Distribution Of Public Resources Research Articles

The Different Strategies of the Italian Regions within the 2023 2027 Rural Development Programme

Following the European Commission’s approval of the CAP Strategic Plan and the 21 Italian region (CSR)-related strategic documents, the financial aspect that characterized the single national CAP plan was made available. Here, we present and analyze the final data on the distribution of public resources for interventions between 2023 and 2027. This marks a pivotal period of strategic information for those who follow the evolution of the rural development policy, providing vital indications of policymakers’ priorities. In Italy, where rural development policy is highly regionalized, it is difficult to acquire an overall view of the strategic choices adopted by the individual regions. The primary objective of this article is to offer a comprehensive and enlightening synopsis of the regional choices in the CSRs. It aims to identify shared strategic paths in rural development, with a specific focus on the financial allocation in each of the three historical macro-objectives of the CAP: the competitiveness of the agri-food sector, the protection of the environment, and the revitalization of rural areas. Cluster analysis classification allows for aggregating the strategies adopted, allowing for comparisons across the Italian regions. The results show three regional groups focused on environmental strategy, structural investment measures, and resource distribution that is more balanced between these two approaches. Identifying the strategic choices made by the regions allows policymakers to predict different development trajectories and the progress of the expenditure indicators over the years. At the moment, it is impossible to verify whether the policy mix defined in the budget allocation is consistent with the strategic statements.

About the necessity of legal regulation of the economy of Georgia

The use of mechanisms and tools of legal regulation of inclusive economy in Georgia should significantly reduce the discord between some undesirable trends of globalisation and social justice, and support sustainable development of the Georgian economy. At the current stage of development, the Government of Georgia has to deal with two hardest challenges in economy. These are the adaptation to economic regulations of the EU and the maintenance of the country’s economic security. The simultaneous solution to the problems is possible only if the intercompatibility of social justice and inclusivity of economy is achieved. The current academic work analyses the existing socio-economic challenges in the country, based on the data generated by the National Statistics Office of Georgia. The research shows that despite a number of some positive steps taken in the direction of inclusiveness, a number of significant problems remain in the field of fair distribution of public resources as well as in the rational management of natural and human resources. Only through legal regulation of inclusive economy it is possible to improve the living environment, promote innovative entrepreneurship, enhance social security and medical services, reduce poverty, create jobs, etc. Keywords: inclusive economy, legal regulation, public good, property, employment and unemployment, social security.

Health-Oriented Evaluation and Optimization of Urban Square Space Elderly Suitability: A Case Study of Yiyang City Center

Urban squares are the main place for older adults’ daily activities. The spatial layout of the urban square is not only related to the construction of a healthy city and the equitable distribution of public resources, but also of great significance in enhancing the sense of gain, security, and happiness of older adults. This essay takes “health needs of older adults” as the perspective, and constructs a multi-dimensional evaluation index system of urban square space for elderly suitability in terms of physiological, psychological, and social health. It also takes six urban squares in Yiyang city center as an example and analyzes and evaluates them using GIS network analysis and the entropy weight method. The results of the study show that (1) Yiyang city center squares show the distribution characteristics of “dense in the middle and scattered around”, and the spatial distribution is not balanced, which leads to a small service area. (2) The overall intervention value of urban square space is mainly distributed between 0.291 and 0.710, with an average value of 0.481, and the overall intervention effect of the square is good. The reasons for differences in health interventions for older adults in urban square spaces centered on six aspects: the quality of the square space, the variety and convenience of travel lines, the tidiness of the environment, physical activities, safety, and social interaction. Based on this, this essay proposes three optimization strategies for the renewal of urban squares, the construction of characteristic squares, and the reconstruction of the urban square space system. The aim is to provide a reference for the future design and renewal of the elderly suitability of urban squares, so as to promote the construction of a healthy city.

