Tournament Approaches to Policy Reform

Tournament Approaches to Policy Reform
Author: Clifford F. Zinnes
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 394
Release: 2010-10-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0815703775

While much foreign aid achieves commendable goals, some is ineffective. In this volume, Clifford Zinnes argues that a donor's intrinsic informational limitations on the local context as well as inability to control the progress of interventions mean that lack of success is not rooting in insufficient funding but in maladapted institution designs of interventions that don't foster local ownership. He indentifies and assesses a newly emerging class of foreign aid delivery that promises to overcome these obstacles. The approach is based on "prospective inter-jurisdictional competition" (PIJC). Beneficiary groups—often local-level governments, supported by their private sector and civil society—act as teams and compete against each other under explicit predefined rules and objectives to design and implement interventions under their own aegis to achieve the highest quantitatively measured performance, either relative to others ("tournaments") or against a preset benchmark ("certification"). Teams that cooperate internally are the likeliest to win the rewards, which, aside from the longer run benefits of the intervention itself, might include more substantive financial or technical assitance from the sponsor. Since only groups serious about reforming choose to play, Zinnes says the incentives generated by the ensuing "race-to-the-top" competitiion create local ownership, encouraging recipients to draw on their own knowledge. Moreover, since all teams that compete—and not just those who "win" donor rewards—benefit from their own reform efforts, he argues that this approach can leverage aid resources more than a conventional bilateral aid agreement. Zinnes presents a dozen recent applications of the approach, including those sponsored by the World Bank, USAID, the United Nations, the Ford Foundation, and others. He also recommends improvements and ways to scale up PIJC-based projects in applications ranging from protecting the environment and reducing red tap

The Politics Industry

The Politics Industry
Author: Katherine M. Gehl
Publisher: Harvard Business Press
Total Pages: 316
Release: 2020-06-23
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1633699242

Leading political innovation activist Katherine Gehl and world-renowned business strategist Michael Porter bring fresh perspective, deep scholarship, and a real and actionable solution, Final Five Voting, to the grand challenge of our broken political and democratic system. Final Five Voting has already been adopted in Alaska and is being advanced in states across the country. The truth is, the American political system is working exactly how it is designed to work, and it isn't designed or optimized today to work for us—for ordinary citizens. Most people believe that our political system is a public institution with high-minded principles and impartial rules derived from the Constitution. In reality, it has become a private industry dominated by a textbook duopoly—the Democrats and the Republicans—and plagued and perverted by unhealthy competition between the players. Tragically, it has therefore become incapable of delivering solutions to America's key economic and social challenges. In fact, there's virtually no connection between our political leaders solving problems and getting reelected. In The Politics Industry, business leader and path-breaking political innovator Katherine Gehl and world-renowned business strategist Michael Porter take a radical new approach. They ingeniously apply the tools of business analysis—and Porter's distinctive Five Forces framework—to show how the political system functions just as every other competitive industry does, and how the duopoly has led to the devastating outcomes we see today. Using this competition lens, Gehl and Porter identify the most powerful lever for change—a strategy comprised of a clear set of choices in two key areas: how our elections work and how we make our laws. Their bracing assessment and practical recommendations cut through the endless debate about various proposed fixes, such as term limits and campaign finance reform. The result: true political innovation. The Politics Industry is an original and completely nonpartisan guide that will open your eyes to the true dynamics and profound challenges of the American political system and provide real solutions for reshaping the system for the benefit of all. THE INSTITUTE FOR POLITICAL INNOVATION The authors will donate all royalties from the sale of this book to the Institute for Political Innovation.

Reforming Infrastructure

Reforming Infrastructure
Author: Ioannis Nicolaos Kessides
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 328
Release: 2004
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN:

Electricity, natural gas, telecommunications, railways, and water supply, are often vertically and horizontally integrated state monopolies. This results in weak services, especially in developing and transition economies, and for poor people. Common problems include low productivity, high costs, bad quality, insufficient revenue, and investment shortfalls. Many countries over the past two decades have restructured, privatized and regulated their infrastructure. This report identifies the challenges involved in this massive policy redirection. It also assesses the outcomes of these changes, as well as their distributional consequences for poor households and other disadvantaged groups. It recommends directions for future reforms and research to improve infrastructure performance, identifying pricing policies that strike a balance between economic efficiency and social equity, suggesting rules governing access to bottleneck infrastructure facilities, and proposing ways to increase poor people's access to these crucial services.

