Types Of Public Policies Research Articles

Public policy and catching up by developing countries in global industries: a simulation model

This paper examines the effects of different public policies (strengthening capability building, favouring firms’ learning, protectionism and support of entry of new domestic firms) on the catch-up of a latecomer with respect to an incumbent country in changing and uncertain technological environments. The effects of these policies are analysed with a simulation model first separately and then jointly to assess possible complementarities. We reach several results. First, we confirm that capability building and firms’ learning are important drivers of catch-up. Second, we find that when a large technological discontinuity takes place, entry support favours catch-up while protectionism has the opposite effect. Protectionism favours catch-up only when no technological discontinuity opens up. Third, we find that depending on the technological conditions, different policy complementarities exist; therefore, different policy mixes should be at the base of a country catch-up strategy. These results add to the previous literature on public policy and catching up by developing countries in an industry by distinguishing the different effects of various types of public policy and relating them to the technological conditions that are present in an industry.

The impact of heterogeneity of discount factors and asset returns on inequality

ABSTRACTWe investigate the effect of differential access to financial markets, discount factor and wealth endowment on poverty and inequality. We construct a model of educational and savings choice with heterogeneous agents. Motivated by empirical evidence, in this economy the return on savings is a non-decreasing function of the amount saved. As expected, more patient households tend to become wealthier and more educated. The heterogeneity on portfolio returns is shown to be key to our main result: the model closely fits the data on income and wealth inequalities, being able to explain the existing Brazil’s inequality patterns. The model was also calibrated to the US, with similar fit. We then evaluate two types of public policies based on cash transfer schemes (CTSs), that aim to reduce poverty and inequality. We find that the CTS version in which receiving the benefit is conditional on educating the household’s youngster outperforms its unconditional version in almost all dimensions analysed.

The distribution of walkability in an African city: Praia, Cabo Verde

This paper analyses disparities in walking conditions in neighbourhoods with different incomes and urbanization levels in Praia, the capital of Cabo Verde islands. Walkability is measured considering factors relevant to a semi-arid, post-colonial, fast growing, middle-income African city. The estimated indicators measure the availability of destinations accessible on foot and the quality of the walking experience. The study found that high income neighbourhoods have the lowest overall provision of pedestrian space and protection from traffic (in more urbanized areas) and the lowest walking accessibility to people, shops, and leisure areas (in less urbanized areas). Low income neighbourhoods have the highest environmental risks (in more urbanized areas) and the highest slopes, lowest provision of formal pedestrian space, and lowest accessibility to jobs, facilities, and bus stops (in less urbanized areas). The results provide insights into the type of public policies needed to improve walkability in the different parts of the city.

Politicising financial foreign policy: an analysis of Brazilian foreign policy formulation for the financial sector (2003- 2015)

At the start of the 21st century, there was a reconfiguration of the Brazilian domestic political dynamic, as its actors gradually became more interested in the formulation of foreign policy and tried to safeguard their interests. When analysing the country's foreign policy for the financial sector, it becomes quite clear that to consider foreign policy simply as one type of public policy is insufficient to assess its decision-making process. This paper seeks to contribute to the debate by arguing that the analysis of foreign policy should be carried out by taking into consideration specific issue-areas. This paper explores the movement to rearrange domestic decision power, seeking to gain leverage in international negotiations.

Типы государственной политики развития сельского туризма: признаки и особенности


 Rural tourism in foreign countries stably occupies a leading position in tourism industry. As practice shows, its establishment was accompanied by significant participation of the state in terms of the development of different measures and programs for supporting and promotion. The author has generalized foreign experience of such participation. This allowed distinguishing by criterion of the intensity of the efforts of state authorities aimed at the formation and development of the tourism industry in rural areas three types of state policy of development of rural tourism: active, passive and moderate. The article shows the features of these approaches in the formation of the base of strategic documents. As it can be seen from the materials of the article, along with the strategy and programs of development of rural tourism the special legal framework of rural tourism is formed. It is a part of an active state policy and regulates certain aspects, such as taxation, quality of service, etc. Moderate public policy of development of rural tourism is limited to the basic strategic documents, as well as individual measures of interagency cooperation and coordination of the instruments. Passive type of public policy in rural tourism is not systematic and consistent and is characterized by using of separate measures aimed at the development of rural tourism. The article shows the areas and peculiarities of building of interagency cooperation in the development of strategic decisions about the development of rural tourism in the framework of these public policy types. The differences in the coordination of the instruments of public policy of development of rural tourism at all levels of regulation are justified. Various intensities of cross-sectoral integration processes in the development of rural areas correspond to certain types of public policy in rural tourism. 

