Urban water supply and local neoliberalism in Tagbilaran City,the Philippines

The aim of this paper is to explore the processes and outcomes of neoliberalism in relation to urban water supply in the city of Tagbilaran, the Philippines, in order to provide a nuanced account of (an) actually existing hybrid neoliberal space. Using Bakker's typology of market environmentalist reforms in resource management as a guiding frame to link this case to a bigger ‘neoliberal’ conversation, I distinguish how reforms to resource governance at the national level, coupled with changes in the ways in which resource management institutions and resource management organisations function at the local level have acted to constitute local practices of neoliberal governance. Local articulations of (national and supranational) neoliberal and development discourses are revealed as a means for reconceptualising the role of the state and the emergence of new forms of hybrid governance in Tagbilaran. Analysis of the operation of BWUI, a public/private water utility, and the politics of privatisation/private sector participation enables a closer inspection of how water and water services are politicised and resisted by local publics.     

PFI-Private Finance in Public Works

PFI is one of the novel approaches for the private finance in public works. The initiative aims on encouraging the private sector to undertake infrastructure projects and the provision of services on a project basis, rather than by the traditional means of procurement. PFI has been widely applied in a large number of fields in public works of government. PFI has become one of the government's main instruments for delivering higher quality and more effective public services. Two of the principal tenets of PFI is: the first is to secure value for money for the public sectors and the second to transfer the ongoing risk in the continued delivery of a service away from the public sector to the private sector.     

Charter school proliferation and school district fiscal stress,a chicken-egg problem

Charter schools have become one of the most popular school choice programs in recent years. While being accused of endangering the fiscal health of local school districts, charter school proliferation could also be the result of fiscal stress of local school districts. However, this reverse causation has not been fully studied in the literature. Using data of local school districts in Ohio from 2011 to 2019, I adopt an Instrumental Variable approach to investigate the possible scenario that the rapid growth in charter school enrollment could be caused by fiscal stress of school districts. The results suggest that the inadequate funding from state and local sources had led to a significant increase in charter school enrollment for urban districts, although the charter demand is inelastic to public funding changes. Students could be left with no better options but to choose charter schools over failing traditional public schools.     

Does Public Infrastructure Affect Regional Performance?

Does public infrastructure affect state output? This paper uses both a Cobb-Douglas and a translog production function to examine the impact of public infrastructure spending on state output. Like labor and private capital, the stock of public capital is considered to be an input into the production process. The data are based on Alicia Munnell's work and were provided by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. Unlike many of the earlier studies employing Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) techniques, this analysis employs estimating methods that take advantage of the longitudinal nature of the data set. While these methods lend support to the public capitol hypothesis, there is evidence that studies relying on OLS have reported a coefficient on public capital that is upward biased. This paper, which controls for heterogeneity in the data, finds the coefficient on public capital to be smaller than that presented in previous studies. This finding has important policy implications. It indicates that while investment in public capital may have a positive impact on the private sector, this impact will be much smaller than predicted by previous studies.     

Rolling Back the Frontiers of the State: Civil Service Reorganization and Relocation in Britain

Urban and regional studies of service location concentrate on private business and financial services. In contrast, this paper uses the example of the central government civil service in Britain to develop understanding of the spatial dynamics of public services. The paper shows how the location of civil service employment has been influenced by changes in government policy over the last thirty years. It also indicates the way in which the over-concentration of the private sector in London and the South East, throughout the period, has encouraged the decentralization of the civil service from the capital to a variety of provincial locations.     

Innovative and Competitive Structure of Regional Economies in Turkey

Regional development theories have experienced a transition from Keynesian state‐led economic development models to development based on public–private partnerships, innovation, industrial districts, etc. With the increasing concern for innovative milieu, products, process, organizational, and institutional innovations have assumed an important place in regional development policies. All these regional development paradigms have formed the basis of the initiation of a new process in regional development called the new regionalism, which includes cumulative efforts to revitalize local economic growth. In this paper, we identify technological levels of 26 NUTS 2‐level regions according to the Organisation for Economic Co‐operation and Development (OECD)'s classification. Then, we develop an innovation and competitiveness index for Turkey by employing principal component analysis. In conclusion, we formulate some workable policy solutions and suggestions for regional economies in Turkey. According to the results, Istanbul is the most innovative and competitive region in Turkey. Ankara is becoming a regional knowledge cluster, thanks to its strong R&D infrastructure and highly qualified researchers.     

