Three episodes of Massachusetts history: the settlement of Boston bay; the Antinomian controversy; a study of church and town government.

Photocopy.

Lectures on the general principles of moral government, as they are exhibited in the first three chapters of Genesis.

Mode of access: Internet.

History of the discovery and settlement of the valley of the Mississippi, by the three great European powers, Spain, France, and Great Britain, and the subsequent occupation, settlement, and extension of civil government by the United States until the year 1846 /

References: Howes, U.S.IANA, no. M.722.

Three episodes of Massachusetts history: the settlement of Boston Bay; the Antinomian controversy; a study of church and town government,

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Natural resource windfalls and efficiency of local government expenditures: evidence from Peru

We study the role of natural resource windfalls in explaining the efficiency of public expenditures. Using a rich dataset of expenditures and public good provision for 1,836 municipalities in Peru for period 2001-2010, we estimate a non-monotonic relationship between the efficiency of public good provision and the level of natural resource transfers. Local governments that were extremely favored by the boom of mineral prices were more efficient in using fiscal windfalls whereas those benefited with modest transfers were more inefficient. These results can be explained by the increase in political competition associated with the boom. However, the fact that increases in efficiency were related to reductions in public good provision casts doubts about the beneficial effects of political competition in promoting efficiency.

A decade of decentralisation? Assessing the role of the government offices for the English regions

The Government Offices for the English regions were established in 1994 to coordinate the regional activities of three central government departments. A decade on, regional government in England is greatly expanded, and two other institutions of regional governance, the Regional Development Agencies and the Regional Assemblies, have also been created. In 2002 the Labour government proposed that this 'triad' of regional governance should be further reformed and strengthened, in some places being brought to democratic account. In this paper, we argue that academic research on the English regions has generally focused on the Regional Development Agencies and to a lesser extent the Regional Assemblies, to the exclusion of the Government Offices. This focus has led some to overstate the extent to which regional government represents the real decentralisation of power. Focusing on the role of the Government Offices, we argue that central government retains a great deal of power over the 'triad' institutions, which in their current form may be unable to challenge the structure of power in the English state.

From Hippocrates to commodities: three models of NHS governance

A series of inquiries and reports suggest considerable failings in the care provided to some patients in the NHS. Although the Bristol Inquiry report of 2001 led to the creation of many new regulatory bodies to supervise the NHS, they have never enjoyed consistent support from government and the Mid Staffordshire Inquiry in 2013 suggests they made little difference. Why do some parts of the NHS disregard patients’ interests and how we should we respond to the challenge? The following discusses the evolution of approaches to NHS governance through the Hippocratic, Managerial and Commercial models, and assesses their risks and benefits. Apart from the ethical imperative, the need for effective governance is driven both by the growth in information available to the public and the resources wasted by ineffective systems of care. Appropriate solutions depend on an understanding of the perverse incentives inherent in each model and the need for greater sensitivity to the voices of patients and the public.

Education and knowledge: basic pillars of changing production patterns with social equity

Includes bibliography

Labour markets, worker protection and lifelong learning in a global economy: experiences and perspectives of Latin America and the Caribbean

Includes bibliography

Three forms of social coordination

Includes bibliography

Under the veneer of decentralisation. Ukraine's modernisation efforts stall due to lack of local government reform. OSW Commentary No. 102, 2013-02-12

