The Value of Local eGovernment : a study of electronic service delivery performance measurement

At the local government level, where a significant number of citizen-to-government transactions occur, eGovernment can be as much a barrier as it can be an enabler for citizen access to information and services. Municipal councils need to ensure that they are effective in delivering the services that are transferred to the electronic domain. As local governments increasingly turn to ESD, it is essential that they put in place performance measurement processes that ensure that they are effectively in achieving their desired aim. Public accountability particularly for more efficient and effective service delivery requires performance measures incorporating both financial and non-financial elements. The substantial reforms to the local government sector, however, brings with it a risk that councils will turn to eGovernment with the primary aim of reducing internal costs. This research examines the progress local governments in Victoria, Australia have made towards utilising the Internet to enhance the delivery of services and the methods they use to measure performance. Using a case study of two councils, the research found that councils concentrate more on the cost benefits of ESD rather than on the quality or effectiveness of the service. It also found that council staff do not incorporate on-going evaluative processes in changes to ESD. Moreover, it found that staff are often reluctant to undertake internally initiated reviews, and often rely on easily quantifiable measures such as hits or visits as justification for ESD

Continuous Workout Mortgages

This paper models Continuous Workout Mortgages (CWMs) in an economic environment with refinancings and prepayments by employing a market-observable variable such as the house price index of the pertaining locality. Our main results include: (a) explicit modelling of repayment and interest-only CWMs; (b) closed form formulae for mortgage payment and mortgage balance of a repayment CWM; (c) a closed form formula for the actuarially fair mortgage rate of an interest-only CWM. For repayment CWMs we extend our analysis to include two negotiable parameters: adjustable "workout proportion" and adjustable "workout threshold." These results are of importance as they not only help understanding the mechanics of CWMs and estimating key contract parameters. These results are of importance as they not only help in the understanding of the mechanics of CWMs and estimating key contract parameters, but they also provide guidance on how to enhance the resilience of the financial architecture and mitigate systemic risk.Continuous Workout Mortgage (CWM), Repayment, Interest-only, House price index, Prepayment intensity, Cap and floor on continuous flow

Continuous Workout Mortgages

This paper models Continuous Workout Mortgages (CWMs) in an economic environment with refinancings and prepayments by employing a market-observable variable such as the house price index of the pertaining locality. Our main results include: (a) explicit modelling of repayment and interest-only CWMs; (b) closed form formulae for mortgage payment and mortgage balance of a repayment CWM; (c) a closed form formula for the actuarially fair mortgage rate of an interest-only CWM. For repayment CWMs we extend our analysis to include two negotiable parameters: adjustable “workout proportion” and adjustable “workout threshold.” These results are of importance as they not only help understanding the mechanics of CWMs and estimating key contract parameters. These results are of importance as they not only help in the understanding of the mechanics of CWMs and estimating key contract parameters, but they also provide guidance on how to enhance the resilience of the financial architecture and mitigate systemic risk

Mainstreaming nature-based solutions for climate resilient infrastructure in peri-urban sub-Saharan Africa

This work was conducted under the “Urban Ecolution: Predicting synergies and trade-offs of water-related ecological infrastructure for climate adaptation in peri-urban Sub-Saharan Africa'', supported through the Climate Research for Development Postdoctoral Fellowship (CR4D-19-21) implemented by the African Academy of Sciences in partnership with the UK’s Department for International Development, Weather and Climate Information Services for Africa (WISER) programme and the African Climate Policy Center of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. This study has also been funded in part by the African Women in Climate Change Science Fellowship supported by the African Institute of Mathematical Sciences Next Einstein Forum and the International Development Research Centre of Canada Aid, the UK’s Research and Innovation’s Global Challenges Research Fund under the Development Corridors Partnership project (ES/P011500/1), and Lincre College, University of Oxford.Despite a growing recognition of the importance of designing, rehabilitating, and maintaining green infrastructure to provide essential ecosystem services and adapt to climate change, many decision makers in sub-Saharan Africa continue to favour engineered solutions and short term economic growth at the expense of natural landscapes and longer term sustainability agendas. Existing green infrastructure is typically maintained in more affluent suburbs, inadvertently perpetuating historic inequalities. This is in part because there remains a lack of fine-grained, comparative evidence on the barriers and enablers to mainstreaming green infrastructure in peri-urban areas. Here, we developed an analytical framework based on a review of 155 studies, screened to include 29 studies in 24 countries. Results suggest eight overarching categories of interconnected barriers to green infrastructure in peri-urban areas. Using a combinatorial mixed method approach, we then surveyed households in nine settlements in drought-prone Windhoek (n=330) and seven settlements in flood-prone Dar es Salaam (n=502) and conducted key informant interviews (n=118). Peri-urban residents in Windhoek and Dar es Salaam indicated 18 forms of green infrastructure and 47 derived ecosystem services. The most frequently reported barriers were financial (40.8%), legal and institutional barriers (35.8%) followed by land use change and spatial trade-offs (33%) and finally ecosystem disservices (30.6%). The most significant barriers in Dar es Salaam were legal and institutional (22.7%) and in Windhoek were land use change and spatial trade-offs (24.4%). At the household level, the principal barrier was financial; at community and municipal levels the main barriers were related to design, performance, and maintenance; while at the national level, the main barriers were legal and institutional. Embracing institutional cultures of adaptive policymaking, equitable partnerships, co-designing futures, integrated landscape management and experimental innovation have potential to scale long term maintenance for urban green infrastructure and foster agency, creativity and more transformative relationships and outcomes.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Continuous Workout Mortgages