城乡基本公共服务差距测算与均等化技术路线分析-以福建为例

差距大小与人口流动性是影响城乡基本公共服务均等化技术路线选择的重要因素。文章在测算分析福建城乡公共财政支出、基础教育与医疗服务的差距变动情况的基础上,探讨了人口流动性不断增加对城乡基本公共服务均等化的影响,比较了依靠人口流动与依靠财政支出两条促进城乡基本公共服务均等化的技术路线,提出以财政支出确保最低公共服务标准,以人口流动加速城乡基本公共服务均等化进程的建议。     

城乡基本公共服务差距测算与均等化技术路线比较——以福建为例

为了揭示差距大小与人口流动性对城乡基本公共服务均等化的影响,选择符合中国实际的城乡基本公共服务均等化技术路线,文章以城乡常住人口为基数,在测算分析福建城乡公共财政支出、基础教育与医疗服务的差距变动情况的基础上,探讨了人口流动性不断增加对城乡基本公共服务均等化的影响.比较分析得出完全依靠人口流动对社会的冲击较大,完全依靠财政支出的效率较低,进而提出以财政支出确保最低公共服务标准,以人口流动加速城乡基本公共服务均等化进程的技术路线建议.     

Twenty‐first century nomadic city: Ger districts and barriers to the implementation of the Ulaanbaatar City Master Plan

Since the early 1990s, Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, has experienced rapid rural to urban migration and population growth resulting in the growth in informal settlements across the city. The informal settlements are known as ‘ger’ districts. In response to these pressures, since the 1990s, the central government has adopted a programme of land reform and metropolitan planning. These new reforms take place in the context of a unique, post‐socialist political, economic and institutional context. The land reform process has attempted to privatise land ownership, which has traditionally resided with the state. The privatisation process was initiated under the new Constitution of Mongolia, which initiated reforms in all sectors of social and economic development, and since 2003, targeted land reform in ger districts. Running parallel, a series of urban land‐use planning schemes have been introduced to frame the development of Ulaanbaatar in the context of an emerging market economy. Although master plans for urban development have been established since the 1950s, urban land‐use planning is a new concept in this emerging market economy. The aim of this paper is to trace the rationales and challenges of implementing master plans and land privatisation processes in Ulaanbaatar. Drawing on interviews with city, national and local government officials conducted in 2009, the paper focuses on the implications of these reforms for both the government and the residents of ger districts.     

Knowledge,Market Structure,and Economic Coordination: Dynamics of Industrial Districts

The industrial rise of the Third Italy has been characterized by the growth of dynamic networks of flexible small and medium–sized enterprises (SMEs) that are spatially concentrated in specialized industrial districts. This network type of coordination has been associated with horizontal, trust–based relations rather than vertical relations of power and dependency between local organizations. This would lower transaction costs (essential for local systems with an extreme division of labor), facilitate the transmission and exchange of (tacit) knowledge (and thus, learning and innovation), encourage cooperation mechanisms (such as the establishment of research centers), and stimulate political–institutional performance (e.g. through regulation of potential social conflicts). From an evolutionary perspective, the focus is on the dynamics of industrial districts drawing from current experiences in Italy. In this respect, this paper concentrates on two main features of industrial districts that have largely contributed to their economic success in the past, that is, their network organization and the collective learning process. The evolution of industrial districts is described in terms of organizational adjustments to structural change. The way in which the size distribution of firms has changed is discussed (in particular the role of large companies), how the (power) relationships between local organizations have evolved, what are the current sources and mechanisms of learning, and to what extent institutional lock–in has set in. Finally, a number of trajectories districts may go through in the near future are presented.     

The geopolitical economy of Thailand's marine plastic pollution crisis

Currently approximately 9 million tons of plastic enter the world's oceans annually. This is a major transboundary problem on a global scale that threatens marine wildlife, coastal ecologies, human health and livelihoods. Our concern in this paper is with the environmental governance of marine plastic pollution that emanates from Thailand, the sixth biggest contributor globally. By zooming in on land‐based polluters in Thailand, we highlight both the systemic nature of the marine plastic problem and the relative impunity with which drivers of transboundary environmental harm function at all levels of governance. Drawing from 19 interviews conducted with actors from the public, private and non‐profit sectors, we examine three stages of the problem: production, consumption and waste management. We found that three major barriers prevent Thailand's government, private sector and citizens from engaging in the sort collective action needed to reduce marine plastic pollution. They are: (i) insufficient incentives to enact political change; (ii) scalar disconnects in waste management; and (iii) inadequate public and private sector ownership over plastic waste reduction. As the state alone cannot change corporate and consumer behaviour, we argue that multi‐stakeholder efforts across organisational scales of governance and administrative boundaries are needed to address the barriers.     

