Electoral Accountability and Local Government Efficiency: Quasi-Experimental Avidence From the Italian Health Care Sector Reforms

This paper evaluates the effect of two policy changes on the efficiency of Italian regional governments in the provision of health care services: first a change in the electoral system; second a process of fiscal decentralisation. The electoral system was changed in 1995 and replaced a pure proportional system by a majoritarian system, fostering the transition of regional governments towards a presidential regime. The process of fiscal decentralisation took effect in 1998, when intergovernmental grants earmarked for the health care sector were replaced by regional taxes. The Italian context offers a unique source of data to test the predictions of recent theoretical models that support a positive relationship between government efficiency and the electoral accountability enhanced by institutions such as electoral rules and fiscal decentralisation. The paper provides two main contributions: 1) a comprehensive analysis of the two main reforms that involved Italian regional governments and the health care sector during the 1990s; 2) the evaluation of the impact of the electoral reform in a quasi-experimental setting. The final results provide empirical evidence in line with the findings of the theoretical models.electoral accountability, DEA, decentralisation, efficiency, health

Incentive Schemes for Local Government: Theory and Evidence from Comprehensive Performance Assessment in England

This paper studies Comprehensive Performance Assessment, an explicit incentive scheme for local government in England. Motivated by a simple theoretical political agency model, we predict that CPA should increase service quality and local taxation, but have an ambiguous effect on the efficiency of service provision. We test these predictions using a difference in difference approach, using Welsh local authorities as a control group, exploiting the fact that local authorities in Wales were not subject to the same CPA regime. To do this, we construct original indices of service quality and efficiency, using Best Value Performance Indicators. We estimate that CPA increased the effective band D council tax rate in England relative to Wales by 4%, and increased our index of service quality output also by about 4%, but had no significant effect on our efficiency indices. There is evidence of heterogeneous effects of CPA on efficiency, with some evidence that CPA impacted more on less efficient councils, and the ‘harder test’ from 2005-8 having a much bigger effect.local government, incentives, efficiency, difference in difference, DEA

First record of the non-pollinating fig wasp Odontofroggatia galili Wiebes, 1980 from Malta (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea, Agaonidae)

The fig wasp Odontofroggatia galili is reported for the first time from Malta. Odontofroggatia is a non-pollinating fig wasp genus associated with a narrow range of host plant species, among them Ficus microcarpa, a widespread ornamental tree native to Asia.peer-reviewe

Incentive Schemes for Local Government : Theory and Evidence from Comprehensive Performance Assessment in England

This paper studies Comprehensive Performance Assessment, an explicit incentive scheme for local government in England. Motivated by a simple theoretical political agency model, we predict that CPA should increase service quality and local taxation, but have an ambiguous e¤ect on the e¢ ciency of service provision. We test these predictions using a difference in difference approach, using Welsh local authorities as a control group, exploiting the fact that local authorities in Wales were not subject to the same CPA regime. To do this, we construct original indices of service quality and e¢ ciency, using Best Value Performance Indicators. We estimate that CPA increased the effective band D council tax rate in England relative to Wales by 4%, and increased our index of service quality output also by about 4%, but had no signifcant effect on our efficiency indices. There is evidence of heterogenous effects of CPA on efficiency, with some evidence that CPA impacted more on less efficient councils, and the "harder test" from 2005-8 having a much bigger effect. Key words: local government ; incentives ; efficiency ; difference in difference ; DEA JEL classification: H10 ; H70 ; H77 ; C21

Incumbent effects and partisan alignment in local elections : a regression discontinuity analysis using Italian data

This paper provides a simple model to explain effect of political alignment between different tiers of government on policy choices and election outcomes. We derive precise predictions that, as long as voters attribute most of the credit for providing public goods to the local government: (i) aligned municipalities receive more grants, set lower taxes and provide more public goods, (ii) that the probability that the local incumbent is re-elected is higher in aligned municipalities compared to not aligned ones. Our empirical strategy to identify the alignment effects is built upon the fact that being or not aligned changes discontinuously at 50% of the vote share of local parties. This allows us to use sharp regression discontinuity design. Our theoretical predictions are largely confirmed using a new dataset on Italian public finance and electoral data at the central and local level

Effects of fiscal decentralisation and electoral accountability on government efficiency evidence from the Italian health care sector

Data envelopment analysis and panel data stochastic frontier models are used to evaluate the impact of the 1995 renewal of regional political institutions and the 1998 tax reform (introduction of IRAP) on the efficiency of Italian regional governments. Both methodologies are applied to a longitudinal dataset, including financial and health care data disaggregated at the regional level from 1991 to 2005. Then, efficiency scores for the regional governments are used to examine the evolution of technical efficiency in the Italian health care sector. The final results provide new empirical evidence in support of the findings of recent theoretical models concernint the way in which fiscal decentralization and electoral accountability affect the efficiency of governmental activity

Iron from the Sky. The meteoritic origin of Tutankhamun’s iron dagger

Since Howard Carter’s discovery in 1925 1, the meteoritic origin of the iron dagger blade from the sarcophagus of the ancient Egyptian King Tutankhamun (14th Century BC), part of the King’s funerary collection now at the Egyptian Museum of Cairo, has been the subject of debate. In this presentation, we report on the work carried out by the author in collaboration with Comelli et al. (2016). It is shown that the composition of Tutankhamun’s iron dagger blade (Fe plus 10.8 wt% Ni and 0.58 wt% Co), accurately determined through portable x-ray fluorescence spectrometry, strongly supports its meteoritic origin. This study confirms that ancient Egyptians attributed great value to precious objects made by meteoritic iron. However, it is as yet unclear if such dagger blade made of meteoritic iron was manufactured in Egypt or imported from Anatolia

Hydrogen bonding as a clustering agent in protic ionic liquids: like-charge vs opposite-charge dimer formation

The local structure of a series of homologous protic ionic liquids (PILs) is investigated using ab initio computations and ab initio-based molecular dynamics. The purpose of this work is to show that in PILs the network of hydrogen bonds may promote like-charge clustering between anionic species. We correlate the theoretical evidence of this possibility with viscosity experimental data. The homologous series of liquids is obtained by coupling choline with amino acid anions and varying the side chain. We find that the frictional properties of the liquids are clearly connected to the ability of the side chain to establish additional hydrogen bonds (other than the trivial cation–anion interaction). We also show that the large variation of bulk properties along the series of compounds can be explained by assuming that one of the sources of friction in the bulk liquid is the like-charge interaction between anions

The psyllid macrohomotoma gladiata kuwayama, 1908 (Hemiptera : Psylloidea : Homotomidae) : a ficus pest recently introduced in the EPPO region

The psyllid Macrohomotoma gladiata, is a new insect pest of Ficus originating from Asia which has recently been found in Spain (Alicante) on urban Ficus microcarpa trees. This species may be of phytosanitary concern because of its leaf wrapping habits, wax secretion and honeydew excretion that may lead to direct and secondary twig damage. Although more studies are needed on the biology of M. gladiata, it is suspected that it might behave in the Euro-Mediterranean as an invasive alien species. The predation by Anthocoris sp. (nemoralis?) needs to be investigated in order to assess its effectiveness as a natural biological control agent. This is the first report of M. gladiata from the EPPO region.peer-reviewe