Download or read book Governance Arrangements for State Owned Enterprises written by Maria Vagliasindi and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2012 with total page 38 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The aim of this paper is to shed new light on key challenges in governance arrangements for state owned enterprises in infrastructure sectors. The paper provides guidelines on how to classify the fuzzy and sometimes conflicting development goals of infrastructure and the governance arrangements needed to reach such goals. Three policy recommendations emerge. First, some of the structures implied by internationally adopted principles of corporate governance for state owned enterprises favoring a centralized ownership function versus a decentralized or dual structure have not yet been sufficiently "tested" in practice and may not suit all developing countries. Second, general corporate governance guidelines (and policy recommendations) need to be carefully adapted to infrastructure sectors, particularly in the natural monopoly segments. Because the market structure and regulatory arrangements in which state owned enterprises operate matters, governments may want to distinguish the state owned enterprises operating in potentially competitive sectors from the ones under a natural monopoly structure. Competition provides not only formidable benefits, but also unique opportunities for benchmarking, increasing transparency and accountability. Third, governments may want to avoid partial fixes, by tackling both the internal and external governance factors. Focusing only on one of the governance dimensions is unlikely to improve SOE performance in a sustainable way.

Download or read book The Empirical Effects of Performance Contracts written by Mary M. Shirley and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1998 with total page 43 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: May 1998 On average, performance contracts do not improve productivity in China's state enterprises and may even reduce it. But when they contain all the right features-managerial bonds, profit orientation, higher wage elasticity, and lower markup ratios-performance contracts can boost a firm's productivity growth rate by an estimated 10 percent. Performance contracts are widely used to reform state-owned enterprises. By June 1994, there were 565 such contracts in 32 developing countries, used principally to reform large utilities and other monopolies, and roughly another 103,000 in China, where they are also used to reform state manufacturing enterprises. A performance contract is a written agreement between the manager of a state enterprise (who promises to achieve specific targets in a certain time frame) and government (which-usually-promises to award achievement with a bonus or other incentive). Performance contracts are a variant of the pay-for-performance or incentive contracts often used to motivate managers in the private sector. In the public sector, they are viewed as a device to reveal information and motivate managers to exert effort. Shirley and Xu analyze China's experience with performance contracts in more than 400 state enterprises. China is a good place for such a study because no country has ever used them on such a scale or with such a variety of enterprises (mostly in the competitive sector). China also uses many different kinds of contracts, with different targets (more profit-, tax-, or output-oriented). Shirley and Xu find that performance contracts * On average, do not improve productivity in China's state enterprises and may even reduce it. * Are ineffective in competitive firms as well as monopolies. * Do more harm when they provide only weak incentives and when they do not reduce information asymmetry. They find no connection between variables for commitment and the effects of performance contracts. Design matters. When performance contracts contain all the good features-profit orientation, higher wage elasticity, and lower markup ratios-the firm's productivity growth rate could increase as much as 10 percent. The Chinese government was serious about implementing performance contracts, and used measures considerably more radical than other countries used, hailing the contract system as the official national mode for reforming state enterprises. But most of the contracts have had little or no effect on growth rates and the observed frequency of contracts with good provisions is exceedingly low. Perhaps the political economy of incentive contracts in government settings merits further study. Political considerations may preclude the design of incentive contracts for government actors that could produce the sort of productivity gains some private firms have achieved. One observer (Byrd 1991) points out that the central government gave local governments a good deal of discretion in implementing performance contracts and local governments had a tendency to adopt the lowest common denominator, a bare-bones performance contract. This paper-a product of the Development Research Group-is part of a larger effort in the group to understand state enterprises. The authors may be contacted at [email protected] or [email protected].

Download or read book Annual World Bank Conference on Development Economics Regional 2007 written by François Bourguignon and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2007-01-01 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Global Development Finance (GDF), is the World Bank's annual review of recent trends in and prospects for financial flows to developing countries. It is an indispensable resource for governments, economists, investors, financial consultants, academics, bankers, and the entire development community. Vol I: Analysis and Outlook reviews recent trends in financial flows to developing countries. Also available as a two volume set, Vol II. Summary and Country Tables* includes comprehensive data for 138 countries, as well as summary data for regions and income groups.

