Search results for: environmental public policy

Authors: Ana Nascimento

Abstract:

For several reasons and in different countries worldwide, there is an increasing difficulty of the States to finance higher education. However, most societies consider education as a public good, so it should be a State obligation to provide this service to citizens. In Portugal, over the last decades, state has diminished its contribution to public higher education and the public higher education institutions started to look for alternative incoming sources, namely charging student’s taxes and fees, provision of services to companies, production of applied research, search for sponsors, configuring new forms of fundraising. This financial policy can raise some concerns to the scientific and pedagogical autonomy of these institutions as well as concerns in access and equity in higher education. For these reasons and in the scope of a PhD research in the area of Economy of Education, a survey is taking place in all public higher education institutions in the Great Lisbon area that intends to analyze and discuss the policy measures in each institution in the search for external financing. The research aims to understand what these measures are and what implications they might have in the institution’s autonomy as well as in higher education access by students from less favored backgrounds. The research uses a qualitative approach, namely through semi-structured interviews to presidents, directors and rectors of each institution, totalizing 50 interviews. In this paper are discussed some of the results from the interviews made so far that present the subjects opinion about higher education finance, the right to education, the search for fundraising and the possible consequences to the institution’s autonomy as well as some literature on the state of the art.

Keywords: autonomy, finance, higher education, public goods

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Authors: Rodrigo Coelho

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We believe that in the majority of the “recent production of public space", the overvaluation of the "image", of the "ephemeral" and of the "objectual", has come to determine the configuration of banal and (more or less) arbitrary "public spaces", mostly linked to a problem of “outdoor decoration”, reflecting a clear sign of uncertainty and arbitrariness about the meaning, the role and shape of public space and public art.This "inconsistency" which is essentially linked to the loss of urban, but also social, cultural and political, vocation of the disciplines that “shape” the urban space (but is also linked to the lack of urban and technical culture of techinicians and policy makers) converted a significant set of the recently built "public space" and “urban art” into diffuse and multi-referenced pieces, which generally shares the inability of confering to the urban space, civic, aesthetic, social and symbolic meanings. In this sense we consider it is essential to undertake a theoretical reflection on the values, the meaning(s) and the shape(s) that open space, and urban art may (or must) take in the current urban and cultural context, in order to redeem for public space its status of significant physical reference, able to embody a spatial and urban identity, and simultaneously enable the collective accession and appropriation of public space. Taking as reference public space interventions built in the last decade on the European context, we will seek to explore and defend the need of considering public space as a true place of exception, an exceptional support where the emphasis is placed on the quality of the experience, especially by the relations public space/urban art can established with the city, with nature and geography in a broad sense, referring us back to a close and inseparable and timeless relationship between nature and culture.

Keywords: art, city, nature, public space

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Authors: Jo Kuys, Kirsten Day

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Improving urban transportation systems requires an emphasis on users’ end-to-end journey experience, from the moment the user steps out of their home to when they arrive at their destination. In considering such end-to-end experiences, human centred design (HCD) must be integrated from the very beginning to generate viable outcomes for the public. An HCD approach will encourage innovative outcomes while acknowledging all factors that need to be understood along the journey. We provide evidence to show that when designing for public transportation, it is not just about the physical manifestation of a particular outcome; moreover, it’s about the context and human behaviours that need to be considered throughout the design process. Humans and their behavioural factors are vitally important to successful implementation of sustainable public transport systems. Through an in-depth literature review of HCD approaches for urban transportation systems, we provide a base to exploit the benefits and highlight the importance of including HCD in public transportation projects for greater patronage, resulting in more sustainable cities. An HCD approach is critical to all public transportation projects to understand different levels of transportation design, from the setting of transport policy to implementation to infrastructure, vehicle, and interface design.

