Fiscal decentralization and intergovernmental relations in transition economics : toward a systematic framework of analysis

The decentralization of government in Eastern Europe represents a reaction both from below (to tight central political control) and from above (to privatize the economy and relieve the central government's fiscal stress). In all transitional economies, the developing structure of intergovernmental relations is intimately related to such critical policy issues as privatization, stabilization, and the social safety net. In the fiscal sphere, tax reform, deficit control, and intergovernmental finance are a tripod. Unless each leg is set up properly, the whole structure could collapse. The present strategy of devolving expenditures downward while holding back on revenue flows and transfers to balance the central budget is unlikely to succeed for more than a year or two at best. Net spending reductions at the subnational level may be difficult to achieve. From 10 to 40 percent of outlays go to the subnational sector, and in many countries local governments provide much of the social safety that makes the pain of the economic transition politically tolerable. And, most housing and many enterprises have been shifted to local ownership, with the maintenance and subsidy cost this implies. Since the revenue sources assigned to local governments cannot finance expected levels of local activity, the result of shifting spending downward is likely to be strong demands for increased, rather than decreased, transfers. Alternatively, subnational government may look to coping mechanisms such as holding on to their enterprises (which provide vital social services), developing extrabudgetary revenues, or borrowing. These coping mechanisms threaten privatization, reduce budgetary transparency, and impede stabilization policies. The authors describe the risks to privatization, to macroeconomic stability, and to an adequate social safety net that present policies toward local government may imply. Its themes are that the subnational sector needs to be more realistically factored into national plans - and that subnational expenditures be more clearly assigned and revenue needs more realistically assessed. Such assessments are likely to acknowledge a larger sphere for subnational governments and the need for access to more robust revenue sources. Giving local government a share in the personal income tax is one possible and perhaps desirable approach to meeting these revenues needs. Careful attention needs to be paid to the design and implementation of the intergovernmental fiscal transfers likely to remain prominent features of the intergovernmental landscape for years to come. Caution is also needed on borrowing by subnational government. Consolidating and integrating extrabudgetary funds at the subnational (and national) levels is crucial to enhanced budgetary transparency and macrostability.Banks&Banking Reform,National Governance,Public Sector Economics&Finance,Municipal Financial Management,Urban Economics

Financing local government in Hungary

Hungary has undertaken a bold and far-ranging reform of its system of subnational finances. This paper outlines the changes introduced in the system of local finance as a result of the 1990 Local Self-Government Act, and the 1990 Act on Local Taxes and provides a preliminary assessment of their implications as well as the need for further reform. These Acts, together with the annual Act on the Budget, define the overall scope and authorities of Hungary's approximately 3100 new local self-governments. These Acts: (i) define the new assignment of expenditures between central and local government; (ii) define the new local revenue sources; and (iii) establish the economic foundation, property rights and entrepreneurial functions of the localities. The paper outlines the historical evolution of the system, provides international comparisons, and describes its present-day form. Drawing on this background, it suggests some revised policies that should not only both help avert the potentially undesirable outcomes of the current system but, more positively, help Hungary to achieve its goal of a smaller, more efficient government sector without unduly exacerbating social inequalities. In turn, issues and recommendations are discussed in the following areas: local finance; assignment of expenditures; assignment of taxes; design of the transfer system; role of the localities in property management; capital investment; and other requisites for sound local finance.Banks&Banking Reform,Municipal Financial Management,National Governance,Urban Economics,Public Sector Economics&Finance

Taxation Of Mandatory Restitution Received By Victims Of Human Trafficking

In Notice 2012-12, the Internal Revenue Service announced that awards of mandatory restitution received by victims of human trafficking under 18 U.S.C. 1593 of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 are excluded from gross income. This article examines the basic provisions of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, the calculation of mandatory restitution, publicly available resources involving human trafficking, and the taxability of damages involving physical versus nonphysical injury under civil law

Warm-based basal sediment entrainment and far-field Pleistocene origin evidenced in central Transantarctic blue ice through stable isotopes and internal structures

