scholarly journals Citizen monitoring of waterways decreases pollution in China by supporting government action and oversight

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (29) ◽  
pp. e2015175118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark T. Buntaine ◽  
Bing Zhang ◽  
Patrick Hunnicutt
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Nongovernmental Organization ◽  
Government Action ◽  
Persistent Problem ◽  
The Public ◽  
Urban Waterways ◽  
Resource Managers ◽  
Citizen Monitoring

Water pollution is a persistent problem in China, in part, because local governments fail to implement water quality standards set by national and provincial authorities. These higher authorities often lack regular information about the immediate and long-term achievement of remediation targets. Accordingly, central authorities have encouraged nongovernmental organizations to monitor local governments’ remediation efforts. This study examines whether nongovernmental monitoring of urban waterways improves water quality by facilitating oversight of local governments or instigating public action for remediation. We randomly assigned urban waterways in Jiangsu province previously identified for remediation to be monitored by a partner nongovernmental organization for 15 mo. We further randomized whether the resulting information was disseminated to local and provincial governments, the public, or both. Disseminating results from monitoring to local and provincial governments improved water quality, but disseminating results to the public did not have detectable effects on water quality or residents’ pursuit of remediation through official and volunteer channels. Monitoring can improve resource management when it provides information that makes local resource managers accountable to higher authorities.

scholarly journals Deficit, Decay and Deprioritization of Transport Infrastructure in Nigeria: Policy Options for Sustainability

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lionel Effiom ◽  
Peter Ubi
Keyword(s):  
Local Governments ◽  
Common Knowledge ◽  
Current Data ◽  
Transport Infrastructure ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Road Infrastructure ◽  
The Public ◽  
Sub Saharan

<p>It is common knowledge that Nigeria’s road infrastructure, and indeed the general infrastructure of sub-Saharan Africa, is in a most despicable condition. This paper formalises this observation by providing current data to support the hypothesis. By deploying descriptive and theoretical methodological approaches, it demonstrates that road infrastructure is not only deteriorating but also suffers from a twin evil of deficit and deprioritisation in the public sector’s preferential scale–a state of indifference of sorts. Long and short term policy choices have to be made to urgently address the issue. In the short term, infrastructure concessions, public private partnerships (PPP), pension funds, sovereign wealth fund, savings from reduction in fuel subsidies, leveraging on the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) mechanism–are part of the portfolio of choices that government can readily choose from. In the long term however, the paper recommends increase in the statutory allocation to the states and local governments which would ensure that component units of the federation control more resources to deploy and develop infrastructure in their immediate domain.</p>

scholarly journals Do local governments use municipal companies for off-balance-sheet financing?

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (54) ◽  
pp. 242-257
Author(s):  
Weronika Stobieniecka ◽  
Anna Białek-Jaworska
Keyword(s):  
Capital Structure ◽  
Corporate Finance ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Balance Sheet ◽  
Agency Problems ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Explanatory Variables ◽  
The Public ◽  
Debt Capacity

AbstractThis paper investigates whether municipalities in Poland use their municipal companies to increase debt capacity beyond the limitations imposed by the fiscal debt rules. The article presents corporate governance and agency problems on the example of relations between local government units and affiliated companies. We review and link literature on corporate finance, in particular capital structure, and public finance - debt liabilities of municipalities. We analyse a sample of 2,019 observations of municipalities and their municipal companies using the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) method, where explanatory variables were taken from the public and corporate finance (leverage and its determinants). Results show that long-term debt of municipalities is positively associated with the leverage and size of municipal companies, but it is negatively related to their profitability.

scholarly journals Subsidiarity in the service of regional policy: The perspective from Poland’s West Pomerania region

European View ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-61
Author(s):  
Olgierd Geblewicz
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
Development Policy ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Regional Policy ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Development Planning ◽  
The Public ◽  
Two Stages ◽  
Local Levels

Poland’s local governments, introduced into the public administration system in two stages in 1989 and 1999, have become important actors in the development policy conducted at the national and local levels. Setting up voivodeships—the third-level units of local government—was particularly significant for building strong foundations for a comprehensive regional policy in Poland. Voivodeships create the conditions needed for the long-term economic and social development of their territories. That is why voivodeships should be governed by visionaries rather than administrators. The direct responsibility for regional development planning and programming positions their leaders as the coordinators of development activities in the region and the wise investors of EU funds. Their role must be reflected in the appropriate coordination of development activities at the local level and the ability to offer territorially sensitive financial tools to local communities.

scholarly journals Budżet roczny - narzędzie stabilizacji czy destabilizacji systemu finansowego JST?

