80 research outputs found
Infrastructure bottlenecks, private provision, and industrial productivity : a study of Indonesian and Thai cities
No full textThis research project followed an earlier similar project on Nigeria, applying the same methods. A sample of manufacturers was surveyed to document their responses to infrastructure deficiencies in electricity, water, transport, telecommunications, and waste disposal. They found the manufacturers undertook significant expenditures to offset deficiencies in publicly provided infrastructure services, and that changing public policy toward privately supplied infrastructure and changing the pricing of public infrastructure could yield significant savings in social costs. Thailand and Indonesia have made significant strides in following the policies for private sector participation in infrastructure provision. Nigeria, where public infrastructure monopolies still dominate, lags behind, yet stands to benefit most from such policy reform. Government policy toward the industrial organization and pricing of infrastructure sectors can significantly help a developing economy realize the benefits of private sector participation in the provision of infrastructure services.Banks&Banking Reform,Decentralization,Public Sector Economics&Finance,Environmental Economics&Policies,Municipal Financial Management,Banks&Banking Reform,Municipal Financial Management,Urban Services to the Poor,Urban Services to the Poor,Public Sector Economics&Finance
Curatela degli spazi urbani: metodologie per una pianificazione innovativa e flessibile
No full textThe contribution aims at studying the opportunities offered by curatorship’s application to alternative urban planning processes, in a perspective of innovation and sustainability. If on the one hand from the beginning of the 2000s art has been increasingly used in culture-led and tourism-led urban regeneration processes, on the other one the idea that these interventions need to be curated by specialized professionals emerged. The paper presents some urban space curatorship’s examples, in order to turn the spotlight on their innovative characteristics: the selected cases are Culture in Action in the US, Manifesta biennial in Europe and Without Frontiers festival in Italy. Discussing the curator’s role in urban contexts and the opportunity to adopt museum strategies in urban spaces, the author aims at fostering the cataloguing of curatorial practices used in urban spaces and their integration in innovative and sustainable urban planning processes, as a structural and long-term element
Kanpo 2 (1742) “Inu no Mansui” Flood as Depicted in an Illustrated Map
No full textapplication/pdf寛保２年（1742）の８月，信濃の北部を流れる千曲川・犀川が大水害をおこした。この水害によって多くの被害がもたらされた。この水害のことを北信濃では「戌の満水」と呼び習わしている。
長野市立博物館には，この「戌の満水」の被害状況をあらわしたといわれる絵図面が伝わる。この絵図面は，水害前の様子と水害後の各村の被害状況を克明に示している。また，山崩れや土砂災害の場所まで描かれている。災害をあらわした絵図面としては，信濃に残るものとしては非常に古い部類に属する災害絵図である。ただ，この絵図面が「戌の満水」の被害状況を示した絵図面であるとの根拠は，絵図面が入っていた袋の表書によるだけである。
本稿では，まず「戌の満水」の被害状況を，当時の松代藩の被害届から抽出する。これによって，被害届からわかる「戌の満水」の被害状況を描き出す。また，いちじるしい被害をうけた松代城下についても，当時書かれた見聞記にてらして，川の水がどのように城下町に押し寄せたかなどを検証する。このように当時の記録類などから「戌の満水」の被害状況を描き出すという作業を行っている。
こうした基礎作業をもとに，そこから前出の「戌の満水」の被害絵図について，その被害状況を抽出し，その上で記録類から導き出した「戌の満水」の被害の様相と照合し，絵図面の性格付けを行った。
「戌の満水」の後に松代藩ではさまさまな復興策を試みる。このなかで，松代城下を水害から守る方法として千曲川の流路を改める作業がなされた。災害後の松代藩の復興策をこうした千曲川の流路変更という面から考えてみた。In August of Kanpo 2 (1742) a great flood disaster occurred in the Chikuma and Sai rivers that flow through northern Shinano. A great deal of damage was caused by this flood. This flood is referred to as “Inu no Mansui” (Flood which occurred in the year of the Dog) in northern Shinano.