Salience, complexity and state resistance to federal mandates

AbstractAlthough state resistance to federal mandates is a prevalent characteristic of contemporary American federalism, little is known about the factors that separate resisting states from states that do not oppose federal policy. This article examines state resistance through a framework that classifies public policies by salience and complexity and identifies societal interests and government officials who are hypothesised to influence policy making on issues of varying types. These hypotheses are investigated in the context of state resistance to four federal laws – the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, No Child Left Behind Act, Help America Vote Act and REAL ID Act. The results of the statistical analysis demonstrate the centrality of the characteristics of citizens, elected officials and specialised interest groups in conditioning state resistance to federal mandates. These results suggest that state resistance can be characterised as a strategic response to federal mandates that varies systematically across types of public policies.

Public Policy as an Exception to Free Movement within the Internal Market and the European Judicial Area: A Comparison

This article compares the public policy exception to free movement of goods, services, persons and capital (the four freedoms) with the public policy exception to free movement of judgments (the fifth freedom). A comparison is made on the basis of the following elements: types of public policy (domestic, international, purely inter-national; European; substantive and procedural), restrictiveness of interpretation, variability, content, nature and the addressees of protection. The conclusion is that there is only one concept of public policy that varies from time to time and from Member State to Member State, although there are some differences in the operation of the uses in the two areas of public policy.

The global financial crisis and health equity: early experiences from Canada.

BackgroundIt is widely acknowledged that austerity measures in the wake of the global financial crisis are starting to undermine population health results. Yet, few research studies have focused on the ways in which the financial crisis and the ensuing ‘Great Recession’ have affected health equity, especially through their impact on social determinants of health; neither has much attention been given to the health consequences of the fiscal austerity regime that quickly followed a brief period of counter-cyclical government spending for bank bailouts and economic stimulus. Canada has not remained insulated from these developments, despite its relative success in maneuvering the global financial crisis.MethodsThe study draws on three sources of evidence: A series of semi-structured interviews in Ottawa and Toronto, with key informants selected on the basis of their expertise (n = 12); an analysis of recent (2012) Canadian and Ontario budgetary impacts on social determinants of health; and documentation of trend data on key social health determinants pre- and post the financial crisis.ResultsThe findings suggest that health equity is primarily impacted through two main pathways related to the global financial crisis: austerity budgets and associated program cutbacks in areas crucial to addressing the inequitable distribution of social determinants of health, including social assistance, housing, and education; and the qualitative transformation of labor markets, with precarious forms of employment expanding rapidly in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. Preliminary evidence suggests that these tendencies will lead to a further deepening of existing health inequities, unless counter-acted through a change in policy direction.ConclusionsThis article documents some of the effects of financial crisis and severe economic decline on health equity in Canada. However, more research is necessary to study policy choices that could mitigate this effect. Since the policy response to a similar set of economic shocks has globally varied and led to differential health and health equity outcomes, comparative studies are now possible to assess the successes and failures of specific policy responses. This raises the question of what types of public policy can mitigate against the negative health equity effects of severe economic recessions.

Indigenous Interests and the Chapeau of Article XX: Equality of What?

My analysis focuses on a limited aspect of the Appellate Body’s (AB) EC—Seal Products decision under the chapeau of Article XX of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). It is revelatory for the kind of discrimination at issue under the chapeau in surprising ways.The general exceptions in Article XX serve to justify measures infringing other GATT provisions that have a close nexus to a list of types of public policies. The list of public policies is exhaustive. The chapeau prohibits application of those measures that arbitrarily or unjustifiably discriminate between countries where the same conditions prevail or that constitute a disguised restriction on international trade.

Application of the “Benefit-Of-the-Doubt” Approach for the Construction of a Digital Access Indicator: A Revaluation of the “Digital Access Index”

The use of composite indicators as a tool for ranking and making decisions is ever increasing in a world marked by the inequalities and competition in all domains. However, the dependence of countries ranking on the weighing scheme used to aggregate individual indices or sub-indicators, most of the time set by experts/stakeholders may weaken the credibility of composite indicators. One method which is able to overcome these limits is the “Data Envelopment Analysis” approach, particularly named “Benefit-Of-the-Doubt” in the context of composite indicators’ construction. We propose a revaluation of the Digital Access Index given that Information technology is the most important factor driving improvement in a wide array of areas critical for the quality of life for individuals as well as societies. We have shown that this method is more suitable for identifying trends and drawing attention to particular issues and also for setting policy priorities. In fact, the weights of the individual indices, used to compute the composite indicators are based on the data itself and are proper for the country under consideration. These weights contain adequate information in order to help policy-makers to better understand the nature of the new innovation economy and the types of public policies needed to drive innovation, productivity and broad-based prosperity for its citizens.

