Quality Of Public Policy Research Articles

Public leadership meta-skills in the 2020s

IMPACT Looking at public leadership from a meta-skills point of view is a new way to make visible what matters in public leadership in the 2020s. The significance of this topic lies in the contribution it makes to understanding and improving public leadership in the age of prevailing public policy complexities and austerity. This article explains why investing in leadership meta-skills is not only crucial for employees and organizations but also directly impacts the public sector's capacity for renewal, the quality of public policy and the ability of the public sector to deliver good services to citizens. The article provides directly applicable results for public leaders regardless of administrative branch; the findings can be applied anywhere where public value is created. The four categories of leadership actions and practices presented in this article help the public sector to succeed in the transition towards people-centred, cross-sectoral and future-driven policy outcomes.

Gender Differences in Opinions about Market Solutions and Government Interventions: The Case Of Uruguayan Economists

This article explores the differences in views between men and women Uruguayan economists regarding their opinions about market solutions and government interventions. In line with international evidence, the support for more market-oriented statements is lower among women than men. The study examines the role of age, family background, exposure to economic discussions (proxied by postgraduate education, reading of blogs and press, and academic environment), and personality traits (risk aversion, optimism, and preferences for competition) to explain these gender gaps. The results indicate that gender plays a role in shaping pro-market opinions. The gender differences remain significant after controlling for explanatory variables, though the magnitudes are mild. The findings indicate that achieving gender balance by including women in public debates and decision-making positions would improve the diversity of perspectives in economics. HIGHLIGHTS In Uruguay, women economists are less pro-market than their men colleagues. Personal traits, notably competitiveness, contribute to this gender gap. Including women in decision making improves diversity and quality of public policies.

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC JUSTIFICATION OF WEALTH

The purpose of the paper is to study current issues of wealth, which is due to current sustainable trends in wealth growth and increasing the number of wealthy individuals. The aim is to determine the nature, prerequisites for the emergence and development of wealth, as well as to reflect the historical aspects of the development of wealth and its current state. The topic of the article is caused by the need to reveal the modern stratification of social strata by the level of wealth, the formation of a wealthy class of society and its growth, the processes of creation and increase of wealth. At the same time the purpose of the article is to study the property as an object of taxation. In this connection, the economic essence of the wealth tax and the conditions of its introduction are considered, the specificity of the functioning of the wealth tax in the market economy is determined, the main features of the functioning of the wealth tax are identified. Methodology. Proper analysis of the social structure of society in terms of material wealth allows to assess the efficiency of the economy and the quality of public policy in the system of creation and distribution of public revenues, public goods and wealth. Without the results of these calculations, fatal mistakes appear in the choice of state priorities of socio-economic policy and the best decisions in the financial sphere. The study is based on a comparison of data on wealth tax in different countries. Results. The question and modern peculiarities of wealth are studied. The value of wealth for the society and the state is determined. Wealth tax is an effective fiscal instrument of the state in the distribution of public revenues. Wealth tax exists in many countries in different forms. Practical implications. The possibilities for improving well-being and increasing prosperity are explored. Adequate assessment of the level of well-being and wealth would enable the state to carry out a balanced and effective socio-economic and financial policy to stabilize society and adopt a stable public order. The financial essence of the property tax and the conditions for its introduction are studied. The peculiarities of the functioning of the wealth tax in the social market economy are considered. Value/originality. It has been established that wealth – a comprehensive, multifaceted category, which can be characterized as a specific feature of the socio-economic structure of society, which determines its state, results, dynamics and tendencies of development. Wealth characterizes the ability to achieve a positive result (effect) in the market conditions of management and use of the existing social and economic potential in the community, as evidenced by its level of civilizational development. The peculiarities of the functioning of the wealth tax in various countries of the world are considered. The use of the wealth tax as a fiscal instrument in the state tax system is suggested.

Public policies and the business environment, factors that condition Romania’s transition to green energy. Case study: cogeneration plants.

Abstract Combating the effects of climate change, energy security and providing the resources we need for life is the greatest trilemma of our times. This conflict could also be resolved through the transition to renewable energy and the implementation of the latest technologies that contribute to the efficiency of resource consumption and the minimization of losses. In this context, the adoption of cogeneration, trigeneration and cogeneration systems, based on renewable sources, intensely promoted in recent years, are solutions that can successfully contribute to achieving the green goals. However, such an approach depends very much on the quality of public policies and the way in which the business environment reacts, being important factors that can condition the pace and succession of the transition to the ecological future. From this point of view, Romania has not made significant progress. Although it has set up a state aid scheme under which it has provided financial support to high-efficiency cogeneration systems, the amount of electricity produced by the beneficiaries of this scheme has fallen by more than 35% in the last 8 years. Moreover, from a technical point of view, these plants remained at the level of the years 1960-1970, oversized and with a high fuel consumption. Based on this reality, the current study aimed at conducting several analyses to justify the causes for which the targeted objectives were not achieved. The results indicate that there is no causal link between the financial support provided and the amount of electricity produced by cogeneration systems, that could be explained by the lack of a common denominator between public and private initiatives.

