528,833 research outputs found

    Country Roads

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    Are We Better Off If Our Politicians Have More Information?

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    This paper studies a model of public policy with heterogenous citizens/voters and two public goods: one (roads) is chosen directly by an elected policymaker, and the other (pollution) depends stochastically on the amount of roads. Both a one-country and a two-country version of the model are analyzed, the latter displaying externalities across the countries which creates incentives for free riding and strategic delegation. The welfare effects of providing the policymaker with information about the relationship between roads and pollution are investigated, and it is shown that more information hurts some – sometimes even all – citizens. In particular, the absence of an institution for information gathering can serve as a commitment device for a country, helping it avoid the free-riding problem. Implications for the welfare effects of “informational lobbying” are discussed.Public information acquisition, value of information, welfare, interest groups, informational lobbying, strategic delegation

    America’s Toll Roads Heritage: The Achievements of Private Initiative in the 19th Century

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    Private toll roads shaped and accommodated trade and migration routes, leaving social and political imprints on the communities that debated and supported them. Private road building came and went in waves throughout the 19th century and across the country. All told, between 2,500 and 3,200 companies successfully financed, built, and operated their toll road. Although most of these roads operated for only a fraction of the 100+ period, the combined mileage of private toll roads that operated at any point in time would be in range of 30,000 to 52,000 miles. The paper explores the character, methods, and purposes of the private toll roads, and draws lessons for the privatization of highways today.toll roads; turnpikes; plank roads; privatization; free riding; regulation

    Decentralized structures for providing roads : a cross-country comparison

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    Minimizing costs is often cited as essential for optimizing service delivery. Roads are the oldest, most important infrastructure services provided by governments. They require construction, rehabilitation, maintenance, and administration. Various institutional arrangements affect the degree to which costs can be minimized. Drawing on analyses of experiences with decentralized road provision in eight countries, a longitudinal change analysis of Korea, and vertical and horizontal analysis across states and local governments in Germany, the authors found that the impact of decentralization varies depending on which aspect one is considering: the efficiency of producing road services or the impact on road users. Resources costs are concave, increasing first and decreasing at later stages of decentralization. Preference costs are downward sloping, suggesting that road conditions improve as decentralization advances. In short, decentralization entails initial costs, mostly as losses in economies of scale. But those losses can be outweighed by increases in efficiency when the locus of roadwork is closer to the people. The advantages or limitations of decentralization are function-specific: a) maintenance functions are best provided locally; b) to minimize resource costs, construction should be either completely centralized or completely decentralized; and c) administrative activities are more efficiently provided by local units similar to local maintenance units.Decentralization,Municipal Financial Management,Economic Theory&Research,Banks&Banking Reform,National Governance,Economic Theory&Research,Banks&Banking Reform,Municipal Financial Management,Regional Rural Development,National Governance

    Broad roads in a thin country - infrastructure concessions in Chile

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    To increase investment in infrastructure, in the early 1990s Chile's government introduced private capital into the transport infrastructure sector, covering roads and highways, bridges, tunnels, and airports. The chosen mechanism: a concession scheme through which private firms would finance and build a given project and then operate the infrastructure for a set of number of years, recovering their investment by collecting tolls from users. Among the lessons learned from the experience: 1) As much as possible, avoid concessioning roads for which there are convenient alternative freeways nearby. 2) Choose the right variable for awarding a concession. Avoid mechanisms that (by promoting large payments to the state or short-term concession periods) encourage high tolls, and if you choose to award a concession to the firm charging the lowest tolls, place a floor and ceiling on possible bids. The floor is to guarantee the concession's financial viability; the ceiling is to prevent inefficient traffic diversions. Ties at either end should be resolved by a second variable, such as the level of transfers between the state and the firm. 3) Allow downward toll flexibility so that the concessionaire can react to unexpectedly low traffic flows, especially for certain types of vehicles. 4) Pay special attention to the tendering mechanism and to the general incentive structure. There are limits to the pure least-present-value-of-revenue (LPVR) auction, but income guarantees do enhance liquidity. In fact, a minimum-income guarantee through an LPVR auction is an instrument for credit enhancement, not income support. Alternatively, some form of financial innovation should be encouraged to make debt service commitments more flexible. 5) If concessions are tendered by traditional methods and income guarantees will be given, cover only a fraction of the concessionaire's expected income stream, to reduce the state's financial exposure and to improve the incentives to the concessionaire. 6) Make the contracts as complete as possible but allow for later modifications or renegotiations, and include a well-designed dispute resolution mechanism.Banks&Banking Reform,Roads&Highways,Decentralization,International Terrorism&Counterterrorism,Public Sector Economics&Finance,Public Sector Economics&Finance,Roads&Highways,Airports and Air Services,Banks&Banking Reform,Toll Roads

    Korea-provincial and country roads project

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    노트 : This document has a restricted distribution and may be used by recipients only in the performance of their official duties. Its contents may not otherwise be disclosed without World Bank authorization

    Country roads

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    The following is an excerpt for the novel I wrote during my time in the MFA program. It follows Kat McClellan, a young woman forced to move back home and raise her siblings after her father dies in a mining accident. While Kat readjusts to life in West Virginia, her mother, who abandoned them six years ago, returns and fights Kat for custody of the children. This novel examines the themes of family, particularly the relationships between mothers, daughters, and sisters

    Editorial: Take Me Home, Down Country Roads

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    Those of us committed to the tenets of Family Preservation must advocate for increased awareness and attention to the needs of children and their families in rural America. Country roads and the rural spaces they traverse have been eulogized by many poets and song writers as ideal places to live. But they may not be ideal for everyone. The past few months, it has become all too evident that rural America is not immune to acts of extreme violence by troubled children. Even though almost 1/3 of American youth live in rural areas, they have been virtually ignored by mental health service planners and providers (Cutrona, Halvorson, & Russell, 1996, p. 217). Mental health risk factors such as poverty, parental alcohol abuse, and family instability are on the rise in rural areas, and there has been an increase in suicide attempts, family violence, depression, and alcohol abuse (Cutrona, Halvorson, & Russell, 1996; Petti & Leviton, 1986; National Mental Health Association, 1988). Native Americans are especially concerned about the increases in child abuse and neglect, depression, substance abuse, and suicide in their communities

    Country Roads: Reflections on Landscape and Memory

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    Condition assessment of existing regional and rural roads in Albania

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    The conditions of roads are facing problems for many developed countries. In order to complement poverty reduction strategies and progressing as developed country, regional and rural transport interventions must be an integral part of such development interventions and focus on the mobility and access needs of communities. Substantial gains in accessibility—for more communities, in more regions of our country—are possible if regional and rural transport infrastructure interventions are designed in a least-cost, network-based manner focusing on reducing economic inequality and willing to maintain the service. In view of budget constraints, selecting interventions requires a participatory physical planning process undertaken jointly with concerned local governments and communities, supported and coordinated by regional or central government agencies. The roads in Albania had been constructed with different standards in different periods and exposed traffic loads which have rapidly increased during last two decades. Despite the fact that existing condition of some roads have been considered by ADF, an attempt was made on this study to draw a general picture of Albanian’s Roads. The condition of Albanian Roads was presented in this paper based on visual inspection of 1000 km roads, from different areas that are part of the country, concentrating on their conditions. Study concludes that general physical state of the roads are improved consider five years before, therefore, the service provided by such roads is affecting safety and we identified the opportunity to improve maintenance as the key factor for roads condition. Resources are scarce. In this context, participatory selection procedures and analytical prioritization tools are presented, and examples given, which take into account the social and economic importance of regional and rural transport infrastructure
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