Continuous Workout Mortgage (CWM) balance and payments are indexed using market-observable house price index in an economic environment with prepayments. Our main results include: (a) explicit modelling of repayment and interest-only CWMs; (b) closed form formulas for mortgage payment and mortgage balance of a repayment CWM; (c) a closed form formula for the actuarially fair mortgage rate of an interest-only CWM. For repayment CWMs we extend our analysis to include two negotiable parameters: adjustable "workout proportion" and adjustable "workout threshold." These results are of importance as they not only help in the understanding of the mechanics of CWMs and estimating key contract parameters, but they also provide guidance on how to enhance the resilience of the financial architecture and mitigate systemic risk.

What to expect from an International System of Tradeable Permits for Carbon Emissions

We use an econometrically-estimated multi-region, multi-sector general equilibrium model of the world economy to examine the effects of using a system of internationally-tradable emissions permits to control world carbon dioxide emissions. We focus, in particular, on the effects of the system on flows of trade and international capital. Our results show that international trade and capital flows significantly alter projections of the domestic effects of emissions mitigation policy, compared with analyses that ignore international capital flows, and that under some systems of international permit trading the United States is likely to become a significant permit seller, the opposite of the conventional wisdom

Policy brief: Dryland nature based solutions for informal settlement upgrading schemes in Africa

Upgrading schemes are increasingly used by city and national governments to address rapid unplanned peri-urban growth, improve infrastructure services and living conditions, and enhance resilience to climate change for the most marginalised vulnerable urban populations. Part of this upgrading process involves introducing alternative tenure systems to address innovation and sustainable development challenges. Nature-based solutions (NBS) are actions which work with and enhance nature to produce a diverse range of services on which human well-being depends. Building protecting and restoring NBS is particularly useful in resource-constrained informal settlements, due to cost-effectiveness, health and economic co-benefits. In some instances, in-situ upgrading programmes combined with flexible tenure systems and NBS have the scale and scope to impact a significant proportion of urban populations. Namibia is pioneering this approach, having chosen three pilot cities, namely Windhoek, Gobabis and Oshikati, as part of the roll-out of its national Flexible Land Tenure Act1. Among many, this act aims to fill the gap in tenure regularisation for the most vulnerable groups.Based on an ongoing study in these cities looking at rural-urban climate resilient futures in Namibia, Kenya and Tanzania through the “Peri-Urban Resilient Ecosystems” partnership, the following ten practical recommendations provide guidance for urban policy makers, planners, designers and local authorities in dryland areas. The ten practical recommendations can strengthen informal settlement upgrading schemes by optimising NBS and the ecosystem services they provide (figure 1). Key themes relate to urban development for inclusive prosperty, informed decision-making, innovation and experimentation, integration and complementarity.Publisher PD

Emissions trading, capital flows and the Kyoto Protocol

We use an econometrically estimated multi-region, multi-sector general equilibrium model of the world economy to examine the effects of the tradable emissions permit system proposed in the 1997 Kyoto protocol, under various assumptions about that extent of international permit trading. We focus, in particular, on the effects of the system on international trade and capital flows. Our results suggest that consideration of these flows significantly affects estimates of the domestic effects of the emissions mitigation policy, compared with analyses that ignore international capital flows

Continuous Workout Mortgages:Efficient Pricing and Systemic Implications

This paper studies the Continuous Workout Mortgage (CWM), a two in one product: a fixed rate home loan coupled with negative equity insurance, to advocate its viability in mitigating financial fragility. In order to tackle the many issues that CWMs embrace, we perform a range of tasks. We optimally price CWMs and take a systemic market-based approach, stipulating that mortgage values and payments should be linked to housing prices and adjusted downward to prevent negative equity. We illustrate that amortizing CWMs can be the efficient home financing choice for many households. We price CWMs as American option style, defaulting debt in conjunction with prepayment within a continuous time, analytic framework. We introduce random prepayments via the intensity approach of We also model the optimal embedded option to default whose exercise is motivated by decreasing random house prices. We adapt the (BAW) approach to work within amortizing mortgage context. We derive new closed-form and new analytical approximation methodologies which apply both for pricing CWMs, as well as for pricing the standard US 30-year Fixed Rate Mortgage (FRM)