Eric A. Scorsone

New Development: What are the Challenges in Transferring Lean Thinking to Government?

Lean government is part of a growing trend of management tools designed to lower costs and improve the efficiency of government operations. However, the transference of lean techniques from the private sector to the public sector requires a careful balancing of administrative law, management-labour relations in order to realize these efficiency and cost improvements.

How Much Power to Tax do Regional Governments Enjoy in Spain Since the 1996 and 2001 Reforms

From 1979 to 1983, a new intermediate level of government was created in Spain. This article focuses on the financial aspects of political decentralization in Spain. How much power to tax do the new regional parliaments and executives enjoy? What other sources of income do they dispose of? Which rules have been settled for regulating their tax and non-tax sources of income? Has fiscal decentralization affected fiscal discipline? Are these governments now financially autonomous? These are the questions addressed. The article shows that, with the exception of the Basque Country and Navarre, regional governments were financed mainly through intergovernmental grants during the 1980s and 1990s. However, as a result of several recent reforms, their power to tax as well as their financial autonomy has increased substantially since the mid-1990s, mainly through their participation by law in the revenues of several central taxes (known as ceded taxes) upon which they also enjoy significant regulatory rights. As the ceded taxes mechanism is not a simple revenue-sharing formula in Spain, the article concludes that the Spanish model departs from both the more uniform and top-down German model and the more heterogeneous and competitive one characterizing the taxing rights of the States in US federalism.

E-government, Accountability, and Performance: Best-in-Class Governments in European Union Countries

To what extent do e-government influence accountability and performance in the public sector? Given the growing importance of performance and accountability in government, discussion has not been as robust as it should be regarding the role of e-government in understanding these challenges. Much has been claimed and written about the influence of e-government on the modernization and growth of public sector initiatives in Europe. Little is known, however, about how e-government influences the accountability and performance of governments. The view of e-government proposed in the chapter suggests policy makers to a more careful consideration of performance and accountability pressures that different e-government strategies bring with them. Particularly, the chapter presents a view of both challenges and advantages of implementing e-government strategies, by examining how closely and critically intertwined e-government, performance and accountability are in ten European Union (EU) countries.

Challenges in the Comparative Analysis of Local Government Bureaucracy and Performance Measurement: The Case of Italy and the United States

Across the globe, local governments and their brethren regional and national governments, are facing the growing prospect of performance measurement and management (Hatry, 1999, 2006; De Bruijn, 2002; Poister, 2003), performance based budgeting (for example Berman and Wang, 2000), and the general rubric of new public management (OECD, 1990; Hood, 1991, 1995; Osborne and Gaebler, 1992; Pollitt, 1993; Pollitt and Bouckaert, 2000; Guthrie et al. 2005). In essence, these approaches demand greater accountability, in many cases greater data collection and compilation and reporting in order to create a more transparent and more responsive government. Importantly, these new management systems are also critical in facilitating the comparison of governments within and across countries. Extensive research has been conducted over the last two decades on understanding the evolution of performance measurement systems (PMSs), their adoption and, in some cases, their effectiveness, both subjective and objective (see for example Poister, 2003). While some attempt has been made to address cross-national trends in PMSs, very few systemic efforts have been attempted to uncover similarities and differences. This type of analysis may illuminate the importance of different aspects of the adoption and use of performance measurements in local governments across country borders. Progress has been made in understanding challenges in measuring and comparing bureaucracies across countries at the national level (see for example, Van de Walle, 2005, 2006). The next stage or evolution in this area of interest is the comparison of local government performance and bureaucracy. This is particularly important given the continuing push by many international agencies for devolution or decentralization of government functions (for example OECD, 2001). This paper will proceed to address two basic questions. One, an analysis will be undertaken on the methodological challenges of comparing local government bureaucracy across countries. Starting from the existing literature, a methodological framework will be constructed to identify the key variables and options in comparing the local government bureaucracies of countries. Second, the paper will build on this methodological framework and compare the local governments of the United States and Italy. This comparison, that will be carried out being aware of the possible pitfalls which can undermine such cross-national research (Eglene and Dawes, 2006), will be facilitated by the joint surveying of local governments in these countries in the spring of 2007. One of the challenges in comparing local governments are the different set of functional responsibilities encompassed by different levels of government. One must find a way to standardize service delivery responsibilities across different countries and systems. A second challenge is the availability of data, even within a single country, to compare or benchmark performance across countries. A third challenge is the differences in expectations among the population and elected officials as to the role of government and bureaucracy in society. As a matter of facts, one major criticism has been the subjective nature of the comparative indicators (Van de Walle, 2005). Our analysis proceeds by addressing the challenge of compiling comparable data and assessing how even nearly identical survey instruments can lead to challenges in assessing the adoption and use of performance measures across two countries. Using a quantitative analysis, the aim is to contribute to Study Group on Productivity and Qualitys theme of comparisons of public sectors across countries. Questions that will be directly addressed include: What are the challenges in comparing local government bureaucracies across countries? Can instruments be designed to facilitate this comparison? What are the conditions under which PMS is established and succeed? What are the enablers of successful PMS? Does PMS bring to deliver all the desired effects claimed by theory?

