Public Sector Policy Research Articles

Artificial intelligence and education governance

Artificial intelligence (AI) and big data methodologies have provided a vast possibility of applications in different public policy sectors. AI and big data provide essential innovations in school teaching and learning practices, curriculum, and management in education, transforming the entire formulation and implementation of education policy. The possibilities of AI in education present a high potential for improvement but a series of new risks and threats that question the benefits of adopting AI in education. This article discusses the possibilities and limits of artificial intelligence in education, observing the institutionalization of new governance practices in education that emerge with digital technologies. To discuss these new governance practices, we deal with the Beijing Consensus on artificial intelligence in education and the challenges of building new education governance. In addition, we discuss potential impacts of AI on education, with a special focus on social justice.

Subsidised transport services in a fiscal federation: Why local governments may be against decentralised service provision

In this paper we consider a fiscal federation and study the effects of decentralised provision of loss-generating public services with benefit spillovers to other regions. We use public transport provision across administrative borders as a prototype example. We show in a formal model that local governments might be better off when a higher-level government or a neighbouring region provides these services, and even privatisation to a monopolist can be preferred over decentralisation. Our model reveals that these results are governed by a variant of the tax exporting mechanism that applies to subsidised services, i.e., the possibility that local consumers can exploit spillover benefits without contributing to the subsidy burden of service provision. Public transport provision is one of the large sectors of public policy where decentralisation could provide social benefits, but, as the paper reveals, the need for subsidies generates a genuine conflict of interest between the governments involved.

Pro-gender policies and the empowerment of women in the DRC

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to show how pro-gender public policies in the agricultural sectors can contribute to the reduction of gender inequalities in the labour market and the diversification of the Congolese economy.Design/methodology/approachComputable general equilibrium model that has been adapted to the Congolese economy from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)'s SAM.FindingsThe results reveal that policies of increasing women's land allocation and government cash transfers to rural female households contribute to the reduction of inequalities in the labour market. However, only the policy of increasing women’s land allocation improves economic diversification.Research limitations/implicationsThe implementation of the policy of government cash transfers to rural women's households comes at a cost to the government. Future studies to look at the most effective mode of financing for this policy. Moreover, the policy of increasing women's land allocation is feasible in the DRC as there is a lot of unused arable land available.Social implicationsIn Pillar 1 of the National Strategic Development Plan (PNSD) on Economic Diversification and Transformation, the policy of increasing land allocation to women could be added to the objectives related to strengthening the contribution of agriculture to economic growth and employment creation. In Pillar 3 of the PNSD on Social Development and Human Resource Development, the policy of increasing land allocation to women as well as the policy of increasing government transfers to female rural households could be added to the objectives related to the promotion of employment of youth, women and vulnerable groups.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study of its kind for the DRC, which highlights the impact of pro-gender policies on women's employment, particularly in the agricultural sectors and in the diversification of the Congolese economy. This study contributes to policy orientation in DRC. The two policies (increasing land allocation to women and cash transfers to rural women) analysed in this study were chosen in light of the DRC's National Strategic Plan, the first phase of which focuses on promoting employment for vulnerable groups and economic diversification through the development of agricultural sectors.

KINSHIP POLITICS AND EMBODIMENT CONCEPT OF GOOD GOVERNANCE: TABANAN DISTRICT CASE STUDY

This research is a neo-institutionalism analysis study to political dynasty issue in the accordance with the embodiment concept of good governance in Tabanan district. As it is known that after the reformation, Tabanan was led by the same family generation. By focusing on the health service sector, this study will look at to what extent the dynastic politics has an impact on the public policy sector and the realization of good governance. In general, the health service policy pursued by the Tabanan Regency government is a non-populist policy. The local government chose to build international hospital rather than providing free health services for the poor. All this time, the study about political dynasty and the effect to the public policy sector in Tabanan is only seen as a mere political problem without looking at the deep state structure, the normative function and culture in it. This study found that there are a conflict between sociological institution, historical institution, and rational choice institution behind the strong dynastic politics as well as the struggles in realizing good governance in Tabanan Regency.
 Keywords: political dynasty, good governance, neo-institutionalism, public policy, Tabanan district.

