published_or_final_version / China Area Studies / Master / Master of Arts

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, School of Economic & Business Sciences, 2017. / The present thesis considers the state as a public organization, namely a complex structure that individuals use to accomplish collectively their individual interests mainly through exchange. By placing greater emphasis on exchange, the thesis is able to suggest novel insights about the organization of the public sector. [Abbreviated abstract. Open document to view full version] / GR2018

A thesis presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the School of Economic and Business Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand / This thesis investigates the problem of the economic organisation of the public sector. It begins by establishing context by considering the two related issues central to it: the boundary of the state and the internal organisation of government (Chapter 1). There is a growing literature that explores the boundary of the state in political economy terms. Moreover, the boundary of the state can be viewed in a similar light to the boundary of the firm. The Second Generation Theory of Fiscal Federalism explores the internal organisation of government through the lens of the theory of the firm. Second Generation Theory assumes that governments are subject to the same problems that firms face: for example, just like firms require institutions to align the incentives of managers and shareholders (e.g., better defined contracts), governments require institutions to align the incentives of politicians and citizens (e.g., better defined constitutions). In order to improve our understanding of economic performance over time, the state should be considered as a complex organisation held together by a series of public choice compromises. Chapter 2 considers one aspect of the state as an organisation: when a boundary change of an existing state generates a new state. It tries to economically capture the birth of a new state through boundary change by taking a cue from the theory of internal exit: the secession of a group of people from an existing state who will then go on to form a new state. Internal exit predicts an internal exit-proof tax rate, i.e., a state will set the tax rate so that internal exit will not occur (e.g., Quebec in Canada). However, in precolonial southern Africa (ca. 1600-1910), internal exit occurred. A well-known example of this is that of Mzilikazi who in the 19th century left the Zulu with his followers and formed his own, new state: the Ndebele. Why is it that in Africa internal exit as a threat failed and internal exit still took place? With the aid of a simple, historically informed model, this chapter offers a political economy explanation of why internal exit took place in precolonial southern Africa. The model shows how internal exit results from the payoff calculation of an elite member’s (e.g., Mzilikazi) desire to maximise his share of public revenue surplus. Chapter 3 considers the internal organisation of government through the role of intergovernmental grants in the context of laboratory federalism. The Public Economics literature on intergovernmental grants is extensive. In this extensive literature, grants are usually analysed according to consumer behaviour theory where income and substitution effects determine community spending (and ultimately community welfare). However, these effects shed little light on how local governments can use grants to experiment with policy (laboratory federalism) in order to develop new, successful policies. In fact, even casual empiricism shows that local governments routinely experiment with policy and achieve varying degrees of success. One recent example is Mayor Bloomberg’s range of anti-poverty experiments in New York City. Very little theory has been produced that ties policy experimentation with the role of grants, however. Chapter 3 takes an organisational view of grants, namely it likens them to incomplete contracts to show how certain grants can be policy instruments for the creation and discovery of new knowledge in the public sector. More precisely, the chapter develops an evolutionary learning model that captures the knowledge gains that different types of grants (e.g., lump-sum grants compared to matching grants) can engender. It shows that a lump-sum grant can bring about greater learning at the local government level than a closed matching grant. Chapter 4 concludes by summarizing and suggesting areas for future research. / MT2017