Macroeconomic, Political and Institutional Factors of Economic Growth

Broad theoretical and empirical literature discusses how economic development is affected by different economic, political, institutional, social, and other factors. The classic macroeconomic growth theory argues that poorer states must have higher rates of economic growth compared to more prosperous states due to the so-called ‘catch-up effect’. The concept of ‘institutional sclerosis’, suggested by Olson, claims that economic performance is worse in countries that have powerful interest groups. Some scholars suggest that economic growth is conditioned by ‘institutional coherence’ when one institution in a country promotes the efficiency of another. In this research, using regression analysis we estimate the effect of different factors on economic growth in 187 countries from 2001 to 2018. Our findings do not fully support Olson’s argument that economic decline in some countries was conditioned by the influence of interest groups. Our econometric results do not confirm the importance of the effectiveness of state governance and the quality of public policy. At the same time, the most robust result of our analysis is a statistically significant negative relationship between the level of a country’s initial economic development and its following medium- and long-term economic growth. This research contributes to the existing literature by testing Olson’s institutional sclerosis effect for the last two decade,; estimating the combined effect of interacted variables that explains predictions of both ‘interest groups’ and ‘varieties of capitalism’ theories; considering various macroeconomic and social factors along with political ones in one multivariate model.

Política de inclusão no ensino e na saúde

The article comments some of the main historical aspects of the policy of inclusion in education and health and reflects on the current context of public policies in the country. Reflection on the historical aspects of inclusive education is important to understand the trajectory in time of public policies published in Brazil. Considered as an important international landmark of inclusive public policy, the Salamanca Declaration was elaborated at the World Conference on Special Education, in Spain, in 1994. This document described that all students with special educational needs have the fundamental right to education, referring not only to students who have a difficulty related to conditions, dysfunctions, limitations or disabilities, but to children, regardless of their physical, intellectual, social, emotional, linguistic or other conditions. The article also highlights the Federal Constitution of 1988 by guaranteeing education as a fundamental right and the Brazilian Law for Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities, published in 2015, known as Statute of Persons with Disabilities. Currently, ensuring access to quality and equitable inclusive education for all is still a major challenge, besides being one of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) that constitutes the world agenda for 2030. In relation to health, in 2001, there was a relevant contribution to public policy in the area of health. The World Health Organization (WHO) approved a classification system for understanding human functioning and disability: the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). The ICF has become a reference for international and national public policy and represents an instrument of intercession between the area of health and special education. The mutuality between these areas can also contribute to a significant improvement in the quality of public policies in the country.

THE ECONOMIC BASIS OF WEALTH AND ITS TAXATION

The purpose of this paper is to examine the current problems of wealth, which is due to the current steady trends of increasing wealth and the increasing number of wealthy people. The aim of the paper is to define the essence, prerequisites for the emergence and development of wealth, as well as to reflect the historical aspects of the evolution of wealth and its present state. The topic of the article is conditioned by the necessity to reveal modern stratification of social strata by the level of wealth, formation of society's wealthy class and its growth, processes of wealth creation and multiplication. At the same time, the purpose of the article is to study wealth as an object of taxation. In this connection, the economic essence of wealth tax and prerequisites for its introduction were considered, the specifics of functioning of wealth tax in the market economy were determined, and the most important features of functioning of wealth tax were revealed. Methodology. A correct analysis of the social structure of society in terms of material well-being makes it possible to assess the efficiency of the economy and the quality of public policy in the system of creation and distribution of public income, public goods and wealth. Without the results of these calculations, fatal errors arise in the choice of state priorities of socio-economic policy and in making optimal decisions in the financial sphere. The study is based on the comparison of wealth tax data in different countries. Results. The question and modern specificity of wealth is explored. The value of wealth to society and the state is determined. Wealth tax is an effective fiscal instrument of the state in the distribution of state revenues. Wealth tax exists in many countries in various forms. Practical implications. Possibilities of increasing welfare and increasing wealth are considered. An adequate assessment of wealth and well-being will allow the state to conduct a balanced and effective socio-economic and financial policy to stabilize society and adopt a stable social order. The financial essence of the wealth tax and the prerequisites for its introduction were studied. The specifics of functioning of wealth tax in the market socially oriented economy are considered. Value/originality. It was found that wealth is a complex, multifaceted category, which can be characterized as a specific feature of the socio-economic structure of society, which determines its state, results, dynamics and trends of development. Wealth characterizes the ability to achieve a positive result (effect) in the market conditions of management and use of socio-economic potential available in the society, which indicates the level of its civilizational development. The features of functioning of wealth tax in different countries of the world are considered. The use of wealth tax as a fiscal tool in the tax system of the state was proposed.