Download or read book The Financial Economics of Privatization written by William L. Megginson and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2005-01-13 with total page 533 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Central to the book's content is its focus on where privatisation stands today and what are the next frontiers, the why and how behind countries who privatise certain industries, and whether privatisation works as an economic tool.

Download or read book Thirsting for Efficiency written by M. Shirley and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2002-04-18 with total page 399 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One billion people in the world lack safe drinking water and almost 2 billion lack adequate sanitation services. As a result millions suffer and die every year from water and sanitation related diseases. Poor management and inefficient investment are often responsible for this situation, and countless past attempts at reform have accomplished little. Recently some developing countries have tried to reverse years of mismanagement of their water and sewerage systems by auctioning contracts to private operators. Why do countries that have tolerated mismanagement for decades develop a thirst for efficiency? What are the results of their efforts to change? What determines success or failure? This book fills a gap in the literature by systematically answering these important questions. It does so by analyzing reforms in six developing country capitals -- Buenos Aires, Argentina; Lima, Peru; Mexico City, Mexico; Santiago, Chile; Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire; and Conakry, Guinea - and the United States in the 19th century.It not only assesses economic factors, but also explores the roles of laws, politics and norms. It provides an economic theory of water that encompasses institutional, political and economic aspects of reform.

Download or read book Hospital Governance and Incentive Design written by Florence Eid and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2001 with total page 56 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Representation of community and government interests on hospital boards can balance the competing concerns of reducing costs and increasing the quality of service provision in corporatized hospitals.

Download or read book Cameroon written by Boniface Essama-Nssah and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2000-01-01 with total page 152 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This country case study, part of the Operations Evaluation Department (OED) A Review of the 1991 World Bank Forest Strategy and Its Implementation, evaluates World Bank operations in Cameroon for their consistency with the strategy. The strategic aspects of those operations are judged here on their relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, institutional development, and sustainability. The fundamental objective of the forest policy reform in Cameroon was to establish a transparent, equitable, and sustainable management system for forest resources. The outcome of the reform process was limited, for four reasons. First, the government of Cameroon lacked genuine commitment and the capacity to carry out the reform. Second, key actors in the reform process (particularly foreign logging companies and the parliament) chose to oppose it. Third, partners such as the World Bank failed to devise an implementation strategy compatible with the underlying dynamics of political and socioeconomic changes in Cameroon. Finally, while Cameroon's forest policy is well codified in documents, it is poorly implemented. Although the reforms have led to increased tax revenues and increased the share of GDP attributable to the forest sector, the structural underpinnings of the sector have been little affected. Government agencies in the sector continue to be weak. The international logging companies that dominate the sector continue to have a free hand in the development and use of the forest resources of Cameroon. Local communities were left out of the reform process, despite the declared objective to include them in forest resource management. Overall, the interventions of the Bank inside and outside the forest sector in Cameroon were relevant to its strategic objectives, but they were neither efficacious nor efficient. Because of weak institutional development, the achievements are unlikely to be sustained. The Bank should focus its future reform efforts in Cameroon on the collection and dissemination of relevant and reliable information, working with a larger set of stakeholders, and using more Cameroonian expertise to gain local perspective and build capacity. The success of such an approach hinges on government commitment and the cooperation of other donor countries, including those with timber interests in Cameroon.

Download or read book Corporate Governance in Government Corporations written by Michael J. Whincop and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-03-02 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many governments across the world have responded to the need for greater efficiency in the delivery of government services by the reorganization of these bureaucracies along the lines of for-profit business corporations. In doing so, governments have relied on the capacity for governance practices to overcome the weaker incentives created by the attenuated 'property rights' that are created in public enterprise.

Download or read book Regional Integration and the Prices of Imports written by L. Alan Winters and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1997 with total page 45 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Public Versus Private Ownership written by Mary M. Shirley and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2000 with total page 72 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Disappointment with insider trading in Russia, with voucher privatization in the Czech Republic, and with the privatization of infrastructure in many developing countries in many developing countries has spawned new critiques of privatization. How do theory and empirical evidence answer the much-debated questions, which is more important to performance, competition or private ownership? Are state enterprises more subject to welfare-reducing interventions by government than private firms are? Do state enterprises suffer more from problems of corporate governance?

