Public Sector Involvement Research Articles

Australian Tourism Industry Policy: A New View

An economic rationale for Australian public sector involvement in the management of tourism can be established on two grounds. First, there are resource/environmental and public good issues contingent on the external costs associated with Australia's domestic and international tourism. Second, there are rent extraction and marketing issues stemming from Australia's destination uniqueness and the consequent existence of national market power in the provision of international tourism. Analysis of this joint rationale for policy activism suggests a form for appropriate policies and a functional separation in the organization and management of policy. While some of the present discussion is specific to Australia, the viewpoint developed here is relevant to any economy with a substantial tourism sector.

Public Sector's Involvement in Marketing Growth:

The Japanese public sector played an instrumental role in the successful resurrection of the Japanese economy after World War II. The public sector supported the use of several emerging marketing concepts as well as borrowing and applying American concepts through cross-cultural marketing during the various stages of Japanese marketing growth. The public sector accomplished its goal by supporting the private sector through the establishment government agencies as well as through other players in the public sector. The leadership and direction provided by the public sector has enabled Japan to develop its economy throughout all five periods of marketing growth. A new sixth phase appears to be emerging through the efforts of the public sector to attract foreign investment and imports into Japan, to counteract the tremendous trade surpluses built up since the mid 1980's.

Recent Industrialization Experience of Turkey in a Global Context

The primary objective of this collection of ten essays (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1994) is to present an overview of the Turkish industrialization experience for the period of 1980-90. The volume is a valuable source for readers who specialize in the field of development economics, and should serve as a basic reference for all subsequent work on Turkey. In a useful introduction the editor, Fikret Senses, summarizes the papers and discusses the important shift of emphasis in Turkish economic policy towards export-oriented industrialization (EOI) during the 1980s. This shift encompasses a change from import-substituting industrialization (ISI) to EOI accompanied by a stabilization and structural adjustment program (SSAP). The first three chapters make the volume more comprehensive by going beyond the Turkish case. They bring together observations about the industrialization experience of developing countries in the light of various economic development theories. Three main issues are addressed: 1) the complementarity of ISI and EOI, 2) whether small scale-industries can be seen as the first stage of higher-skilled, technology-intensive, large-scale industries, and 3) the role of the public sector in industrialization and growth. Chapter 2, by Frederick Nixson, studies ISI and EOI for the case of less developed countries (LDCs), and finds that the two can be complementary, with the state playing an important role in bolstering the foundations of an industrial economy. The contribution of Marxism to the establishment of ISI is quite controversial in the development economics literature. Nixson evaluates the influence of both neo-Marxism and classical-Marxism for the process of industrialization. While Nixson sees classical-Marxism as a positive contributor for ISI, especially for the start-up industries, he finds neo-Marxist ideas out of touch with today's reality. He also recommends to LDC policy makers that they fund required investment from export earning, and not use borrowed funds and financial aid for this purpose, nor for consumption. Alice Amsden investigates (in Chapter 3) whether developing countries were able to transform their industrial structure from lower-skill, small scale industry units to higher-skill, large industry units. She focuses specifically on Taiwan to show that without government guidance and its active support, small-scale industries in a free market environment cannot achieve industrialization. The subsequent seven chapters analyze the Turkish industrialization experience by comparing the pre-1980 to post 1980 macroeconomic policies. The manufacturing sector, with specific emphasis on trucking, textile and clothing, is also analyzed in some detail. In Chapter 4 John Weiss tests one of the oldest hypotheses in development economics, one that was popular among the policy makers of LDCs during the 1960s. It was the view that since government can accelerate both industrialization and growth, it should play a large role in the development process. He states that the extent of government involvement in terms of production and resource allocation depends on the macro-economic and political environment. Even though the recent experience of Eastern Europe and some socialist economies raise some questions about the efficiency and effectiveness of public sector involvement in industrialization, he sees public enterprises as a way of filling the investment gap or of inducing private sector participation. In the editor's essay (Chapter 5) the macroeconomic policies of pre 1980 and post 1980 Turkey are compared. He summarizes the Turkish ISI experience from a historical perspective and then lays out the positive and the negative results of EOI together with SSAP. He believes that SSAP combined with export incentives, have been effective in strengthening the role of the price mechanism in both production and resource allocation. But notes that manufacturing investment has been sadly lagging behind its pre-1980 levels. …

Spatial and Structural Change in Institutional Care for the Elderly in South East England, 1987–90

In Great Britain, the 1980s were marked by an increasing involvement of the independent sector in the provision of long-term institutional care resources for the elderly. In this paper, spatial and structural changes in the provision of all categories of residential and nursing beds in the South East region of England between 1987 and 1990 are investigated. The data were obtained from a variety of sources including directories of private institutional care facilities, the Department of Health, and the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys. Separate analyses of change were conducted for (a) the public and private residential care sectors, and (b) all categories of independent care (that is, residential and nursing) resources, at both regional and local scales. The results disclose that the 1987–90 period witnessed continued rapid growth of institutional care resources in the South East region, although public-sector involvement in the provision of residential care beds declined. An analysis of spatial shifts of independent residential and nursing beds at the county level of resolution does not reveal appreciable changes in their overall levels of geographical concentration in the region. However, the provision of independent care beds may be approaching saturation level in some coastal retirement communities, with part of the relatively rapid growth shifting locally to surrounding, mainly inland, areas that have recently experienced notable gains in their elderly population. Analysis of structural growth components indicates that disclosed changes in the spatial distribution of independent care beds are attributable to both the opening of new homes and the expansion of existing premises.

Primary Health Care in Queensland

In 1993, the Queensland government responded to the challenges facing the Queensland health system when it released the Queensland Primary Health Care Policy. In the Policy, the public sector involvement in health system reform is outlined, and the vital role played by the non-government and private sectors are supported. The direction for the future delivery of health services clearly entails meeting the needs of local populations through an emphasis on community participation and development, intersectoral collaboration and co-ordination of health services. The Policy supports an improved balance between tertiary, high cost institutional care and community-based primary health care. The development and extension of community health services is recognised in the Plan as an important strategy in achieving a more balanced health system.

The influence of system factors upon the macro-economic efficiency of health care: implications for the health policies of developing and developed countries

This paper aims to clarify the global association of system factors with the attainment of health policy goals, through economic analyses of cross-country data. In the case of OECD (the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) data for 1990, the variation in total expenditure on health among 24 countries can be explained by various factors including Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Among these, the variables representing the level of public sector involvement through social protection or public-private mix within a health care system, such as the Public-to-Total Expenditure Ratio, Coverage Rate and Public Cost Sharing, are significantly negative when factors such as GDP are controlled. This suggests that countries attaining higher equity or accessibility are in a better position to gain higher cost-containment or macro-economic efficiency. The results of this study may be helpful for developing countries searching for a long-term health care system as well as for developed countries facing health care system reforms.

Alaskan Direct‐Market Consumers: Perception of Organic Produce

Perception of organic produce among Alaskan direct‐market patrons (N = 417) was examined in a mailed survey. Response rate was 80%. Responsefrequency was tabulated, and relationships were delineated using chi‐square analysis. Healthfulness of the food supply was a concern, despite a perception that quality and healthfulness of thefood supply had improved since 1987. These attributes were also important infresh produce selection. Organic produce preference was related to both environmental and personal‐safety concerns. More than half of these consumers had purchased organic produce within the last year; supermarkets and direct markets were the primary sources. Although organic produce was not purchased exclusively, previous purchase increased the likelihood offuture purchase. A certification process was desired. Half preferred a government certification agent; 28% preferred public and private sector involvement. Information dissemination should address (a) pesticide usefor cosmetic purposes, (b) appearance and food safety, (c) flavor and shipping characteristics, and (d) production method and nutritive content.

The Regulation of Transport Markets

The past two decades have witnessed major reforms in transport regulation. While there are marked national differences in the nature and pace of change, this process has, in the case of public transport modes, been characterised by moves toward more liberal regimes and a withdrawal of government from the ownership of transport operating companies.1 In contrast, there has been an increasing emphasis on the containment and the management of automobile use, both on environmental grounds and because of congestion problems (Crandall et al. I986). While the regulation of private car use is of immense importance, we limit ourselves to the causes and implications of regulatory reform as they affect public freight and passenger transport modes. In terms of their scope, the liberalisation measures which have been adopted not only represented legal reforms, but also embraced de facto changes in interpretation and enforcement of regulations. In addition, they have extended across national boundaries with, for instance, the removal of institutional barriers to free transport operations being an explicit element of the European Community's I 992 initiative. Whereas previously the majority view was that, because of scale economies and the potential of serious market failure, it was in the public interest for government to take an active role in regulating the industry, the prevailing wisdom is now that intervention failures are often potentially more damaging than market imperfections. There have traditionally been differences in detail and approach in the ways countries have viewed regulation. In particular, nations steeped in a civil code tradition (most of Continental Europe) have been more interventionist than those with a common-law bias (such as the United Kingdom). While varying in detail, however, in most cases economic regulation extended across virtually all public transport modes and related to matters of pricing, service provision and market entry and exit. Combined with this there has been extensive direct public sector involvement, not just in the provision of infrastructure but also, in many cases, of the operating companies themselves. Notable exceptions to these generalisations included very little by way of price control in the United