The indicator of a happy, long and sustainable life

Many indicators are used to measure the quality of life of people and, consequently, these can be used to inform us about the quality of public policies. We propose to clarify this situation by asking one simple question: What is really important for us as an individual? This question can be asked to anyone and we could build a main indicator for public policies using this question and the responses of people. Our personal response is the following: What is really important for us as an individual is to live a happy and long life, and a life that does not prevent following generations from having lives as happy and long as ours, that is a sustainable life. We have built an indicator that fits this purpose. As we are negative utilitarianists and we consider that reducing premature deaths is more important than lengthening the duration of life, the indicator follows these two approaches. We give the cross-sectional results of the indicator of a happy, long and sustainable life, and we discuss the advantages and shortcomings of the indicator and avenues for future research.

Влияние пандемии и государственной антикризисной политики на российский ИТ-сектор

Based on a series of in-depth interviews, we analyze the impact of the current crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on Russian IT firms, as well as the effects of government anti-crisis policies. We also study the prospects of IT development in Russia. It is shown that the crisis has not caused fundamentally new problems for the IT sector, but it has strengthened some pre-existing contradictions. However, along with the absence of critical shocks from the crisis – largely due to a dampening role of public sector orders – there were no fundamental changes in the IT sector. Because of its key role in the digital transformation, the IT sector will significantly determine a recovery from the crisis and a pace of economic development. For this reason, the prospects for the Russian IT sector seem very favorable. However, its economic and social impacts will heavily depend on the quality of public policy.

ECONOMICS AND TAXATION OF WEALTH

The purpose of the paper is to study current issues of wealth, which is due to current sustainable trends in wealth growth and increasing the number of wealthy individuals. The aim is to determine the essence, prerequisites for the emergence and development of wealth, as well as to reflect the historical aspects of the evolution of wealth and its current state. The topic of the article is caused by the need to reveal the modern social stratification of population by the level of wealth, the formation of a wealthy class of society and its growth, the processes of creating and increasing wealth. At the same time, the purpose of the article is to study wealth as an object of taxation. In this regard, an economical essence of the wealth tax and its introduction preconditions are considered, the specificity of functioning of wealth tax in a market economy, the most important features of wealth tax functioning are determined. Methodology. Proper analysis of the social structure of society in terms of material wealth allows to evaluate the efficiency of the economy and the quality of public policy in the system of creating and distributing public revenues, public goods and wealth. Fatal mistakes in choosing the state priorities of socio-economic policies and making the best decisions in the financial sphere appear without the results of these calculations. The survey is based on a comparison of data of wealth tax in different countries. Results. The question and the modern specifics of wealth are investigated. The value of wealth for society and the state is determined. The wealth tax is an effective fiscal tool of the state in the distribution of public revenues. The wealth tax exists in many countries in various forms. Practical implications. The possibilities of improving well-being and increasing wealth are explored. Adequate assessment of the level of well-being and wealth would enable the state to carry out a balanced and effective socio-economic and financial policy to stabilize society and adopt a stable public order. The financial essence of the wealth tax and its introduction preconditions are investigated. The specificity of functioning of wealth tax in a social market economy is considered. Value/originality. It has been found that wealth is a comprehensive, multi-faceted category, which can be characterized as a specific feature of the socio-economic structure of society, which determines its condition, results, dynamics and development tendencies. Wealth characterizes the ability to achieve a positive result (effect) in market conditions of managing and using the existing social and economic potential in the community, as evidenced by its level of civilization development. The peculiarities of the functioning of the wealth tax in different countries of the world are considered. The using of the wealth tax as a fiscal instrument in the state tax system is suggested.

