Future-Oriented Reforms

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johannes Lindvall
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political Competition ◽  
Power Sharing ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Policy Changes ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Pension Systems ◽  
Political Risks ◽  
Winner Takes All

Theories of policymaking need to take into account that political institutions, and decision-makers, are situated in time. This chapter shows that when it comes to reforms with investment-like properties—policy changes that are associated with short-term costs and long-term benefits—reform capacity can be higher in power-sharing systems than in power-concentration systems. The reason is that investment-like reforms are associated with great political risks in countries with winner-takes-all political competition. The chapter's empirical sections are concerned with two types of future-oriented reforms: reforms of old-age pension systems and reforms of tax systems. Power sharing has been associated with high levels of reform capacity in both of these policy areas.

Reform Capacity

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johannes Lindvall
Keyword(s):  
Interest Groups ◽  
Power Sharing ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
The Other ◽  
Policy Changes ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Market Policy ◽  
Bargaining Problems

Reform capacity—the ability of political decision-makers to adopt and implement policy changes that benefit society as a whole—can be achieved in two different ways. One method is to build institutions that concentrate power, enabling governments to ignore losers from reform. The other method, which governments rely more on in systems where power is shared, is to build institutions that enable governments to compensate losers from reform. The book discusses numerous empirical examples of how governments have built support for reforms by compensating losers. These examples are drawn from several different policy areas, including trade and labor market policy, fiscal policy, social policy, and tax and economic policy. If political decision-makers in power-sharing democracies are able to solve the bargaining problems that can sometimes complicate negotiations between winners and losers, power-sharing systems have certain advantages over power-concentration systems. Power sharing can lead to high reform capacity in societies where interest groups are powerful enough to block reforms. Power sharing can also lead to high reform capacity when reforms have short-term costs and long-term benefits, since it helps to correct some of the short-sightedness inherent in democratic policymaking.

Two Theories of Effective Government

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johannes Lindvall
Keyword(s):  
Political Science ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Public Policies ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Precise Definition ◽  
Policy Changes ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter introduces the problem of “reform capacity” (the ability of political decision-makers to adopt and implement policy changes that benefit society as a whole, by adjusting public policies to changing economic, social, and political circumstances). The chapter also reviews the long-standing discussion in political science about the relationship between political institutions and effective government. Furthermore, the chapter explains why the possibility of compensation matters greatly for the politics of reform; provides a precise definition of the concept of reform capacity; describes the book's general approach to this problem; and discusses the ethics of compensating losers from reform; and presents the book's methodological approach.

Social trust, norms and morality

Human Affairs ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Miroslav Popper
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Social Trust ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Dynamic Change ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Legal Norms ◽  
Increased Sensitivity ◽  
The Individual

AbstractThe article approaches the topic of social trust from an evolutionary perspective. It begins by summarising the most influential approaches that have defined specific and social trust and ascertains what causes differences in degrees of trust and how the potential risk of deception might be lowered. It then notes that the basis of morality had already been formed during the era of prehistoric man, who was able to create coalitions against aggressors and to socially control the behaviour of deviants. It points out, however, that having a certain predisposition to behaving cooperatively or an increased sensitivity to recognising and not tolerating behaviour aimed at abusing cooperation is not a sufficient guarantee of the fact that people will always (or at least in the majority of situations) favour cooperation over deception. One of the reasons for this is a tendency to favour short-term gains over long-term ones. The article argues that establishing norms (moral, social and legal) produces a higher level of social trust because it not only “encourages” individuals to behave in certain ways in particular situations but also works as a sanction which “discourages” the individual from socially deviant behaviour. The article then focuses on a debate about the causal relationship between social trust and social capital. It discusses the suggestion that political institutions, government and the judiciary may reduce rather than raise levels of social capital and consequently also the level of social trust. This is partly because of their powerful position and the consequent scope for corruption and partly because of the fact that even when attempting to act honestly, representatives of these institutions cannot sufficiently reflect upon dynamic change at the local level. Finally, the article ends by adopting the position that social trust is built primarily from bottom up and so it is risky to continually doubt the very existence and usefulness of social norms and morality and to be governed simply by legal norms.

scholarly journals Effectiveness of COVID-19 Vaccines against Delta (B.1.617.2) Variant: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Clinical Studies