Download or read book The Costs and Benefits of Regulation written by J. Luis Guasch and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1997 with total page 45 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Changing Role of Government written by R. Batley and published by Springer. This book was released on 2004-05-25 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Batley and Larbi examine how governments of developing countries are organized to deliver public services. The book is based on comparative international studies of four service sectors: Health care, urban water, business promotion and agricultural marketing. Governments everywhere are being driven to adopt an 'indirect' approach - managing, contracting and regulating public agencies or private partners, rather than providing services directly. It questions how governments are responding and whether this approach is appropriate to the capacities of developing countries.

Download or read book From Prices to Incomes written by John Baffes and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1997 with total page 21 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In theory, moving from price-based subsidies for agriculture to less-distorted income support programs makes sense. In practice, income-support programs have many shortcomings, and developing countries may lack the support mechanisms needed to make them effective. Drawing on experience with direct income-support programs recently introduced in the European Union, Mexico, and the United States, Baffes and Meerman highlight problems that may arise when a developing economy's agricultural sector moves from price-based subsidies to income support programs."--World Bank.

Download or read book Alternatives to Infrastructure Privatization Revisited written by Jose A. Gomez-Ibanez and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2007 with total page 62 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Abstract: Frustration with the performance of State-owned enterprises (SOEs) has led to two rounds of reform: the first round, from the 1960s through the 1980s, attempted to improve SOE performance while maintaining public ownership while the second, beginning in the late 1980s, viewed privatization as the answer. Interest in the earlier round of reform has increased recently as controversy has slowed or halted privatization in many countries, especially for SOEs providing infrastructure services that are basic to everyday life and are thought to have elements of monopoly. This paper reexamines the earlier round of reforms, focusing particularly on efforts to increase the firms' capacity with infusions of human and physical capital, to strengthen managerial incentives through performance contracts and corporatization and to alter the mix of political and economic forces that impinge on the firm by strengthening the involvement of taxpayers, customers or private investors. The review suggests that these earlier approaches generated only modest success but that some of them, selectively applied, may be helpful in improving the performance of infrastructure firms that remain in public hands.

Download or read book Public Budgeting and Financial Management Indian Experience written by Dhameja Nand and published by S. Chand Publishing. This book was released on 2014 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Budgeting In India: Developments And Perspectives 2. Planning And Budgetary Process; Budget- Meaning, Principles, Classifications; Mechanism Budgeting In A Commercial Organisation 3. Budgeting In Government: Conventional Budget And Other Formats Of Budget 4. Performance Budgeting: Meaning, Need & Mechanism 4A. 4B. 5. Zero-Base Budgeting: Meaning, Characteristics, Benefits, Zbb Process – Decision Units And Decision Packages 5A. 5B. 6. Zbb: Implementation In India – A Case Study Of Research And Development Organisation 7. Outcome Budgeting 8. Gender Budgeting 9. Fiscal Responsibility And Budget Management: A Step Towards Financial Discipline 10. Accrual Accounting In Government: Concept And Roadmap

Download or read book Public Private Partnerships in Sub Saharan Africa written by James Leigland and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2020-04-29 with total page 366 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Expectations are high regarding the potential benefits of public-private partnerships (PPPs) for infrastructure development in low-income countries. The development community, led by the G20, the United Nations, and others, expects these partnerships between goverments and private companies in infrastructure service provision to aid "transformational" mega-projects, as well as efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Yet PPPs have been widely used only since the 1990s, and discussion of their efficacy is still dominated by best-practice guidance, academic studies that focus on developed countries, or ideological criticism. Meanwhile, practitioners have quietly accumulated a large body of empirical evidence on the actual performance of PPPs. The purpose of this book is to summarize and consolidate what this critical mass of evidence-based research indicates about PPPs in low-income countries, and thereby develop a more realistic perspective on the practical value of these mechanisms. With a primary focus on Sub-Saharan Africa, though drawing on critical insights from other regions, it demonstrates that the benefits of such partnerships will only be realised if expectations remain modest and projects are subject to transparent evaluation and competition.

Download or read book Aid Policies and Grouth written by and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on with total page 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: