Delivery Of Public Goods Research Articles

The Environmental Land Management Scheme: Public goods and levels of ambition

The Environmental Land Management Scheme is now established as the central plank of financial assistance for farmers in England post-Brexit. Early articulations of policy directed the focus of the Scheme to the delivery of public goods, with a high level of ambition. More recently, however, greater weight is being accorded to food production and food security, with particular reference to the Sustainable Farming Incentive component, which is achieving broad coverage and accounting for the majority of the Scheme budget, but the environmental actions which it requires to unlock payment would not seem materially to be raising the bar. By contrast, the Landscape Recovery component remains ambitious in terms of scheme design, collaborative approach, emphasis on outcomes, duration and implementation at landscape scale, with the consequence that good reasons may be presented for its expansion within the policy mix.

Factors Influencing the Perceived Economic Benefits of Innovative Agri-Environmental Contracts

Continued innovation in contract design may enhance the delivery of agri-environmental climate public goods (AECPG), but barriers to adoption arise in terms of how farmers perceive the economic benefits. Therefore, this paper examines survey data from Ireland and the Netherlands to analyse whether land managers agree that results-based, collective action, value chain and land tenure contracts for the delivery of AECPG are understandable, applicable to their farm and economically beneficial. Using Probit models, we also identify groups of land managers who perceive the different contract types as being economically beneficial, and these findings can inform policymakers of farmer groups who need adequate consideration during the design of agri-environmental contracts. For example, greater incentives could encourage older farmers to enrol in results-based contracts in Ireland and value chain contracts in the Netherlands. We also find a link between contract duration and the perceived economic benefits of collective action contracts in both countries, with land managers in Ireland desiring a longer duration. We highlight that policymakers and land managers in Ireland could apply lessons from the design of agri-environmental contracts in the Netherlands, where they are more common and varied. Greater knowledge exchange between users and non-users of such contracts would also help bridge the gap between theory and practice in both countries.

Incentivising public goods delivery in the UK through the lens of Theories of Practice and Theory of Capital

AbstractAgri‐environmental policies in England stand on the threshold of significant change, with a new suite of Environmental Land Management schemes set to embody more of the ‘public money for public goods’ principle. In addition, two tranches of these schemes appear heading towards a more collaborative approch towards delivering these public goods—suggesting that landholder collaborations would be a vital key to achieving this goal on such a scale. Running in parallel with this policy change is a countryside that has been undergoing a transition over the past several decades. This has seen a growing diversification in landholder types ‐ prompting a re‐examination not only with regards to the range of landholders who should be recruited into public goods delivery but the incentivisation strategies needed to recruit them as well. In this article, we examine the limitations of the behavioural approach utilised by past agri‐environmental schemes to incentivise farmer uptake. We then propose the use of a Theories of Practice and Theory of Capital framework that shifts the approach towards a more targeted pattern of incentivisation, one which enables the recruitment of a much broader set of public goods providers into landholder collaboration. To demonstrate how this framework can be applied, we present a case study around a range of collaboration models. Our findings suggest that in order for collaborations to be sustained in the long term, policymakers will need to think more directly with regard to the different aspects of collaboration that different landholders place value in. This would ensure opportunities for various forms of capital to be generated or for the recrafting of practices through intervention points. We conclude that the recrafting of the collaborative conservation practice not only can be accomplished through its constituent elements but by changing its practitioners as well—as exemplified by the different configurations of landholders that make up each of our five models of collaboration.

Evaluation of Smart Charity Possibilities in Developing Countries Based on Web3 Trends: Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT) and Smart Contracts Introduction

The role of Web3 technologies was examined specifically regarding SmartCharity and their effect on the financing and delivery of public goods in developing countries. The research focused on the case of SmartCharity, its role in making fund distribution more transparent and efficient, and the role of NFTs and smart contracts’ efficacy in changing. For primary data, the cross-sectional study used interviews and questionnaires administered to the critical actors in or close to SmartCharity initiatives; secondary data came from project reports and publicly accessible sources. Quantitative analysis uses statistics to identify trends and correlations in data, whereas qualitative data analysis identifies such trends and patterns. This paper aimed to establish an appreciation of the strengths and weaknesses of Web3 innovation in public good management and make future suggestions for improvement.