Evolutionary Economic Geography for OFCs: Do Political Ties to the Onshore Reduce Capital Inflow Volatility?

This paper analyses the structural change in small‐island economies—sometimes labeled offshore financial centers (OFCs)—that have seen wealth‐generating activities through offshore financial services decrease in value since 2008. At the same time, OFCs have come under increasing scrutiny from supranational organizations such Organization for Economic Co‐operation and Development and European Union for perceived unfair tax practices and money laundering activities. Some OFCs have proactively adjusted to this sea change by broadening the economic base through development of new offshore business activities such as e‐gaming, film industry, and niche manufacturing. Most have increased co‐operation with onshore regulatory bodies to promote service and product legitimacy. Econometric analysis explores the assertion that OFCs that do not have a political link to the onshore may be exposed to greater capital inflows volatility than OFCs that have such a link. Case study analysis using the theoretical lens of evolutionary economic geography illustrates that a small OFC is creating spatialities of economic novelty by adapting economic development strategies deployed during the successful development of the center prior to the recent recession. Our findings reveal the importance of political links to the onshore to reduce capital inflow volatility and the importance of local public–private interaction to legitimize post‐recession development.     

Regime Network Restructuring in Akron,Ohio, 1975–2009: A Longitudinal Social Network Analysis

The purpose of this paper is to explore the impacts of extra‐local economic and political forces on the business community participants of the governing regime coalition in Akron, Ohio, and in turn, how other regime partners responded to and engaged with the changing constitution of Akron's business community. Unlike the UK where municipalities receive substantial fiscal support from regional and national governments, American cities are more readily forced into regime partnerships with other public and private actors for fiscal solvency, including, primarily, the local business community. In the case of Akron, the local business community experienced a prolonged and ongoing period of comprehensive deindustrialization and economic restructuring, forcing the city into partnerships with less traditional non‐private sector actors as Akron's business community structure continues to transform. A secondary objective is to forward the utility of social network analysis in regime theory applications. Social network analysis offers a way to situate arguably the most influential actors in a regime coalition. Utilizing the directories of Standard and Poor's Index of Corporations and Directors from 1975 through 2006, social network analysis is performed on the interlocking network of corporations and civic organizations based in Akron for each decade, allowing a longitudinal view of the changing business community partners of Akron's governing coalition.     

Public vs. Private Garbage Disposal: The Economics of Solid Waste Flow Controls

ABSTRACT The welfare effects of public versus private waste disposal with and without flow controls are analyzed. The pricing of private waste disposal services is modeled as being bounded above by the public entity's average disposal cost, but constrained by potential entry of private competitors. It is found that once a publicly owned disposal facility has been built, waste generators are almost always better off if their local government has flow control authority. This results from the necessity of covering the fixed costs of the public facility once it has been built, in conjunction with the expected pricing behavior of private firms.     

The Planning Response to Urban Service Sector Growth: an International Comparison

The restructuring of urban economies from manufacturing to service industries has been a major feature of the last twenty-five years. Large cities with a population of at least one million have been at the forefront of this change with the primate cities of the newly industrialized countries increasingly affected. The growth characteristics, planning experiences, and policy implications of the expansion of service industries in large and medium-size metropolitan areas around the world are examined. This has illuminated issues connected with the interurban competition for services. The service sector has shaped new urban planning and public policy agendas and the way in which metropolitan areas in this study have started to reshape their policies provides a good lead for others to follow. It is likely that new pressures will strengthen the need to look beyond their established urban planning policies to broader, integrated urban management policies.     

Creativity and Inequality: The Dual Path of China's Urban Economy?

Utilizing Chinese data for the years of 1998, 2000, 2005, and 2008, this research traces the growth of the creative economy and the enlarging income inequality in China's urban economy. While the creative sector now makes up close to 30 percent of China's urban private employment, industry‐based earnings disparity has also increased substantively. Provinces with larger creative economy also tend to have higher level of wage inequality among workers of the creative sector, the working sector, and the service sector. Several other factors, especially internal migration flow, size of manufacturing, and ownership structure in local economy, are found to be significantly linked to inequality as well.     