2017 ◽  
pp. 89-103
Author(s):  
Marek Dylewski
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Financial Management ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Financial Stability ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Financial System ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The Public ◽  
Annual Budget

The objective of this study is to answer the question should the annual budget continue to be the basic document and the basis for the financial management of local governments, or is it necessary to make changes in the budget system. These doubts arise from the research question: whether the referred annual budget in the current conditions is a tool of stabilization of the financial system of local government units or not? Introduced in the Public Finance Act of 2009, the system of two independent documents, i.a. the annual budget and the long-term financial forecast, without specification of hierarchy, relationship and connection between these documents, does not lead to financial stability of local government from both the point of view of implementation of the budget and the consequences of decisions made by the local government authorities. The lessons that have been learned indicate that the annual budgeting is increasingly leading to destabilization of the financial system of local government units

Thai Public Capital Budget and Management Process

2019 ◽  
pp. 206-235
Author(s):  
Arwiphawee Srithongrung ◽  
Kenneth A. Kriz
Keyword(s):  
Local Governments ◽  
Public Investment ◽  
Public Capital ◽  
Capital Budgeting ◽  
Infrastructure Investment ◽  
Budget Process ◽  
Public Infrastructure ◽  
The Public ◽  
Debt Capacity

This chapter describes the public capital budgeting process in Thailand. Public infrastructure is very centralized; local governments do not play a large role in public infrastructure investment. The country's long-term physical planning is fragmented and lacks an effective long-term fiscal planning. The budget process is dominated by senior civil servants in the Bureau of the Budget, the Ministry of Finance, Bank of Thailand, and the National Economic and Social Development Board. Expensive projects financed by long-term debt bypass the budget process, and as a result, a comprehensive list of annually approved projects is unavailable to the public. This leads to public investment being driven almost entirely by debt capacity. Because of these factors, Thai governments have invested too little in public infrastructure, and the infrastructure investment is uneven across sectors.

Pandemia a funkcjonowanie jednostek samorządu gminnego zadłużonych w parabankach – przypadek gminy Raciechowice

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 95-112
Author(s):  
Marta Balcerek-Kosiarz ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Service ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Public Services ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Core ◽  
Financial Condition ◽  
Legal Forms ◽  
Service Strategies ◽  
Financial Recovery

The aim of the article is to present the influence of pandemic, which contributes to changes in the scope of the delivery of public services by local governments. An interesting example are local governments, which have increased their financial debt in spite of their financial recovery programmes. These local governments were forced to change their public service strategies and their management in the sphere of select organizational and legal forms. The article presents the proposal of the public service delivery on the example of the Raciechowice municipality, in the Małopolskie voivodship, which in 2020 reached the highest debt level in Poland. The financial condition of the Raciechowice municipality is compared with the Ostrowice municipality, which was abolished on January 1, 2020 by including its territory into Drawsko Pomorskie. The core conclusion of the study is the fact that the delivery of public services by budgetary units contributes to the increase of the financial debt of the Raciechowice municipality. The decisions of central authorities, which instead of implementing long-term solutions during the pandemic availed themselves of emergency aid tools, also impact the increase in the budgetary deficit. This resulted in the necessity of finding additional resources on the part of local government units and in consequence led to the growth of the non-bank financial intermediary market.

scholarly journals ANALISIS KEMAMPUAN FISKAL PEMERINTAH KABUPATEN DAN KOTA DI JAWA TIMUR DALAM TRANSPARANSI DI WEBSITE

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 60
Author(s):  
Setu Setyawan
Keyword(s):  
Local Governments ◽  
Sample Selection ◽  
Public Information ◽  
Financial Statements ◽  
City Governments ◽  
The Public ◽  
Government Websites ◽  
The Government ◽  
High Level

This research aims to analyze the relationship between the fiscal capacity of district and city governments in East Java Province with uploading on the website. This research is important to find out the extent to which the Government needs to provide public information that can be accessed by the public and stakeholders, and the existence of transparency that provides a positive image for the government. This type of research is associative research. The population in this study were all-district / city local governments in East Java with a focus on 2017. Based on the criteria determined in the sample selection using purposive sampling techniques, there were 36 local governments used in the study. Research results show that the amount of wealth owned by local governments does not encourage local governments to disclose financial statements on local government websites. While local governments with high levels of leverage tend to cover their financial statements. This can be due to the higher leverage, the lower the funding obtained from creditors. The high level of leverage that is owned by local governments makes creditors will rethink in lending funds because it takes into account the ability to pay long-term obligations. In addition, the use of high debt as a source of regional financing can signal a negative performance of local governments.