Stable isotopes of water (δ18O and δ2H) were measured in the debris-laden ice underlying an Antarctic blue ice moraine, and in adjoining Law Glacier in the central Transantarctic Mountains. Air bubble content and morphology were assessed in shallow ice core samples. Stable isotope measurements plot either on the meteoric waterline or are enriched from it. The data cluster in two groups: the ice underlying the moraine has a δ2H:δ18O slope of 5.35 ± 0.92; ice from adjoining portions of Law Glacier has a slope of 6.69 ± 1.39. This enrichment pattern suggests the moraine's underlying blue ice entrained sediment through refreezing processes acting in an open system. Glaciological conditions favorable to warm-based sediment entrainment occur 30–50 km upstream. Basal melting and refreezing are further evidenced by abundant vapor figures formed from internal melting of the ice crystals. Both the moraine ice and Law Glacier are sufficiently depleted of heavy isotopes that their ice cannot be sourced locally, but instead must be derived from far-field interior regions of the higher polar plateau. Modeled ice flow speeds suggest the ice must be at least 80 ka old, with Law Glacier's ice possibly dating to OIS 5 and moraine ice older still

Application of a seismic network to baleen whale call detection and localization in the Panama basin – a Bryde’s whale example

Baleen whales use sounds of various characteristics for different tasks and interactions. This study focuses on recordings from the Costa Rica Rift, in the Eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean, made by 25 ocean-bottom seismographs and a vertical array of 12 hydrophones between January and February 2015. The whale calls observed are of two kinds: more commonly, repetitive 4–5 s–long signals separated into two frequency bands centered at ∼20 and ∼36 Hz; less commonly, a series of ∼0.5 to 1.0 s–long, lower amplitude signals with frequencies between 80 and 160 Hz. These characteristics are similar to calls attributed to Bryde's whales which are occasionally sighted in this region. In this study, the repetitive calls are detected using both the short-term average/long-term average approach and a network empirical subspace detector. In total, 188 and 1891 calls are obtained for each method, demonstrating the value of the subspace detector for highly similar signals. These signals are first localized using a non-linear grid search algorithm and then further relocalized using the double-difference technique. The high-resolution localizations reveal the presence of at least seven whales during the recording period, often crossing the instrument network from southwest to northeast

Fast-evolving noncoding sequences in the human genome

BACKGROUND: Gene regulation is considered one of the driving forces of evolution. Although protein-coding DNA sequences and RNA genes have been subject to recent evolutionary events in the human lineage, it has been hypothesized that the large phenotypic divergence between humans and chimpanzees has been driven mainly by changes in gene regulation rather than altered protein-coding gene sequences. Comparative analysis of vertebrate genomes has revealed an abundance of evolutionarily conserved but noncoding sequences. These conserved noncoding (CNC) sequences may well harbor critical regulatory variants that have driven recent human evolution. RESULTS: Here we identify 1,356 CNC sequences that appear to have undergone dramatic human-specific changes in selective pressures, at least 15% of which have substitution rates significantly above that expected under neutrality. The 1,356 'accelerated CNC' (ANC) sequences are enriched in recent segmental duplications, suggesting a recent change in selective constraint following duplication. In addition, single nucleotide polymorphisms within ANC sequences have a significant excess of high frequency derived alleles and high F(ST)values relative to controls, indicating that acceleration and positive selection are recent in human populations. Finally, a significant number of single nucleotide polymorphisms within ANC sequences are associated with changes in gene expression. The probability of variation in an ANC sequence being associated with a gene expression phenotype is fivefold higher than variation in a control CNC sequence. CONCLUSION: Our analysis suggests that ANC sequences have until very recently played a role in human evolution, potentially through lineage-specific changes in gene regulation

VprBP/DCAF1 Regulates the Degradation and Nonproteolytic Activation of the Cell Cycle Transcription Factor FoxM1

