Decentralization with Property Taxation to Improve Incentives: Evidence from Local Governments’ Discrete Choice

Decentralization of government with property tax financing is the standard recipe for public sector reform. Fiscal competition is assumed to stimulate efficiency and hold down the tax level. Property taxation offers additional incentives for efficiency. We study the incentive mechanisms involved using data for decentralized governments and in a setting where they can choose to have property taxation or not. The empirical analysis addresses whether fiscal competition and political control problems influence the choice of having property taxation. The results indicate that both incentive mechanisms are relevant and consequently support the standard advice. Fiscal competition generates a distinct geographic pattern in local taxation and political fragmentation seems to motivate property taxation to control common pool problems. The main methodological challenge handled concerns spatial interaction with discrete choice.property taxation; fiscal competition; political fragmentation; Bayesian analysis; spatial autoregressive model

The biogeochemistry of carbon across a gradient of streams and rivers within the Congo Basin

Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and inorganic carbon (DIC and pCO2), lignin biomarkers and the optical properties of dissolved organic matter (DOM) were measured in a gradient of streams and rivers within the Congo Basin (Republic of Congo), with the aim of examining how vegetation cover and hydrology influences the composition and concentration of exported fluvial carbon (C). Three sampling campaigns (February 2010, November 2010 and August 2011) spanning 56 sites are compared by sub-basin watershed land cover type (savannah, tropical forest, and swamp) and hydrologic regime (high, intermediate, and low). Land cover properties predominately controlled the amount and quality of DOC, chromophoric DOM (CDOM) and lignin phenol concentrations (∑8) exported in streams and rivers throughout the Congo Basin. Higher DIC concentrations and changing DOM composition (lower molecular weight, less aromatic C) during periods of low hydrologic flow indicated a shift from rapid overland supply pathways in wet conditions to deeper groundwater inputs during drier periods. Lower DOC concentrations in forest and swamp sub-basins were apparent with increasing catchment area, indicating enhanced DOC loss with extended water residence time. Surface water pCO2 in savannah and tropical forest catchments ranged between 2600 and 11922 µatm, and swamp regions contained extremely high pCO2 (10598-15802 µatm), highlighting their potential as significant pathways for water-air efflux. Our data suggest that the quantity and quality of DOM exported to streams and rivers is largely driven by terrestrial ecosystem structure and that anthropogenic land-use or climate change may impact the composition and reactivity of fluvial C, with ramifications for regional C budgets and future climate scenarios

Property Taxation as a Determinant of School District Efficiency

Recent theoretical contributions have emphasized the favorable incentive effects of property taxation. The object of this paper is to confront these theories with Norwegian data on student performance. The institutional setting in Norway is well suited to analyzing the effects of property taxation because we can compare school districts with and without property taxation. In addition, we focus on an alternative incentive mechanism - competition between school districts. The empirical results indicate that students in school districts that levy residential property taxes perform better at the national examination than students in comparable school districts. Strategic interaction in school quality is present, but the magnitude of the interaction effect is modest.Student achievement;efficiency;property taxation;competition;spatial auto-regressive model

"Nåtidens pirater i den maritime næring"

Formålet med oppgaven er ment til å rette fokus på piratvirksomheten og områdene det utspiller seg i, det er en virksomhet som har vist seg å bli et verdensomfattende problem og som truer sikkerheten til arbeidere på utsatte farvann. Oppgaven skal gi et overblikk over situasjonen, hvordan det har utviklet seg de siste 15 årene og hva dagens situasjon forteller oss. Jeg skal gå nærmere inn på hvilke områder som medfører størst risiko, hvorfor akkurat disse områdene og grunnene til piratvirksomhet. For å finne svar på hvor reell denne trusselen er, har jeg undersøkt hvilke tiltak som er iverksatt, hvordan de fungerer og suksessen av de, dette gjelder tiltak ombord skip, endring av ruter, militære tiltak og lovverk. Gjennom rapporter og undersøkelser vil jeg presentere kostnadene denne virksomheten medfører. Både økonomiske og menneskelige. Den maritime næringen demonstrerer et høyt fungerende globalt marked etterfulgt av en velfungerende økonomi, mens piratvirksomheten demonstrerer et avvik i sikker

Welfare Competition in Norway

Local redistribution policy creates incentives for welfare migration that may result in 'underprovision' or even a 'race to the bottom'. This paper evaluates the empirical importance of welfare competition. Our contribution is to separate between the policy decision and the actual welfare benefit payments and to introduce income distribution as a determinant of welfare policy. Utilizing spatial econometric methods we find statistical significant strategic interaction between local governments for both the welfare benefit norm decided by the local council and the expected welfare benefits of a standardized person. No robust relationship is found between inequality and welfare benefits and thus we offer no strong support for the Romer-Meltzer-Richard hypothesis. We conclude that there is a geographic pattern in welfare benefits. This does not necessarily imply underprovision, since the grant financing of the local governments may generate overall excessive public spending.