Operating within the boundaries of legislation, accountability and personal agendas

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 346-365
Author(s):  
Sotirios Karatzimas ◽  
Carles Griful Miquela
Keyword(s):  
Local Governments ◽  
Choice Theory ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Financial Sustainability ◽  
Online Questionnaire ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
Long Run ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine and compare the views of mayors and comptrollers of Catalan municipalities on aspects related to the Spanish legislation on financial sustainability – its usefulness and necessity of maintaining, its impact on citizens’ welfare and alternative proposals. The setting is rather interesting as strict rules are imposed by a legislation criticized of mimicking European Commission policies, on well-performing municipalities, in light of the recent “independency” conflict. Design/methodology/approach The study uses insights from the public choice theory and the concept of accountability to draw a framework that could explain the perceptions of mayors and comptrollers. The views of the two groups are captured with the use of an online questionnaire. Findings The results indicate that while the application of strict rules has borne fruit, this trend is not sustainable in the long run and a careful reconsideration is required. Accordingly, both groups express concerns on citizens’ future welfare. It moreover appears that in this particular setting, mayors’ and comptrollers’ sense of accountability toward citizens exceed their personal interests. Originality/value This study provides empirical evidence on the impact of strict budget stability and sustainability rules on the long-term financial sustainability of local governments from the point of view of mayors and municipality comptrollers who are called to implement them.

scholarly journals Kluczowe zagadnienia dotyczące projektowania i realizacji programów polityki zdrowotnej

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 203-216
Author(s):  
Monika Patyna ◽  
Aneta Płusa ◽  
Anna Ziębińska
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Policy ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Monitoring And Evaluation ◽  
Design Assessment ◽  
The Public ◽  
To Receive ◽  
Health Experts

The design, assessment, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of health policy programs Health policy programs (HPP) are since 2004 one of the available paths of implementing public health tasks by local government units (LGUs). The design, assessment, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of HPP is regulated by the Act on the provision of health services financed from public funds. In 2009 an obligation to receive opinions on HPP projects from the Agency for Health Technology Assessment and Tariffs (AOTMiT, agency) has been introduced. Considering the increasing trend of HPP projects numbers sent for opinionizing by the Agency, this form of healthrelated activity is more frequently and willingly chosen by local government units. The experience of both LGUs and the Agency related to previously executed HPP in Poland indicates, that despite statutory changes and attempts to clarify the entries regarding this form of public health tasks in Poland, questions and doubts regarding the design, assessment and implementation of HPP still occur. Another issue discussed by the experts is whether HPP should become a mandatory task of local governments or whether they only supplement the public health system. In addition, an important subject of discussion by public health experts concerns the evaluation of health policy programs. There is an emphasis on the importance of designing HPP in a way that ensures implementation and performing actions that bring long-term health effects in the population. It also seems important to support this form of local governments activity in both substantive and financial terms. The Agency is one of the institutions that has an important role to play in supporting local government units in developing HPP projects of the highest quality, which has a direct impact on their effectiveness, satisfying health needs and improving the health of the population.

scholarly journals Bringing citizen monitoring into land management: a case study of the Bosque Ecosystem Monitoring Program

2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (03) ◽  
pp. A02 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rowan Converse ◽  
Daniel Shaw ◽  
Kim Eichhorst ◽  
May Leinhart
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resource ◽  
Monitoring Program ◽  
Rapid Expansion ◽  
Federal State ◽  
Ecosystem Monitoring ◽  
Resource Managers ◽  
Natural Resource Managers ◽  
Citizen Monitoring

Despite the rapid expansion of citizen-based monitoring, data from these programs remain underutilized by natural resource managers, perhaps due to quality and comparability issues. We present the Bosque Ecosystem Monitoring Program as a case study of an initiative successfully meeting long-term monitoring needs of federal, state, tribal, and local natural resource managers, and informing public policy. To maximize potential for partnerships with managers, we recommend the creation of a five-year plan including scientific goals and financial solvency strategies prior to establishing a citizen science program, and offering multiple platforms for data-sharing and dialogue.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document