Electricity sectors in many developing countries are stuck in a vicious cycle of low prices, financial insolvency, and unreliable service. India’s state-owned utilities are emblematic of this problem, costing the government billions in bailouts while delivering poor electricity reliability....

Regulation 1370/2007, as amended by the Fourth Railway Package, set the date of 25 December 2023 for the opening to competition of services subject to public service obligations. As opposed to the model of "competition in the market" for commercial services, the model for PSO services is that of...

The process of the liberalisation of services of general economic interest (SGEI) in the EU adopted the universal service (US) regulatory model. The objectives of the process were to strengthen free competition and improve social welfare. SGEIs have the characteristic of networked services and,...

We study residential segregation and access to public services across 1.5 million urban and rural neighborhoods in India. Muslim and Scheduled Caste segregation in India is high by global standards, and only slightly lower than Black-White segregation in the U.S. Within cities, public facilities...

Electricity sectors in many developing countries are stuck in a vicious cycle of low prices, financial insolvency, and unreliable service. India's state-owned utilities are emblematic of this problem, costing the government billions in bailouts while delivering poor electricity reliability. This...

Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) has emerged as a foundational enabler of modern digital governance, yet scholarly understanding of its scope, design, and impact remains fragmented. This study addresses this gap by conducting a comprehensive systematic review and bibliometric analysis of 1153...

We review the evolution of the concept of utility in economics, addressing the conceptual and terminological fragmentation that characterises the interdisciplinary debate. This study adopts the scoping review framework to systematically analyse the main theoretical approaches, ranging from...

Digital transformation has become a central strategy for modernizing the public sector. This study analyzes the relationships between digital competencies, digital literacy, change management, soft skills, technology adoption, digitization of the public function, digital public services,...

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are becoming increasingly important for sustainable rural development through the smart village concept. This study aims to model ICT's potential for public services management in European rural areas. It identifies ICT applications across rural...

The COVID-19 pandemic forced European Union member states to accelerate the digitalization of public services, turning a gradual policy priority into an urgent necessity. This study examines the pandemic's impact on the digital transformation of public administrations, assessing the...

Economic growth in Uganda remains strong. Real GDP growth accelerated from 6.1 percent in 9M-FY24 to an estimated 6.8 percent in 9M-FY25. This robust performance was mainly driven on the supply side by improvement in the commodity producing sectors as well as in manufacturing. This was...

Peru, once a high-growth economy achieving significant reductions in poverty, now faces stalling progress, citizen distrust and political instability. After robust growth averaging over 6 percent in the early 2000s and poverty reduction from 59 percent in 2004 to 24 percent in 2014, progress...

Digital transformation in government services represents a strategic shift that leverages digital technologies to enhance efficiency, accessibility, convenience, and user-centricity. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, many governments accelerated the digitisation of services to support remote...

This study examines the critical success factors for digital transformation in South Africa's public services, where systemic inefficiency, corruption, and limited transparency have eroded public trust. Using a PRISMA-guided systematic literature review of 64 studies, this study synthesises...

Despite the increasing integration of government chatbots (GCs) into digital public service delivery, their real-world effectiveness remains limited. Drawing on the literature on algorithm aversion, trust-transfer theory, and perceived risk theory, this study investigates how the type of service...

Contributing to the literature on the diversity of capitalism, this article shows how actors in the Polish public services responded to interlinked crises, namely the chronic public services crisis and its aggravation by the COVID-19 pandemic and the arrival of refugees triggered by war in...

This study examines the relationship between organizational commitment and administrative management within a public service institution operating in an emerging governance context. Grounded in the three-component model of organizational commitment (affective, continuance, and normative) and...

Section 195(b) of South Africa's Constitution calls for the efficient use of resources in public administration, while the White Paper on Local Government similarly emphasizes the efficient provision of basic services such as refuse collection and water. Despite these policy commitments, South...

Digitalisation in the public sector presents both opportunities and challenges, impacting working conditions, work organisation and social dialogue, yet research on its effects remains limited, especially in Germany. In particular, the role of digitalisation in shaping work dynamics, workload...

We study whether the quality of managers can affect public service provision in the context of public health. Using novel data from public hospitals in Chile, we show how the introduction of a competitive recruitment system and better pay for public hospital CEOs reduced hospital mortality by...