Governments in Action

Author(s):  
Christoffer Green-Pedersen ◽  
Asbjørn Skjæveland

How can Danish governments that are almost exclusively minority governments work and even work well? We present an analysis of legislative voting since 1973, and while it does support an impression of consensual politics, we argue that it is the option of bloc politics that can make minority governments strong and effective. When the ‘real’ opposition, i.e. the parties that would rather see a different government, know that the government can use its bloc majority to pass legislation anyway, it becomes more cooperative. This gives the government more than one possible way of passing legislation. We further argue that legislative agreements (forlig) are an important tool that helps minority governments govern. The long-term commitment that they entail makes it more attractive for opposition parties to strike deals with the government. Legislative agreements can work almost as issue-specific majority governments.

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 568-583
Author(s):  
Wei Xi ◽  
Yingqin Nie ◽  
Xiran Cheng

Abstract Investigating the indirect tax burden of residents is an important way of understanding the effect of tax on income distribution and the tax burden transfer. In this paper, a long term MRIO model is constructed by using the regional input-output tables in China. We simulate the flow of value-added tax, consumption tax and business tax in different departments of 30 provinces (except Tibet) in mainland China from the perspective of rows in the IO table, we obtain the real burden of three indirect taxes on urban residents, and discuss the transfer of tax burden among regions. The conclusions are as follows: There are large differences in tax burden among regions. The real tax burden shifted from the eastern region to the middle and the western regions. Indirect tax aggravates the income inequality of urban residents in different regions. The indirect tax in China has a certain degree of regression. Based on the empirical analysis, we think the government should make the following policy changes: 1) Giving more consideration to the consumption terminals; 2) Adjusting preferential policies of regional taxation; 3) Increasing the amount of preferential policies for the western region.


2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-82
Author(s):  
Abdullah M. Aloweid Abdullah M. Aloweid

In the past, private sector housing in Saudi Arabia was mostly undertaken through private initiative and almost all houses were financed through savings of individuals or income of the owners, because of the non-availability of construction finance on a long term basis. One of the major approaches by the Government for solving the housing problems was the Real Estate Development Fund (REDF). Its primary objective is to stimulate the development of private sector housing by offering interest free long term loans to Saudi Citizens. It was established as a semi-government financial institution attached to the Ministry of Finance and National Economy. This paper provides an overview and analysis of the private sector housing and the role of the Real Estate Development Fund in the support and development for housing construction in Saudi Arabia. Interviews and questionnaires were conducted with the heads of households in selected dwellings constructed with the support of the Real Estate Development Fund. (134 questionnaires). The conclusion of this work stresses the importance and continuation of the fund in order to increase home ownership however additional measures of control need to be carried out .Recommendations presented in this paper may well help achieve appropriate dwellings that satisfy resident's needs and desires.


2018 ◽  
pp. 49-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. E. Mamonov

Our analysis documents that the existence of hidden “holes” in the capital of not yet failed banks - while creating intertemporal pressure on the actual level of capital - leads to changing of maturity of loans supplied rather than to contracting of their volume. Long-term loans decrease, whereas short-term loans rise - and, what is most remarkably, by approximately the same amounts. Standardly, the higher the maturity of loans the higher the credit risk and, thus, the more loan loss reserves (LLP) banks are forced to create, increasing the pressure on capital. Banks that already hide “holes” in the capital, but have not yet faced with license withdrawal, must possess strong incentives to shorten the maturity of supplied loans. On the one hand, it raises the turnovers of LLP and facilitates the flexibility of capital management; on the other hand, it allows increasing the speed of shifting of attracted deposits to loans to related parties in domestic or foreign jurisdictions. This enlarges the potential size of ex post revealed “hole” in the capital and, therefore, allows us to assume that not every loan might be viewed as a good for the economy: excessive short-term and insufficient long-term loans can produce the source for future losses.