Parklife and the public: 40 years of personalization in the United Kingdom

ABSTRACT This article historicises practices called ‘personalization’ in the UK. It presents data from interviews with practitioners to show how business leaders, public sector managers, policy analysts, activists and others have crafted their personalizing practices through commercial and governmental work over a 40-year period. These public histories are illuminated by professional biographies, which reveal common interests in the transfer and application of technology, data and data analytics. Yet they also illuminate attempts to reform bureaucracies in public and private sectors alike during the late 20th and early twenty-first century. The article asks how mobility – of professionals and their personalizing practices – has affected the pre-existing contrast between, and separation of, public and private organizations. This article contributes to commentaries on personalization that view it as an essentially private and privatizing process. What remains of such domains once they have been crossed, and from whose perspective? This UK history raises questions for comparative histories of personalization and its synonyms elsewhere.

Data or opinion?

I believe, with proper data comes better decisions and considerations. It is a fact that we have long been collecting data about oppression of Black and marginalized communities. Unfortunately, data collection methods often exclude segments of the population, commonly BIPOC communities. My long-term goals include focusing on implementing data-driven and human-centered solutions to social problems like hunger and education. It is not a secret that the most marginalized of us are also the most affected by food apartheid. Black people living in rural communities are 2.5 times more likely to be at risk of hunger compared to white counterparts. There is a growing need in the public policy sectors for professionals to analyze the raw data continuously generated on these issues. I believe my role as a Black Data Scientist extends beyond deriving software and modeling data—it is my duty to minimize the bias in data. This spans from how the data are collected, analyzed, and converted into useful insights. Growing up in Zimbabwe, one thing was clear; my escape route to survival was through education. I was raised in a low-income family; my father was a truck driver, and my mother was a housewife. In early 2007, my father had a rare and lethal condition, meningitis. When my father died, my world collapsed with him. My mother had no work experience, no education, or access to resources to ensure our family had the basics such as food and education. This lived experience means that I have been in the shoes of those whom non-governmental organization’s solutions aim to target. It also means that I have experienced the effects of the gap between data and policy as a Zimbabwean national. I was once a part of the 90% of starving children in Africa. However, because of government policies barring international organizations and non-governmental organizations from alleviating the pain, these solutions never reached me. My family and I just remained data points. At the age of 16, I copped a life changing opportunity. I was selected as one of three Zimbabwean students to attend United World College (UWC) in Eswatini. Hunger and poverty in Eswatini was as rampant as it was in Zimbabwe. In addition, because of the international community at UWC, with over 60 countries represented, I learned that these problems did not only exist in Africa. I became more aware of the system of oppression against BIPOC communities in North America through my yearlong Civic Engagement fellowship with Up-to-Us (a bipartisan umbrella organization of Net Impact). UWC and Up-to-Us provided me with a holistic and integrated dimension of world issues; this ignited my motivation to make a difference. Data science came naturally to me, and I saw it as my tool to continue fighting injustices. As an undergraduate at Earlham College, I am learning about the skills and bias related to data collection, analysis, and interpretation. I am working on my senior capstone project: Using Machine Learning to Predict Social Unrests. I am incorporating metrics such as GDP, GNI, discrimination proxies, and poverty rates to try to predict where there may be social unrests. I aim to use this tool to pinpoint locations where aid and policy changes are needed before the lack of support have a permanent and damaging effect on communities. I am applying to graduate school where I plan to get my masters and eventually PhD in Data Science so that I can dedicate my research to proving our oppression and experiences are more than data points. I want to leave a tangible impact with my work—one that will last for generations to come. The world continues to move into an era dominated by technology, and it is important that these tools do not hide systematic oppression and inequities among marginalized communities. I acknowledge my privilege to be graduating college. I view this privilege as an opportunity to guide younger people to finish college and inspire the idea of there being light at the end of the tunnel. One of the things you cannot buy someone is hope, but I do believe you can share with others. I continuously find ways to share my experience as a Rising Black Scientist to render hope to those who look like me and might doubt themselves. Through the “This is my story program” I co-founded during my gap year before college, I keep in touch with several of my mentees to continuously encourage them. I recognize that as a Black male, it is also my role to let my Black women counterparts feel seen and heard. While I cannot fully relate to their experience, I share stories of successful Black women in my outreach because I believe in the importance of young Black women having role models in science.