Vaccines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 23
Author(s):  
Ali Pormohammad ◽  
Mohammad Zarei ◽  
Saied Ghorbani ◽  
Mehdi Mohammadi ◽  
Saeideh Aghayari Sheikh Neshin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Severe Infection ◽  
Vaccination Rate ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Morbidity Rate ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Mortality And Morbidity ◽  
Public Health Decision ◽  
Health Decision

The high transmissibility, mortality, and morbidity rate of the SARS-CoV-2 Delta (B.1.617.2) variant have raised concerns regarding vaccine effectiveness (VE). To address this issue, all publications relevant to the effectiveness of vaccines against the Delta variant were searched in the Web of Science, Scopus, EMBASE, and Medline (via PubMed) databases up to 15 October 2021. A total of 15 studies (36 datasets) were included in the meta-analysis. After the first dose, the VE against the Delta variant for each vaccine was 0.567 (95% CI 0.520–0.613) for Pfizer-BioNTech, 0.72 (95% CI 0.589–0.822) for Moderna, 0.44 (95% CI 0.301–0.588) for AstraZeneca, and 0.138 (95% CI 0.076–0.237) for CoronaVac. Meta-analysis of 2,375,957 vaccinated cases showed that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine had the highest VE against the infection after the second dose, at 0.837 (95% CI 0.672–0.928), and third dose, at 0.972 (95% CI 0.96–0.978), as well as the highest VE for the prevention of severe infection or death, at 0.985 (95% CI 0.95–0.99), amongst all COVID-19 vaccines. The short-term effectiveness of vaccines, especially mRNA-based vaccines, for the prevention of the Delta variant infection, hospitalization, severe infection, and death is supported by this study. Limitations include a lack of long-term efficacy data, and under-reporting of COVID-19 infection cases in observational studies, which has the potential to falsely skew VE rates. Overall, this study supports the decisions by public health decision makers to promote the population vaccination rate to control the Delta variant infection and the emergence of further variants.

scholarly journals Alternatives to groundwater abstraction as a measure to stop land subsidence: a case study of Semarang, Indonesia

2019 ◽  
Vol 125 ◽  
pp. 01003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wesley Beek ◽  
Bart Letitre ◽  
H. Hadiyanto ◽  
S. Sudarno
Keyword(s):  
Cost Benefit Analysis ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Drinking Water Treatment ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Groundwater Abstraction ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Treatment Services

The Water as Leverage project aims to lay a blueprint for urban coastal areas around the world that are facing a variety of water-related issues. The blueprint is based upon three real case studies in Bangladesh, India and Indonesia. The case of Indonesia focuses on Semarang, a city that faces issues like flooding, increased water demand, and a lack of wastewater treatment. In this report I summarise the different techniques available to tackling these issues. Along with this I provide a cost-benefit analysis to support decision makers. For a short term it is recommended to produce industrial water from (polluted) surface water as a means to offer an alternative to groundwater abstraction. On a long term it is recommended to install additional wastewater and drinking water treatment services to facilitate better hygiene and a higher quality of life.

scholarly journals Kenyan Universities: On the Brink of Financial Insolvency

2019 ◽  
pp. 25-27
Author(s):  
Ishmael Munene
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Financial Crisis ◽  
National Level ◽  
Entire System ◽  
Policy Changes ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Institutional Level ◽  
Financial Governance

The financial crisis engulfing Kenyan universities has impacted operations and raised doubts about long-term sustainability. This crisis has a double impetus: at the national level, policy changes impacting the entire system, and at the institutional level, challenges in terms of financial governance. A short-term solution requires an immediate infusion of cash, but a long-term strategy entails a multipronged reform in the financing of higher education at national and institutional levels.

The Shift towards Smart, Green and Integrated Raw Materials Efficiency

2014 ◽  
Vol 718 ◽  
pp. 105-109
Author(s):  
Eva Oravcová ◽  
Miroslav Zelko
Keyword(s):  
Decision Support ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Supervision System ◽  
Requirements Development ◽  
And Control ◽  
Term Data

Comprehensive environmental observation, eco-innovation and smartization are essential to ensure the delivery of the long-term data and information required to address the shift towards smart, green and integrated raw materials efficiency. For this reason we need the mine-wide digitalization and informatization base model, an advanced mine-wide decision support system and a smart supervision system to supervise and control the production, back to predefined short-term production targets with most likelihood and optimal approaches. There are three main steps to be taken: analysis, evaluation and determination of the shift requirements, development of the models as well as modeling of the scenarios and connection to the smart platform for the support of the decision makers. The paper aims to consider what would be required for a raw materials area to operate as a modern smart technology-supported business. It attempts to provide a vision of some future smart architectures scenarios.