The research problem for this dissertation was to determine the affects of President Nixon's New Federalism in four Pacific Northwest cities. More specifically, the dissertation sought to determine and explain the effects of the State and Local Fiscal Assistance Act of 1972, a basic component of the New Federalism, in Seattle, Tacoma, Portland and Eugene. The central goal of revenue sharing and the New Federalism is to decentralize government in the American federal system. The central fear of those who oppose the effects of such decentralization is that the poor and minority groups of America may be discriminated against by local special interest groups. The purpose of the dissertation was to see the extent to which the goals of the proponents and the fears of the opponents have so far been realized in the revenue sharing experience of four cities. A comparative case study approach was used whereby the General Revenue Sharing experience of each city was described and analyzed in terms of the goals of the New Federalism and the fears of its opponents. The data used for this investigation was obtained from taped interviews with city officials in each of the four cities. A questionnaire was prepared for the interviews which included questions pertaining to federalstate- city relations in terms of grants-in-aid, the fiscal condition of the city, the decision-making process used in the city for allocating revenue sharing funds, who participated in the decision-making process, who benefitted from revenue sharing in the city and the overall satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the concept of the New Federalism and revenue sharing. In addition to the data collected from city officials who were directly involved in the city revenue sharing process, additional data was obtained from those interviewed showing how the revenue sharing money was dealt with. It should be noted that these city officials were administrative personnel as well as elected officials. The results of the dissertation showed that the decentralization of American government sought by the Nixon Administration has so far not been obtained through General Revenue Sharing insofar as these four cities are concerned. The money from General Revenue Sharing was not adequate for these cities to meaningfully gain increased power and independence from either their states or the federal government. The fiscal requirements of these cities due to inflation, labor costs, demands to compensate for cutback categorical grants of the federal government and inadequate urban tax bases made the infusion of General Revenue Sharing money too small to allow the cities to undertake dramatic "new" departures because of these funds. Seattle and Eugene did undertake housing programs and Portland saw revenue sharing funds as "freeing up" other monies so the city could undertake a new neighborhood participation program, but as a rule these cities found the demands from traditional city services plus the increased burden of having to fund cutback federal categorical grant programs as using up all their funds including revenue sharing. The dissertation laid particular emphasis on the question of whether local poor people and minorities were deliberately included in the decision-making processes over revenue sharing and in the programs funded with revenue sharing funds. It was found that Tacoma especially sought to develop a decision-making process that was inclusive of representatives from all segments of the city and that Seattle had perhaps the least inclusive decisionmaking process. But there was not a direct correlation between degree of citizen-wide participation and benefits from revenue sharing going to all citizens equally. Although General Revenue Sharing is only one part of the New Federalism it appears that for the decentralization of American government to be meaningful, General Revenue Sharing will have to be dramatically increased in funding and supplemented with Special Revenue Sharing to take up the slack from cutback federal categorical grants intended for the human and community services areas. If the major goal of the New Federalism, decentralization, has not been accomplished so far, then the major fear of opponents has not been realized either. The dissertation demonstrates a commitment on the part of the City Council majorities in each city to preserve the progress made in recent years to improve the lot of America's poor and minority citizens. These groups, while sometimes having not been greatly involved in the revenue sharing decision-making processes, were recognized as deserving a part of the revenue sharing funds. The fear that without the federal government's specific prodding local special interests woumd act to ignore the interests of local minorities and the poor was not confirmed by this study.

The subject of fiscal federalism has been associated for many years with economics, in particular with the study of public finance. However, its political dimension is often neglected. This is the case in the conventional study of fiscal federalism in Malaysia, which focuses on the economic perspective. The aim of this thesis is to examine the design, implementation and problem of fiscal federalism in Malaysia as a political process in promoting national integration and the unity of the federation. This research is based on an intrinsic case study approach as the subject of fiscal federalism attracts strong public interest, which requires an in-depth study of the case. In doing this research, a combination of narrative report, statistical analysis and interview has been used. One of the significant findings of this research is that the design of fiscal federalism in Malaysia is essentially based not on the federal spirit, but on the strong central government theme imposed by the colonial authority concomitant to the historical and political background to the formation of the federation. As a result, today, fiscal federalism displays a federal bias and mounting centripetal forces, even to the extent of coercion on the states, making the federal government grow bigger and more dominant, financially and politically. Thus, the working of fiscal federalism depends not on what is enshrined in the Constitution and federal spirit but on centre-state political interactions. If states' politics are not affiliated with the ruling political party that control the federal government, federal-state fiscal relations will be strained. The effects are felt in petroleum royalties payments, disbursement of grants, borrowing and other form of fiscal 'sanction' imposed by federal executive supremacy. On the other hand, if the states are ruled by the same political party, they become financially complacent. To all intents and purposes, the exclusive control of revenue sources by the centre has enabled the federal government to prevent most states from falling to the opposition party, thus ensuring a majority in parliament. The outcome is that the states are subordinated and subservient to the centre and hence the futures of the states are subject to the federal government's 'unilateral action'. In the long run, Malaysia is moving towards becoming a unitary state. This is the antithesis of the federal spirit, and thus becomes a threat to the federation. Therefore, fiscal federalism is a crucial acid test of the viability of any federation. Fortunately, thus far, Malaysian federalism had passed the test, though the states find more pain than gain. In the final analysis, this thesis suggests that structural reform of the federal-states' financial arrangements should be undertaken in order to strengthen the states' finances and subsequently reduce the states' dependence on the largesse of the federal government for funds.