The robustness of New Zealand’s policy advisory system

Recent legislation reforming the oversight of Oranga Tamariki and the role of the children’s commissioner was met with all but universal opposition. A key concern was that locating monitoring of the care and protection of children with a government department (and not the commissioner) was too close to ministers to ensure the level of independence required for such a function. This article suggests that the public sector policy advisory system was not robust enough to come up with the optimal policy solution when, in effect, all others said it was wrong. The case gives cause for the public sector to reflect upon the quality of its advisory function.

The regulatory security state in Europe

ABSTRACT The ‘regulatory state’ has prevailed in almost every sector of European public policy. The provision of security, however, is still widely viewed as the domain of the ‘positive state’, which rests on political authority and autonomous capacities. Challenging this presumption, we argue that expertise – as foundation of authority – and rules – as policy instruments – also shape the provision of European security by national and, in particular, supranational ‘regulatory security states’, namely the European Union (EU). We lay out a framework for mapping the uneven and contested rise of European regulatory security states; analyzing drivers and constraints of security state reforms; and grasping the implications of the regulatory security state for the effectiveness and democratic legitimacy of European security policy-making. We advance the research program on the regulatory state and contribute to an innovative understanding of who governs security in Europe’s multi-level polity, by what means, and on what legitimatory grounds.

Devolution and the difficulty of divergence: The development of adult social care policy in Wales

This article examines adult social care policy in Wales. It argues that successive Welsh Governments have sought to develop policy which rejects the principles of marketisation and individualisation that have characterised the public sector policy of UK governments for decades, and upholds instead a distinctive set of socialist-inclined values. It assesses whether Welsh social care policy and legislation effectively diverge from the Westminster paradigm, and how Welsh Governments have dealt with the narrative of ‘personalisation’ which dominates social care discussion elsewhere in the UK. It finds that Welsh Governments have to date struggled to craft social care policies that incorporate their stated principles, explores the difficulties inherent in superimposing new principles on inherited policy narratives and mechanisms, and considers the implications for devolved policymaking.

Beyond consultocracy and servants of power: Explaining the role of consultants in policy formulation

AbstractPrior research on consultants in policymaking described their expanding policy involvement and impact. This research focuses on consultants' policy formulation roles and on how and why these roles vary across jurisdictions and contexts. It draws on comparative research on healthcare policy in Ontario, Canada, and Victoria, Australia. Based on analysis of contracts and expenditure data, and 59 semi‐structured interviews, this research finds that consultants in Victoria are partners in formulation, used routinely for a variety of tasks, including core formulation work. Their role is institutionalized through formal and informal rules. In contrast, consultants in Ontario perform non‐core formulation work and are primarily active in linking the government to other sites and pools of knowledge. The paper ties this variation to public sector internal capacity and policy sector complexity. It offers new empirical data and provides a nuanced understanding of the roles of consultants in policy formulation.