GOVERNMENT SPENDING ON TOURISM APPROACHED THROUGH THE PRISM OF CONSOLIDATING THE RIGHT TO REST AND LEISURE

Every person’s right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay, as well as the right to freedom of movement without restriction, except as provided by law, determine the opportunity and necessity of the harmonious development of domestic and international tourism. The harmonious development of domestic and international tourism depends on the quality of public policies designed to stimulate the growth of this sector, especially the public expenditure policy. This paper aims to analyse the impact of tourism regarding the respect for the right to rest, the effectiveness of public policies applied in the field of tourism, especially the public expenditure policy aimed to stimulate tourism, to formulate solutions for the development of the tourism sector in the Republic of Moldova by strengthening the right to rest. The Human Development Index (HDI) is considered an aggregated indicator with the capacity to more or less consistently quantify the level of respect for economic, social and cultural rights. Based on the simple regression method, the relationship between HDI as a dependent variable and Travel and Tourism Sector Competitiveness Index (TTCI) as an independent variable is tested. The presented analysis suggests the conclusion that the quality of respect for the right to rest, materialized, including through tourism, is a factor with a major positive impact on the HDI. An important place in the paper is occupied by the generalization of the EU countries experience in the field of public policies designed to stimulate tourism development approached through the prism of respecting the right to rest and leisure.

REKONSTRUKSI KEBIJAKAN PENDIDIKAN BERPERSPEKTIF GENDER DI KABUPATEN BANYUMAS

The quality of public policy in educational field seen from gender perspective can be divided into three levels: responsive, neutral, and potentially bias to gender issues. Among the policies of education in Banyumas Regency, which is stated in Strategic Planning (Renstra) of 2008-2013 and Renja of 2012, there was only one policy which could be categorized into responsive to gender issues, while others were neutral to gender issues. From this fact, it can be concluded that gender has not been a mainstream in Education Affairs Office (Dinas Pendidikan) of Banyumas Regency. The activities concerning gender issues have been just programmed and only incidentally realized by one section of the office. The success or failure of the integration of gender in educational policy in Banyumas regency is influenced by four factors of its formulation, namely the capacity of human resources, capacity building, the strength of networking, and organization culture.

Why do civil servants experience media-stress differently and what can be done about it?

Pressure from the media affects the daily work of bureaucrats and induces ‘media stress’, with potentially critical effects on the quality of public policy. This article analyses how bureaucrats’ daily work has been adapted to the media (‘mediatised’) and which groups of bureaucrats experience the most media-stress. Reporting the results of an original and large-scale survey (N=4,655) this article demonstrates that levels of media-stress vary among different groups of civil servants. In turn, its analysis suggests that media-stress is more pronounced in the Netherlands than in Norway, is more concentrated in the lower rungs of administrative hierarchies and is related to media pressures on organisations. By untangling the underlying logic of mediatisation and the dynamics of media-stress, this article makes an important contribution to extant scholarship and also provides a series of practical recommendations.

GOVERNMENT LEADERSHIP COMPETENCE IN THE FORMULATION OF PROGRESSIVE PUBLIC POLICIES (Study of Regional Leadership in Bandar Lampung)

Public Policy is one of the keys to success in implementing governance and development, both at the national and local (regional) level. Progressive public policy will determine the direction of development policy in the future. Public policy is determined by many actors both government and non-government. However, government actors have a very dominant role. At the local level, the regional head becomes a barometer of how the quality of public policy is produced. This study intends to analyze the competence of regional heads in the formulation of progressive public policies in Bandar Lampung, especially in the field of infrastructure. Keywords: Government, Leadership, Public Policies

Reforma del Estado 3.0: desafíos para el tiempo presente

El presente artículo sintetiza las reflexiones realizadas por el autor respecto a los desafíos para el Estado en el tiempo presente, en el marco de más 30 años de trabajo en el Estado de Chile, y vasta experiencia en procesos de reforma y modernización del aparato público. Es así que, se resumen qué son y cómo surgen los procesos de reforma del Estado, cuáles son los ámbitos de necesidad que dan pie a este tipo de reformas desde una perspectiva económica, política, social y cultural, además de identificar iniciativas de reforma que contribuyen a la gestión hacia adentro del Estado, como son el fortalecimiento institucional, la innovación, la instalación de un centro de gobierno, y el fortalecimiento de mecanismos de gestión y desarrollo de personas en el Estado, con impacto en la coordinación, eficacia, eficiencia y calidad de las políticas públicas, pero también la necesidad de construir iniciativas hacia afuera, que respondan a las crecientes demandas de la ciudadanía y a los desafíos de desarrollo económico y social de nuestra región. Todo lo anterior será posible en la medida que se desarrollen competencias y nuevas atribuciones, las que deben ir de la mano con la construcción de esquemas de gobernabilidad para lograr una exitosa instalación de iniciativas de reforma del Estado.