New pathways for improved delivery of public goods from agriculture and forestry

This special issue of Bio-based and Applied Economics (BAE) features a selection of five papers developed within the EU H2020 project ‘CONtract SOLutions for Effective and lasting delivery of agri-environmental-climate public goods by EU agriculture and forestry’ (CONSOLE) (H2020-RUR-2018-2, GA No. 817949). CONSOLE has been comprehensively investigating the effectiveness, efficiency and longevity of innovative contract solutions for the provision of Agri-Environmental Climate Public Goods (AECPGs), the acceptance of such contracts amongst European farmers and stakeholders, as well as the drivers and mechanisms influencing the implementation.

Legislature size and welfare: Evidence from Brazil

AbstractHow does legislature size impact public service provision? Despite the importance of institutional design for democratic governance, the effect of legislative features on citizen welfare remains little understood. In this article, we use a formal model to show that increasing legislature size improves public goods delivery. We argue that changes in bargaining costs depend on whether additional legislators share the executive's party affiliation: More opposition members reduce the equilibrium public goods provision, while more government‐aligned members increase it. We test this theory by exploiting sharp discontinuities in city‐council size in Brazil. We show that an additional city councilor has a 91% chance of belonging to the mayoral coalition, and this significantly improves primary school enrollment and infant mortality rates. To explore possible mechanisms, we surveyed 174 former city councilors and analyzed 346,553 bills proposed between 2005 and 2008. This article has implications for the design of representative institutions.

Analysing the Impact of Corruption for Underdevelopment in African Countries

Corruption remains a pervasive challenge worldwide, with profound implications for the development trajectory of African nations. In recent decades, the detrimental effects of corruption on economic growth, political stability, social cohesion and institutional integrity have become increasingly evident. African countries, despite possessing abundant natural resources and human capital, often struggle to achieve sustainable development because of the pervasive influence of corruption within their socio-political and economic systems. This study aims to comprehensively analyse the multifaceted impact of corruption on the underdevelopment of African countries. By delving into the intricate interplay between corruption and various developmental indicators, including but not limited to poverty levels, infrastructure development, healthcare, education, and investment climate, this study seeks to provide valuable insights into the underlying mechanisms through which corruption impedes progress and perpetuates underdevelopment. Corruption in African countries manifests in various forms ranging from petty bribery and embezzlement to grand corruption involving high-ranking officials and multinational corporations. Such corrupt practices undermine the rule of law, erode public trust in institutions, and breed a culture of impunity, thereby stifling economic growth and exacerbating social inequality. Furthermore, corruption distorts resource allocation, diverts public funds from essential services, and impedes the effective delivery of public goods, hindering efforts to alleviate poverty and improve living standards. Moreover, the corrosive effects of corruption extend beyond the economic realms to encompass political instability and social unrest. By distorting electoral processes, undermining democratic governance, and fostering patronage networks, corruption undermines the legitimacy of governments and fuels grievances among marginalized populations, exacerbating social tensions and compromising peace and security. Understanding the intricate dynamics between corruption and underdevelopment is imperative for devising effective strategies to combat this pervasive scourge and to foster sustainable development in African countries. By identifying the root causes of corruption; assessing its systemic impact; and exploring potential policy interventions, policymakers, researchers, and development practitioners can create an enabling environment conducive to transparency, accountability, and good governance.

The Emerging Big Data Ecosystem and Digital Transformation of Poverty Governance in China

Big data technology has become increasingly prevalent in facilitating the delivery of government services and public goods in China and beyond. This article seeks to examine how big data can be leveraged in poverty governance in rural China, and what the political implications are. This phenomenon of big data-driven welfare governance is particularly salient considering the broader context of governmental digital transformation, both within China and globally. This research sheds light on how big data usage functions in poverty alleviation, highlighting general motivations and developments in Chinese data-centric welfare governance. More importantly, this article introduces the novel concept of “digital cybernetic capacity” to examine public sector modernization as big data transforms the landscape of welfare delivery and governance. By delving into the intersection between technology and social welfare, we explicate how the use of big data in social welfare policies can go beyond merely improving information capacity to redefine state capacity. This article argues that such a new governance ecosystem, driven as it is by data technologies, not only provides insights about the transformative resilience of Chinese governance but also opens a new theoretical frontier for research into other countries.

Aligning agri-environmental-climate public good supply and desire in a sustainable Dutch agricultural sector.