The Evolution of the Wind Industry and the Rise of Chinese Firms: From Industrial Policies to Global Innovation Networks

Powered by a growing environmental awareness and the perception of ending fossil-based energy sources, wind energy has evolved as a reliable, mature and increasingly price-competitive alternative to fossil and nuclear energy sources. Along with incremental technological progress, the wind industry, i.e. the development and manufacturing of wind turbines, has developed very dynamically both with respect to organization and location. Originating mainly in small and medium-sized enterprises in a core region of Northern Europe, the wind industry is now a global industry with an increasing significance of Chinese turbine manufacturers. Informed by evolutionary thinking and recent discussions on the concept of path dependence, we will trace this organizational change and geographical shift over time and space. We will show that the development of the wind industry is an example of on-path evolution in which the accumulation of small and incremental change has led to fundamentally new structures. The main drivers of this development have been politics and various types of public policies as well as, more recently, the globalization of knowledge production in global innovation networks—thus illustrating the need to better integrate the role of the state and of institutions at multiple levels into evolutionary thinking.

El bienestar subjetivo como enfoque e instrumento de la política pública: Una revisión analítica de la literatura

In this paper we analyze the utility that the subjective wellbeing approach brings to the study, analysis and design of public policy. It argues that the subjective wellbeing approach offers new ways to test basic assumptions of the economic and social analysis of human behavior; offers analytical tools that provide a different and complementary perspective to traditional measures and approaches regarding the aspects that matter most to the population in their development process; and provides a set of important reflections regarding the implications of the study of happiness and life satisfaction for different types of public policy and in different fields of government action. These aspects are analyzed through a historical tracing of the origins of the systematic study of subjective wellbeing and a literature review to identify issues addressed, tools developed and public policies involved.

Towards more equitable terms of cooperation: local people's contribution to commercial timber concessions

The mixed outcomes of seemingly well-intentioned partnerships that try to create mutually beneficial agreements between local communities and private firms remain a puzzle. This study looks for answers to this puzzle by reviewing a large number of empirical studies in a wide variety of contexts. The kinds of local skills and expertise that are important for good timber concession management, how local people and concession managers can construct mutually profitable relationships, the most effective strategies used by communities to defend their claims in conflicts with private firms, and the types of public policies that are supportive of more equitable terms of cooperation in forest concession management are issues that were examined in the review. Institutional arrangements that regulate the relationship between local communities and forest concessionaires, and particularly the distribution of de jure property rights, help explain the mixed results. Less conclusive evidence exists with regards to community perspectives on concession-community relationships. The study concludes by suggesting future directions for research and discusses the implications of the findings for public policy.

The Heterogeneous Nature of Urban Poor Families

This paper addresses the scholarly debate on cultural homogeneity or heterogeneity of urban poor families. While authors such as Lewis (1959) or Wacquant (2000 ; 2001) claim that structural disadvantages are linked to a particular type of identity or culture, others such as Hannerz (1969) , Anderson (1999 ; 2002) , or Portes ( Portes and Manning, 1986 ; Portes and Jensen, 1989 ) believe that it is possible to find different behaviors, expectations, decision–making processes, and outcomes among people living in seemingly identical structural conditions ( Small et al., 2010 ). Using Santiago, Chile, as a case study, we differentiate five different cultures or identities among the poor. Those identities seem to be the product of different historical and political circumstances, as well as of different types of public policies. The paper ends with a discussion of the need for poverty reduction policies to consider these differences among the poor.

The Evaluation of Institutional Reforms at Sub-national Government Levels: A Still Neglected Research Agenda

This article is meant to take a noteworthy step towards conceptually promoting the evaluation of institutional reform policies in the sub-national space. It aims to apply pertinent approaches of evaluation to the field of institutional reform policies in the intergovernmental setting and thus to contribute to a research field that arguably has so far been a ‘missing link’ in policy evaluation. The authors conceptualise institutional policies (territorial and functional reforms) as a particular type of public policy and contrast them analytically, conceptually and methodologically with ‘normal’ substantial policies. They reveal particular problems of measurement and of finding relevant indicators to evaluate the results of institutional reforms, one of which is the assessment of the transaction costs of reforms. Finally, an analytical framework for the evaluation of functional and territorial reform policies is suggested that makes a distinction between ‘institution evaluation’ and ‘performance evaluation’, and that can be applied in comparative evaluation studies.

Macroprudential Policy - An Organizing Framework

Macroprudential policy is a complement to microprudential policy and it interacts with other types of public policy that have an impact on systemic financial stability. Indeed, prudential regulation, as carried out in the past, also had some macroprudential aspects, and the recent crisis has reinforced this focus; hence, a clear separation between “micro” and “macro” prudential, if useful conceptually, is difficult to delineate in practice. Moreover, no matter how different policy mandates are structured, financial stability tends to be a common responsibility, reflecting the far reaching consequences of financial crises. This calls for coordination across policies, to ensure that systemic risk is comprehensively addressed. Equally important, macroprudential policy is no substitute for sound policies more broadly, including, in particular, strong prudential regulation and supervision, and sound macroeconomic policies. Operational independence in other policy areas, including monetary and microprudential policy, should not be undermined in the name of macroprudential policy. Finally, given the global nature of the financial system, the multilateral aspects of macroprudential policy will need to be fully considered—an important aspect that is only touched upon in this paper.

