Assessing the Millennium Challenge Corporation as a Model for Foreign Assistance Reform

This study assesses the effectiveness of different administrative models of US foreign assistance, with a unique focus on one that hypothetically channels more DFA-administered funds through the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC). The study finds several limitations with this model, and so discounts the assumption that because the MCC is a fairly effective instrument of foreign assistance simply expanding it as is would spread its benefits on a larger scale. With some additions to its framework, however, the model may be quite effective and both politically and economically feasible.Millennium Challenge Account; Millennium Challenge Corporation; MCA; MCC; international economics; USAID; DFA; foreign aid; foreign assistance; international development; Prud'homme; Dan Prud'homme; Dan Prudhomme

On the dangers of decentralization

The author highlights some of the dangers of decentralizations. The benefits of decentralization in allocative efficiency are not as obvious as suggested by the standard theory of fiscal federalism. The assumptions of this theory are fragile. These doubtful benefits might carry a cost in production efficiency, but more empirical research is needed on this point. What is not doubtful is that decentralization runs counter to redistribution and stabilization. Decentralization makes redistributive policies, whether interpersonal or interjurisdictional, more difficult, if not impossible. Decentralization also makes macroeconomic stabilization programs more difficult to implement because subnational government fiscal policies can run counter to national policies. Serious drawbacks or potential drawbacks should be considered in designing any decentralization program. The arguments that the author develops make it easier to understand some of the real choices. These choices are not so much whether to decentralize in general but rather what functions to decentralize - in which sectors, and in which regions. Guidelines can be provided on this. Often, the problem is not so much whether a certain service should be provided by a central, regional, or local government, since the service often has to be provided with the intervention of all three levels of government. The real challenge is how to organize the joint production of the service. Decentralization refers simultaneously to a state and to a process. The virtues and dangers of decentralization are often discussed simultaneously for both concepts. This is a dangerous confusion because decentralization is path-dependent. What is desirable in a given country at a certain point in time depends on the present state of decentralization and the speed at which it has been reached. Much more work, particularly empirical work, is needed -- in review of decentralization (or centralization) experiences in general, as well as those encouraged or supported by the World Bank.National Governance,Banks&Banking Reform,Municipal Financial Management,Economic Theory&Research,Pharmaceuticals&Pharmacoeconomics

The Impacts of the Proposed EU-Libya Trade Agreement

The paper provides an overview of the potential social, economic and environmental impacts of an EU-Libya FTA as gauged by the EU-Libya Sustainability Impact Assessment (SIA). The main potential benefits to both the EU and Libya from the proposed trade agreement come from closer cooperation in the energy sector rather than from the economy-wide effects of reducing trade barriers. The agreement may also have significant adverse effects that need to be taken into account.EU; EU-Libya FTA; Libya FTA; EU FTA; Libya; Libya trade agreement; EU-Libya trade agreement; Libya trade; SIA; Sustainability Impact Assessment; impact assessment; trade impact assessment; EU SIA; Trade; SIA; Prud'homme; Dan Prud'homme; Dan Prudhomme; Prudhomme; Prud'homme

Paris: a Desire Named Streetcar

On the southern part of the Parisian Maréchaux' boulevards, the old bus line Petite Ceinture has been replaced by a modern tramway (T3). Simultaneously, the road-space has been narrowed by about a third. A survey conducted on 1,000 users of the T3 shows that the tramway hardly generated any modal report from the private cars (PC) towards the public transit (PT). However, it did generate important intra-modal transfers: from bus and subways towards tramway concerning the PT, surely from Maréchaux' boulevards towards the Parisian Ring-Road (boulevard périphérique, PRR) and/or adjacent streets for the PC. The various benefits and costs of these changes are evaluated in this research. The welfare gains made by PT users are more than compensated by the time losses of the motorists, and in particular, by the additional cost of road congestion on the PRR. The same conclusion applies with regard to CO2 emissions: the reductions saved with the replacement of the busses and some (few) PC are less important than the increased pollution induced by the lengthening of the automobile trips and the increased congestion on the PRR. Even if one ignores the initial investment of 350 M€, the social impact of the T3 project, illustrated by its Clear Discount Value (CDV), is strongly negative. This is especially true for suburbanites. Concerning the lonely inhabitants (electors) of Paris, our analysis shows that they pocket the main part of the benefits while supporting a weak fraction of the costs.Tramway, Costs-Benefits Analysis, Road Congestion, CO2 Emissions