Keywords: human centred design, public transportation, urban planning, user experience

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Authors: Stig H. Jørgensen, Trond Nordfjærn, Øyvind Teige Hedenstrøm, Torbjørn Rundmo

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The aim of the paper is to estimate and forecast road traffic injuries in the coming 10-15 years given new targets in urban transport policy and shifts of mode of transport, including injury cross-effects of mode changes. The paper discusses possibilities and limitations in measuring and quantifying possible injury reductions. Injury data (killed and seriously injured road users) from six urban areas in Norway from 1998-2012 (N= 4709 casualties) form the basis for estimates of changing injury patterns. For the coming period calculation of number of injuries and injury rates by type of road user (categories of motorized versus non-motorized) by sex, age and type of road are made. A prognosticated population increase (25 %) in total population within 2025 in the six urban areas will curb the proceeded fall in injury figures. However, policy strategies and measures geared towards a stronger modal shift from use of private vehicles to safer public transport (bus, train) will modify this effect. On the other side will door to door transport (pedestrians on their way to/from public transport nodes) imply a higher exposure for pedestrians (bikers) converting from private vehicle use (including fall accidents not registered as traffic accidents). The overall effect is the sum of these modal shifts in the increasing urban population and in addition diminishing return to the majority of road safety countermeasures has also to be taken into account. The paper demonstrates how uncertainties in the various estimates (prediction factors) on increasing injuries as well as decreasing injury figures may partly offset each other. The paper discusses road safety policy and welfare consequences of transport mode shift, including reduced use of private vehicles, and further environmental impacts. In this regard, safety and environmental issues will as a rule concur. However pursuing environmental goals (e.g. improved air quality, reduced co2 emissions) encouraging more biking may generate more biking injuries. The study was given financial grants from the Norwegian Research Council’s Transport Safety Program.

Keywords: road injuries, forecasting, reduced private care use, urban, Norway

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Authors: Marco E. O. Jardim, Frederico A. M. Souza, Valeria M. Bastos, Myrian C. A. Costa, Nelson F. F. Ebecken

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Urban public transportation in Rio de Janeiro is based on bus lines, powered by diesel, and four limited metro lines that support only some neighborhoods. This work presents an infrastructure built to better understand microclimate variations related to massive urban transportation in some specific areas of the city. The use of sensor nodes with small analytics capacity provides environmental information to population or public services. The analyses of data collected from a few small sensors positioned near some heavy traffic streets show the harmful impact due to poor bus route plan.

Keywords: big data, IoT, public transportation, public health system

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Authors: Heloisa H. Miura, Luiza M. Pallone

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In Brazil, people forced to move due to environmental causes, called 'environmental migrants', have always been neglected by public policies and legislation. Meanwhile, the numbers of climate-induced migration within and to Brazil continues to increase. The operating Immigration Law, implemented in 1980 under the Brazilian military regime, is widely considered to be out of date, once it does not offer legal protection to migrants who do not fit the definition of a refugee and are not allowed to stay regularly in the country. Aiming to reformulate Brazil’s legislation and policies on the matter, a new Migration Bill (PL 2516/2015) is currently being discussed in the Senate and is expected to define a more humanized approach to migration. Although the present draft foresees an expansion of the legal protection to different types of migrants, it still hesitates to include climate-induced displacements in its premises and to establish a migration management strategy. By introducing a human rights-based approach, this paper aims to provide a new multidisciplinary perspective to the protection of environmental migrants in Brazil.

Keywords: environmental migrants, human mobility, climate change, migration policy

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Authors: Abdelsalam Omran Gebril

Abstract:

Pollution and solid waste are the most important environmental problems plaguing the city of Benghazi as well as other cities and towns in Libya. These problems are caused by the lack of environmental planning and sound environmental management. Environmental planning is very important at present for the development of projects that preserve the environment, therefore, the planning process should be prioritized over the management process. Pollution caused by poor planning and environmental management exists not only in Benghazi but also in all other Libyan cities. This study was conducted through various field visits to several neighborhoods and areas within Benghazi as well as its neighboring regions. Follow-ups in these areas were conducted from March 2013 to October 2013 and documented by photographs. The existing methods of waste collection and means of transportation were investigated. Interviews were conducted with relevant authorities, including the Environment Public Authority in Benghazi and the Public Service Company of Benghazi. The objective of this study is to determine the causes of solid waste pollution in Benghazi City and its surrounding areas. Results show that solid waste pollution in Benghazi and its surrounding areas is the result of poor planning and environmental management, population growth, and the lack of hardware and equipment for the collection and transport of waste from the city to the landfill site. One of the most important recommendations in this study is the development of a complete and comprehensive plan that includes environmental planning and environmental management to reduce solid waste pollution.