European agricultural policies increasingly incorporate mechanisms for delivery of public goods. Sustainable public good delivery requires alignment between societal demand and landscape supply. However, the variation of demands or desires regarding future public good delivery among society is hardly known. We inventoried the desires for public goods across Dutch society, and projections of agricultural supply. A multi-method approach was used to find agreement levels between desired and expected change in good delivery. Most stakeholders expressed a desire for biodiversity and climate regulation from agriculture, whilst desire for natural heritage and recreation was less common. The utility of a public good to a stakeholder appears to influence its desire. Scenarios for agriculture focus on extensification, sustainable intensification, regionalization, or meadow bird conservation. Regionalized scenarios showed the highest agreement between public good supply and desire. Maximizing alignment between desire and supply thus requires a challenging transition towards region-specific agricultural sustainability strategies.

Policy dissidents: Understanding girl activism as creating “Tactical Crevices”

Abstract Global policymaking often seeks to create processes for the effective delivery of public goods and services. What happens when individuals critique or dissent such policies? In this paper, we examine the case of two activists—Greta Thunberg and Disha Ravi—who have been mobilizing attention toward climate change since their teenage years, and who have been both celebrated and vilified for it. While climate change policies emphasize the importance of gender mainstreaming and youth participation, reactions garnered by these two activists are instructive in highlighting the narrow notion of “participation” that undergirds climate policy. Specifically, we show that Greta and Disha’s tactics do not readily jive with the postfeminist, neoliberal conceptualization of youth participation that emphasizes apolitical exercise of citizenship; valorizes girls’ activism only insofar as it enhances national economic growth; and views girls as symbols of hopeful futurities. Greta and Disha are instead what we call, “policy dissidents,” whose activism creates “tactical crevices.” We theorize tactical crevices as tentative and fleeting interruptions by the powerless that puncture prevailing logics through strikes and protests, and through consumption of discourses and materials in ways that those in power do not intend. The paper contributes to the study of girl activism broadly, and to notions of youth engagement (or disengagement) specifically, within the spheres of local and global politics.

Outsourcing in the Public Sector and Its Negative Effects on Service Delivery in Zambia

Abstract The 21st century has seen the public sector in Africa adopting the strategy of outsourcing so that public resources can be distributed using market mechanisms. However, the involvement of the private sector in the delivery of public goods and services has been associated with poor performance. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to examine the nature of outsourcing in the public sector, and its negative effects on service delivery in Zambia. In Zambia, outsourcing of public goods and services has mainly assumed four forms: 1) joint venture, 2) supply, 3) build-operate-transfer, and 4) management contracts. The paper argues that, the outsourcing of public goods and services in Zambia has resulted in overpriced goods and services, non-delivery of paid for goods and services, delays in the delivery of goods and services, delivery of substandard goods and services, and manipulation of procedures. The paper asserts that, these negative effects are as a result of the desire by non-state actors (mainly private companies), engaged by the Zambian government to deliver public goods and services, to maximise their profits. Consequently, outsourcing of public goods and services in Zambia does not benefit the public and government.

Who should deliver agri-environmental public goods in the UK? New land managers and their future role as public good providers

Agri-environmental policies in the UK stand on the threshold of significant change, with wide acceptance that radical changes are needed to ensure a better delivery of public goods in future. The UK’s departure from the EU presents an opportunity to fully realise the “Public Money for Public Goods” principle in the new suite of Environmental Land Management schemes. A likely priority will be the delivery of conservation goals at a landscape scale, which will require the recruitment of a broader range of actors and institutions than at present, including an emerging group of what we call in this paper ‘new land managers’. Understanding the changing dynamics of rural land occupancy, and the characteristics and motivations of these new land managers, will be essential in the future for the effective delivery of these public schemes. Data on land market trends is nevertheless patchy and poorly researched. For this paper, we drew on a survey of land agents in England, all of whom were members of the Central Association for Agricultural Valuers (CAAV), in order to gather information and reflections on contemporary land markets. A key finding is that agricultural policy reform and retrenchment is seen by many of these experts as a significant driver of future change. Taken together with other interacting factors such as the overall tax burden on businesses and the economic and personal situation of farmers and their succession status, many of our respondents predicted significant structural change, with more land coming on to the market for resale. At the same time, increasing demand for land from “lifestyle/non-farming landholders” and the growing presence of people entering the market interested in enroling land for carbon sequestration and natural capital improvements, will mean a shift in the types of individuals and organisations holding land. Those holding and managing land in coming years are likely to comprise an ever more diverse and fragmented community of land owners and occupiers The task for policymakers then, is to deliver a suite of interventions specifically tailored to the various types of landholders in order to engage them effectively into public goods delivery under ELMs.