The oncogenic transcription factor FoxM1 plays a vital role in cell cycle progression, is activated in numerous human malignancies, and is linked to chromosome instability. We characterize here a cullin 4-based E3 ubiquitin ligase and its substrate receptor, VprBP/DCAF1 (CRL4VprBP), which we show regulate FoxM1 ubiquitylation and degradation. Paradoxically, we also found that the substrate receptor VprBP is a potent FoxM1 activator. VprBP depletion reduces expression of FoxM1 target genes and impairs mitotic entry, whereas ectopic VprBP expression strongly activates a FoxM1 transcriptional reporter. VprBP binding to CRL4 is reduced during mitosis, and our data suggest that VprBP activation of FoxM1 is ligase independent. This implies a nonproteolytic activation mechanism that is reminiscent of, yet distinct from, the ubiquitin-dependent transactivation of the oncoprotein Myc by other E3s. Significantly, VprBP protein levels were upregulated in high-grade serous ovarian patient tumors, where the FoxM1 signature is amplified. These data suggest that FoxM1 abundance and activity are controlled by VprBP and highlight the functional repurposing of E3 ligase substrate receptors independent of the ubiquitin system

Ambient Particulate Matter Air Pollution and Venous Thromboembolism in the Women’s Health Initiative Hormone Therapy Trials

BackgroundThe putative effects of postmenopausal hormone therapy on the association between particulate matter (PM) air pollution and venous thromboembolism (VTE) have not been assessed in a randomized trial of hormone therapy, despite its widespread use among postmenopausal women.ObjectiveIn this study, we examined whether hormone therapy modifies the association of PM with VTE risk.MethodsPostmenopausal women 50–79 years of age (n = 26,450) who did not have a history of VTE and who were not taking anticoagulants were enrolled in the Women’s Health Initiative Hormone Therapy trials at 40 geographically diverse U.S. clinical centers. The women were randomized to treatment with estrogen versus placebo (E trial) or to estrogen plus progestin versus placebo (E + P trial). We used age-stratified Cox proportional hazard models to examine the association between time to incident, centrally adjudicated VTE, and daily mean PM concentrations spatially interpolated at geocoded addresses of the participants and averaged over 1, 7, 30, and 365 days.ResultsDuring the follow-up period (mean, 7.7 years), 508 participants (2.0%) had VTEs at a rate of 2.6 events per 1,000 person-years. Unadjusted and covariate-adjusted VTE risk was not associated with concentrations of PM 0.05) regardless of PM averaging period, either before or after combining data from both trials [e.g., combined trial-adjusted hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals) per 10 μg/m3 increase in annual mean PM2.5 and PM10, were 0.93 (0.54–1.60) and 1.05 (0.72–1.53), respectively]. Findings were insensitive to alternative exposure metrics, outcome definitions, time scales, analytic methods, and censoring dates.ConclusionsIn contrast to prior research, our findings provide little evidence of an association between short-term or long-term PM exposure and VTE, or clinically important modification by randomized exposure to exogenous estrogens among postmenopausal women

Emergent sustainability in open property regimes

Current theoretical models of the commons assert that common-pool resources can only be managed sustainably with clearly defined boundaries around both communities and the resources that they use. In these theoretical models, open access inevitably leads to a tragedy of the commons. However, in many open-access systems, use of common-pool resources seems to be sustainable over the long term (i.e., current resource use does not threaten use of common-pool resources for future generations). Here, we outline the conditions that support sustainable resource use in open property regimes. We use the conceptual framework of complex adaptive systems to explain how processes within and couplings between human and natural systems can lead to the emergence of efficient, equitable, and sustainable resource use. We illustrate these dynamics in eight case studies of different social–ecological systems, including mobile pastoralism, marine and freshwater fisheries, swidden agriculture, and desert foraging. Our theoretical framework identifies eight conditions that are critical for the emergence of sustainable use of common-pool resources in open property regimes. In addition, we explain how changes in boundary conditions may push open property regimes to either common property regimes or a tragedy of the commons. Our theoretical model of emergent sustainability helps us to understand the diversity and dynamics of property regimes across a wide range of social–ecological systems and explains the enigma of open access without a tragedy. We recommend that policy interventions in such self-organizing systems should focus on managing the conditions that are critical for the emergence and persistence of sustainability