2011 ◽  
pp. 39-50
Author(s):  
V. Lushin

The author analyzes factors that led to a deeper fall in output and profitability in the real sector of the Russian economy in comparison with other segments during the acute phase of the financial crisis. It is argued that some contradictions in the government anti-recession policy, activities of the financial sector and natural monopolies lead to pumping out added value created in manufacturing and agriculture, increase symptoms of the «Dutch disease», etc. It is shown that it may threaten the balanced development of the Russian economy, and a set of measures is suggested to minimize these tendencies and create a basis for the state modernization policy.


Author(s):  
Mohd. Shuhaimi Ishak

 Abstract Generally speaking, media is extensively used as the means to disseminate news and information pertaining to business, social, political and religious concerns. A portion of the time and space of media has now become an important device to generate economic and social activities that include advertising, marketing, recreation and entertainment. The Government regards them as an essential form of relaying news and information to its citizens and at the same time utilizes them as a powerful public relations’ mechanism. The effects of media are many and diverse, which can either be short or long term depending on the news and information. The effects of media can be found on various fronts, ranging from the political, economic and social, to even religious spheres. Some of the negative effects arising from the media are cultural and social influences, crimes and violence, sexual obscenities and pornography as well as liberalistic and extreme ideologies. This paper sheds light on these issues and draws principles from Islam to overcome them. Islam as revealed to humanity contains the necessary guidelines to nurture and mould the personality of individuals and shape them into good servants. Key Words: Media, Negative Effects, Means, Islam and Principles. Abstrak Secara umum, media secara meluas digunakan sebagai sarana untuk menyebarkan berita dan maklumat yang berkaitan dengan perniagaan, kemasyarakatan, pertimbangan politik dan agama. Sebahagian dari ruang dan masa media kini telah menjadi peranti penting untuk menghasilkan kegiatan ekonomi dan sosial yang meliputi pengiklanan, pemasaran, rekreasi dan hiburan. Kerajaan menganggap sarana-sarana ini sebagai wadah penting untuk menyampaikan berita dan maklumat kepada warganya dan pada masa yang sama juga menggunakannya sebagai mekanisme perhubungan awam yang berpengaruh. Pengaruh media sangat banyak dan pelbagai, samada berbentuk jangka pendek atau panjang bergantung kepada berita dan maklumat yang brekenaan. Kesan dari media boleh didapati mempengaruhi pelbagai aspek, bermula dari bidang politik, ekonomi, sosial bahkan juga agama. Beberapa kesan negatif yang timbul dari media ialah pengaruhnya terhadap budaya dan sosial, jenayah dan keganasan, kelucahan seksual dan pornografi serta ideologi yang liberal dan ekstrim. Kertas ini menyoroti isu-isu ini dan cuba mengambil prinsip-prinsip dari ajaran Islam untuk mengatasinya. Tujuan Islam itu sendiri diturunkan kepada umat manusia ialah untuk menjadi pedoman yang diperlukan untuk membina dan membentuk keperibadian individu dan menjadikan manusia hamba yang taat kepada Tuhannya. Kata Kunci: Media, Kesan Negatif, Cara-cara, Islam dan Prinsip-prinsip.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rawand Essa

