to a variety of services over a three-year period are introduced to calibrate a series of utilisation models. It is argued that the strength of the goodness of fit makes these models potentially useful in the evaluation of resource allocation between service providers. By providing better global models of usage it is possible to examine small-area outliers to highlight areas where revealed demand, or usage, is not reflecting need as much as it should. In particular, this paper demonstrates the importance of lifestyle preferences in modelling the utilisation of health-care services.