President Viktor Yanukovych and his Party of Regions have been repeating the pledge to decentralise power in Ukraine and to give local government a greater decision-making role ever since the party appeared on the Ukrainian political scene. The implementation of this reform is crucial both for the economic recovery of Ukraine’s regions and the overall modernisation efforts of the Ukrainian state. At present relations between central government and the regions are regulated by Soviet-era legislation that fails to address the modern-day challenges facing Ukraine. The political elite in the country, including the opposition, appear to have reached consensus on the importance of the decentralisation reform. The first attempts to implement changes in this area were made in the late 1990s, followed by a comprehensive reform programme developed between 2007 and 2009 by Yulia Tymoshenko’s government. In 2012, the Constitutional Assembly under the President of Ukraine appointed a team of experts who drafted a document detailing the reform of local government and the territorial organisation of power1. The document envisages the implementation of what effectively are two major reforms: (1) an administrative-territorial reform, which would help consolidate the fragmented administrative structure, creating larger and more economically self-sufficient administrative units, and (2) local government reform, focusing on creating clearly defined powers for local authorities with a view to securing government funding for specific tasks delegated from central government. Nonetheless, despite these measures, and in spite of the rhetoric coming from President Yanukovych and other members of the Party of Regions, it seems unlikely that the reform will be implemented in the foreseeable future. A series of concrete political decisions taken by the president over the past three years indicate that Yanukovych has not abandoned his plan to build a highly centralised political system. This in turn limits the capacity to govern of local authorities and further restricts the sources of funding for Ukraine’s regions. This apparent resistance to change stems from the fact that by implementing the proposed reforms, the president and his political allies would be forced to relinquish much of their control over the political processes taking place in the country and would have to free up the distribution of budgetary resources between Kyiv and the regions. The implementation of the reform within the specified timeframe (i.e. by 2015) is also unlikely due to the upcoming presidential election and the deteriorating economic situation in Ukraine. Without a comprehensive reform of local government, however, Ukraine will be unable to undertake effective modernisation measures, which are key for the socio-economic development of the country’s regions.

Democratization of local government in Brazil : decentralisation and people's councils

This research studies two cases of implementation of alternative strategies for municipal government reform in Brazil, decentralisation and People's Councils. The aim is to answer the following general question: `Can decentralisation and People's Councils be a means for democratization of municipal government in Brazil?'. The hypothesis is that initiatives to reform Brazilian municipal governments face problems that are characteristic of the Brazilian political and administrative reality. These problems are considered obstacles for the development of those initiatives and accordingly, for democratization of municipal government in Brazil. After an introduction and outline in Chapter One, Chapter Two discusses four main theories concerning local government. Chapter Three discusses decentralisation and People's Councils are discussed in Chapter Four. Chapter Five presents a historical, political and economic overview of Brazil. Chapter Six deals with Brazilian Federalism and Municipal Government. The main aspects of the Municipal Government are presented as well as the development of municipal autonomy through the various Federal Constitutions and cases of People's Councils and decentralisation in municipalities in Brazil. Chapter Seven presents the political parties responsible for the initiatives, the PSDB (Brazilian Social Democratic Party) in the case of decentralisation, and the PT (Workers' Party) in the case of People's Councils. In Chapter Eight the research strategy and the data collection techniques are described. Chapters Nine and Ten present decentralisation implemented by the PSDB in Belo Horizonte, the Minas Gerais state capital and People's Councils introduced by the PT in the town of Ipatinga in the same state. Conclusions are presented in Chapter Eleven and include a comparison and discussion of the two cases. The thesis shows that these experiments with alternative strategies of local government face problems that are generally current in Brazilian political and administrative reality. Those problems are concerned with unwillingness to decentralise power, clientelism, low levels of participation of civil society and the `political' use of the structures implemented.

Determinants of local government pension funding: Empirical evidence from Florida