Public expenditure and economic performance: A comparison of developed and low‐income developing economies

AbstractGovernments incur expenditures in order to fulfill the following roles in the economy: (a) to correct distortions or market failures; (b) regulate private activity that might harm society; (c) provide public goods and services (i.e. economic and social infrastructure); and (d) often engage in productive activity. Some of these activities improve economic efficiency while others reduce it. There is also considerable evidence of inefficiency in the public provision of goods and services. However, the nature and extent of government involvement in the economy varies significantly between the developed industrial market economies and the developing world, particularly the low‐income economies. Historically, government in the developing economies have exercised relatively greater control and direction over their economies in all the above categories, while public sector involvement in the developed economies has remained largely confined to the provision of public goods and services, regulatory functions and the management of income‐maintenance programmes. Citing historical evidence, a number of leading economists have argued that government size has had no impact, one way or another, on economic performance of industrial market economies. For the low‐income economies the evidence, though mixed, points more towards a positive overall impact of government on growth performance. The present exercise, using a simple growth‐modeling framework and a longer span of time‐series data, produces additional evidence in support of the above propositions. Moreover, this study seems to confirm the Gerschenkron hypothesis that an effective role of the state is directly linked with the ‘stage of backwardness’ of the economy.

Resourcing community transport: The changing role of the public sector

The past few years have seen the voluntary transport sector grow and diversify, despite the uncertainty faced over funding. Statutory involvement in voluntary transport provision has increased, with passenger transport authorities creating community transport policies and budgets and local councils undertaking authority‐wide reviews of special needs transport service provision. This article examines the voluntary‐statutory sector relationship and comments on the increasing involvement of the public sector in voluntary transport provision.

The Public-Private choice: The case of marketing a country to investors

This article argues that in organizing to promote foreign investment, governments choose among organizational structures that have differing amounts of private and public sector involvement. In our analysis of 10 promotional agencies, we encountered three principal types of organization responsible for conducting investment promotion: government, “quasi-government,” and pr and private. The choice among these types of structure was influenced by the fact that the particular assignment had characteristics of tasks normally performed by public organizations and attributes of tasks normally performed by private organizations. Our findings from interviews with managers and investment promotion officials suggest that “quasi-government” and private promotional organizations have been more effective at investment promotion that have government organizations, perhaps because the “quasi-government” organizations were, in many cases, successful at capturing strengths of both the public and private approaches. Further, good managers found ways of overcoming some of the problems that seemed to be inherent in certain choices of structure. It is likely that the solutions we observed in these cases might be appropriate for other tasks that have some of the characteristics of tasks typically performed by government and some of the attributes of tasks typically performed by the private sector.

Telecommuting and travel: state of the practice, state of the art

This paper provides an overview of the status of telecommuting in the United States, especially as it relates to changes in travel behavior. Regarding the state of the practice, the paper discusses some refinements to the definition of telecommuting that have developed through increased operational experience. It reports several policy statements involving telecommuting, and explores the appeal of telecommuting as a public policy instrument. It highlights some trends in the implementation of home-based and work center-based telecommuting, and suggests that visible public-sector involvement has been crucial to the increased activity in this area. In sketching the state of the art, the paper outlines some frequently-stated hypotheses on telecommuting and travel behavior, and summarizes current empirical findings relating to those hypotheses. Finally, it suggests a variety of topics suitable for further research. These include studying factors influencing the ultimate adoption levels of telecommuting; impacts on energy/air quality, mode choice, and location/urban form; interactions with other transportation demand management strategies; relationships to the traditional urban travel demand forecasting process; cost/benefit tradeoffs; and telecommuting centers.

