Assessing the Effects of User Accountability in Contracting Out

Supplementary data is available at the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory online.The data that support the findings of this study are available in the Harvard Dataverse Repository, at https://doi. org/10.7910/DVN/I1TQ2O.How does contracting out affect service performance? Evidence to date is mixed. We argue that this is partially due to prior studies focusing often on whether—not how—services are contracted. Yet, how services are contracted matters. In particular, we argue that whether users pay user fees for services to contractors affects efficiency. Where they do, contractor revenue depends on user satisfaction and contractors face incentives to provide quality services to users to retain revenue. Where, by contrast, governments fund services, information asymmetry about the quality of services users receive allows contractors to shirk quality. The assertion is substantiated by empirical evidence derived from a comprehensive analysis of conditional efficiency within the water supply services across 2,111 municipalities in Spain, employing a two-stage conditional order-m data panel estimation. Our results show that contracting out where users pay service fees and thus have incentives to hold contractors accountable outperforms contracting out without user fees in quality-adjusted service provisionAgència de Gestió d’Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca, Grant/ Award Number: SGR Program2017-SGR-1556Junta de Andalucía, Proyectos I+D+I a agentes del Sistema Andaluz del Conocimiento (PAIDI 2020) Grant Number: P20.00605Universidad de Granada, Grant Number: B-SEJ-476-UGR20Ministerio de Ciencia e InnovaciónGrant Number: PID2021-128713OB-I00COLLABQUAL PID2020- 116103GB-I00

The Importance of Measuring Local Governments’ Information Disclosure: Comparing Transparency Indices in Spain

Transparency is considered a key element for developing a reliable government; it is the ability that all public entities have to provide access to all their information. The main objective of this work is to test the differences in the transparency of municipalities between the main indices and a new index made following the regulatory advances in this area at the national level. Called BTI, this new index aims to measure in the best possible way the degree of compliance of Spanish municipalities, through two dimensions (depth and breadth), which measure the quality and the quantity of the information. This work makes a comparison of the BTI with three of the main existing transparency indexes in Spain, to a sample of Spanish provincial capitals. The results obtained reveal clear differences between the indices, where three of the four indices analyzed show that most municipalities only fulfil the Transparency Act at the minimum level, with only a few municipalities reaching the maximum rating range. This work concludes that the BTI index is more demanding than the rest of the indexes. However, ITA stands out with a higher average score than the rest, which indicates that transparency portals are designed to obtain a good score in this index, being less objective. Finally, this paper remembers the importance of having an objective tool to measure transparency, as it can show notable differences with respect to reality.Ministry of Science, ICT & Future Planning, Republic of Korea PID2021-128713OB-I00 P20_0060

Análisis comparativo de la publicidad institucional de las Comunidades Autónomas : objetivos y cualidades discursivas

Este artículo presenta parte de los resultados alcanzados en el proyecto de investigación Estrategias de la comunicación social de los organismos del Estado a través de la publicidad institucional (Plan Nacional de I+D+I 2004-2007). La investigación parte de la idea de que a través de la publicidad institucional se contribuye a la construcción de la imagen pública de las instituciones, de la ciudadanía y de las relaciones entre ambos. Con el marco teórico de la Teoría de la Enunciación, se analizan 147 spots en los que los gobiernos de las Comunidades Autónomas de Madrid, Valencia, Cataluña y País Vasco actúan como anunciantes y se estudian sus formas de representación.This paper presents part of the results reached in the research project of the Social communication strategies of organisms of the State through institutional advertising (National research project I+D+I 2004-2007). The investigation leaves from the idea that through institutional advertising it is contributed to the construction of the public image of institutions, citizenship and relations between both. Applying the enunciation theory, 147 spots are analyzed in which the governments of the autonomous regions of Madrid, Valencia, Andalucía, Catalonia and the Basque Country act as advertisers are studied and their forms of representation

Análisis de la publicidad institucional del Estado español : objetivos y cualidades discursivas

Este artículo presenta parte de los resultados alcanzados en el proyecto de investigación Estrategias de la comunicación social de los organismos del Estado a través de la publicidad institucional (Plan Nacional de I+D+I 2004-2007). La investigación parte de la idea de que a través de la publicidad institucional se contribuye a la construcción de la imagen pública de las instituciones, de la ciudadanía y de las relaciones entre ambos. Con el marco teórico de la Teoría de la Enunciación, se analizan 75 spots en los que el Estado español actúa como anunciante y se estudian sus formas de representación.This paper presents part of the results reached in the research project of the Social communication strategies of organisms of the State through government advertising (National research project I+D+I 2004-2007). The investigation leaves from the idea that through government advertising it is contributed to the construction of the public image of institutions, citizenship and relations between both. Applying the enunciation theory, 75 spots are analyzed in which Spanish State acts as advertiser to study its forms of representation

El papel de las ciudades medias de interior en el desarrollo regional. El caso de Andalucía