Establishment of an equity evaluation method for urban parkland layout under the process-outcome perspective

Urban parkland, as a critical component of urban green space, reflects the distribution of public resources. Combined with the concept of the 15-min Living Circle, this paper comprehensively evaluated the equity of urban parkland in the Central Area of Zhengzhou from a process-outcome perspective and established an evaluation method for assessing the equity of parkland in high-density urban areas. The objective of this approach is to provide a systematic and applicable evaluation method for metropolises that is more comprehensive than traditional evaluation methods, which rely solely on accessibility. In terms of process equity, spatial equity values were calculated using the Three Step Catchment Area Method (3SFCA) with walking and bicycle travel models. For outcome equity, Zone Entropy was utilized with demographic characteristics. The results illustrated that the overall accessibility and equity of urban parkland layout in the Central Area of Zhengzhou were inferior, with an extensive number of blind service areas and serious polarization. The Zone Entropy varied considerably among streets, which indicated significant differences in the allocation of parkland and population. Further analysis illustrated that economic factors, such as house prices, were not significantly relevant to parkland equity. Instead, geographic factors such as location and intensity of development had a remarkable impact on parkland equity. Although urban parkland layout has been prone to the elderly, the total number of park spaces is still insufficient. In the long run, the construction of the 15-min Living Circle still needs to be vigorously promoted in the research area.

Rural Decline and Spatial Voting Patterns

Abstract How does rural decline affect electoral politics? A well-known argument is that the growing geographical polarisation of populations between prospering major cities and declining hinterlands is emerging as a cleavage of electoral politics in developed countries. But prior work has focussed on specific outcomes of rural decline rather than examining whether the geographical distribution of political attitudes and behaviours within countries has become more uneven in the last decades. Using a measure of party nationalisation capturing spatial differences in electoral support across districts in OECD countries over the last 60 years, we find that a declining rural population increases differences in the geographical distribution of partisan support within countries. Nationalisation determines a party’s orientation toward distribution of public resources and support for region-specific interests.

Allocating budget in developing countries, the need to fight corruption: evidence from Sub-Saharan African countries

This paper highlights the need to fight corruption in developing economies to ensure a better allocation of public resources in a context of institutional failure with the discretionary power of budgetary authorities. The study uses a panel of 48 Sub-Saharan African countries by combining several databases (WDI, WGI, SPEED BASE DATA and PWT), estimate by generalized moment method in system, the bias-corrected estimation linear dynamic panel data [6] and the type of error correction (Driscoll–Kraay). The results indicate that the phenomenon of corruption in the form of rent capture has two effects on public resources. One effect is linked to the level of public spending and the other to the distribution of public resources. Thus, corruption leads to an increase in the overall level of public spending. Corruption reduces spending on education, mining and communications, but increases spending on the military, health and transport. The study recommends that political leaders in developing countries strengthen and rigorously enforce anti-corruption laws, and raise public awareness of the underground economy.

Using diagnosis-related groups in Chile: lessons and challengesLições e desafios do uso de grupos de diagnósticos relacionados no Chile

Analyze the implementation of diagnosis-related groups (DRGs) in Chile with a view to optimizing the distribution of public resources. A chronological narrative analysis of the main milestones was complemented by simulated application of DRGs through emulated competition and cluster analysis for evaluative purposes. In 2001, DRGs were introduced in Chile in an academic context. The National Health Fund (FONASA) began using DRGs in the private sector. A public sector pilot was launched in 2015. After nearly two decades of progress, in 2020 FONASA established the DRG program as a payment mechanism for public hospitals. However, the COVID-19 pandemic slowed its development. In 2022, implementation was resumed. After evaluating the program, it was evident that the hospital clusters that had been predefined for differentiated payment did not successfully differentiate homogeneous groups. In 2023, the program was reformed, financing was increased, a single cluster and base rate were defined, and greater hospital complexity was recognized, compared to previous years. Three hospitals were added to the program, for a total of 68. This experience shows that it is possible to sustain a public health financing policy that achieves greater efficiency and equity in the health system, based on the existence of robust institutions that continuously develop and improve.

The Impact of Healthcare Wage Increases on the Quality of Health Services in Romania

Abstract The collection, allocation and distribution of public resources for the health sector in Romania and beyond is an ongoing challenge and concern for governments. In this regard, this paper aims to answer the following question: how does human resources budget increment contribute to the quality of health services in Romania? The research is based on some specific external public audit methods, which identify risks and vulnerabilities related to the above-mentioned aspects, but also analyzes the resources allocated for this purpose in terms of the 3Es (efficiency, effectiveness, economy). The study aims to synthesize the ideas on this topic over the scientific literature and current legal regulations or under development, strategies, public health policies in Romania.

