The Role of Non-Governmental Non-Profit Organizations in the Provision of Social Services and the Palliation of Poverty

After introductory considerations, arguments are put forward for non-governmental organisations as exclusive providers of social services. The negative characteristics of the non-governmental organization are subject of the third part of the paper. In the fourth part, the meaning of the social funds is explained (they are a kind of non-governmental organisations), and in Part 5, we explain the importance of the synergy between the government and society in the provision of social services. After the explanation of the situation in Croatia, in the Part 6 of the paper we give our final considerations. In Croatia non-governmental organizations that provide social services are slowly developing. In their further strengthening it is necessary to change the general viewpoints concerning the role and importance of the non-governmental sector in the alleviation of poverty, as well as to achieve better coordination between the state and the sector

Radiation physics and chemistry in heavy-ion cancer therapy

Heavy ions, such as carbon and oxygen ions, are classified as high-LET radiations, and produce a characteristic dose-depth distribution different from that of low-LET radiations such as gamma ray, x-ray and electrons. Heavy ions loose less energy at the entrance to an irradiated biological system up to some depth than the low-LET radiations, while they dump a large amount of dose within a very narrow range at a certain depth, producing the characteristic sharp peak, and this peak domain of the dose is called the Bragg peak. Therefore, by controlling the Bragg peak, it becomes possible to irradiate only the tumor region in a pin-point manner, while avoiding irradiation of the normal tissue, thus making heavy-ion therapy ideal for deep-seated tumor treatment. However, very little is known about what is going on in terms of physics and chemistry inside the Bragg peak. In this paper the current status of our understanding of heavy-ion interactions and remaining problems of physics and chemistry for the heavy-ion treatment are explored, particularly in the Bragg peak region. Specially, the survey of the basic physical quantity, the mean energy required to form an ion pair (W value) for heavy ions of interest for radiotherapy is presented. Finally, the current clinical status of heavy-ion therapy is presented

Can the efficiency of the Croatian tax authorities be improved?

The goals of this article were to determine whether the efficiency of tax authorities in Croatia improved over the period 1997-2012 and to identify how their efficiency can be improved in the future. According to our research the administrative costs of taxation in Croatia, as a percentage of GDP, decreased slightly over the past fifteen years but still remain above the EU average. Thus, there is a need to reduce the administrative costs of taxation, first by identifying and abolishing nuisance taxes that raise very little revenue and have high administrative costs. Second, special attention should be devoted to analysing and reducing the service expenses of tax authorities (especially IT expenses and expenses for telephone, mail and transportation services). The main problem related to research into administrative costs in Croatia over a longer period is the lack of relevant and reliable data, and hence the Croatian tax authorities should collect more data and release them to the public

Political Stubbornness and Online Local Budget Transparency in Croatia

Online proračunska transparentnost lokalnih jedinica (OLBT) prepoznata je kao važna značajka dobrog upravljanja. U skladu s tim, OLBT se u ovom radu mjeri u svih 128 gradova i na uzorku od 100 općina u Hrvatskoj koristeći nekoliko ključnih lokalnih proračunskih dokumenata objavljenih na web stranicama lokalnih jedinica. Koristeći Poissonov panel model s fiksnim učinkom u razdoblju 2013. – 2017., pokazalo se da osim dohotka stanovnika i fiskalnog kapaciteta lokalnih jedinica, razinu OLBT-a određuju politička ideologija i politička konkurencija. Ovaj rad pridonosi rastućoj literaturi o proračunskoj transparentnosti utvrđivanjem važnosti političkih faktora kao odrednica OLBT-a u bivšoj socijalističkoj, fiskalno centraliziranoj, članici EU-a i otkriva zanimljivu tvrdoglavost građana koji dosljedno glasaju za netransparentne političare. Glavni nalaz je da su politički faktori (politička ideologija i politička konkurencija) važni kao odrednice OLBT-a, što u lokalnim jedinicama rezultira suboptimalnom ravnotežom s niskim razinama OLBT-a. Lokalni političar na vlasti zaključuje da OLBT nije od posebne važnost da bi mu izborna jedinica zamjerila netransparentnost. U takvom je okruženju navedeni zaključak valjan, jer ovaj rad dokazuje da birači, koji su tvrdoglavi u svojim glasačkim obrascima, odbijaju promijeniti lokalnog političara na vlasti iako je netransparentan.Online local budget transparency (OLBT) has been recognized as an important feature of good governance. Accordingly, in this paper, OLBT is measured in all 128 cities and a sample of 100 municipalities in Croatia using several key local budget documents published on local government websites. Using a fixed effect Poisson panel model covering the 2013-2017 period, it is shown that along with residents’ income and fiscal capacity of local governments, political ideology and political competition determine the level of OLBT. This paper contributes to the growing body of budget transparency literature by establishing the importance of political factors as determinants of OLBT in this former socialist, fiscally centralized EU member state and reveals the curious stubbornness of the citizens who consistently vote for non-transparent politicians. The main finding is that political factors (political ideology and political competition) matters in determining OLBT, resulting in suboptimal equilibrium of local governments with low levels of OLBT. The local incumbent concludes that OLBT is not a high priority and that his/her constituency will not hold it against him/her. In this environment such a conclusion stands owing to the fact that voters who are stubborn in their voting patterns refuse to change the incumbent who created nontransparency