Evolução do acesso a serviços de saneamento básico no Brasil (1970 a 2004)

O objetivo do presente artigo é analisar a evolução da cobertura dos serviços de saneamento básico no Brasil do início da década de 1970 até 2004, levando em consideração algumas variáveis regionais, municipais e domiciliares: (i) região geográfica; (ii) porte do município (tamanho da população); (iii) taxa de urbanização do município; (iv) localização do domicílio (rural ou urbano) e (v) renda domiciliar mensal. Essa análise permitiu avaliar: (i) se as características do déficit de acesso domiciliar são recentes ou já existiam em 1970 e (ii) se está ocorrendo uma convergência dos índices de acesso domiciliar, ou seja, se dentro das categorias analisadas está diminuindo a diferença entre os melhores e os piores índices de acesso. Além disso, foi possível averiguar qual tipo de política pública adotada para o setor gerou investimentos que conseguiram atingir as localidades mais necessitadas.

Liberal Development Strategies: An Islamic Perspective

State and policy vacuum is an unimaginable combination. State is anyhow concerned with policy making one way or another, even if it pretends to take the form of minimum or non-government intervention in the private businesses of the individuals because this is also insistence on a particular type of public policy. The nature of public policy and development strategy is ultimately linked to the public evaluation of objectives and the assessment of economic and social means. In fact public policy is a matter of attaching weights to different goals of the life. Therefore, the legitimation of a specific form of state policy is necessarily rested upon the underlying ends and values that society aims to achieve through state powers. A proper understanding of the current State of public policy for measuring economic success, both of individual and society, requires an understanding of the informational base about the ultimate values that are regarded directly relevant for making social judgment. This paper highlights two major trends of liberal development strategies-libertarianism and social democracy-and argues why religiosity must be considered an essential integral part of development, especially in a Muslim society. Neither liberal nor libertarian policy frameworks can guarantee the sustenance of religious individuality.

A pena de Tântalo: uma política de educação profissional para trabalhadores “sedentos” por trabalho

This text presents research we carried out between 2001 and 2006 on the topic of employability, through analysis of the objectives and the target population of the National Plan for Training (Plano Nacional de Qualificação (PNQ)) which organizes basic and non-formal vocational training in the form of programs financed by the FAT. Our data was taken from national documents, from the Rio Claro PMQ, from interviews with those responsible at the local level and work plans and reports from partner institutions. Our basic problem involved researching whether basic level vocational training, as prescribed through the LDB, is an educational form used as an instrument to confront the social issue of structural unemployment and restriction of rights. Our hypotheses were: 1) the courses offered can be seen as social welfare policies, directed toward able but redundant workers; 2) this type of public policy has been constituted as a response to the crisis of capitalist society insofar as it must face up to the deepening of social problems. The PNQ was planned based on notions of competence and employability. The proposal was for worker acquisition of skills that would make him/her “employable”, polivalent and competitive. Our conclusion is that workers have been subjected to the need for permanent preparation for a job that takes forever to appear. Thus, the analogy to Tantalus, whose burden was to endure an unquenchable thirst at the edge of a well. In the current conjuncture of capitalist crisis which has caused considerable reduction in job supply, the reflections presented here contribute to a necessary struggle against mystifications that claim a linear relationship between training and getting a job. Keywords: employability, labor and education, education and poverty, social issues, vocational training.

Pourquoi les systèmes de santé sont-ils organisés différemment ?

Résumé Un système national de santé organise et régule simultanément deux types d’interventions publiques : tout d’abord, comme toute politique sociale, il met en œuvre des transferts de revenus, entre ménages, selon la richesse et l’état de santé, mais aussi entre ménages et producteurs de soins. Il agit aussi comme régulateur des relations entre des producteurs et des consommateurs d’un bien essentiellement privé mais difficilement observable, la santé. On peut donc concevoir que ces systèmes soient organisés très différemment d’un pays à l’autre, et chercher quels sont les facteurs, objectifs comme le degré d’inégalité des revenus, ou liés aux valeurs, comme l’aversion pour l’inégalité, qui expliquent ces différences entre systèmes nationaux de santé. Cet article est une première étape sur la voie d’une modélisation de la façon dont les systèmes nationaux font des choix : les modèles théoriques sont passés en revue, ainsi que les variables dépendantes à retenir pour décrire les systèmes de santé.