Data citizenship: Quantifying structural racism in COVID-19 and beyond

Data-driven public health policies were widely implemented to mitigate the uneven impact of COVID-19. In the United States, evidence-based interventions are often employed in “racial equity” initiatives to provide calculable representations of racial disparities. However, disparities in working or living conditions, germane to public health but outside the conventional scope of epidemiology, are seldom measured or addressed. What is the effect of defining racial equity with quantitative health outcomes? Drawing on qualitative analysis of 175 interviews with experts and residents in Chicago during the emergence of COVID-19, we find that these policies link the distribution of public resources to effective participation in state projects of data generation. Bringing together theories of quantification and biosocial citizenship, we argue that a form of data citizenship has emerged where public resources are allocated based on quantitative metrics and the variations they depict. Data citizenship is characterized by at least two mechanisms for governing with statistics. Data fixes produce better numbers through technical adjustments in data collection or analysis based on expert assumptions or expectations. Data drag delays distribution of public relief until numbers are compiled to demonstrate and specify needs or deservingness. This paper challenges the use of racial statistics as a salve for structural racism and illustrates how statistical data can exacerbate racial disparities by promising equity.

СОЦИАЛЬНОЕ ПАРТНЕРСТВО КАК МЕХАНИЗМ ФОРМИРОВАНИЯ НОВОГО ОБЩЕСТВЕННОГО ДОГОВОРА

The article is devoted to the assessment of the harmonizing potential of social partnership in the context of the potential use of its mechanisms to update the current version of the social contract between the government and the citizens of Russia. The need to address the stated problem is due to the urgent need to revise the dominant approach to the distribution of public resources in conditions of the threat of destabilization of the political situation in the country. According to the authors, the best way to prevent the settlement of inter-class conflicts in the conditions of long-term confrontation between Russia and the collective West is the use of neo-corporatist mechanisms for coordinating interests to bring the social contract in line with the current realities and challenges of the time. Its conceptual basis should be the predominance of socially conservative values over neoliberal ideologems. In this context, social partnership can be considered as a fundamental factor in ensuring national accord. The successful practice of regulating social and labor relations through the conclusion of tripartite agreements between trade unions, employers' associations and executive authorities can be taken as a basis for the conclusion and adjustment of a social contract throughout the country.

Political Economy of Elite Capture and Clientelism in Public Resource Distribution: Theory and Evidence from Balochistan, Pakistan

The article critically examines the presence of political and bureaucratic capture in public sector resource allocation in the province of Balochistan, Pakistan. The article applies robust empirical techniques to evaluate how the political and bureaucratic elite indiscriminately and disproportionally allocate public sector funds to meet two overarching ends: (a) to allow maximum misappropriation of public funds for their benefits and (b) to make constituency/district-specific allocations to buy political allegiance and promote pork barrel and patronage politics (political clientelism). For the empirical purpose, the article uses an unbalanced panel technique using data for districts from provincial-level sources. The empirical results show a strong capture and clientelism in the process of budget making and the allocations of resources/projects to districts/constituencies for incumbent politicians and senior career officials who are at the helm of affairs, making disproportionate budgetary allocations of public resources to their home districts or constituencies or the projects with much leverage of extraction (read bribes) in the process of project allocations, bidding and execution. The evidence suggests that districts, which are neither represented by the incumbency of provincial government nor by senior bureaucrats in ministries that make public policy, receive far lesser budgetary allocations than their proportionate share despite the prevailing poor social and economic landscape. Such capture suffices personal interests, supports clientelism in resource sharing and creates an inter-regional and inter-district/constituency disparity in terms of economic and social development within the province.

Assessing the health impacts of the urban expansion of small cities in China: A case study of Jiawang.

