Local Government Cooperation for Joint Provision: The Experiences of Brazil and Spain with Inter-Municipal Consortia

Local governments often set up inter-municipal consortia to provide public services jointly, rather than individually. The main benefits of joint provision include the potential for improved cost-effectiveness arising from gains from economies of scale and the internalisation of costs and/or benefits of provision, which could otherwise spill over inter-municipal borders and discourage provision. To shed further light on this issue, this paper tests for the presence of scale and spillover effects in local government provision and estimates the determinants of the probability of local government participation in inter-municipal consortia in Brazil and Spain. Empirical evidence suggests that in some cases smaller jurisdictions operate at sub-optimal scale and are indeed more likely than their larger counterparts to participate in inter-municipal consortia. In the case of Brazil, governance arrangements between the municipalities and the state governments and/or private-sector providers, but not the federal government, are also associated with a higher probability of participation in inter-municipal consortia, suggesting the presence of “participation spillovers” among governance arrangements

On the Size and Determinants of Inter-regional Redistribution in European Countries over the Period 1995-2009

The aim of this paper is to analyse cross-country differences in the degree of inter-regional redistribution achieved by means of taxes and expenditures in 21 European countries over the period 1995-2009. We rely on a standard approach based on the observation and comparison of both primary and disposable household income at regional scale. Once the redistributive effect in each country is quantified, we try to explain the drivers of cross-country time-series differences. According to our estimates, cross-national standard deviation is significant and much higher than time variation. Secondly, inter-regional redistribution is strongly and positively related to personal redistribution by means of taxes and social benefits in cash; and is negatively related to both the extent of regional disparities in primary income and to the degree of political and fiscal decentralization

On the Political Determinants of Intergovernmental Grants in Decentralized Countries: The Case of Spain

This paper studies the effect of political variables on the gains obtained by Spanish regions in periodical bargaining of the intergovernmental financing agreements and on the regional distribution of discretional earmarked grants over the period 1987-2008. First, we find that the relationship between gains in transferred revenues and on regional public debt stocks depends on the period and the specific issues discussed in the corresponding negotiation, aside from political affinity. Second, we show that the most discretional program of earmarked grants is strongly driven by electoral strategy. National incumbents tend to allocate intergovernmental transfers where there are competitive regional elections. Moreover, we show that earmarked grants are allocated in those regions where the incumbent performs better in national elections and, especially, in those where there are more seats to be won. Hence we prove that both strategies are complementary rather than exclusive

Temporal analysis of losing possession of the ball leading to conceding a goal : a study of the incidence of perturbation in soccer

The aim of this study was to examine the temporal occurrence of losing possession of the ball in soccer and its association with conceding a goal. Thirty two senior national teams competing in the 2010 World-Cup in South Africa and twelve youth soccer clubs were selected for match analysis. The results of time distribution analysis showed a significant positive skewness (K-SZ=3, S=0.463, p=0.000) for losing possession of the ball, transition time in senior (K-SZ=1.82, S=1.57, p=0.003) and youth groups (K-SZ=2.85, S=1.29, p=0.002) and normal distribution for variability of time to losing the ball (K-SZ=1.07, S= -0.280, p=0.19). The results of an independent t test showed that there was a significant difference (t=2.71, p=0.008) in transition time between youth and senior groups. In conclusion, this study showed that the number of times that the ball was lost increased near to a goal being conceded and the duration of the most recent loss was very close to goal-conceding. Thus effective strategies that have been employed to destabilise opponents include increasing the number of perturbations through losing possession of the ball, speeding up the transition periods and the final strike after the opponents lose the ball

Budget Transparency in Local Governments: An Empirical Analysis

The aim of this paper is to shed additional light on the determinants of budget transparency in local governments. Our work is based on a Likert-type survey questionnaire specifically designed to measure budget transparency in small municipalities. The questionnaire is based on the IMF’s revised Code of Good Practices on Fiscal Transparency (2007). Results from 33 Galician municipalities are used to assess its internal consistency and to test a battery of hypotheses on the determinants of budget transparency. While several previous findings of the literature are confirmed, some new results are also obtained

Effects of coaches' timeouts on basketball teams' offensive and defensive performances according to momentary differences in score and game period.