Vale o quanto Custa? Um Estudo sobre a Relação entre a Capacidade Institucional dos Tribunais de Contas Subnacionais Brasileiros e a Qualidade das Políticas Públicas de seus Respectivos Estados

O controle é um ato ou momento político central de um ciclo mais amplo da representação democrática. Para assegurar que os representantes, uma vez à frente de seus cargos, pautem sua conduta pelo “melhor interesse de seus representados”, é necessário haver instrumentos efetivos e continuados de controle. No Brasil, a Constituição Federal conferiu aos Tribunais de Contas o desafio de controlar suas contas públicas. Mas qual é a relação entre o fortalecimento do controle dos gastos públicos – a partir de uma maior capacidade institucional destes órgãos de controle – e a qualidade das políticas públicas oferecidas aos cidadãos? O presente artigo se propõe a investigá-la. Para tanto, o desenho de pesquisa combina estatística descritiva e multivariada para analisar um banco de dados original elaborado com informações obtidas de diferentes fontes. Em particular, operacionaliza-se a capacidade institucional dos Tribunais de Contas subnacionais brasileiros a partir das seguintes variáveis:orçamento, pessoal e contas julgadas irregulares. Não obstante, utiliza-se a análise fatorial para definir os indicadores relativos à qualidade das políticas públicas de saúde e educação de seus respectivos Estados, no ano de 2010. Dentre as variáveis analisadas, os resultados preliminares sugerem que o fortalecimento do controle dos gastos públicos está positivamente correlacionado com a qualidade das políticas públicas oferecidas aos cidadãos.

Electoral persistence and the quality of public policies: evidence from the dynamics of lawmaking in the Philippine House of Representatives, 1992-2016

ABSTRACT Can elections serve as vector of good public policy in fledgling democracies where electorally persistent elites circumvent institutional safeguards? Examining legislative productivity for each member of the Philippine House of Representatives from 1992 to 2016, we argue that while electoral persistence can be short-run welfare enhancing by inducing legislative attention on particularistic policies, it is ultimately electoral competition and the prospect of ouster that determine overall legislative behaviour. Using various measures of electoral competition, our panel estimates suggest that district incumbents who faced competitive elections, regardless of political pedigree, are more likely to work for the passage of their legislative proposals into legislation. The results lend credence to the disciplining effect of elections, even in precarious political settings where competition is between equally persistent political elites. Overall, incumbents who fought competitive elections are generally more likely to produce laws as a legislative preoccupation – a commitment they are likely to pursue even in the presence of institutional and political uncertainties.

Designing Ex Ant Evaluation of Policy Model

<p>Today, symbol of better policy and more smart is ex ant evaluation policy that Models, methods and tools inform policymakers and stakeholders and ultimately improve the quality of public policy.</p><p>In this article, ex ant evaluation policy model Based on future-oriented approach by using the Delphi technique and the experts in the disciplines and various areas in Iran has been designed. This model can be used as a methodological framework in different disciplines. the causal, model consists of six stages Definition of policy context, The definition of possible policy scenarios and screening, Rational model of probable policies, Analyze the impact of probable policies and compare them, Identify key indicators and measures of progress and advise policy makers and stakeholders feedback information and development answers future of and has functions; informing, communication between policy makers and stakeholders to improve the capacities of policy making. Resulting in improved quality and enhance the cohesion policy.</p>

Does the quality of public policies and institutions matter for entrepreneurial activity? Evidences from the European Union’s member states

By using data related to the 15 European Union ?old? and ?new? Member States, for a time span between 2001 and 2014, the present paper supports the thesis of a positive and significant correlation between the quality of governance and entrepreneurial activity. In order to test such correlation, the elements of Governance Quality reported by the World Bank?s Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) project were considered. Some key aspects of entrepreneurial activity reflected by Total Early-Stage Entrepreneurial Activity, Perceived Opportunities and Perceived Capabilities were taken into account based on The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) database. In addition, in order to reflect the structural rigidities and tensions from the labour market, the unemployment rate provided by the World Bank?s World Development Indicators database was considered as a control variable. The effect of the inclusion of a country in a certain development group, according to the most recent World Bank classification (?low-income economies? to ?high-income economies?), was also considered in a multi-level analytical framework with a two-level model. The results of this study clearly indicate that higher levels of public policies and institutions? credibility/effectiveness produce a positive and robust impact on entrepreneurial climate.

The Consequences of Inequality for Public Policy in Australia

AbstractGrowing debate on economic inequality in the West has refocused discussion on whether economic elites have too much influence on public policy‐making. The article highlights the extent to which public policy in Australia has been captured by corporate interests and other economic elites in recent years. This raises questions about the quality of public policy now being generated in key areas of reform. It also raises questions about the sustainability of public support for policy constructed by, and on behalf of, narrow corporate interests.