Recruitment and selection in the public service

Graham Allison, a well-:known American political scientist, once asked whether public and private management were 'fundamentally alike in all unimportant respects' (Allison, 1994). Do government and business truly inhabit different worlds? Several scholars of public management, particularly those with a political science background, would say yes. Government, they believe, is fundamentally different from business because it operates in a political milieu and its objectives have little to do with profit maximisation. One cannot therefore expect public organisations to function like private firms. Scholars and practitioners of management may see things differently. They might point out that, however distinct government might be, efforts to improve its performance are ongoing, just as they are in private firms; and that in both public and private sectors those efforts draw on a common toolkit of management techniques. From this perspective the differences rather than the similarities between public and private sectors look superficial.peer-reviewe

The dynamics of disability and work in Britain

This paper examines the dynamic relationship between work-limiting disability and labour market outcomes using longitudinal data created by matching individuals in the Local Labour Force Survey (2004–10). By applying event-study methods, changes in employment are traced through the onset of, and exit from, disability. These relationships are examined between subgroups of the population, including those defined by the nature and severity of disability. For most groups we find evidence of asymmetry in the impact of onset and exit: employment is significantly reduced at onset and continues to decline post-onset whereas, after controlling for unobserved heterogeneity, exiting disability has a limited effect

Measuring the capability to raise revenue process and output dimensions and their application to the Zambia revenue authority

The worldwide diffusion of the good governance agenda and new public management has triggered a renewed focus on state capability and, more specifically, on the capability to raise revenue in developing countries. However, the analytical tools for a comprehensive understanding of the capability to raise revenue remain underdeveloped. This article aims at filling this gap and presents a model consisting of the three process dimensions ‘information collection and processing’, ‘merit orientation’ and ‘administrative accountability’. ‘Revenue performance’ constitutes the fourth capability dimension which assesses tax administration’s output. This model is applied to the case of the Zambia Revenue Authority. The dimensions prove to be valuable not only for assessing the how much but also the how of collecting taxes. They can be a useful tool for future comparative analyses of tax administrations’ capabilities in developing countries.Die weltweite Verbreitung der Good-Governance- und New-Public-Management-Konzepte hat zu einer zunehmenden Konzentration auf staatliche Leistungsfähigkeit und, im Besonderen, auf die Leistungsfähigkeit der Steuererhebung in Entwicklungsländern geführt. Allerdings bleiben die analytischen Werkzeuge für ein umfassendes Verständnis von Leistungsfähigkeit unterentwickelt. Dieser Artikel stellt hierfür ein Modell vor, das die drei Prozess-Dimensionen „Sammeln und Verarbeiten von Informationen“, „Leistungsorientierung der Mitarbeiter“ und „Verantwortlichkeit der Verwaltung“ beinhaltet. „Einnahmeperformanz“ ist die vierte Dimension und erfasst den Output der Steuerverwaltung. Das mehrdimensionale Modell wird für die Analyse der Leistungsfähigkeit der Steuerbehörde Zambias (Zambia Revenue Authority) genutzt. Es erweist sich nicht nur für die Untersuchung des Wieviel, sondern auch des Wie des Erhebens von Steuern als wertvoll. Die vier Dimensionen können in Zukunft zur umfassenden und vergleichenden Analyse der Leistungsfähigkeit verschiedener Steuerverwaltungen in Entwicklungsländern genutzt werden

Book reviews

World Development Report 1997: The State in a Changing World. By the World Bank. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. Pp.viii + 265. ISBN 0 19 521115 4 and 521114 6 Agenda for Africa's Economic Renewal. Edited by Benno Ndulu and Nicolas van de Walle. New Brunswick and Oxford: Transaction Publishers, 1996. Pp.ix + 246. $32.95. ISBN 1 56000 280 8 Limits of Adjustment in Africa. Edited by Poul Engberg-Pedersen, Peter Gibbon; Phil Raikes and Lars Udsholt. Copenhagen, Oxford and Portsmouth, NH: Centre for Development Research in association with James Currey and Heinemann, 1996. Pp.xi + 430. ISBN 0 85255 152 5 and 152 5 3 Economic Reform and the Poor in Africa. Edited by David E. Sahn. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996. Pp.xv + 488. �50. ISBN 0 19 829035 7 The Individual and the State in China. Edited by Brian Hook. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996. Pp.vii + 231. �12.99. ISBN 0 19 828931 6 In Search of Civil Society; Market Reform and Social Change in Contemporary China. By Gordon White, Jude A. Howell and Shang Xiaoyuan. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996. Pp.x + 241. �35. ISBN 0 19 828956 1 Institutional Development: A Third World City Management Perspective. By Ronald McGill. Basingstoke and London: Macmillan, 1996. Pp.xvi + 310. �45. ISBN 0 333 65413 7 Good Government in the Tropics. By Judith Tendler. Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997. Pp.xi + 221. �30. ISBN 0 8018 5452 0 Emancipating the Banking System and Developing Markets for Government Debt. By Maxwell J. Fry. London: Routledge, 1997. Pp.xviii + 280. �45 and �14.99. ISBN 0 415 15640 8 and 15641 6 Floods of Fortune: Ecology and Economy along the Amazon. By Michael Goulding, Nigel J.H. Smith and Dennis J. Mahar. New York: Columbia University Press, 1996. Pp.iii + 193. US$29.95. ISBN 0 231 10420 0 Non-Governmental Organizations and Health in Developing Countries. By Andrew Green and Ann Matthias. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1997. Pp.xvi + 229. �40 and �14.99. ISBN 0 333 63874 3 and 68431 1 The Demography of Famines: An Indian Historical Perspective. By Arup Maharatna. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1996. Pp.xviii + 317. Rs 545. ISBN 0 195 637119 Peace without Profit: How the IMF Blocks Rebuilding in Mozambique. By Joseph Hanlon. Oxford: James Currey and Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann for International African Institute and Irish Mozambique Solidarity, 1996. Pp.176. �35 and �9.95. ISBN 0 85255 801 7 and 800 7 Decolonization and African Society: The Labor Question in French and British Africa. By Frederick Cooper. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996. Pp.xvii + 677. �55 and �19.95. ISBN 0 521 56251 1 and 0 521 56600 2 Public-Sector Pay and Adjustment: Lessons from Five Countries. Edited by Christopher Colclough. London: Routledge, 1997. Pp.xii + 161. �40. ISBN 0 415 15338 7 The Economics of Agriculture, Volume 1: Selected Papers of D. Gale Johnson. Edited by John M. Antle and Daniel A. Sumner. Chicago, IL and London: University of Chicago Press, 1996. Pp.xi + 352. $49.95. ISBN 0 226 41172 3 The Economics of Agriculture, Volume 2: Papers in Honor of D. Gale Johnson. Edited by John M. Antle and Daniel A. Sumner. Chicago, IL and London: University of Chicago Press, 1996. Pp.ix + 437.$59.95. ISBN 0 226 40175 8.