BACKGROUND In the span of COVID-19, the mortality rate has been different from one country to another. As a country in the Middle East Iraq has a critical position, lies between Iran and Turkey while both countries coronavirus cases increase on daily basis, while Iranian mortality rate record is high similar to Turkey. After Wuhan city of China, Lombard of Italy, Qum city in Iran has the highest number of COVID-19 as a first country in the Middle East. OBJECTIVE aim of this study is to show the effect of BCG vaccine during pandemic diseases, especially nowadays at the time of COVID-19. One of the crucial observations is the government preparedness and strategic planning prior pandemics, in which the BCG vaccine is an attenuated live vaccine for control of tuberculosis (TB). BCG vaccine has a non-specific immune effect that is used against pathogens like bacteria and viruses, through the promotion of pro-inflammatory cytokines' secretion. METHODS An epidemiological study has been performed, and it shows that some countries are more prone to contagious diseases like COVID-19, regardless of the main cultural, religious, societal similarities among the three mentioned countries. The information data has been collected from WHO reports and worldometer in 18 February 2020 to 10 May 2020. Regarding the efficacy of the BCG vaccine, relevant data has been retrieved from Google scholar, Pub-med and BCG world-atlas. RESULTS COVID-19 mortality rates are at peak in Iran and Turkey while the mortality rate is very low in Iraq, while the patients that died in Iraq all had history of other long-term diseases as heart disease, blood pressure, cancer etc. CONCLUSIONS From the experiences of the three countries in the life span of COVID-19, the historical plan of BCG vaccine in Iraq in cooperation with WHO since the last decades it shows that COVID-19 mortality rate is lower than other countries due to the early vaccination of the Iraqis, otherwise Iraq is more fragile than Iran and Turkey due to the poor conditions of Iraq in terms of economics, politics, war and other aspects.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akihiko Ozaki ◽  
Yosuke Onoue ◽  
Anju Murayama ◽  
Taishi Tahara ◽  
Yuki Senoo ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND Rural physician undersupply is a universal concern, leading to sudden physician absenteeism or unavailability on occasion. While media and social networking services may help mitigate these emergencies, information is lacking about their actual contribution in times of physician absenteeism. On December 30, 2016, the director and sole physician of Takano Hospital in Fukushima, Japan, died. The physician’s passing placed many hospitalized patients in danger. This sudden case of physician unavailability, named the Takano Hospital Crisis, provoked massive attention from the general public, in the media and on social media networks such as Twitter. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to analyze newspaper articles, tweets and Twitter accounts relating to Takano Hospital Crisis. METHODS Newspaper articles and tweets were searched for keywords associated with Takano Hospital Crisis and its former director between October 2016 and June 2017. We first evaluated the chronological change in the number of articles and tweets, and the number of characters and relevant keywords in the articles. Then tweets and influencers who were popular on the Twitter platform from December 30, 2016 to February 28, 2017, were categorized. RESULTS We assessed 151 newspaper articles and 67,006 tweets. The results show that number of newspaper articles and tweets steeply increased and then diminished within the first month of the incident. The median number of characters in newspapers articles was 436 and the most frequent keyword was medical doctor. There were 753 original tweets that were retweeted more than four times from December 30, 2016 to February 28, 2017. Of these, 245 (32.5%) expressed concern. Notable influencers were journalists, news media outlets, and healthcare professionals that helped with fund raising and providing clinical service in the hospital. CONCLUSIONS Twitter could temporarily function in cases of sudden physician absenteeism to attract volunteers and funding, however, this would not be a long-term solution. In a more general context, a long-term effort of supports from the hospitals themselves and the government will be required to manage the persistent state of physician absenteeism.


Author(s):  
Jaroslav Tir ◽  
Johannes Karreth

Two low-level armed conflicts, Indonesia’s East Timor and Ivory Coast’s post-2010 election crises, provide detailed qualitative evidence of highly structured intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) engaging in effective civil warpreventing activities in member-states. Highly structured IGOs threatened and sanctioned each of these states and offered (long-term) benefits conditional on successful crisis resolution. The governments were aware of and responded to these IGOs’ concerns, as did the rebels in these respective cases. The early stages of the conflict in Syria in 2011 provide a counterpoint. With Syria’s limited engagement in only few highly structured IGOs, the Syrian government ignored international calls for peace. And, without highly structured IGOs’ counterweight to curtail the government, the rebels saw little reason to stop their armed resistance. The result was a brutal and deadly civil war that continues today.


2009 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladimir Vladimirov ◽  
Maria Neycheva

Determinants of Non-Linear Effects of Fiscal Policy on Output: The Case of BulgariaThe paper illuminates the non-linear effects of the government budget on short-run economic activity. The study shows that in the Bulgarian economy under a Currency Board Arrangement the tax policy impacts the real growth in the standard Keynesian manner. On the other hand, the expenditure policy exhibits non-Keynesian behavior on the short-run output: cuts in government spending accelerate the real GDP growth. The main determinant of this outcome is the size of the discretionary budgetary changes. The results imply that the balanced budget rule improves the sustainability of public finances without assuring a growth-enhancing effect.


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