Pay Systems in Public Sector of OECD Countries

The article deals with development of public sector pay systems in OECD countries. It is noted that reforms in this sphere began in the 1980s as part of the implementation of the broader concept of “New public management”, which was based on active introduction of market mechanisms and instruments in the activities of public sector organizations. The authors consider how the reforms affected changes in all elements of the pay systems – the basic and variable parts of payment, the tariff schedule, and the classification of jobs (positions). It is shown how transition from traditional unified tariff schedule of basic remuneration to a grade scale was connected with the shift of career model to position model, in which the key role was assigned to employee’s qualifications and performance. Further reform of pay systems has resulted in expansion of competence-related pay and further strengthening the role of grading as a tool for organizing pay in public sector. In this regard, the role of job classification, professional standards that allow to objectively assess the value of each type of activity (each position) for a specific organization and form an effective grading scale of basic pay has significantly increased. Reforms of pay systems in OECD countries have affected both basic, and variable parts of pay, as a result of which different pay systems can be applied not only within a single country, but also sometimes within a single organization. The article discusses the most common of these systems – performance-related pay, competence-, skill- and merit-based pay systems.

Responding to the First Era of Globalization: Canadian Trade Policy, 1870–1913

In this article we document Canada’s trade policy response to late nineteenth and early twentieth century globalization by linking newly digitized annual productspecific data on the value of Canadian imports and duties paid from 1870–1913, to establishment-specific production and location information drawn from the manuscripts of the 1871 industrial census. We find evidence of a highly selective move towards protectionism following the adoption of the National Policy in 1879. Changes in the Canadian tariff schedule narrowly targeted manufactured import products that had close substitutes produced by relatively large, urban, politically influential domestic manufacturers.

Interprovincial Differences in Power Sector Subsidies and Implications for the NFC Award

Power sector subsidies constituted 83 percent of the federal government’s total subsidies of PRs 558 billion in 2012. The tariff differential subsidy (TDS) amounted to PRs 464 billion (including arrears of PRs 312.8 billion from previous years). The TDS is provided to distribution companies (DISCOs) to cover the difference between the tariff schedules approved by the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) (which can differ across DISCOs) and the uniform tariff schedule (by consumer group) notified by the Ministry of Water and Power (MoWP) for all regions of the country. The NEPRA-approved tariff takes account of DISCOs’ revenue requirements and various elements of cost. In calculating the average tariff, NEPRA also takes into account companies’ transmission and distribution (T&D) losses. Both revenue requirements and T&D losses differ across DISCOs, which are duly reflected in NEPRA-approved tariffs. The fact that NEPRA approves different tariffs across DISCOs while the MoWP sets uniform tariffs (by consumer group) implies that each DISCO receives a different TDS from the federal government. This translates into different subsidies for each province. By aggregating the TDS by consumer group across all DISCOs, we can also calculate the aggregate subsidy by consumer group.