Introducing the SWOT Scorecard Technique to Analyse Diversified AE Collective Schemes with a DEX Model

Comparing diversified agri-environmental (AE) collective schemes in their capability to provide AE public goods faces great challenges, mostly because of their diversified nature and relatively new way to approach the provision of AE public goods. The state of the art is that there are not yet any common quantitative indicators or data to build a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) model to compare it with other practices and to set the strategic plan for the scheme’s improvement. Nevertheless, some qualitative common data of SWOT analyses are available, but the question remains how to simultaneously compare several SWOT analyses in an MCDM model. This study introduces a new way of transforming the qualitative results of SWOT analyses to fit in the MCDM Decision Expert (DEX) model using a special transformation technique SWOT scorecard. The SWOT scorecard evaluates the importance of qualitative results of several SWOT analyses simultaneously in a quantitative way, describing with points how supportive the environment is to each criterion in the DEX model. The SWOT scorecard keeps track of the original results from SWOT analysis and considers the diversity of AE schemes, which results in an appearance of the convergence points. This gives a key for comparing the AE collective schemes in providing AE public goods. Furthermore, it gives a solution for discussing the synergy between aspects that affect AE public goods provision for every AE scheme investigated. The technique is tested via five AE collective schemes in the DEXi program and gives deeper insight into factors that affect each scheme’s performance.

The Influence of the Benefit Redistribution Method on the Willingness to Voluntary Contribute to Public Goods Provision Classroom Experiment

Currently we are facing Covid 19 pandemics and it opens many questions about willingness of individuals to give up some private pleasure to contribute to public wellbeing. Theoretical economic research suggest that methodology of group account distribution does affect the contribution size. Lawyers, politicians and economists try to answer these questions using various scientific approaches and methods. One of them is to examine the willingness of individuals to contribute to public goods. Using a laboratory classroom experiment, we test various situations through public goods game. We examine whether economic entities are willing to contribute in situations when it is not advantageous for them from an individual point of view, but it is advantageous for society.

Book review: Adam Auerbach, Demanding Development: The Politics of Public Goods Provision in India’s Urban Slums

Adam Auerbach, Demanding Development: The Politics of Public Goods Provision in India’s Urban Slums. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020, 328pp., $34.99. ISBN: 1108491936 (hardcover). ISBN: 9781108741330 (paperback).

Community Diversity and Donor Control: An Empirical Analysis of Contributions to Donor-Advised Funds at Community Foundations

This study examines the relationship between community ethnic-racial diversity and contributions to donor-advised funds (DAFs) held by community foundations. Unlike general contributions, DAFs allow donors to retain advisory control over their fund distribution based on individual preferences. In contrast to prior research that generally finds that diversity dampens private provision of public goods, we show that greater ethnic-racial diversity is significantly associated with higher levels of contributions to DAFs at community foundations but not with general contributions. The findings contribute to the literature on diversity and public goods provision and have practical implications for the policy role of private philanthropy.

When Refugee Exposure Increases Incumbent Support through Development: Evidence from Uganda

How does exposure to refugees affect elections, development, and citizen support for migration within the Global South? In the context of wealthy consolidated democracies, recent studies have found that when voters are more exposed to refugees, they punish incumbents and turn to far-right parties. Yet there is a dearth of studies on the electoral consequences of refugee-hosting in developing countries, where the majority of refugees reside and politics often do not fall on a left-right divide. We explore this question in Uganda, one of the largest refugee-hosting countries. Combining information on the populations and locations of refugee settlements with four waves of national elections data at the parish level, we find that greater exposure to refugees increases incumbent support. Unique longitudinal data on access to healthcare, schools, and roads coupled with national survey data suggest that this effect is due to positive externalities of refugee-hosting on local public goods provision.

The Politics of Claim-Making in India

How do Indian citizens access the state? While a standard answer would be "through patronage," three recent books show that clientelism, while important, is just part of the story. Not just passive clients at the mercy of their political patrons, Indian citizens actively engage the state and their representatives to make claims and secure what is due to them. Gabrielle Kruks-Wisner's Claiming the State—Active Citizenship and Social Welfare in Rural India shows how rural dwellers navigate the local government system to access social welfare. Adam Auerbach's Demanding Development: The Politics of Public Goods Provision in India's Urban Slums documents how local political workers make claims on behalf of their neighbours and provide their settlements with essential services. Jennifer Bussell's Clients and Constituents: Political Responsiveness in Patronage Democracies persuasively demonstrates the importance of higher-level representatives in providing assistance to their constituencies. Together, these books not only demonstrate how political the daily life of ordinary citizens is, but also how the Indian state, while far from its Weberian ideal, is much more inclusive than previously thought.