‘Blamed for Incompetence and Lack of Foresight and Left to Die’: Response to William Tabb's ‘If Detroit Is Dead, Some Things Need to Be Said at the Funeral’

In this forum’s lead article, William Tabb offers a number of insights regarding Detroit’s sobering state of current affairs. Embedded in his discussion are references to a range of fiscal and economic factors that have contributed to the city’s decline: global forces; regional competition; the nature of federal subsidies for highways and urban revitalization; state intergovernmental transfers; corruption; and the ongoing erosion of the tax base. While one could offer further analyses on each of these issues, Tabb makes the following statement we think deserves additional consideration: “If basic public goods could not be provided by city governments, the localities themselves were blamed for incompetence and lack of foresight, and left to die.” While there is some evidence indicating that federal and state intergovernmental assistance for declining cities has waned over the years, we think Detroit’s experience is more nuanced. For example, the decision by state legislatures to allow the adoption of a city income tax in 1965 and casino gaming (and a wagering tax) in Detroit in 1996 could be interpreted as efforts on the part of state policy makers to assist declining cities by allowing them greater opportunity to extract revenues from non-residents. The evolution of state intergovernmental transfers to Detroit is also of interest. While we agree with Tabb that racial tension and the overall political environment in Michigan has made it difficult for state policy makers to offer explicit subsidies to Detroit, we think it is important to note that there have been a number of “round about” efforts to help the city secure revenues from sources not available to most other local jurisdictions in Michigan. Figure 1 summarizes trends in the city’s major revenue sources from 1960 through 2012. Below, we offer a discussion of these trends, focusing on intergovernmental transfers, the adoption of the city income tax, and the introduction of casino gaming and the wagering tax. We offer our interpretation of these trends in the context of the “flypaper” effect. Consider first the evolving role of federal and state intergovernmental transfers. The flypaper effect is a useful concept for interpreting and understanding Detroit’s fiscal story. The flypaper effect is the idea that an additional dollar of revenue provided through federal or state intergovernmental transfers to a local government generates a greater increase in local government spending than does a dollar increase in resident income.1 When a local government receives intergovernmental revenues, it may spend those funds or it may reduce taxes, thereby increasing resident disposable income. Similarly, when resident income rises, a portion of this increase is allocated to the provision of public services. In principle, an increase in intergovernmental transfers and an increase in income shift a city’s aggregate budget constraint (private plus public) out by the same amount and should lead to the same increase in overall local government spending. However, as discussed by

The Contextual Forces Which Shape Performance Definition: Swinging Towards and Away from Sustainability

While it is indisputable that performance measurement has become a centerpiece of governance in the late 20th and early 21st century, it is unclear in many cases if “performance” implies the same concept across cultures and countries. A variety of definitions of performance are in use among political and management actors, media and public opinion. The goal of this study is to use the occasion of two major public crises or disasters, the USA bridge collapse occurred in 2007 and the Italian garbage crisis appeared in the region of Naples at the end of 2007, as natural experiments to examine how, by whom and towards which directions performance expectations are established, altered and enforced over time. From the analysis of the two cases, we built up the concept of “performance equilibrium” which is useful, we argue, for researchers and practitioners in understanding the contextual forces which shape the definition of performance over time approaching or moving away from the concept of sustainability.

E-Government, Accountability, and Performance: A Comparative Analysis between European Governments

This paper will be presented at the EGPA Conference, St Julian’s, Malta, September 2-5, 2009. To what extent do e-government influence accountability and performance in the public sector? Given the growing importance of performance and accountability in government, discussion has not been as robust as it should be regarding the role of e-government in understanding these challenges. Much has been claimed and written about the influence of e-government on the modernization and growth of public sector initiatives in Europe. Little is known, however, about how e-government influence the accountability and performance of governments. The paper presents a view of both challenges and advantages of implementing e-government in the area of governments in Europe. It combines the areas of e-government, accountability, and performance in the public sector and examines how closely and critically intertwined they are in ten European countries.

Defining Government Performance Expectations: Insights from the US and UK Financial Bailout Proposals Workgroup II: Performance in the Public Sector

The economic and financial crisis of 2008 has raised some particularly challenging issues regarding assessing the performance of proposed financial institution bailout solutions. The need for quick action to avoid financial disaster often precluded a full airing of the possible advantages and disadvantages associated with the accountability and performance indicator mechanisms put in place. Now, a vigorous debate is occurring over performance indicators related to the effectiveness, efficiency and equity aspects of the solutions that have been implemented both in the U.S. and Europe. The United States major bailout proposal was the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) overseen by the Office of Financial Stability in the US Department of Treasury which has taken major ownership positions in US banks. The British bailout plan called the Bank Recapitalisation Scheme (BRS) is being directed by HM Treasury and the United Kingdom Financial institutions, Corp. which has also taken equity positions in major UK banks. These similarities and differences form the backdrop for the empirical case studies. The particular nature of these government programs make them ideal candidates for an extreme type case analysis in the characterizing the fight over defining performance. Not surprisingly, a host of academics, private financial institutions, government agencies and even intergovernmental governing bodies such as the IMF are airing their respective performance definitions. The competition between these bodies will serve as the empirical basis for assessing the arguments and motivations over how to define performance in the context of the bank bailouts. These case studies will be analyzed in the performance regime and competing values conceptual frameworks as initially brought together in Talbot (2008). The performance regime frame will help assess the institutional forces who are attempting to exert influence over indicators. The competing values frame advances the notion that there are four major types of models by which social relationships are constructed and the form through the regime influences impact indicators and performance definitions. The major new contribution presented here will be in using these case studies to define the types of variables and factors that drive different types of private and public agents in constructing the definition of performance as well as advancing this combination of the performance regime and competing values framework. It is felt that these financial bailouts provide a rich set of data upon which new insights and the advancement of knowledge can be constructed. The United States and United Kingdom models represent important cases where large scale financial bailouts have occurred in two countries that have similar business cultures and yet there remain important differences in their approaches.