Keywords: solid waste, pollution, environmental planning, management, Benghazi, Libya

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Authors: Cecilia Velasco, Q.

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This study was undertaken to find out the perceived efficiency, appropriateness effectiveness, acceptability and relevance, if at all such exist, of the Mother Tongue Based Multilingual Education Policy under the K-12 Curriculum, as seen by the stakeholders who are directly affected by this policy. The researcher believed that it is right and fitting to get the views and opinions of the people directly involved and/or concerned about this education policy. The results of the study will hopefully guide lawmakers and/or policymakers to fine-tune educational policy or policies. The locale of the study was the DepEd schools in Laguna, (San Pablo City and other nearby cities). The subjects of the study were the teachers (first phase) from the public schools of Department of Education (San Pablo City), in particular and parents (second phase) from nearby cities who are the direct stakeholders of this Policy. To determine the perception of the teachers toward Mother Tongue Based Multilingual Education Policy; its acceptability, efficiency, appropriateness, effectiveness and relevance, factor analysis was used to refine the instrument (questionnaire). To find out the significant difference between the perceptions of the primary and intermediate group of teachers, including those who teach mother tongue and non-mother tongue subjects, t-test of difference between means was employed.

Keywords: DepEd, K12 curriculum, MTBMLE, stakeholders

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Authors: Shishir Kumar, Chhaya Gangwal, Seema Raj

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Public health informatics (PHI) which has seen successful implementation in the developed world, become the buzzword in the developing countries in providing improved healthcare with enhanced access. In rural areas especially, where a huge gap exists between demand and supply of healthcare facilities, PHI is being seen as a major solution. There are factors such as growing network infrastructure and the technological adoption by the health fraternity which provide support to these claims. Public health informatics has opportunities in healthcare by providing opportunities to diagnose patients, provide intra-operative assistance and consultation from a remote site. It also has certain barriers in the awareness, adaptation, network infrastructure, funding and policy related areas. There are certain medico-legal aspects involving all the stakeholders which need to be standardized to enable a working system. This paper aims to analyze the potential and challenges of public health informatics services in rural communities.

Keywords: PHI, e-health, public health, health informatics

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Authors: Aime Philombe Zapji Ymele

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Servicing public debt is a significant budgetary burden. In the sense that the payment of interest charges is a liability on the balance sheet of the public budget and affects fiscal policy. Interest charges can sometimes become a burden if they crowd out private activities. In order to analyse and understand the determinants of the debt burden and its impact on the sustainability of public finances, the present work focuses on OECD countries. It is noted from the literature that the factors that determine interest charges are macroeconomic (inflation, GDP growth, and interest rates) and public finances (primary balance and public debt). After analysing a panel of 33 OECD countries and using ordinary least squares (OLS), we find that public debt, inflation, and long-term interest rates are positively correlated with interest charges. An increase in any of these variables leads to an increase in debt charges. On the other hand, a growth in GDP is negatively associated with interest charges. Indeed, an increase in GDP generates enough revenue to meet the repayment of debt charges. According to the empirical analysis, we can say that, despite the large and growing debt-to-GDP ratio of major OECD countries, interest charges are not a threat to the sustainability of public finances. However, it is important for these countries to reduce the ratio of public debt to GDP because, in the face of the many challenges (health, aging population, etc.) that are looming on the horizon, an increase in interest rates could bring with it considerable burdens that would threaten the budgetary balance of these states.

Keywords: interest charges, sustainability, public debt, interest rates

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Authors: Sujeet Kumar

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Education has greater importance particularly in terms of increasing human capital and economic competitiveness. It plays a crucial role in terms of cognitive and skill development. Its plays a vital role in process of socialization, fostering social justice, and enhancing social cohesion. Policy related to education has been always a priority for developed countries, which is later adopted by developing countries also. The government of India has also brought change in education polices in line with recognizing change at national and supranational level. However, quality education is still not become an open door for every child in India and several reports are produced year to year about level of school education in India. This paper is concerned with schooling in India. Particularly, it focuses on two government and two private schools in Bihar, but reference has made to schools in Delhi especially around slum communities. The paper presents brief historical context and an overview of current school systems in India. Later, it focuses on analysis of current development in policy in reference with field observation, which is anchored around choice, diversity, market – orientation and gap between different groups of pupils. There is greater degree of difference observed at private and government school levels in terms of quality of teachers, method of teaching and overall environment of learning. The paper concludes that the recent policy development in education particularly Sarva Siksha Abhiyaan (SAA) and Right to Education Act (2009) has required renovating new approach to bridge the gap through broader consultation at grassroots and participatory approach with different stakeholders.