Las ciudades medias presentan ventajas frente a las grandes urbes y, por ello, deberían desempeñar funciones esenciales para el equilibrio territorial. Sin embargo, en los últimos tiempos, las Administraciones Públicas han destinado más inversiones a las grandes metrópolis, provocando una concentración demográfica, económica, de infraestructuras y equipamientos en éstas, con la consiguiente pérdida del protagonismo que las ciudades medias tenían décadas atrás. En el presente artículo se establecen tipologías de ciudades medias andaluzas en función de su localización para evaluar su evolución en los últimos tiempos.Mid-size towns and cities have certain advantages over large cities and ought to play essential roles in spatial balance. However, in recent times the Public Administration has allocated more investments to large metropolises, leading to demographic, economic and infrastructural and equipment concentration in these, and mid-size towns and cities consequently relinquishing the leadership that they used to have several decades ago. This article discusses some of the main types of Andalusian mid-size towns and cities on the basis of their location and the different ways that they have developed in recent times

Análisis espacial, contextual y funcional de un conjunto de estructuras domésticas del III milenio a.C. del yacimiento de “La Orden-Seminario” (Huelva)

Hereby, we present a preview about the stratigraphic and contextual analysis of fifteen negative structures, which  are  linked  according  to  the  space  they  share. They can be likewise linked in three different groups, datable in the 3rd millennium cal. BC. Due to that, we have been able to establish a functional classification of the contexts. This classification includes habitat structures and storage pits, as well as symbolic, funerary, production, consumption and rubbish uses inside the village.Presentamos un avance al análisis estratigráfico y contextual de quince estructuras negativas espacialmente relacionadas y asociables en tres grupos, datables en el III milenio cal. a.C.. Ello nos ha permitido establecer una diversificación funcional de los contextos desde estructuras de habitación y de almacenamiento hasta usos funerarios, simbólicos, de producción, consumo y desecho en el interior del poblado. &nbsp

Assessing the Effects of User Accountability in Contracting Out

How does contracting out affect service performance? Evidence to date is mixed. We argue that this is partially due to prior studies focusing often on whether – not how – services are contracted. Yet, how services are contracted matters. In particular, we argue that whether users pay user fees for services to contractors affects efficiency. Where they do, contractor revenue depends on user satisfaction and contractors face incentives to provide quality services to users to retain revenue. Where, by contrast, governments fund services, information asymmetry about the quality of services users receive allows contractors to shirk quality. The assertion is substantiated by empirical evidence derived from a comprehensive analysis of conditional efficiency within the water supply services across 2,111 municipalities in Spain, employing a two-stage Conditional Order-M Data Panel estimation. Our results show that contracting out where users pay service fees and thus have incentives to hold contractors accountable outperforms contracting out without user fees in quality-adjusted service provision

El papel de la ciudades medias de interior en el desarrollo regional. El caso de Andalucía

Las ciudades medias presentan ventajas frente a las grandes urbes y deben desempeñar funciones esenciales para el equilibrio territorial. Sin embargo, en los últimos tiempos las Administraciones Públicas han destinado más inversiones a las grandes metrópolis, provocando una concentración demográfica, económica, de infraestructuras y equipamientos en éstas, con la consiguiente pérdida del protagonismo que las ciudades medias tenían décadas atrás. En el presente artículo se establecen tipologías de ciudades medias andaluzas en función de su localización para evaluar su evolución en los últimos tiempos

An instrumental puzzle: the modular integration of AOLI

The Adaptive Optics Lucky Imager, AOLI, is an instrument developed to deliver the highest spatial resolution ever obtained in the visible, 20 mas, from ground-based telescopes. In AOLI a new philosophy of instrumental prototyping has been applied, based on the modularization of the subsystems. This modular concept offers maximum flexibility regarding the instrument, telescope or the addition of future developments.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, Proc. SPIE 9908, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy VI, 99082Z (August 9, 2016

Ageing in the working population associated with obesity and cardiovascular risk parameters

Objective: The shift experienced in recent decades in developed countries, with an aging population, also affects the working population. This is associated with an increase in diseases such as obesity and cardiovascular risk. The objective of this study is to understand the relationship between aging in men and women with respect to obesity and cardiovascular risk in a working population. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted on 389 workers in the chemical industry sector of the Autonomous Community of Murcia. The relationship between age and BMI, CUN BAE, and RCV SCORE in men and women was calculated. Results: In both sexes, people ≥ 50 years show a higher BMI and body fat percentage than those < 50 years with p <0.001. In the female population aged ≥ 50 years, an increase in body fat percentage is observed compared to those aged < 50 years with p <0.001. CUN BAE shows higher values in individuals aged ≥ 50 years in both sexes (p <0.001), being higher in women. The RCV SCORE in both sexes is low in the studied population, with no significant differences observed by sex and age. Conclusions: Significant differences are observed in workers aged ≥ 50 years in obesity, BMI, and CUN BAE. Therefore, in order to act in primary prevention and health promotion in obesity and RCV related to aging within companies, it is useful to include parameters such as: BMI, CUN BAE, and RCV SCORE in health surveillance protocols