Sustaining Tribal Fisheries: U.S. Economic Relief Policies during COVID-19

This article reviews the individual spend plans of U.S. states granted a funding allocation under Sec. 12005 of the Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act to identify consistency with legislative mandates to support Tribal commercial, subsistence, cultural, or ceremonial fisheries negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Utilizing critical discourse analysis, this study identifies state discursive practices in supporting Tribal sovereignty in fisheries management for the advancement of Indigenous Ocean justice. State spending plans (n = 22) publicly available and submitted to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration before July 2021 were reviewed. Few of the state spend plans listed impacts to Tribal fisheries due to the pandemic. Only two state plans included Tribal consultation and direct economic relief for commercial, subsistence, cultural, and/or ceremonial losses faced by neighboring Tribes and Tribal citizens. Overall, the protections within the CARES Act for Tribal fisheries were not integrated into state spend plans. The article identifies best practices for state fisheries relief policy content that is affirming of Tribal fishing rights and uses them to help address the ongoing pandemic crisis facing Tribal fisheries. These findings have relevance for future emergency relief programs that are inclusive of Tribal Nations. Honoring Tribal sovereignty and the federal trust responsibility must be the cornerstone of shared sustainable fisheries.

“Women’s Work”: Welfare State Spending and the Gendered and Classed Dimensions of Unpaid Care

This study is the first to explicitly assess the connections between welfare state spending and the gendered and classed dimensions of unpaid care work across 29 European nations. Our research uses multi-level model analysis of European Quality of Life Survey data, examining childcare and housework burdens for people living with at least one child under the age of 18. Two key findings emerge: First, by disaggregating different types of unpaid care work, we find that childcare provision is more gendered than classed—reflecting trends toward “intensive mothering”. Housework and cooking, on the contrary, demonstrate both gender and class effects, likely because they are more readily outsourced by wealthier individuals to the paid care sector. Second, while overall social expenditure has no effect on hours spent on childcare and housework, results suggest that family policy may shape the relationship between gender, income, and housework (but not childcare). Specifically, family policy expenditure is associated with a considerably smaller gender gap vis-à-vis the time dedicated to housework: This effect is present across the income spectrum, but is particularly substantial in the case of lower income women.

Strategic priorities and accountability for allocating the state budget amid Covid-19 pandemic in Indonesia

This study explains about strategic priorities of state financial management for handling the Covid-19 pandemic in Indonesia. The impact of this pandemic has caused the country’s financial posture in the state budget to be unbalanced, where receipts have decreased while in state spending has increased very sharply. Such conditions imply that the state budget deficit's widening exceeds the limit set by the law. The method used in this research method is a descriptive qualitative approach using literature data that can provide analysis of strategies to change the state financial management amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The study concluded that the government's strategic response in abnormal situations is an extraordinary matter with budget allocation priorities aimed at public health and safety, including medical personnel, protection and social safety nets for vulnerable people, and protection among business people. However, it requires accountable supervision, especially for the distribution of social assistance funds with experience prone to corruption practices so that it is not on target.

Water and Sanitation: Achievement of Large Indian States

In this paper we make a comparative analysis of water and sanitation facilities across Indian states. We also analyse the trend and pattern of state expenditure in the water and sanitation sector and relate the expenditure with the nature of the existing facilities. Furthermore, we assess whether the state governments are adequately financing the sector in accordance to their GDP. Using data from the state statistical reports during 2001–2012, we find that the sanitation facilities are alarmingly low, particularly in the states Assam, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. There are high interstate disparities in drainage facilities and latrine usage, with no sign of convergence during the study period. However, in terms of the provision of sanitation facilities, Haryana has showed significant progress over the years, whereas the progress in Assam, Rajasthan and Maharashtra does not seem promising. Along with the poor facilities, state spending for the provision of such facilities is also limited. We find that the correlation between expenditure and the facilities is also not direct and strong. Lastly, we notice the extent of expenditure in accordance with their gross state domestic product is astonishingly low for most of the states except Haryana.

What possibilities exist to back up the mechanisms which support economy in Russia

The growth of state spending should rely on appropriate mechanisms of financing. In the crisis environment the large scale emission of state bonds in domestic market may cause worsening of finance conditions for private sector. The article outlines the reasons why domestic central bank should play more active role, purchasing state bonds as is the case in other countries.

Refinancing the Rentier State: Welfare, Inequality, and Citizen Preferences toward Fiscal Reform in the Gulf Oil Monarchies

Against the backdrop of fiscal reform efforts in Middle East oil producers, this article proposes a general framework for understanding how citizens relate to welfare benefits in the rentier state and then tests some observable implications using original survey data from the quintessential rentier state of Qatar. Using two novel choice experiments, we ask Qataris to choose between competing forms of economic subsidies and state spending, producing a clear and reliable ordering of welfare priorities. Expectations derived from the experiments about the individual-level determinants of rentier reform preferences are then tested using data from a follow-up survey. Findings demonstrate the importance of non-excludable public goods, rather than private patronage, for upholding the rentier bargain.