Liberalising the Canadian Scheduled Aviation Market

The past decade has witnessed a considerable relaxation of traditional, economic regulation of markets (Swann (1988)). In particular there has been a movement away from direct controls over market entry and exit, output, rates of return, and price setting, and towards regimes of quality and social regulation which aim to regulate the standards adopted by those active in the market. This shift in emphasis of policy has been both broad in its international coverage and extensive in the sectors involved (Button and Swann (1989a)). Accompanying the changes in economic regulation has often been a reduction of public sector involvement more generally. There have been, for example, extensive programmes of privatisation in many countries and even under many communist regimes there has been active encouragement of greater private sector participation in the economy.

Environmental quality and council house sales: A case study of North Tyneside, UK

The residential environments in British urban areas are divided between those dominated by public sector (local authority) housing and those properties which are owner-occupied. It is widely recognised that the environmental quality of local authority housing estates varies considerably. It may be expected, therefore, that the United Kingdom 1980 Housing Act, which encouraged the tenants of public sector housing to purchase the dwellings they rented from local authorities, would have a differential impact, according to the environmental quality of those estates. However, this relationship has not been previously explored. Most studies have related sales to a range of socio- economic variables. Whilst these may effectively indicate ability to buy they do not necessarily indicate willingness to buy. It is argued that the latter may be more closely related to factors such as the quality of the local environment. Findings from the North Tyneside area in northern England suggest that the spatial pattern of sales is more closely related to an index of environmental quality than one composed largely of socio-economic variables. Some of the implications of this finding for policy in relation to public sector housing are then discussed. It is suggested that if the ultimate objective of the Housing Act is to promote a larger private sector, then initially this may require a considerably larger public sector involvement in environmental improvement.

Small-scale hatcheries in north-east Thailand

Abstract. The development of small-scale hatcheries is placed in perspective with olher commercial methods of fish seed production, private and public, in the north-east region of Thailand. Case studies of six small-scale hatcheries operated by farmers in this region are presented with details of the production, costs and returns of these farms in relation to their size, location, species of fish produced, amount of capital invested and marketing and sales strategies, Rates of return were found to be favourable, with the exception of a group-based hatchery. The relationship between the production of carp and tilapia fry. which is believed tn be incompatible under present systems, is discussed. The wider implications of the role of small-scale hatcheries to provide fish seed for farmers in rural areas and the future of public sector involvement are considered.

Plastics recycling: Economic and institutional issues

There are two major objectives of this paper. The first is to discuss the quantities of plastic wastes that are candidates for different types of recycling process in the coming decade. The second objective is to discuss the major economic and institutional incentives and barriers faced by different private- and public-sector decision-makers when considering plastics recycling. Projections made by the author indicate that the total quantity of plastic wastes entering a recycling or waste-disposal stream will continue to rise during the coming decade — increasing from an estimated 33 billion pounds in 1984 to about 47 billion pounds in 1995. Postconsumer wastes will grow more rapidly than manufacturing waste and by 1995 should comprise about 92% of the total. While packaging will remain by far the largest single source of plastic wastes, plastics from the construction sector will grow most rapidly in percentage terms. It is argued that technical and economic problems associated with the separation of plastics from other materials and the separation of individual plastic types will limit plastics recycling outside of the municipal waste stream to between 22 and 26% of the total quantity produced. It is further argued that the degree to which the private sector adopts new technologies to recycle this 22–26% will be determined in large part by the economic and institutional incentives and barriers faced by the different groups that must individually or collectively participate in a recycling operation. In most cases, successful operations have been functions of institutional conditions rather than technological fixes. Finally, it is suggested that the public sector's involvement in, and support for, plastics recycling will be a function of the continuing debate about the environmental consequences of plastics disposal versus recycling. While government intervention can be argued for on other grounds — in particular the subsidization of waste disposal — the uncertainty about the environmental implications of plastics disposal, as well as some forms of recycling, will be important in formulating a public response to the issue.