The Nagano City Museum possesses an illustrated map that is said to depict the extent of the damage caused by the “Inu no Mansui” Flood. This illustration shows in detail the conditions in each village before the flood and the damage caused in each village by the flood. It also shows locations where landslides and landslide damage occurred. As a pictorial diagram displaying the damage from the disaster, this illustration map is among the very old ones of its type remaining in Shinano. However, the only evidence that this pictorial diagram shows the damage caused by the “Inu no Mansui” is an inscription on the bag that held the diagram.
In this paper, the author first examines the extent of the damage caused by the “Inu no Mansui” as extracted from damage reports of the Matsushiro clan of that era. The author details the damage caused by the “Inu no Mansui” as understood from the damage reports. He also verifies the incredible damage caused in the area surrounding Matsushiro Castle by examining observation reports from that period and investigates how the river waters advanced upon the castle town. This paper shows the damage caused by the “Inu no Mansui” after examining records from that era.
Using this basic research as a foundation, the writer has extracted the extent of damage according to the previously mentioned illustration of the “Inu no Mansui” disaster and compared it to aspects of the disaster mentioned in the types of records and considered the illustrated diagram's characteristics.
After the “Inu no Mansui”, the Matsushiro clan was involved in a variety of reconstruction projects, which included redirecting the flow pass of the Chikuma River as a way of protecting the area around Matsushiro Castle from flood damage. The auther considered the Matsushiro clan's reconstruction plan in the aftermath of the disaster from the viewpoint of changing the flow pass of the Chikuma River.departmental bulletin pape
Coping with the legacies of subsidized mortgage credit in Hungary
No full textThe authors examine alternatives for dealing with the initial conditions of housing finance facing countries making the transition to a market economy and moving toward a more efficient and equitable system. They focus on the problem of restructuring the stock of housing loans that exist at the time a new regime is implemented. Almost without exception, the stock of housing loans is yielding heavily subsidized rates, and its market value is significantly below its book value. Hungary makes an interesting case study. The mortgage portfolio inherited from past regimes makes especially clear the perverse implications of housing finance systems based on across-the-board subsidized interest rates. The authors propose a general approach to finding options to reduce the fiscal burden implicit in the subsidized housing loan portfolio. They identify mechanisms to reduce the interest subsidy embodied in that portfolio as well as mechanisms to spread the associated losses among those benefiting from the subsidies as well as among other parties. Clearly any residual subsidy must be absorbed by the government and ultimately by the population in the form of increased taxation or decreased availability of public services. The problem is complex and no obvious, easily implementable solutions emerge. But delaying action could hardly improve the situation.Banks&Banking Reform,Economic Theory&Research,Public Sector Economics&Finance,Housing Finance,Urban Economics
On the dangers of decentralization
No full textThe author highlights some of the dangers of decentralizations. The benefits of decentralization in allocative efficiency are not as obvious as suggested by the standard theory of fiscal federalism. The assumptions of this theory are fragile. These doubtful benefits might carry a cost in production efficiency, but more empirical research is needed on this point. What is not doubtful is that decentralization runs counter to redistribution and stabilization. Decentralization makes redistributive policies, whether interpersonal or interjurisdictional, more difficult, if not impossible. Decentralization also makes macroeconomic stabilization programs more difficult to implement because subnational government fiscal policies can run counter to national policies. Serious drawbacks or potential drawbacks should be considered in designing any decentralization program. The arguments that the author develops make it easier to understand some of the real choices. These choices are not so much whether to decentralize in general but rather what functions to decentralize - in which sectors, and in which regions. Guidelines can be provided on this. Often, the problem is not so much whether a certain service should be provided by a central, regional, or local government, since the service often has to be provided with the intervention of all three levels of government. The real challenge is how to organize the joint production of the service. Decentralization refers simultaneously to a state and to a process. The virtues and dangers of decentralization are often discussed simultaneously for both concepts. This is a dangerous confusion because decentralization is path-dependent. What is desirable in a given country at a certain point in time depends on the present state of decentralization and the speed at which it has been reached. Much more work, particularly empirical work, is needed -- in review of decentralization (or centralization) experiences in general, as well as those encouraged or supported by the World Bank.National Governance,Banks&Banking Reform,Municipal Financial Management,Economic Theory&Research,Pharmaceuticals&Pharmacoeconomics
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