Implementation of medicines pricing policies in sub-Saharan Africa: systematic review

BackgroundHigh medicine prices contribute to increasing cost of healthcare worldwide. Many patients with limited resources in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are confronted with out-of-pocket charges, constraining their access to medicines. Different medicine pricing policies are implemented to improve affordability and availability; however, evidence on the experiences of implementations of these policies in SSA settings appears limited. Therefore, to bridge this knowledge gap, we reviewed published evidence and answered the question: what are the key determinants of implementation of medicines pricing policies in SSA countries?MethodsWe identified policies and examined implementation processes, key actors involved, contextual influences on and impact of these policies. We searched five databases and grey literature; screening was done in two stages following clear inclusion criteria. A structured template guided the data extraction, and data analysis followed thematic narrative synthesis. The review followed best practices and reported using PRISMA guidelines.ResultsOf the 5595 studies identified, 31 met the inclusion criteria. The results showed thirteen pricing policies were implemented across SSA between 2003 and 2020. These were in four domains: targeted public subsides, regulatory frameworks and direct price control, generic medicine policies and purchasing policies. Main actors involved were government, wholesalers, manufacturers, retailers, professional bodies, community members and private and public health facilities. Key contextual barriers to implementation were limited awareness about policies, lack of regulatory capacity and lack of price transparency in external reference pricing process. Key facilitators were favourable policy environment on essential medicines, strong political will and international support. Evidence on effectiveness of these policies on reducing prices of, and improving access to, medicines was mixed. Reductions in prices were reported occasionally, and implementation of medicine pricing policy sometimes led to improved availability and affordability to essential medicines.ConclusionsImplementation of medicine pricing policies in SSA shows some mixed evidence of improved availability and affordability to essential medicines. It is important to understand country-specific experiences, diversity of policy actors and contextual barriers and facilitators to policy implementation. Our study suggests three policy implications, for SSA and potentially other low-resource settings: avoiding a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach, engaging both private and public sector policy actors in policy implementation and continuously monitoring implementation and effects of policies.Systematic review registrationPROSPERO CRD42020178166

Intergovernmental relations in the management of the COVID-19 pandemic: X-ray of habitat management in a federal setting (Greater Buenos Aires Agglomeration, Argentina)

In Argentina, during the year 2020, the National Government has implemented numerous and varied assistance, containment and promotion initiatives in key public policy sectors to respond to the crisis unleashed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Likewise, provincial and local governments launched their own initiatives to support those emanating from the central level and facilitate the implementation and adaptation of national initiatives in their territories. The citizens, for their part, have adapted to, used or resisted the guidelines and proposals of the executives of the different levels of government. The pandemic scenario (in its different phases) exposes the tension between a centralized logic - typical of the design of initiatives aimed at responding to an emergency - and multilevel governance at a time when it is impossible to ignored that crisis contexts, such as the one imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, strongly stress the relations between the different levels of government and between these and the citizenry. In this context, this paper focuses on intergovernmental relations and examines the initiatives, devices and instruments mobilized by the different levels of government to respond to urban issues in general and housing needs in particular, in the pandemic context, focusing on the initiatives that had habitat and housing as a privileged axis of intervention. The work is based on the analysis of regulations and press material. It also draws on in-depth interviews with public officials and agents from different governmental levels. It presents the composition of the political organization of the Greater Buenos Aires Agglomerate and the political-institutional relations between thedifferent levels of government, as well as a characterization of the focal points for intervention, devices and instruments that made public interventions feasible (especially in the National Government, the Government of the City of Buenos Aires and the Government of the Province of Buenos Aires). To conclude, the paper focuses on territorially-based experiences in order to account for the initiatives from a bottom-up perspective.

Shedding Light on the Lifestyle and Participation of Portuguese Adolescents with Chronic Conditions-Data from the HBSC 2018 Study.

