This chapter explores the history of financial management reform in Switzerland, both at the Federal and cantonal levels of government. The chapter first outlines the Swiss system of government and public sector organisation.(...)

In January 2007, the European Commission presented the Action Programme for reducing administrative burden on businesses at EU level by 25% by 2012. The Action Programme was endorsed by the Spring European Council in March 2007. It addressed the Administrative Burdens of EU origin in 13 subject...

The introduction of competitive mechanisms and of markets or market-type instruments is a common topic in recent public sector modernisation everywhere. This paper explores the role, the trends and the effects of introducing market-oriented incentives into the discourse about reforming state and...

[This document was requested by the European Parliament's Committee on Budgetary Control. It designated Mr Brian Hayes (MEP) to follow the study.] - The recent European crisis has put the issue of government efficiency high on national policy agendas. Policy measures that result in a reduction...

This short note provides a framework for looking at public sector governance and productivity improvements. It argues that the role of government in enhancing productivity growth is two-fold. First, government should provide an environment that is conducive in improving total factor productivity...

This paper focuses on roots of strain in the European Monetary Union (EMU). It argues that there is need for a thorough reform of the governance structure of the Union in conjunction with radical changes in the regulation and supervision of financial markets. Financial intermediation has gone...

In the post war period, telecommunications - being services of 'general economic interest' - were initially managed by public administrative bodies in many Western European countries. With the rise of New Public Management (NPM) in the 1980s, these bodies were often transformed into public...

The paper examines the relationship between the political system and the public administration modernization in the Hungarian transition. Its intention is to point out that there are various shortcuts and bottlenecks of the Hungarian modernization and the cumulative impacts of these deficiencies...

This paper systematically examines the dominant processes and key issues of China's governance reforms over the last 30 years since the start of the reform and opening policies. It argues that the main thrust of China's governance reforms is the shift from monistic governance to pluralist...