Empirical studies undertaken in developed countries have shown that urban expansion may exert both positive and negative impacts on residents' health, depending on the planning strategy; however, the impact of rapid urban expansion on public health in developing countries is understudied. This paper takes Jiawang, China, as an example of rapid urban expansion and carries out a health impact assessment (HIA) on its regulatory detailed plan to better understand the interaction of the built environment and public health. We establish an HIA framework and select a series of indicators as health determinants. On this basis, we examine what impact the urban expansion will exert on the health equity of the residents by conducting a bivariate spatial autocorrelation. The finding shows that:1) Urban expansion produces positive health impact through the health determinants of public facilities, road transportation and land use. 2) Urban expansion will reduce health disparities between the old and new town and between the urban and suburban areas, especially between the old and new town. 3) The impact of expansion exerts on health equity will be generally positive. Low-income neighborhoods in the old town will significantly benefit from urban expansion in terms of road traffic and land use, but will not fully benefit in terms of public facilities. Low-income neighborhoods will no longer benefit from the accessibility to commercial facilities and will suffer from health inequities in terms of accessibility to healthcare facilities. 4) The government's development strategy of emphasizing on an even distribution of public resources will unintentionally contribute to improving health equity. The significant promotion of health equity will mitigate the negative impacts of the previous urban development.

Budgeting Techniques and Budgetary Control in Local Governments: Participatory Budgeting a Critical Instrument for Sustainable Development

Local Governments (LGs) plays a vital role in Sustainable Development (SD) at the grassroots. Despite the enormous powers and responsibilities vested in LGs, they failed to function efficiently and effectively due to the failure and unethical nature of LGs budgeting. LGs budgeting process suffer from inappropriate planning leading to misallocation of public funds. This call for better understanding of Budgeting Techniques (BT), Budgetary Control (BC), and instruments for effective BT and BC in LGs. Based on this, the study examined BT and BC with Participatory Budgeting (PB) as a critical instrument for SD in LGs. The study adopts exploratory research design. The study concluded that budget process and its implementation should be fair, equitable and transparent in the allocation of scarce resources in order to avert corruption, wastages and inefficiency in service delivery. Furthermore, adoption of PB technique will aid transparency, accountability, and probity in the distribution of public resources. It also aids in communicating government policies, programs, and political direction among the citizens, thereby entrenched democratic system. The study recommends that stakeholders should be fully involved in budget preparation while LG should installed sound internal control mechanism and effective budget monitoring and implementation strategies for performance appraisal and decision making. LG should also ensure strict compliance to due process and laid down rules on budgeting to safeguard fraud and financial recklessness on procurement of goods and services. In addition, Public Account Committee of the legislative house should be alert to their responsibilities.

Information Content Assessment of the Federal Budget and the Budget Process in the Russian Federation

This article is devoted to the results of a statistical study of the composition of federal budget expenditures (the object of the study) from the standpoint of assessing its information content (the subject of the study). In the opinion of its authors, the issues of information content of budget decisions remain out of due attention not only from the participants of the budget process, but also in the practice of public administration in general. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to form scientifically based tools for assessing the information content, determining its quantitative indicators, clarifying the nature, hidden features and balance in the distribution of federal budget expenditures.Materials and methods. The analysis of the composition parameters of federal budget expenditures was carried out on the basis of statistical data of the Federal Treasury for 2014-2020. The theoretical foundations and research methods are developed based on the authors’ preferences regarding the results of conceptual and applied developments of domestic scientists in the field of synergetic information theory, structural analysis of systems, and modular theory of society. Quantitative methods of processing the initial data, tabular and graphical methods of visualizing the results of the study were used. Standard Microsoft Office application software packages were used to solve the research tasks.Results. Indexes of information content of the multicomponent systems’ composition and algorithms for their calculations are formed. Quantitative criteria are determined and a model for optimizing the composition of federal budget expenditures is presented. The comparison of actual and model indexes of the information content is presented as a way to adjust priorities in the composition of federal budget expenditures; as a way to develop tactics and strategies for the transition from the actual parameters of the expenditures’ composition to the “best” distribution, which is described by a quantitative model of the optimal combination of the scales of its components. Retrospective optimization options based on the results of the execution of expenditures in 2020 and promising options for optimizing the distribution of federal budget expenditures in 2022-2024 have been established.Conclusion. Assessment of the information content and optimization of the components’ scale of the budget expenditures’ composition are recognized as elements of management of the distribution of public resources in the budget process, ways to ensure control over the effectiveness of budget decisions and can be useful for participants in the budget process both at the stage of formation and at the stage of execution of budget expenditures.