Keywords: education, public policy, participatory approach

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Authors: Marwah Mohsin, Thomas Beach, Alan Kwan, Mahdi Ismail

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This paper describes the differences in views on sustainable development between the general public and experts in a developing country, Iraq. This paper will answer the question: How do the views of the public differ from the generally accepted view of experts in the context of sustainable urban development in Iraq? In order to answer this question, the views of both the public and the experts will be analysed. These results are taken from a public survey and a Delphi questionnaire. These will be analysed using statistical methods in order to identify the significant differences. This will enable investigation of the different perceptions between the public perceptions and the experts’ views towards urban sustainable development factors. This is important due to the fact that different viewpoints between policy-makers and the public will impact on the acceptance by the public of any future sustainable development work that is undertaken. The brief findings of the statistical analysis show that the views of both the public and the experts are considered different in most of the variables except six variables show no differences. Those variables are ‘The importance of establishing sustainable cities in Iraq’, ‘Mitigate traffic congestion’, ‘Waste recycling and separating’, ‘Use wastewater recycling’, ‘Parks and green spaces’, and ‘Promote investment’.

Keywords: urban sustainability, experts views, public views, principle component analysis, PCA

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Authors: Panos Xenos, Milton Nektarios, John Yfantopoulos

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Background: Policy makers, professional organizations and payers have introduced a variety of initiatives and reforms for the health systems worldwide, aimed at improving hospital efficiency. Their efforts are concentrated in two main categories: to constrain increasing healthcare costs and to enhance quality of services provided. Research Objectives: This study examines the efficiency of 112 Greek public hospitals for the year 2009, evaluates the importance of bootstrapping techniques and investigates the effect of contextual factors on hospital efficiency. Furthermore, the effect of qualitative evidence, on hospital efficiency is explored using data from 28 large hospitals. Methods: We applied Data Envelopment Analysis, augmented by bootstrapping techniques, to estimate efficiency scores. In order to measure the effect of environmental factors on hospital efficiency we used Tobit regression analysis. The significance of our models is evaluated using statistical tests to compare distributions. Results: The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test between the original and the bootstrap-corrected efficiency indicates that their distributions are significantly different (p-value<0.01). The environmental factors, that seem to influence efficiency, are Occupancy Rating and the ratio between Outpatient Visits and Inpatient Days. Results indicate that the inclusion of the quality variable in DEA modelling generates statistically significant variations in efficiency scores (p-value<0.05). Conclusions: The inclusion of quality variables and the use of bootstrap resampling in efficiency analysis impose a statistically significant effect on the distribution of efficiency scores. As a policy conclusion we highlight the importance of these methods on hospital efficiency analysis and, by implication, on healthcare resource allocation.

Keywords: hospitals, efficiency, quality, data envelopment analysis, Greek public hospital sector

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Authors: Zapji Ymele Aime Philombe

Abstract:

Servicing public debt is a significant budgetary burden in the sense that the payment of interest charges is a liability on the balance sheet of the public budget and affects fiscal policy. Interest charges can sometimes become a burden if they crowd out private activities. In order to analyse and understand the determinants of the debt burden and its impact on the sustainability of public finances, the present work focuses on OECD countries. It is noted from the literature that the factors that determine interest charges are macroeconomic (inflation, GDP growth and interest rates) and public finances (primary balance and public debt). After analysing a panel of 33 OECD countries and using ordinary least squares (OLS), we find that public debt, inflation and long-term interest rates are positively correlated with interest charges. An increase in any of these variables leads to an increase in debt charges. On the other hand, a growth in GDP is negatively associated with interest charges. Indeed, an increase in GDP generates enough revenue to meet the repayment of debt charges. According to the empirical analysis, we can say that, despite the large and growing debt-to-GDP ratio of major OECD countries, interest charges are not a threat to the sustainability of public finances. However, it is important for these countries to reduce the ratio of public debt to GDP because, in the face of the many challenges (health, aging population, etc.) that are looming on the horizon, an increase in interest rates could bring with it considerable burdens that would threaten the budgetary balance of these states.