The aim of the present study was to assess the effects of game timeouts on basketball teams? offensive and defensive performances according to momentary differences in score and game period. The sample consisted of 144 timeouts registered during 18 basketball games randomly selected from the 2007 European Basketball Championship (Spain). For each timeout, five ball possessions were registered before (n?493) and after the timeout (n?475). The offensive and defensive efficiencies were registered across the first 35 min and last 5 min of games. A k-means cluster analysis classified the timeouts according to momentary score status as follows: losing ( ?10 to ?3 points), balanced ( ?2 to 3 points), and winning (4 to 10 points). Repeated-measures analysis of variance identified statistically significant main effects between pre and post timeout offensive and defensive values. Chi-square analysis of game period identified a higher percentage of timeouts called during the last 5 min of a game compared with the first 35 min (64.999.1% vs. 35.1910.3%; x ?5.4, PB0.05). Results showed higher post timeout offensive and defensive performances. No other effect or interaction was found for defensive performances. Offensive performances were better in the last 5 min of games, with the least differences when in balanced situations and greater differences when in winning situations. Results also showed one interaction between timeouts and momentary differences in score, with increased values when in losing and balanced situations but decreased values when in winning situations. Overall, the results suggest that coaches should examine offensive and defensive performances according to game period and differences in score when considering whether to call a timeout

The safety and efficacy of the tetanus vaccine intramuscularly versus subcutaneously in anticoagulated patients: a randomized clinical trial

BACKGROUND: In patients treated with oral anticoagulants, subcutaneous injections of anti-tetanus vaccine are usually recommended to reduce the risk of bleeding, although the effectiveness of the vaccine has only been proven for intramuscular injection. The objective of this study was to compare the safety and efficacy of intramuscular and subcutaneous injections of tetanus-diphtheria vaccine in patients treated with oral anticoagulants. METHODS/DESIGN: We present a prospective, double blinded, clinical trial comparing two groups of patients with oral anticoagulants: one group was administered tetanus-diphtheria vaccine by intramuscular injection, while the other was administered the same vaccine by subcutaneous injection. Allocation to each group was randomized and the duration of the study was six years. STUDY POPULATION: all patients treated with oral anticoagulants, who had been administered with at least one dose of vaccine, at 15 Health Centres in Vigo (Spain), and who agreed to participate in the study. The sample size was 115 patients in each group. The main variables for the safety analysis were the measurement of the brachial diameter, the appearance of basic injuries at the vaccine administration site, the appearance of pain and systemic reactions. The variable used for the efficacy analysis was a significant increase in the titres of anti-tetanus toxoid antibodies.An Intention-to-treat analysis will be performed. Details will be classified according to the administration route, while within each group a 3-tiered stratification will be defined by the administered number of doses. As a measure of association, relative risk will be estimated; the reduction of relative risk will also measured. For safety and to control the confounder effect, a logistic regression analysis will be carried out. As a measure of impact the reduction of absolute risk in relation to the total number of patients to be treated and the Number Needed to Treat will be estimated.CONSORT 2010 guidelines were applied for reporting parallel group randomised trials. DISCUSSION: The most significant difficulties on the project are related to the large number of participating centres, required to obtain a viable study population sample size, and the coordination given the scattering of the centres and researchers. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ISRCTN69942081

Effects of game location, team quality and final outcome on game-related statistics in professional handball close games

The aim of this study was to identify the effects of team quality, game location and final outcome on handball performance indicators during close games. The sample consisted of 126 close games (goal differences of 1.98±1.37) from the Spanish Professional Men’s Handball League (2012/13). Factor analysis identified six factors: Factor 1 – successful 6m and 7m shots and unsuccessful 6m, 7m and 9m shots; Factor 2 – successful 6m and 9m shots and unsuccessful saves from 9m shots; Factor 3 – successful and unsuccessful counter-attack shots, assists, blocks and recovered balls; Factor 4 – successful and unsuccessful saves from 7m shots; Factor 5 – successful and unsuccessful saves from counter-attack shots; Factor 6 – yellow cards and successful saves from 6m shots. A mixed linear model identified the effects of team quality, game location and game outcome on the previously identified factors. Game location effects were significant for Factor 3, with higher values for home teams. Game outcome main effects were identified for Factors 3, 5 and 6, with teams having higher values when winning. The team quality was significant for Factor 3, with higher values for superior teams. The team quality x game outcome and team quality x game location interactions were significant for Factor 3. The game location x game outcome interaction was significant for Factors 2 and 3. These findings can contribute to a better understanding of the situational variables’ determinants of elite handball performances, helping the coaches to prepare the players accordingly

Identifying playing talent in professional football using artificial neural networks

The aim of the current study was to objectively identify position-specific key performance indicators in professional football that predict out-field players league status. The sample consisted of 966 out-field players from 2 seasons in the Football League Championship. Players were assigned to one of three categories (0, 1 and 2) based on where they completed most of their match time in the following season, and then split based into five positions. 340 performance, biographical and esteem variables were analysed using a Stepwise Artificial Neural Network approach. A Monte Carlo cross-validation procedure was used to avoid over-fitting and the neural network modelling involved a multi-layer perceptron architecture with a feed-forward backpropagation algorithm. The models correctly predicted between 72.7% and 100% of test cases (Mean prediction of models = 85.9%), the test error ranged from 1.0% to 9.8% (Mean test error of models = 6.3%). Variables related to passing, shooting, regaining possession and international appearances were key factors in the predictive models. This is highly significant as objective position-specific predictors of players league status could be used to aid the identification and comparison of transfer targets as part of the due diligence process in professional football