Local and Selective Appropriation: Circulation of New Diagnosis Categories is Speech Therapy in Quebec’s Clinical Practice, 1985-2002

This essay is about the development, transmission, and use of new categories of diagnosis among speech therapists in Quebec’s hospitals and rehabilitation centres. From the view- point of the history of professions, the author emphasizes the driving role of clinicians’ local initiatives and professional aspirations in this process. The author starts with a brief overview of speech therapists’ professional situation in the early 1980s, then describes the emergence of a new category of neurological troubles, and, finally, analyzes the character- istics of its spread in clinical practice after 1986. By doing this, the author hopes to raise awareness about the study of the circulation of concepts in clinical settings

Diagnostics, promotion professionnelle et politiques de la santé. Les orthophonistes québécoises depuis 1970

L’article analyse l’évolution du système de santé depuis 1970, par le biais d’une étude des diagnostics et des stratégies de promotion au sein d’une profession particulière, soit l’orthophonie. Au cours de cette période, la pratique des orthophonistes évolue considérablement en vertu d’une quête d’autonomie qui s’accompagne d’un déplacement majeur de leur champ d’expertise. Cette évolution révèle l’importance des aptitudes diagnostiques pour l’obtention de positions avantageu- ses, ainsi qu’une diversité des pratiques de diagnostic déterminée par les enjeux professionnels locaux et propres à chaque milieu clinique. Elle met aussi en relief l’impact de certains choix administratifs sur la multiplication, non programmée, des activités de soins

La formation universitaire et l’établissement d’une nouvelle profession : l’orthophonie- audiologie à l’Université de Montréal, 1956-1976

L’orthophonie-audiologie est une discipline paramédicale spécialisée dans les troubles de la communication et du langage, et dont la pratique apparaît au Québec dans les années 1940 et 1950. Le présent article traite de l’établissement d’une formation universitaire en orthophonie-audiologie après 1956, et montre en quoi le contrôle de l’ensei- gnement et des unités académiques constitue un enjeu important des luttes interprofes- sionnelles entre les orthophonistes et les médecins. Après avoir décrit l’apparition de l’orthophonie-audiologie et son entrée dans l’univers hospitalier dans les années 1950 et 1960, on explique en quoi l’arrivée de l’État provincial en éducation et en santé transforme la situation des différents groupes et change la donne des luttes interprofessionnelles

L’expertise professionnelle et l’État-providence. Les travailleurs sociaux québécois et la ‘technocratisation’ du service social, 1970-2000

De 1973 à 1977, l’État québécois procède à l’étatisation du travail social. Les porte-parole des travailleurs sociaux se montrent très critiques de cette politique, décrivant l’État-providence comme le moteur d’une technocratisation stérilisante et déqualifiante pour les professionnels du secteur, un discours d’ailleurs véhiculé jusque dans l’historiographie savante. Or, cette interprétation de l’expérience québécoise de l’étatisation du travail social est discutable : d’une part, les critiques formulées à l’endroit de l’État avaient déjà été adressées aux employeurs privés qui l’ont précédé et, d’autre part, les travailleurs sociaux sur le terrain savent tirer profit des nouveaux cadres publics. Le présent texte indique en quoi une interprétation univoque de la « technocratisation » des années 1960 et 1970 mine notre compréhension de ce phénomène historique récent qu’est la construction de l’État-providence et met de l’avant les avantages d’une étude fine du travail professionnel au sein de l’appareil public