Would Bigger Councils Yield Scale Economies in the Greater Perth Metropolitan Region? A Critique of the Metropolitan Local Government Review for Perth Local Government

Forced amalgamation is a ubiquitous feature of Australian local government reform - compulsory council consolidation programs have occurred in all states and territories, with the sole exception of Western Australia. However, the Final Report of the Metropolitan Local Government - released in October 2012 - called for a reduction of about 60 per cent of the local authorities in the Greater Perth metropolitan area. The Western Australian Government responded by announcing that the number of Perth councils will fall from 30 to 14 from 1 July 2015. The Final Report recommended amalgamation on seven main counts, including scale economies. However, apart from citing work on Tasmania by commercial consultants Deloitte Access Economics (DAE) (2011), no econometric evidence was produced in support of claims on scale economies. This paper seeks to remedy this deficiency by estimating a number of econometric models on the impact of amalgamation on Perth local government. The results of our empirical modelling suggest that scale economies, cost savings and other pecuniary gains are largely illusory. Indeed, only two of the ten main local government functions provide evidence to suggest potential economies of scale. © 2014 National Council of the Institute of Public Administration Australia

Nexus between providers and users of green finance: Case study of commercial banks in Mauritius

International audienceIn an era of rising concerns of global warming, combatting climate change has been become a priority on the international agenda. In order to achieve the 2-degree goal, green finance has a vital role to play. Mauritius, being a developing country is no exception to join the league and to promote the provision of green finance. Green finance is a financing instrument binding the green industries to the financial institutions with the objective to protect the environment. However, there has been scant literature on the development of green finance in developing countries. The chapter attempts to map the nexus between the provider of green finance by the commercial banks and the users of green finance in Mauritius while investigating their different green finance solutions proposed. Two surveys were administered to 200 individual customers and 50 businesses under the user’s category and to 15 banks in Mauritius as providers of green finance. The results show that green finance is still at its infancy stage with a low level of awareness and adoption of it. Providers are also ineffective in promoting it and it raises concerns over whether such finance is a priority for them. Individuals and businesses are interested in Green Finance as it fosters sustainable development; Green Finance also increases banks’ profits, enhances stakeholder engagement, and diversifies their product portfolio. The major barriers revealed by the study are lack of communication between banks and customers, inadequate enforcement and insufficient qualified staffs. Recommendations have been leveled at banks, Central Bank, and NGOs. A marketing mix has been designed to enhance the awareness and adoption of Green Finance