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Univ., Diss.--Würzburg, 2003. / Literaturverz. S. 203 - 215.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Western Michigan University, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 167-170).

Orientador: Carlos Américo Pacheco / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Economia / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-17T04:44:46Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Zimmermann_Gustavo_D.pdf: 1939316 bytes, checksum: 950886ef302cb42ad6c2a8915bdd7eae (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009 / Resumo: Esse trabalho é dedicado às finanças públicas municipais e tem como fio condutor a evolução do sistema tributário brasileiro, de seus primeiros arranjos coloniais aos dias atuais. Objetiva, por um lado, reunir elementos históricos das finanças dessa esfera de governo e, por outro, identificar e analisar os precedentes do desenho tributário vigente e destacar algumas de suas características e problemas atuais. Nesse percurso se procurou juntar diversas experiências do autor, buscando contribuir com o registro da trajetória e dos fenômenos da política fiscal dos municípios no Brasil nas últimas décadas do século passado. Da longa caminhada se constatou que as mudanças tributárias, contemplaram novas correlações de força ou necessidades econômicas, mas sempre conservaram elementos dos arranjos anteriores. Assim, apesar da esfera municipal ter sido a verdadeira origem do direito tributário brasileiro e ter sido muito variada suas possibilidades de arrecadação, a história da tributação municipal no Brasil é a história da crescente prevalência das fontes tributárias urbanas sobre as rurais e do esvaziamento de seu potencial de arrecadação em favor das esferas superiores de poder. Com a intensificação da urbanização, a cada nova reformulação, mais era ampliava o sistema de transferência intergovernamental de recursos. Paradoxalmente, ao mesmo tempo em que as finanças municipais foram progressivamente se circunstancial vendo aos fatos urbanos, cresceram as dificuldades jurídicas infraconstitucionais contra a cobrança de taxas ao fornecimento de serviços públicos prestados (iluminação pública, coleta de lixo, combate à sinistros, varrição de ruas etc.). A análise feita evidenciou inúmeras dificuldades para a tributação municipal e particularmente os impactos devastadores da inflação sobre a arrecadação dessa esfera de governo. Evidenciou também as principais dificuldades do sistema de transferências intergovernamentais de recursos em cumprir com seus objetivos de mitigar as desigualdades entre as unidades federativas. A análise dessa realidade prevalecente nas últimas décadas evidenciou nas finanças municipais as marcas de ciclos políticos administrativos que afetam de diversas maneiras sua fiscalidade. / Abstract: This paper is dedicated to municipal finance and is guiding to the evolution of the Brazilian fiscal system from early colonial arrangement to today. The first aim is to gather historical elements of this sphere of government finances and, secondly, to identify and analyze the previous structure of existing tax and highlight some of its characteristics and problems. Sought to throughout the research join several experiences of the author, seeking to help with recording the history and with phenomena of the fiscal policy of the municipals in Brazil in the last decades of the last century. After the search was found that the tax changes, was contemplated to a new force correlations or economics necessities, but always retained elements of earlier arrangements. Thus, despite the municipal level have been the true origin of the Brazilian tax law and have been very varied collection of its possibilities, the history of municipal taxation in Brazil is the story of the increasing prevalence of tax sources on the urban and rural and emptying collection?s potential in favor of the higher spheres of power. With the intensification of urbanization, with an each new revision, more was amplified the intergovernmental transfer system resources. Paradoxically, at the same time that municipal finances were circumstantial gradually the urban facts, also were increasing the difficult of legal infra constitutional against the charging fees to the provision of public services (street lighting, garbage collection, combat casualties, street sweeping etc). The analysis revealed numerous difficulties for the municipal taxation and in particularly showed the devastated impact of inflation on the collection of this sphere of government. Also showed mains challenges to intergovernmental system resources to fulfill the objectives of mitigating the inequalities between the federal units. The analysis of this reality is prevailing in recent decades and showed that in municipal finances the marks of administrative political cycles is affecting their control of the fiscal system in several ways. / Doutorado / Teoria Economica / Doutor em Ciências Econômicas