Significant social inequalities exist between hot and cold extremes along urban-rural gradients

• Exploring urban-rural social inequalities in cold exposure risk. • Differences between social inequalities in exposure to hot and cold extremes. • Heat and cold exposure risks show opposite urban-rural gradients. • Low-educated people experience the most severe heat-related social inequalities. • Children experience the most severe cold-related social inequalities. Frequent weather extremes can exacerbate environmental injustices arising from the unequal distribution of public resources. To improve urban resilience, social inequality in exposure to heat wave events (HEs) is gradually attracting attention. However, few studies have focused on cold wave events (CEs), even though CEs can cause as much damage as HEs. Thus, a geographically weighted regression model is used to explore exposure inequalities among sensitive populations in CEs and urban-rural differences between social inequalities in exposure to HEs and CEs. Results show that children and ethnic minorities in low-urbanization areas and residents of vulnerable housing in high-urbanization areas are vulnerable to CEs. Females and drivers are vulnerable to CEs in all areas. However, inequality in HEs is most pronounced among the elderly, those with low levels of education, and outdoor workers. Exposure inequality increases with decreasing urbanization among the elderly, while the opposite is true for outdoor workers. Females are severely threatened by HEs in suburban and rural areas. Finally, we propose targeted recommendations based on the findings, such as strengthening medical coverage for empty nesters and introducing policies to safeguard cold work. We hope this study can provide a reference for guaranteeing equality in resilient urban planning.

Integrating anthropogenic heat emissions and cooling accessibility to explore environmental justice in heat-related health risks in Shanghai, China

Previous heat-related environmental justice studies have mainly concentrated on heat exposure, with few studies focusing on other aspects of heat-related health risks. However, increasing anthropogenic heat emissions (AHEs) and social disparities in the distribution of public resources due to rapid urbanization can exacerbate social inequalities in sensitivity and adaptability to heat-related health risks, respectively. This study proposes a new heat vulnerability framework by quantifying the AHEs and the public resources accessibility to assess heat-related health risks of central Shanghai, and the environmental justice in the assessment results are detected by SOM-Kmeans and a geographically weighted regression model. Results show that the AHEs and the accessibility of blue-green space and pharmaceutical resources dominate the increasing heat sensitivity and decreasing heat adaptability from the city center to the periphery. The city center has 42% higher health risks than the periphery and the highest social inequalities. Residents living in nontoilet/old housing have significant inequalities in exposure, adaptability, and vulnerability to heat-related health risks. Furthermore, elderly people and ethnic minorities have the poorest adaptability. Our findings can help improve social inequalities in urban thermal environment, thereby promoting equitably resilient urban planning.

The Connection Between Gender Budgeting and Academic Housekeeping in RPOs

Gender Budgeting is a tool to apply the gender mainstreaming perspective to the accountability process in order to give evidence of the unequal distribution of public resources between women and men. Academic Housekeeping is any task “low-status, time-consuming, largely invisible, and that nevertheless needs to be done” (Kalm, 2019) in the academic daily business. It is a source of gender inequality since it is largely ascribed to women. Money and time are two sides of the same coin of Gender Inequality in Academia and therefore need to be identified and managed with an holistic approach that recognizes the interconnections between them. The results chain of the Performance-Oriented budgeting approach is therefore used to describe the transformation of the budget for salaries into the value of researchers’ work through time, activities, products and results. In this process, Academic Housekeeping emerges as a matter of Gender Budgeting, too. Literature describes Academic Housekeeping as an inequality regime echoing the domestic sphere and bringing its biases and limitations to the scientific race of competitiveness. The Housekeeping tasks are assigned largely arbitrarily and with unintentional side-effects. Its negative gender impact on women’s career is also clearly recognized by four main studies, in every field and with further intersectional spill overs. Gender Budgeting reports in Academia therefore do need to embed a Gender impact assessment of Academic Housekeeping in every step of the main methodologies adopted: Identity, Context Analysis, Planning Analysis, Budget Reclassification, Implementation and Performance Audit. The conceptual framework that emerges from the paper confirms the benefits that might arise from further researches on this field. The paper stems from the LeTSGEPs European Horizon Project (Leading Towards Sustainable Gender Equality Plans RPOs)

