Working Paper
The Practice of Industrial Policy – Lessons for Africa
This paper draws on both successful and failing cases of industrialization in China to analyse the role of local governments in fostering the growth of light manufacturing. The broad spectrum of support types and the intimate knowledge of enterprise...
Working Paper
Sharing in Community-based Social Services in Rural Tanzania
The first part of the paper describes steps which Tanzania took in order to provide key social services to her people. Tanzania made great efforts within the ujamaa socialist system to provide free social services for rural as well as urban people...
Working Paper
Community and Village-Based Provision of Key Social Services
The first part of the paper describes steps which Tanzania took in order to provide key social services to her people. Tanzania made great efforts within the ujamaa socialist system to provide free social services for rural as well as urban people...
Working Paper
Regional Development and Government Policy In China's Transitional Economy
This paper examines the causes and consequences of the increase in regional disparities in China during its economic transition towards a 'socialist market economy'. Part 1 seeks to explain why the 'Core' provinces in southeast China have...
Working Paper
Enforcement and Compliance in Lima's Street Markets
Almost twenty years have passed since researchers from the Institute for Liberty and Democracy in Peru showed how ‘bad laws’ impose disproportionate costs on those who choose formality. Although a multitude of conflicting regulations still precludes...
Working Paper
Fiscal decentralization and efficiency of public services delivery by local governments in Ghana
In this paper, we estimate the efficiency of Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in Ghana, and investigate the impact of fiscal decentralization on the efficiency of local public goods and services delivery by MMDAs. Using data...
Journal Article
Fiscal decentralization and efficiency of public services delivery by local governments in Ghana
We estimate the efficiency of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in Ghana, and investigate the impact of fiscal decentralization on the efficiency of local public goods and services delivery by MMDAs. Using data from composite...
Working Paper
Social and political capital in rural Vietnam
This paper exploits five waves of the Vietnam Access to Resources Household Survey (VARHS) to investigate issues of social and political capital in rural Vietnam. I analyse membership of the Communist Party, ‘mass organizations’ (Farmers’ Union...
Working Paper
The Rise and Fall of Decentralization in Contemporary Uganda
There has long been an emphasis on the importance of decentralization in providing better quality public services in the developing world. In order to assess the effectiveness of decentralization I examine here the case study of Uganda, which has...
Working Paper
Transition Regimes and Security Sector Reforms in Sierra Leone and Liberia
Why are some countries more successful at carrying out post-conflict reconstruction programmes than others? Why has Sierra Leone been more successful in the reform of its armed forces than Liberia has after the end of the Mano River Basin wars? This...
Working Paper
Aid and Institution-Building in Fragile States
Institution-building in Somalia has met with high levels of failure for two decades. But successes have occurred in other Somali-inhabited regions of the eastern Horn, and have been especially present at the local and municipal level. The most...
Working Paper
Foreign Aid and Decentralization
Donor support for decentralization comes in two main categories: recommendations at the policy level and project activities at the programming level. At the policy level, donors promote decentralization by recommending greater autonomy for...
Working Paper
Decentralized Service Delivery in Nairobi and Mombasa
In many African countries, decentralization has long been viewed as a means for improving local service delivery. Yet, despite various decentralization initiatives, poor service delivery continues to be problematic in two of Kenya’s largest cities...
Working Paper
Donor Assistance and Urban Service Delivery in Africa
Sub-Saharan African cities have been growing at historically unprecedented rates. Since the early 1970s, they have welcomed international assistance involving a succession of major thematic objectives. The main agency involved in urban assistance has...
Working Paper
Is There Such a Thing as a Post-Apartheid City?
In an introductory section, this paper considers briefly the achievements and problems of urban governance in post-apartheid South Africa through an assessment of three categories: administrative reform, developmental issues and conflicts over...
Working Paper
Conflicts, Poverty and Human Development in Northern Uganda
The long-running conflict in northern Uganda has led to major violations of human rights against civilians, destruction of infrastructure, reduced access to social services, and paralysed economic activity. Creating peace and fostering reconciliation...
Working Paper
Toward Efficient Urban Form in China
Land efficiency in urban China is examined, using Tianjin as a case study, from the perspective of agricultural land conservation; reduction in energy use, conventional pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions; and human time savings. Issues addressed...
Working Paper
Local Government, Taxes, and Guns
This paper evaluates transformative policy innovations with respect to security and taxation in the three main Colombian cities: Bogotá, Medellín, and Cali. In the first two, such policies were associated with huge success. Elsewhere we (Gutiérrez et...
Presentation
Ethnic Divisions, Local Governance, and Public Goods Provision: New Avenues for Research
Presentation by Rachel M. Gisselquist. Title: 'Ethnic Divisions, Local Governance, and Public Goods Provision: New Avenues for Research' (paper by Rachel M. Gisselquist, Stefan Leiderer, and Miguel Nino-Zarazua).
26 March 2014
Toronto,
Canada
Past event
Blog
Institutional Capabilities and Reform Ownership in Africa
by
Steve Kayizzi-Mugerwa
2001
by Steve Kayizzi-Mugerwa There is not a single African government that has not attempted public sector reform, including retrenchment, in the past...
Blog
What Does Good Governance Mean?
Rachel M. Gisselquist Almost all major development institutions today say that promoting good governance is an important part of their agendas. The...
Working Paper
‘Embedded’ Assistance
Donors face distinct challenges in operating in fragile states and supporting the building of state capacity. This paper explores one type of assistance – the ‘embedding’ of highly-skilled staff members within local government agencies – through a...
Working Paper
Is multi-party coalition government better for the protection of socially backward classes in India?
The paper investigates whether multi-party coalition government is better for the protection of socially backward classes, i.e. Scheduled Castes, in India. We have looked at the impact of types of government on the reduction of the gap between...