The New Public Integrity Management and the Protection of the Impartiality of Bureaucratic Decision-Making

The article argues that government organizations and the discipline of public administration should embrace a New Public Integrity Management (NPIM) to bridge the gap between advocates of external and internal public integrity controls on the behavior of public employees and contract government employees. The article argues that external and internal controls are important in maintaining public trust in government. This includes the management of the acceptance of gifts and private hospitality by government and contract government employees. The article traces the evolution of federal executive branch public integrity management and argues that the discipline of public administration has demonstrated a long-standing hostility towards external ethics controls due to early 20th-century divorce between law and administration. Of particular importance, the NPIM requires the adoption of a much broader definition of public corruption, which includes the conduct of private sector partners of government agencies responsible for the delivery of public goods and services paid for with public funds. Finally, the article argues that government ethics programs need to integrate moral reasoning education into their public integrity training programs and discuss criminal and administrative rules of conduct directed at protecting public confidence in the impartiality of bureaucratic decision-making.

‘Thin’ loyalty and declining attachment to the African National Congress

ABSTRACT The African National Congress (ANC) has been an electorally dominant party in South African politics since 1994, with its vote share peaking in 2004 before falling to a low in the most recent 2019 general elections. Simultaneously, there have been much sharper declines in levels of ANC partisanship and assessments of government performance among the party’s own voters. This presents a puzzle: Why do a significant share of ANC voters continue to support a party that they do not ‘feel close’ to and do not believe is adequately managing the economy or the delivery of public goods? Based upon original qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with 111 intended ANC voters, I argue that there is a sizeable portion of ANC voters whose connection to the party is characterised by a conditional loyalty that falls short of a more thoroughgoing partisanship. The persistence of ‘thin’ loyalty alongside habitual and strategic voting for the ANC – especially among the ‘born free’ generation – has obfuscated the extent of decline in the perceived efficacy of voting and overall satisfaction with the outcomes of democratic politics.

Study of E-Filing Acceptance among Taxpayers: Evidence from Emerging Economy

In industrialized nations, digital accounting systems and financial accounting and reporting techniques are more prevalent, whereas developing nations still demonstrate relatively uncommon usage of electronic filing, or "e-filing," systems for tax returns. Tax collection is a vital source of income for both developed and emerging nations. Since taxes are the primary source of funding for the delivery of public goods and services, tax revenue is significant. Additionally, it supports social welfare, sustainable growth, and democracy. This research looks into the factors that drive e-filing usage in developing nations like Pakistan. The study claims that e-filing adoption is influenced by perceived utility, perceived ease of use, tax information literacy, subjective norms, as well as perceived behavioral control in the e-filing system. Data was gathered from 218 salaried individuals via snowball sampling through questionnaires for analytical purposes. According to the findings, perceived ease of use, perceived utility, and subjective norms all have a substantial influence on individuals' intentions to utilize the electronic filing method for tax returns. As a result, the Federal Board of Revenue must design a system to promote the benefits of submitting income tax returns electronically.

Changes in the Revenue Autonomy of the Local Government Subsector of the European Union Countries as a Result of the Pandemic Crisis

Theoretical background: Intergovernmental relations are a key area of research on fiscal federalism. The extent and strength of central government’s influence on local governments determines the degree of autonomy of local authorities. The prevailing view in the literature is that a higher degree of local government autonomy is a factor that stimulates economic growth, fiscal stability, and efficient delivery of public goods. At the same time, the COVID-19 pandemic period forced the need for coordination between central government and subnational authorities. Under such conditions, significant changes occurred in the size and structure of local government budgets, which were the result of greater interconnection of local government finances with transfers from central government. These changes meant pressure to reduce the revenue autonomy of local governments. In view of this, the article formulates a research hypothesis that the degree of revenue autonomy of local governments decreased during the pandemic period. Purpose of the article: The purpose of the article is to determine the direction and strength of changes in the level of local government subsector revenue autonomy in European Union countries. Research methods: The research used data for 2012–2022 from the Government Finance Statistics Database published by Eurostat. The values of three indicators for European Union countries determining the degree of revenue autonomy of local governments were compared: 1) the share of local governments’ transfer revenues in their total revenues; 2) the share of local governments’ own (non-transfer) revenues in general government sector revenues; 3) the share of local tax revenues in total taxation. In addition, the statistical significance of the differences in the studied indicators between the individual years of the study period was tested using a paired sample t-test (for the first indicator) and a non-parametric Wilcoxon signed rank test (of the other two indicators). Main findings: It was shown that the COVID-19 pandemic period was only to some extent a factor in changing the revenue structure of the local government. The biggest influence on the changes in this structure came from transfers received from the central government, the importance of which did increase in the years preceding the pandemic period, but the increase from year to year was small and statistically insignificant. Indeed, it was only the pandemic crisis that caused significant statistical changes in this regard. In the case of the ratio of the share of local own revenue in general government revenue, it turned out that only to a small extent was the pandemic crisis the source of the reduction in the role of local revenue in the general government sector. No significant changes in the role of local government taxes in the tax revenues of the sector as a whole were also seen. For this indicator, there was no evidence of statistically significant differences in the values of this indicator during the COVID-19 pandemic period relative to the pandemic period. Similarities were also found in the direction of change of the first two indicators relative to the average for European Union states.