Competition Law Reform in Britain and Japan

Competition Law Reform in Britain and Japan
Author: Kenji Suzuki
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 223
Release: 2003-09-02
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1134520700

As market competition replaces state regulation in many economic fields, competition policy has become an area of increasing significance. Against this background, Suzuki highlights the importance of the domestic political structure for competition policy. He does this through the comparative analysis of competition law reforms in Britain and Japan. He argues - controversially - that a country's domestic political structure should be considered a major factor in causing the reform of competition law, and rejects the established view that it is necessarily a result of changes in international economic and political conditions.

The Reform of EC Competition Law

The Reform of EC Competition Law
Author: Ioannis Kokkoris
Publisher: Kluwer Law International B.V.
Total Pages: 626
Release: 2010-01-01
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9041126929

This book represents a fresh approach to EC competition law - one that is of singular value in grappling with the huge economic challenges we face today. As a critical analysis of the law and options available to European competition authorities and legal practitioners in the field, it stands without peer. It will be greatly welcomed by lawyers, policymakers and other interested professionals in Europe and throughout the world.

Political Competition, Economic Reform and Growth

Political Competition, Economic Reform and Growth
Author: Ivan Pavletic
Publisher: vdf Hochschulverlag AG
Total Pages: 235
Release: 2010
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3728132969

Which political and institutional factors trigger reforms that enable the poor to benefit from the process of economic growth? How can the incentives of policy makers be influenced in order to achieve such a dynamic? These are the questions this study seeks to address by examining the transition process in post-communist countries. The author argues that political competition within an accepted and respected institutional environment has been a driving force in shaping the direction and success of transition reforms. Evidence shows that in countries with a sufficient degree of political competition, citizens responded to economic crises by calling for economic liberalization. Economic liberalization removed existing distortions, increased economic efficiency and raised public welfare. This activated a dynamic, self-enforcing reform process that also strengthened the political and economic power of the poor. In the absence of political competition, such a process failed to emerge, thereby contributing to the persistence of poverty. Based on these findings, there is good reason to postulate that some level of political competition is essential for transition reforms to improve economic efficiency and public welfare in a sustainable manner.

OECD Reviews of Regulatory Reform: Regulatory Reform in Greece 2001

OECD Reviews of Regulatory Reform: Regulatory Reform in Greece 2001
Author: OECD
Publisher: OECD Publishing
Total Pages: 344
Release: 2001-05-30
Genre:
ISBN: 9264193456

This review of regulatory reform in Greece presents an integrated assessment of areas such as the quality of the public sector, competition policy and enforcement, and market openness. It also contains chapters on sectors such as telecommunications, electricity, domestic ferries and trucking.

Delivering Aid Differently

Delivering Aid Differently
Author: Wolfgang Fengler
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
Total Pages: 301
Release: 2010
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0815704801

A series of essays provides an overview of foreign-aid programs today, which utilize nongovernmental sources of aid more than ever, and offers solutions as to how to better coordinate this aid from a variety of sources. Original.

New Developments in UK and EU Competition Policy

New Developments in UK and EU Competition Policy
Author: Roger Clarke
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Total Pages: 328
Release: 2006-11-28
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9781782543145

Major developments have recently taken place in competition and antitrust policy in both the UK and EU. Following an informative overview, this timely book presents authoritative accounts of recent changes and clear analyses of current policy. As well as discussing new developments in policy towards monopolies, mergers, cartels and state aids, it features chapters on the treatment of vertical restraints and regulated industries. The book also includes a discussion of the relationship between competition policy and intellectual property rights, and concludes with a forward-looking assessment.

Research Handbook on International Competition Law

Research Handbook on International Competition Law
Author: Ariel Ezrachi
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Total Pages: 615
Release: 2012-01-01
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0857934805

The Research Handbook on International Competition Law brings together leading academics, practitioners and competition officials to discuss the most recent developments in international competition law and policy. This comprehensive Handbook explores the dynamics of international cooperation and national enforcement. It identifies initiatives that led to the current state of collaboration and also highlights current and future challenges. The Handbook features twenty-two contributions on topical subjects including: competition in developed and developing economies, enforcement trends, advocacy and regional and multinational cooperation. In addition, selected areas of law are explored from a comparative perspective. These include intellectual property and competition law, the pharmaceutical industry, merger control worldwide and the application of competition law to agreements and dominant market position. Presenting an overview of the current state of cooperation and convergence as well as a comparative analysis of substance and procedure, this authoritative Handbook will prove an invaluable reference tool for academics, competition officials and practitioners who focus on international competition law.