Магия белого прогрессора: от глобального каргокульта к новой политической нормальности

The value and institutional core, which legitimized the historical rise and global domination of the West, is increasingly becoming the object of criticism. The initial coordinates of the liberal consensus, which promised humanity a constant rise in the living standards and opportunities thanks to the universality of the models of self-regulating markets and liberal democracies, find themselves under a revision. The background global trends, including those that unfolded in the Western societies, demonstrate the opposite — stagnation or shrinking of the resource base of the majority of the population against the background of the radicalization of economic inequali ty, corporate game that includes “shorting” the cost of labor (global uberization), the formation of elite democracies with limited access that ignore the principles of equality and interests of the majority. As a result, values, practices and institutions that were previously viewed as pathological deviations, institutional traps and something archaic (backwardness), consistently transform into a new global normality. Thus, theories that describe the contours of the global future mainly in non-market, and sometimes in illiberal categories, are gai ning momentum. These theories document new formats for the distribution of public resources, which are not based on markets and democracy, but rather on rent mechanisms, redistributive political regulation and differentiated value for the state of different social groups. The authors argue that, from the economic standpoint, the emerging new normality is associated with the unfolding consensus that citizens are entitled to the basic political rent or other forms of differentiated access to resources that can provide them with decent existence in the face of the gro wing inefficiency of market communications. From the political standpoint, the new normality manifests itself in the potential communitarian turn, based on a set of left-wing, nationalist and populist discourses, united by the resentment idea of returning to the state (which distributes resources) a key role in regula ting radical inequalities in the interests of the majority.

The crisis of policy failure or the moral crisis of an idea: colonial politics in contemporary Australia and New Zealand

ABSTRACT When analysing Indigenous public policy, crisis is best seen as the moral crisis of an enduring idea rather than the crisis of sporadic and unconnected instances of policy failure. In Australia and New Zealand, states use manufactured crises of Indigenous personal deficiencies to justify colonial authority. A justification which may be countered by positioning colonialism itself as the point of crisis. From this perspective, the crisis in Indigenous public policy is not resolved by the state becoming better at policy-making or more attentive to the egalitarian distribution of public resources. Instead, it is in the non-colonial possibilities of Indigenous self-determination that paths beyond crisis may lie. In practical terms, by ensuring spaces of independent Indigenous authority alongside spaces of distinctive culturally framed participation in the public life of the state. The potential for such arrangements in Australia is discussed with reference to a proposed First Nations’ Voice to Parliament and possible treaties between First Nations and the state. For New Zealand, their potential is discussed with reference to te Tiriti o Waitangi’s affirmation of independent Māori authority (rangatiratanga) and substantive state citizenship.

The Conjunction and Horizon of Common Wealth and Equalization of Basic Public Services in Urban and Rural Areas

Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the state and the government have always regarded improving the living standards of the masses as an important goal. Under the background and goal of gradually realizing the common prosperity of all people, improving the level of equalization of basic public services in urban and rural areas occupies an important method position, which is directly related to the vision of the people's better life. There is an inherent compatibility between shared prosperity and the alignment of basic public services between urban and rural areas in terms of value, theory, and practice. The value conjunction of shared prosperity and equalization of basic public services in urban and rural areas lies in the equal use and equitable distribution of public resources. Alignment of basic public services in urban and rural areas is a basic and specific way of representing common prosperity in rural areas, and an inevitable prerequisite for the sound promotion of common prosperity in the new era. The equalization of basic public services in urban and rural areas is the inevitable consequence of common prosperity and it is also a specific practical approach to promoting common prosperity. The value foundation of common prosperity lies in the distribution of wealth by society based on fairness and justice. Common prosperity is universal and comprehensive prosperity, but not simultaneous and average prosperity. The essence of equalization of basic public services between urban and rural areas lies in the fair and equitable distribution of resources for public services, but not in a "one-size-fits-all" or equal distribution. By discussing the logical relationship between the promotion of comprehensive common prosperity and the equalization of basic public services in urban and rural areas, it will not only help the government to make up for the practical shortcomings in the process of equalization of basic public services in urban and rural areas, but also help achieve substantial common prosperity.