THE IMPACT OF AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION: THE TRAINING AND VISIT SYSTEM IN INDIA

This paper summarizes the results of a study sponsored by the World Bank, The impact of agricultural extension : a case study of the training and visit system in Haryana, India. As a review of the rationale for public sector involvement in the dissemination of technological information to farmers, the paper concludes that free markets do not fully satisfy farmers' information needs. Government support is justified. Agricultural extension is a principal way that governments can disseminate information. One specific approach to extension adopted in many Bank extension projects is the Training and Visit (T&V) system. Data from a World Bank sponsored survey in northwest India and monitoring and evaluation reports issued by several Indian states are used in this article to evaluate T&V extension operations and their impact. Extension agents' interaction with farmers is found to be more intensive and more significant as a source of information in areas covered by T&V extension than in areas with a different extension system. The yield levels of farmers whose main source of information was the T&V extension agent are also shown to be higher. In one case study, the incremental investment in T&V extension is shown to be likely to generate at least a 15 to 20 percent rate of return.

Technological Change in US Coal Mining: Issues and Evidence

This article examines recent developments and issues concerning technological change in US coal mining. First, factors that influence the rate of technological change, such as firm profit, industry structure, and investment are discussed with attention paid to economic conditions in the 1970s. This discussion concludes that characteristics such as geological variability, product homogeneity, and the high-cost long-term nature of investment required in coal mining result in lower levels of R&D in coal mining than in other industries. However, high rates of profit and the growth in coal demand in the 1970s resulted in growth in coal mining R&D throughout much of the 1970s. Second, evidence of technological change in coal mining in examined. Data concerning the employment of scientists and engineers and R&D expenditures are analyzed. More direct measures of technological change such as productivity indexes, are also examined. These data suggest that changes in the types of coal mine work activities (health, safety, and environment as opposed to coal removal) have resulted in reduced coal productivity in the face of increasing R&D. Given the relationship between sales, profit, investment, and R&D and technological change, the most beneficial means of advancing technology in coal mining would be a healthy, sustained rate of growth in the coal market. Even in favorable economic conditions, the coal industry is unlikely to undertake highly innovative R&D because of industry characteristics that are unaffected by economic variables. This gap in innovative R&D is a possible area of public sector involvement.

Immediate Response to Headwater Flooding in Charlotte, North Carolina

This article examines the immediate responses to the headwater flooding of two structurally homogeneous neighborhoods in Charlotte, North Carolina, one predominantly black and the other predominantly white. The results of the research suggest that the distress and disruption caused by noncatastrophic floods are a genuine neighborhood issue, even in neighborhoods with other serious problems like crime, lack of parks and recreation areas, speeding traffic, and unemployment. Faced with frequent flood damage, a significant number of property owners were willing to assume some monetary costs for protecting their homes and safety, but residents of the white neighborhood were not amenable to remedial measures that would necessitate relocation out of their neighborhood. Respondents in both neighborhoods appeared to possess a realistic understanding of the causes of flooding and its financial impact on property values. However, a significant subgroup of blacks viewed flooding as an uncontrollable natural event and were less confident of their ability to deal with the hazard. Residents of both neighborhoods strongly favored increased public sector involvement in implementing adjustments to the flooding hazard.

A New Approach to Public Sector Involvement: The Health Service District

jrasc?;N the area of health care delivery, the federal government has long recognized the existence of an access problem for many ciaizens in this country. Congress has legislatively addressed the problem trough deftion of underserved populations and designation of Health Manpower Shortage Areas (HMSAs-under Title III of the Public Health Service Act) and Medically Underserved Areas (MUAs-under Title XIII of the same Act). In doing so, the government has focused primarily on physical access to manpower and services. In the area of health, we can talk about the maldistribution of providers. In 1976, fully eighty-seven percent of all United States physicians were located in metropolitan areas (1). Even within metropolitan areas, the distribution of physicians varied up to 8oo percent, with the majority of physicians residing and practicing in affluent areas (2). This misallocation of health manpower necessarily implies a dearth of medical services in certain areas. That emergency care and specialty services are lacking in medically underserved areas (especially in rural HMSAs and MUAs) is well known (3), yet some HMSAs and MUAs lack even the most basic primary care. Physicians in primary care disciplines (general practice, family practice, internal medicine, pediatrics, Ob /Gyn), like physicians in general, are unevenly distributed. In 1975, 83.8 percent of primary care physicians were located in metropolitan areas. In that year, there were 58.8 physicians in primary care disciplines per 1oo,ooo population in metropolitan areas as compared to 39.1 per 1oo,ooo in nonmetropolitan areas (4). Despite the emphasis on access to manpower and services, the problem is also one of economic access. In considering the economic issue of distribution, the focus shifts from the supply side to the demand side and pos-