The financial community is well aware that continued underfunding of state and local government pension plans poses many public policy and fiduciary management concerns. However, a well-defined theoretical rationale has not been developed to explain why and how public sector pension plans underfund. This study uses three methods: a survey of national pension experts, an incomplete covariance panel method, and field interviews.^ A survey of national public sector pension experts was conducted to provide a conceptual framework by which underfunding could be evaluated. Experts suggest that plan design, fiscal stress, and political culture factors impact underfunding. However, experts do not agree with previous research findings that unions actively pursue underfunding to secure current wage increases.^ Within the conceptual framework and determinants identified by experts, several empirical regularities are documented for the first time. Analysis of 173 local government pension plans, observed from 1987 to 1992, was conducted. Findings indicate that underfunding occurs in plans that have lower retirement ages, increased costs due to benefit enhancements, when the sponsor faces current year operating deficits, or when a local government relies heavily on inelastic revenue sources. Results also suggest that elected officials artificially inflate interest rate assumptions to reduce current pension costs, consequently shifting these costs to future generations. In concurrence with some experts there is no data to support the assumption that highly unionized employees secure more funding than less unionized employees.^ Empirical results provide satisfactory but not overwhelming statistical power, and only minor predictive capacity. To further explore why underfunding occurs, field interviews were carried out with 62 local government officials. Practitioners indicated that perceived fiscal stress, the willingness of policymakers to advance funding, bargaining strategies used by union officials, apathy by employees and retirees, pension board composition, and the level of influence by internal pension experts has an impact on funding outcomes.^ A pension funding process model was posited by triangulating the expert survey, empirical findings, and field survey results. The funding process model should help shape and refine our theoretical knowledge of state and local government pension underfunding in the future. ^

Foreign direct investment motives and location decision factors under economic recession: Three cases of Finnish FDI in Portugal

The purpose of this thesis was to study how uncertainty in economic conditions of the FDI host country affects location decision of an investment, and what kinds of motives are behind the investment decision to a country in economic recession, in this case Portugal. The country has attracted foreign direct investment steadily, but it is evident that most multinational firms and investors tend to be more interested in emerging economies in general. The aim was to find out also which host country specific advantages are important in this kind of cross-border investment and which factors are important for an FDI to succeed under economic uncertainty at the host country. The study was done by analyzing three Finnish case companies: a private equity and real estate investment firm Pontos Group, A wave energy technology research and development company AW Energy and NSN, Nokia Solutions and Networks, a global telecommunications company. The research was done empirically, by interviewing experts on the subject, mainly persons representing these companies. In addition relevant articles, journals and content from case companies’ web-pages is used for the desk research regarding the topic. The results of this thesis showed that the FDIs with strategic asset-seeking investments seem most profitable FDI types under uncertain economic conditions. This kind of investments aim to strengthen the company’s long-term strategy, including the time after recession. Firm-specific ownership advantages that bring competitive advantage proved out to be important under these circumstances, as well as first-mover advantages and externally created assets such as government promotional policies regarding FDI incentives. Also the location was considered suitable for resource- or efficiency seeking motives, based on the lowered price level at the host country. Problems were related mainly to financing, but as foreign companies receive financing usually from their home countries, the economic recession of the host country does not have significant effect for FDI decision, according to this study

All Green, But Equal? Morphological Traits And Ecological Implications On Spores Of Three Species Of Mosses In The Brazilian Atlantic Forest.

Spores of the tropical mosses Pyrrhobryum spiniforme, Neckeropsis undulata and N. disticha were characterized regarding size, number per capsule and viability. Chemical substances were analyzed for P. spiniforme and N. undulata spores. Length of sporophyte seta (spore dispersal ability) was analyzed for P. spiniforme. Four to six colonies per species in each site (lowland and highland areas of an Atlantic Forest; Serra do Mar State Park, Brazil) were visited for the collection of capsules (2008 - 2009). Neckeropsis undulata in the highland area produced the largest spores (ca. 19 µm) with the highest viability. The smallest spores were found in N. disticha in the lowland (ca. 13 µm). Pyrrhobryum spiniforme produced more spores per capsule in the highland (ca. 150,000) than in lowland (ca. 40,000); longer sporophytic setae in the lowland (ca. 64 mm) than in the highland (ca. 43 mm); and similar sized spores in both areas (ca. 16 µm). Spores of N. undulata and P. spiniforme contained lipids and proteins in the cytoplasm, and acid/neutral lipids and pectins in the wall. Lipid bodies were larger in N. undulata than in P. spiniforme. No starch was recorded for spores. Pyrrhobryum spiniforme in the highland area, different from lowland, was characterized by low reproductive effort, but presented many spores per capsule.