scholarly journals Characterizing agile supply partnerships in the fashion industry

2016 ◽  
Vol 36 (8) ◽  
pp. 923-947 ◽  
Author(s):  
Corrado Cerruti ◽  
Carlos Mena ◽  
Heather Skipworth ◽  
Ernesto Tavoletti
Keyword(s):  
Decision Makers ◽  
Exploratory Research ◽  
Fashion Industry ◽  
Strategic Partnerships ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Organizational Relationships ◽  
Apparent Paradox ◽  
Content Type ◽  
High Turbulence

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate high-involvement and short-term supply relationships, known as agile supply partnerships (ASPs), and explores the conditions that support the development of such inter-organizational relationships. Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative exploratory research design was followed, based on in-depth case studies of Italian fashion footwear manufacturers and their relationships with key suppliers. Findings – ASPs appear to be most relevant in supply material categories which have a high impact on the appearance or functionality of the product. Conversely, in supply categories with a low impact, long-term partnerships are preferred. Four main characteristics of ASPs are identified: they are part of a portfolio of relationships to balance the rigidities of long-term strategic partnerships; they have project-like features; they are developed from a network of pre-qualified suppliers; they are recurring and intermittent rather than continuous or isolated one-off short-term partnerships. Research limitations/implications – The research has been carried out in the context of an Italian footwear district. Further research is required to evaluate the validity of the propositions in other sectors and geographies. Practical implications – The research can help decision makers in the fashion industry, and potentially other sectors affected by high turbulence, to identify when ASPs are most appropriate and what characteristics they should have. Originality/value – This research contributes to the literature on agility by empirically evaluating the apparent paradox related to the specific characteristics of supply relationships required to foster an agile strategy and by clarifying the conditions under which fashion companies develop ASPs.

Electoral Participation and Republican Moderation

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Whiting
Keyword(s):  
Rational Choice ◽  
Power Sharing ◽  
Electoral Participation ◽  
Electoral Institutions ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Critical Juncture ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
Outright Rejection ◽  
Democratic Elections

This chapter traces how electoral participation contributed to the moderation of republicanism. It argues that liberal democratic elections simply do not allow for revolution. The decision by Irish republicans to participate in elections in 1981 was a critical juncture. The path it chose pushed the movement in an increasingly moderate direction, moving away from parallel states and outright rejection in favour of ambivalent electoral participation. Once this path was chosen republicans became locked-in, resulting in republicans fractionalising their long-term goal into short-term aims, courting voters beyond their core supporters, increasing engagement with ruling institutions, and using the existing system rather than trying to overthrow it. This electoral direction was later reinforced by the power-sharing arrangements which brought republicans into government. Moderation occurred in spite of republicans rejecting the legitimacy of the electoral institutions in which they were now competing. Electoral participation was a rational choice by republicans to pursue their goals through a new means in the hope of avoiding marginalisation.

Comparative analysis of budgeting in the Slovene hotel industry

2011 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-100
Author(s):  
Gordana Ivankovič ◽  
Mateja Jerman
Keyword(s):  
Strategic Management ◽  
Business Strategy ◽  
Management Accounting ◽  
Hotel Industry ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Business Strategies ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Strategic Management Accounting ◽  
Standard Cost

The main purpose of the presented research was to investigate whether Slovene hotels that have a business strategy and strategic management accounting are more successful in comparison with those that still do not have a long-term business strategy and strategic management accounting.Hotels that have a business strategy and strategic management accounting are expected to be more successful in comparison with those that still do not have a long-term business strategy. Questionnaires were distributed to the management of selected Slovene hotels. The Slovene budgeting practices were assessed in Slovene large hotels, which have more than 100 rooms. The analysis was performed at the beginning of the years 2004 and 2008, respectively. Budgeting practices in Slovene hotels were assessed by analyzing the extent to which managers used strategic management accounting and the extent to which business strategies were implemented. The analysis provides evidence that hotels with a long-term business strategy are more successful than those that that have a short-term strategy, or are even without one. Although an improvement in the field of continuous budgeting in the five-year period can be ascertained, only a minority of Slovene hotels uses standard cost as a basis for budgeting. This was the first study that ascertained discrepancies between Slovenian budgeting practice and foreign best practices, which is undoubtedly of great interest for decision-makers on the level of individual hotel.

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