Knowledge sharing in global governance: a path in public goods delivery

ABSTRACT The exchange of knowledge in development cooperation can help overcome common challenges while providing collective solutions. Country, regional and global platforms play a crucial role to facilitate development cooperation at both national and international level, but there is a lack of knowledge on their structure and operationalisation. The aim of this paper is to fill this knowledge gap to assess how global platforms can contribute to bridge the establishment of national priorities with the provision of global public goods. By way of a documentary analysis and semi-structured interviews, the study examines the case of the South-South Galaxy, a platform created by the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation to promote the exchange of solutions among all Southern knowledge sharing platforms. The main results find that each node of knowledge sharing works to build a shared understanding of good practices on the SDGs and make this knowledge universally accessible.

Drivers Keeping Civil-Military Relations in Equilibrium in Malawi: A Quantitative Approach

This study examined the factors that keep civil-military relations in equilibrium in Malawi. A quantitative approach was used in descriptive and explanatory research designs. The response variable of the study is the military as a fulcrum of civil-military relations. Eight explanatory variables; merit-based promotions, merit-based appointments, joint training and education between the military, citizenry and government officials, representational recruitment, reforms of the military institution, specialisation of the key civil-military relations players on defence matters, professionalization through professional military education and delivery of public goods and services were identified and responded to by civilians, the military, elected authorities, civil authorities and the judiciary. The structured questionnaire survey was used to collect data. Cronbach’s alpha technique was used to test the instrument’s reliability. The data was analysed using descriptive statistics and multiple regression in SPSS version 20. The results revealed that all eight explanatory variables have a significant positive impact on keeping civil-military relations in equilibrium in Malawi. The study found that the contribution of the factors varied in influence. Delivery of public goods and services had more influence, seconded by merit-based promotions and joint training and specialisation on defence matters being the least influential variables of the military as a fulcrum of civil-military relations and a precondition for democratisation. Further research is recommended to assess the roles of the key civil-military relations players in Malawi.

Debunking the autocratic fallacy? Improving public goods delivery in Russia

AbstractRussia's invasion of Ukraine has not only deeply challenged Russia's international standing but has also endangered its fragile domestic order. Data from the 2022 Berggruen Governance Index reveals that overall state capacity has been stagnating at a fairly low level since the beginning of the millennium, while democratic accountability has been declining steadily and profoundly. In contrast, the provision of public goods has strongly increased during the same period. This puts the assumption of the ‘autocratic fallacy’—the idea that sustained public goods delivery relies on democratic accountability in the long run—to the test. We argue that Russia's resource abundance allowed for the maintenance of a regime‐supporting social contract with the population. However, the basis of that contract has changed significantly due to economic decline, fired by, among other factors, several waves of sanctions and the costs of war and will press the Russian government to find urgent solutions to sustain a high level of public goods provision under such unfavourable conditions.

The distributive politics of privately financed infrastructure agreements

AbstractPrivately financed infrastructure agreements (PFIAs) are increasingly being used across the globe, bringing private money into the delivery of public goods. How does introducing private actors to such a process change how we think about distributive politics? I investigate this question using both quantitative and qualitative analyses, uncovering a relationship consistent with PFIAs being used as distributive goods and exploring how the credit‐claim potential of PFIAs may affect their distributive use. My quantitative analyses (on 16 middle‐income countries) present evidence suggestive of a relationship between electoral variables and the likelihood of a PFIA being present in a district. In districts aligned with the national ruling party, PFIAs are more likely to be concentrated in swing districts than core districts. I find that this relationship is more pronounced for PFIAs that are more directly attributable to the government. My qualitative press analysis provides insights into how politicians use various features of PFIAs to create credit‐claiming opportunities.