Variables associated with lifestyle can constitute either risk or protective factors for the development and progression of chronic conditions (CC). This study intends to explore the differences between adolescents with and without CC and between adolescents whose school participation is affected/not affected by the existing CC with regard to variables related to lifestyle (i.e., sleep, physical activity, BMI, and leisure). In addition, it also intends to analyze the influence of these variables (i.e., CC and lifestyle) regarding the adolescents' quality of life (QoL). This work is part of the Portuguese HBSC 2018 study. A total of 8215 adolescents participated (52.7% female), with an average age of 14.36 years (SD = 2.28). The results showed that the adolescents with CC and whose school attendance and participation are affected by their CC exhibit more sleep difficulties (i.e., they experience lower sleep quality and have a higher degree of sleepiness), higher BMI levels (i.e., higher values of overweight and obesity), less participation in leisure activities, and a lower perception of QoL. A higher perception of QoL is associated with school participation unaffected by the existing CC, sleeping well, a low level of sleepiness, a more frequent practice of physical activity, a lower BMI, and a greater involvement in leisure activities. Adolescent health and well-being are a prominent issue in terms of public policies, with behavior and lifestyle playing a significant role in this domain. This message needs to be reinforced in regard to families, educators, healthcare professionals, and public sector policies, particularly concerning students with CC.

November 2022 Placement Ads

November 2022 Placement Ads

Economic Potentials and Use Dynamics of Sorghum Food System in Ethiopia: Its Implications to Resolve Food Deficit

Agriculture continues to be vital to Africa’s future in both spatial and temporal contexts. Nonetheless, the sector keeps on confronting production challenges as a result of frequent and extended droughts, and these necessitate the use of drought-resistant crops such as sorghum. This review initiates one of the most common food grains grown in the poorest countries and the most food-insecure regions of the nation. We used deductive logical reasoning to develop a comprehensive scientific understanding of the crop that can be used to inform future research and policies. Various exclusion and inclusion criteria were used to filter the most prominent findings. Sorghum has the highest utility for its climatic adaptability and has grown for multiple purposes: From staple to industrial outcomes, its economic, social value, and health outcomes, and for animal silage. It is a gluten-free crop, has high nutritive value, and is preferred by healthy consumers. It is among the top five cereal crops worldwide in both production and acreage. This has necessitated the development of coping measures, such as the cultivation of drought-tolerant crops suitable for the affected areas. Therefore, this crop is used to ensure productivity, food security, and availability of food when other crops fail and food deficit and famine are affected in the region. This will contribute to the ongoing discussion on how to better inform private and public sector policy and investments in Ethiopia to increase sorghum and other drought-tolerant crop production, transform agriculture, improve nutrition, and food systems, and end hunger, food insecurity, and poverty.

Perspectives on exploration and extraction of seafloor massive sulfide deposits in Norwegian waters

Abstract We present a stochastic dynamic simulation model for exploration and extraction of seafloor massive sulfide (SMS) mineral deposits on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS). The model is developed based on selected industry knowledge, expectations, and perceptions elicited through a participatory systems mapping session with 82 participants and 20 in-depth interviews with experts from industry, academia, and the public policy sector. Using the model, we simulate the expected ranges of resource- and economic potential. The simulation results indicate an expected commercial resource base of 1.8 to 3 million tons of copper, zinc, and cobalt, in which copper makes out the most significant part. Relating to the expected commercial resource base, we highlight a discrepancy between academic and industrial expectations, in which the academic expectations are more conservative than the industrial expectations. The corresponding net present values lie in the range of a net present loss of 970 million USD up to a net present gain of 2.53 billion USD, in which the academic expectations are projected to yield a negative net present value, while the industrial expectations are projected to yield a positive net present value. Closer investigation of the results reveals that one of the main challenges regarding SMS exploration and extraction is the initial exploration costs associated with coring operations. These costs are expected to be high with today’s exploration technology. Moreover, they occur relatively early in time compared to revenue-generating activity, which has a significant negative impact on the net present value of the industry due to discounting. Thus, a key focus of the industry should be to find ways to reduce the costs associated with coring operations and/or the time it takes from initial exploration to extraction and generation of revenue.

Economics of Sesame and Its Use Dynamics in Ethiopia.