Market‐led options to scale up legume seeds in developing countries: Experiences from the Tropical Legumes Project

There are several hurdles to ensure sustainable seed production and consistent flow of improved legume varieties in sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA) and South Asia (SA). The unreliable demand, autogamous nature of most of the grain legumes, and slow variety replacement rate by smallholder farmers do not provide strong incentive for private seed companies to invest in legume seed business. Unless a well thought‐out and comprehensive approach to legume seed delivery is developed, current seed shortages will continue, eroding emerging market opportunities. The experiences reported here are collated through a 10‐year partnership project, the Tropical Legumes in SSA and SA. It fostered innovative public–private partnerships in joint testing of innovative market‐led seed systems, skills and knowledge enhancement, de‐risking private sector initiatives that introduced in new approaches and previously overlooked entities in technology delivery. As new public and private seed companies, individual seed entrepreneurs and farmer organizations emerged, the existing ones enhanced their capacities. This resulted in significant rise in production, availability and accessibility of various seed grades of newly improved and farmer demanded legume varieties in the target countries.     

The impact of equalisation of basic public health and medical services on the long-term urban settlement intentions of internal migrants in China

Using China Migrants Dynamic Survey Project data from 2012 to 2018, this paper evaluates the causal impact of equalisation of basic public health and medical services on the long-term urban settlement intentions of internal migrants by the difference-in-differences approach. The results reveal that the equalisation of basic public health and medical services has a negative impact on the long-term urban settlement intentions of internal migrants of 4%. Male, middle-aged, and unmarried internal migrants have a much stronger negative response, in terms of long-term urban settlement intentions, to changes in basic public health and medical services. Moreover, more recent internal migrants, those in first-tier cities and those in cities in eastern regions also have a much stronger negative response. Mechanism checks imply that the negative impact on the long-term urban settlement intentions of internal migrants is caused by social integration decline after implementation of equalisation of basic public health and medical services.     

The Appreciative System of Urban ICT Policies: An Analysis of Perceptions of Urban Policy Makers

ABSTRACT Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has become an important tool to promote a variety of public goals and policies. In the past years much attention has been given to the expected social benefits from deploying ICTs in different urban fields (transportation, education, public participation in planning, etc.) and to its potential to mitigate various current or emerging urban problems. The growing importance of ICTs in daily life, business activities, and governance prompts the need to consider ICTs more explicitly in urban policies. Alongside the expectation that the private sector will play a major role in the ICT field, the expected benefits from ICTs also encourage urban authorities to formulate proper public ICT policies. Against this background, various intriguing research questions arise. What are the urban policy‐makers’ expectations about ICTs? And how do they assess the future implications of ICTs for their city? A thorough analysis of these questions will provide a better understanding of the extent to which urban authorities are willing to invest in and to adopt a dedicated ICT policy. This study is focusing on the way urban decision‐makers perceive the opportunities of ICT policy. After a sketch of recent development and policy issues, a conceptual model is developed to map out the driving forces of urban ICT policies in cities in Europe. Next, by highlighting the importance of understanding the decision‐maker's “black box,” three crucial variables are identified within this box. In the remaining part of the paper these three variables will be operationalized by using a large survey comprising more than 200 European cities. By means of statistical multivariate methods (i.e., factor and cluster analysis), the decision‐makers were able to be characterized according to the way they perceive their city (the concept of “imaginable city”), their opinion about ICT, and the way they assess the relevance of ICT policies to their city. Next, a solid explanatory framework will be offered by using a log‐linear logit analysis to test the relationships between these three aspects.     

Building knowledge city in transformation era: Knowledge‐based urban development in Beijing in the context of globalisation and decentralisation

This study examines knowledge‐based urban development in Beijing with the objective of revealing the impact of the ‘synergetic’ forces of globalisation and local government intervention on knowledge‐based urban development in the context of the coexisting processes of globalisation and decentralisation. The findings in this paper show that due to the rapid growth of the cultural industry sector, knowledge‐based urban development has created various kinds of ‘cultural industry clustered areas’, which were recently promoted by the 2008 Olympic Games. ‘Synergetic’ global and local forces are leading knowledge‐based urban development, with the emergence of a local coalition regime in which local government manages local development, considered as ‘enterprises’ in the decentralisation process, while the State retains a significant influence on knowledge‐based urban development. The central and municipal governments tend to emphasise strategies to ‘facilitate the climate for growth’ rather than the centrally planned control they exerted prior to the 1980s.