Innovation without design ? The dynamics of role making and the gradual emergence of the collective designer

International audienceThis paper explores innovation and social behaviourist theory in relation to sustainable urban projects in the highly institutionalized public sector (towns). Using empirical data from France, we examine the dynamics of a design process in which unexpected practices generated innovative urban design. We show how the fact that the design process did not follow the standard phases of planning meant that the actors redefined themselves in relation to one another. We point out how the absence of urban design plans during a precise phase of an innovative design process drew the actors into a movement of collective action, which presupposed the acquisition of a new identity. Ultimately, our objective is to combine social behaviourist theory and innovation theory and to facilitate innovative design in urban projects

High frequency winding design for planar switch mode transformers

Switch mode power supplies as a mass produced article leave room for optimization especially at the voluminous magnetic components. Hereby planar component designs can reduce the overall height of the power supply and give it a more compact design. Since cores are available in standard sizes the optimal winding layout has to be found. Due to increased parasitic capacitance interleaving is not a good option to reduce losses in the windings at high frequency resonant power supplies. This article presents and evaluates different winding designs for resonant switch mode transformers operating in power supplies with frequencies larger than 500kHz. This article shows that the revolved parallel design performs best of the tested designs under the given conditions. In addition, the revolved design can compete with solutions as planar litz when it comes to value meaning cost and production complexity. Furthermore, the article shows the abilities of a heat measurement prototype.reviewe

Managing and temporality

This special issue is the third in the Scandinavian Journal of Management (SJM) to focus exclusively on the processual nature of managing and organizing. These three special issues offer an approximate genealogy of recent developments in process thinking in the field of management and organization

Rainfall Variability along the Southern Flank of the Bambouto Mountain(West-Cameroon)

This paper presents the rainfall variability along the southern flank of the Bambouto mountain. Data were collected from rain gauges, while spatial variability was estimated through daily recorded data. Monthly and annual data were used to draw isohyetes via the triangular method, with linear interpolations between observation points. Results show that rainfall is highly variable along the slope. Daily rainfall amounts range from 0.1 mm to 120 mm. Mean yearly rainfall is 1918.1 mm. Rainfall amount does not have a linear relationship with altitude. Dschang is characterised by abnormally high rainfall. Following a North-South direction, rainfall decreases from Dschang to a Melang-Loung-Djuttitsa axis. From this axis, the gradient reverses as rainfall increases rapidly towards the Mélétan mountain. The existence of the relatively dry zone within the hillside seems to be due to the influence of two air masses. The first is cold and very wet which moves from the Mamfe basin to the summit zone where it starts to warm up as it flows towards Melang and Loung where temperature increases. The second comes from the south to south-east monsoon which is also impoverished during the ascension to higher altitudes. It is also likely that a third air mass from the dry harmattan is involved depending on the position of the ITCZ

Changes in dietary pattern in 15 year old adolescents following a 4 month dietary intervention with school breakfast – a pilot study

BACKGROUND: Few studies on impact of meals served in school have been published. However, implications of school meals are an actual issue of both public and political concern in several countries. The objective of this study was to evaluate if breakfast served in a lower secondary school could improve dietary habits and school performance among the students. METHODS: All students in 10th grade in a lower secondary school, consisting of two school classes, were invited to participate in a controlled study. The students in one class were offered a free breakfast at the beginning of each school day for 4 months, while the students in the second class were controls. Both classes were educated in the importance of healthy eating, and a data program enabling them to evaluate dietary intake was introduced. The students answered two questionnaires, one on school performance and one short food frequency questionnaire, four weeks before study start and one week after. Body weight and height were measured by the school nurse at the beginning and end of the study. Because of few students in each group, non-parametrical statistic analyses were used. RESULTS: All students in the intervention group had breakfast at school during the intervention. One week after the intervention the students in the class who received breakfast had returned to their normal breakfast pattern. In the control group the frequency of a lunch intake had increase, as compared to before study start (p < 0.01). An improved food pattern was seen among the male students in the intervention group, as measured by a healthy eating index after the intervention (p < 0.01). Body Mass Index increased statistically significant in both males and females in the control group (p < 0,01 for males and p < 0.05 for females), but not in the intervention group. Improvement in school performance following school breakfast was not found, but the males in the intervention group reported a significant increase in school contentment (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: In a lower secondary school class served breakfast for 4 months, dietary intake changed to a more healthy profile and weight gain was reduce