Ethiopia's oilseed industry makes a major contribution to foreign exchange revenues. Ethiopia's three main oilseed crops (sesame, soybean, and Niger seed) account for about 20% of the country's total agricultural export profits, second only to coffee. Even though Ethiopia is one of the world's largest producers and exporters of sesame seeds, the country is facing increasing supply and demand restrictions. This paper begins with an examination of one of the most prominent oil crops in the country. It is a highly adaptable crop that may be used for anything from subsistence to commercial output. We established a comprehensive scientific understanding of the crop using a systematic review of the current literature and deductive logical reasoning that can be used to inform future research and policies. Various exclusion and inclusion criteria were used to filter the most notable findings. Millions of growers and other market participants are employed throughout the oilseed value chain. Reduced sesame productivity, pests and diseases, and limited access to modern technologies are all severe supply-side constraints. On the demand side, traders and market distortion, as well as an artificially higher home price and the ease with which unskilled labor can enter the market, are all factors. Other demand-side constraints include worldwide price volatility, a highly concentrated export market, and intense global competition. Ethiopia's sesame seed development potential is being severely hampered by these restrictions. If farmers, dealers, and the government do not address these issues strategically, the country may soon lose its competitiveness in the global sesame seed market. This will contribute to Ethiopia's ongoing discussion about how to better inform private and public sector policies and investments to increase sesame production, transform agriculture, improve nutrition and food systems, and be able to ease supply- and demand-side restrictions. In a nutshell, an increased area under cultivation combined with best agronomic practices could boost sesame production. Farmers, policymakers, researchers, and other stakeholders must thus intervene to enhance sesame production. Future studies should concentrate on how to boost sesame output in farmers' fields while following appropriate sesame production technology and agronomic principles.

Policy analytical capacity and "Eastern" styles of policy analysis: evidence from West Java Province, Indonesia

An emerging body of scholarship suggests that "Western" notions of policy analysis may not be relevant in "Eastern" jurisdictions, and that non-Western countries, particularly in Asia, may have their own local policy analytical style or tradition. However, in many Asian countries, little is known about the work that public sector policy analysts do. Using data from a survey and focus groups, this article investigates policy analysis and analytical capacity in the provincial government of West Java, Indonesia. We find ample signs of policy analytical activity as it would be understood by Western scholars, with little evidence of any specific Asian style.

Pathways Towards Green Management Policies in Public Sector

Sustainable development is becoming the topic most discussed nowadays. It is a universal issue targeting peace and freedom for people, the planet and prosperity. Supporting sustainable sectors, encouraging sustainable lifestyles, and allocating time and resources to scientific research are important strategies to promote sustainable development. This research paper purposes a theoretical framework of green HRM and its effects on an organization’s sustainable performance. This study aims to understand the influence of green human resource management (green HRM) practices on sustainable performance in Malaysia's public service organizations. This article is expected to help researchers develop an interest in green HRM and perhaps gain conceptual knowledge of this as well. Finally, this paper is expected to provide a deeper understanding of the managerial perspectives on green HRM and the perceived importance of sustainable performance for future researchers.

The role of public sector policy in sustainable energy efficiency: an application of dynamic modelling

ABSTRACT Environmental protection and sustainability are long-standing issues in European Union policies. In this study, we focused on public policy related to waste management. Information on waste disposal guidelines is communicated to public authorities and citizens through public policy. The crucial question is whether the implementation of this policy achieves the objectives. The present analysis was based on a dynamic model of the repeated recycling and energy utilization process of sorted paper using a coloured Petri net. This model allowed for the isolation and monitoring of energy use in relation to the input amount, enabling the investigation of the potential energy efficiency of the paper recycling process. The breakpoint was calculated in terms of energy efficiency, gradual recycling and subsequent energy use. The calculation proved that, until this breakpoint is reached, recycling does not result in greater energy savings than the direct use of sorted paper for energy production. These findings have significant implications for the design and formulation of public policy for both the European Union and national governments.