We provide evidence about voters' response to crime control policies. We exploit a natural experiment arising from the Italian 2006 collective pardon releasing about one third of the prison population. The pardon created idiosyncratic incentives to recidivate across released individuals and...

We provide evidence about voters' response to crime control policies. We exploit a natural experiment arising from the Italian 2006 collective pardon releasing about one third of the prison population. The pardon created idiosyncratic incentives to recidivate across released individuals and...

The organization of the Prussian school system still affects the German education system of today. Against the background of end-of-nineteenth-Prussia this thesis analyzes how education funding emerges in a federal system and how it affects prosperity and nation building in a setting of...

Reaching the policy goal of improving student achieve­ment by adding resources to the school system has often proven elusive. By contrast, ample evidence indicates that central exit exams constitute an important feature of a school system's institutional framework, which can hold students,...

Fiscal disparity leads to a yardstick bias, in that incumbents in fiscally-rich jurisdictions can provide more public goods, extract more rents and yet have a higher probability to be reelected. This study further emphasizes disparity among jurisdictions, not only in terms of fiscal resources...

Fiscal disparity leads to a yardstick bias, in that incumbents in fiscally-rich jurisdictions can provide more public goods, extract more rents and yet have a higher probability to be reelected. This study further emphasizes disparity among jurisdictions, not only in terms of fiscal resources...

Reaching the policy goal of improving student achieve­ment by adding resources to the school system has often proven elusive. By contrast, ample evidence indicates that central exit exams constitute an important feature of a school system’s institutional framework, which can hold students,...

The organization of the Prussian school system still affects the German education system of today. Against the background of end-of-nineteenth-Prussia this thesis analyzes how education funding emerges in a federal system and how it affects prosperity and nation building in a setting of...

This paper presents data from a study of Syrian diaspora organizations providing assistance to conflict-affected Syrians in Europe, the Middle East, and North America. Using interview data from leaders in three Syrian diaspora non-profit organizations, this paper examines the social mechanisms...

School systems regularly use student assessments for accountability purposes. But, as highlighted by our conceptual model, different configurations of assessment usage generate performance-conducive incentives of different strengths for different stakeholders in different school environments. We...

Generally, trade policies exclude provision for predictability and accountability as transparency measures and facilitates trade consensus that enhance market access, reduce trading costs, and promote cooperation. In analyzing the trajectories on transparency, free trade agreement (FTA), and...

School systems regularly use student assessments for accountability purposes. But, as highlighted by our conceptual model, different configurations of assessment usage generate performance-conducive incentives of different strengths for different stakeholders in different school environments. We...

Corruption and mismanagement of public resources can affect the quality of government services and undermine growth. Can citizens in poor communities be empowered to demand better-quality public investments? We look at whether providing social accountability training and information on project...

I present a model in which a centrist electorate leads to partisan politics and vice versa. A centrist electorate benefits from an equilibrium in which only ideological politicians are elected in so far as ideological politicians are willing to give up more rents in return for a higher chance of...

As concerns over growing levels of student loan debt continue to mount for both students and taxpayers, many have called for an improved accountability system in the U.S. higher education system. In this policy brief, I discuss the many flaws in our current system, and outline how a system known...

We study voters’ response to public policies. We exploit a natural experiment arising from the Italian 2006 collective pardon that created idiosyncratic incentives to recidivate across released individuals and municipalities. We show that municipalities where resident pardoned individuals had...

We provide evidence about voters’ response to crime control policies. We exploit a natural experiment arising from the Italian 2006 collective pardon releasing about one third of the prison population. The pardon created idiosyncratic incentives to recidivate across released individuals and...

We provide evidence about voters' response to crime control policies. We exploit a natural experiment arising from the Italian 2006 collective pardon releasing about one third of the prison population. The pardon created idiosyncratic incentives to recidivate across released individuals and...

Policy reform debates in African economies often focus on poverty alleviation programs, liberalisation of trade and market and social service provisions. These reforms are heavily dependent on funding from either foreign sources or natural resource wealth, accompanied with concessions from the...

Freedom of Information Acts (FOIAs) aim to provide a channeled exchange between citizens and public officials that, irrespective of the citizen's identity, results in the provision of timely, relevant, and often new information about policy. The authors of this paper evaluated Mexico's FOIA by...

Policy reform debates in African economies often focus on poverty alleviation programs, liberalisation of trade and market and social service provisions. These reforms are heavily dependent on funding from either foreign sources or natural resource wealth, accompanied with concessions from the...

Transparency of public management is fundamental to bringing citizens closer to public managers and as such universally considered an element of good governance. The main aim of this study is to identify the factors determining transparency in public management of Portuguese local authorities....

Assessing performance in the public sector continues to be a major issue for all governments around the world. In this area of information, governments are assigning increased attention to the development and implementation of communication technologies in the public sector, in particular, the...

An Australian case study is presented of an ongoing conflict between Alcoa World Alumina, a multi-national mining company and the impacted stakeholders of Yarloop, a small rural community in Western Australia. The conflict has been subject to research by the author since the early 2000s and is...

The paper aims to analyse and discuss the evolution towards a sustainable business model and to focus on the motivations and the implications on the mission, the governance and the accountability of companies. Moreover, the theoretical framework of values-based, ethical and sustainable...

We study voters' response to public policies. We exploit a natural experiment arising from the Italian 2006 collective pardon that created idiosyncratic incentives to recidivate across released individuals and municipalities. We show that municipalities where resident pardoned individuals had a...

Freedom of Information Acts (FOIAs) aim to provide a channeled exchange between citizens and public officials that, irrespective of the citizen’s identity, results in the provision of timely, relevant, and often new information about policy. The authors of this paper evaluated Mexico’s FOIA...

Civil society organizations have played various roles in promoting the capture of benefits from and protection against the negative impacts of extractive industries. Payment disclosure is one potentially powerful tool for such organizations to promote greater local benefit capture. Practitioners...

Civil society organizations have played various roles in promoting the capture of benefits from and protection against the negative impacts of extractive industries. Payment disclosure is one potentially powerful tool for such organizations to promote greater local benefit capture. Practitioners...

In order to develop Asia-Pacific Center for Theoretical Physics (APCTP), it is necessary to respond various kind of accountabilities around research environment as well as research capacity and international reputation. APCTP, the case of this research, has achieved its goal through proper...

Historically, the development of tele-communications has been at the heart of State policy based on a set of principles revolving around notions of modernisation, on the one hand, and nation-building, on the other. They were operationalized in State planning for domestic infrastructure,...

Journalism is widely believed to be crucial for holding elected officials accountable. At the same time economic theory has a hard time providing an instrumental explanation for the existence of "accountability journalism". According to the common Downsian reasoning, rational voters should not...

I exploit a reform that required Italian municipalities to disclose their balance sheetsbefore elections to study whether having more informed voters aects the political budgetcycle. To start, investment spending in the year before elections is 28.5% higher thanin the election year and this...

Bottom-up budgeting (BUB) is a government program that is envisioned to institutionalize and incentivize grassroots participation in local planning and budgeting in all cities and municipalities. This study aims (i) to examine how the key steps in the planning and prioritization of projects that...

This paper aims to provide a transparency assessment tool, highlighting the importance of disclosing qualitative information to stakeholders to increase accountability in the public sector. The agency theory, stakeholders and legitimacy theory underpinning transparency in reporting as an enabler...

It is widely known that governments are changing their relationships with public sector organizations with the aim of improving public sector efficiency and effectiveness. The conceptual understanding of government control and governance approaches in state-owned higher education institutions...