Keywords: interests charges, public debt, sustainability, interest rates

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Authors: Juanita, B. Kombaitan, Iwan Pratoyo Kusumantoro

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The traditional mode is a non-motorized vehicle powered by human or animal power. The objective of the study was to define the strategy of using traditional modes by the framework of sustainable urban transport in support of urban tourism activities. The study of the traditional mode does not include a modified mode using the engine power as motor tricycles are often called ‘bentor ‘in Indonesia. The use of non-motorized traditional mode in Indonesia has begun to shift, and its use began to be eliminated by the change of propulsion using the machine. In an effort to push back the use of traditional mode one of them with tourism activities. Strategies for the use of traditional modes within the framework of sustainable urban transport are seen from three dimensions: social, economic and environmental. The social dimension related to accessibility and livability, an economic dimension related to traditional modes can promote products and tourist attractions, while the environmental dimension related to the needs of the users/groups with respect to safety, comfort. The traditional mode is rarely noticed by the policy makers, and public opinion in its use needs attention. The involvement of policy-making between stakeholders and the community is needed in the development of sustainable traditional mode strategies in support of urban tourism activities.

Keywords: traditional mode, sustainable, urban, transportation

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Authors: Hui Wang, Huan Zhang

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This study uses systematic review and qualitative comparative analysis methods to comprehensively inquire about the recent street-level policy entrepreneurship research, to identify the characteristics and lessons we can learn from 20 years of street-level policy entrepreneurship literature, and the relations between political contexts and street-level policy entrepreneurs’ strategies. Using data from a systematic review of street-level policy entrepreneurship literature, we identify the sub-components of different political contexts and core strategies of street-level policy entrepreneurs and estimate the configurational relations between different political settings and street-level policy entrepreneurs’ strategies. Our results show that street-level policy entrepreneurs display social acuity, define the problem, and build team strategies when policy or political streams dominate. Street-level policy entrepreneurs will use lead-by-example strategies when both policy and political streams dominate. Furthermore, street-level policy entrepreneurs will use bureaucratic strategies, even if no stream dominates in the political context.

Keywords: policy entrepreneurs, qualitative comparative analysis, street-level bureaucracy, systematic review

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Authors: Pouriya Angosht Baft, Farzan Safari Sabet

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Globalization should be considered as a process that has affected all areas of human activity, including the foreign policy of countries. The phenomenon of globalization has created tremendous changes in the economic, political and cultural fields. Obviously, no country can keep itself away from the new global consequences and globalization process. Dealing with the world requires formulating a realistic and intelligent foreign policy. By examining the phenomenon of globalization and its impact on foreign policy, this article aims to provide solutions for formulating a more active and effective foreign policy. The conclusion of this research is that Iran's foreign policy has gradually moved towards more realism and maintaining and strengthening national interests in the changing world has been the focus of foreign policy makers and decision makers. Strengthening the course of more realism in the future should be at the center of formulating Iran's foreign policy.

Keywords: globalization, foreign policy, international relations, realism, iran

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Authors: Rika van Zyl

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South Africa’s racial discrimination past has led to the drafting of the Constitution with the Bill of Rights for the people of South Africa. The Bill of Rights prohibits the state from unfairly discriminating directly or indirectly on certain grounds, one of which is race and another is gender. This has forced changes to the law of succession. The customary law rule of male primogeniture was abolished to ensure that women were not excluded from the intestate succession of the male head of the family in 2005. It was said that this rule cannot be reconciled with the notions of equality and human dignity contained in the Bill of Rights. The freedom of testation has further come under fire in South Africa, where it was found to be unfair discrimination and against public policy to exclude a specific gender (women) from inheriting in a private will. Although no one has the right to inherit in South Africa, any person with an interest can approach the court alleging that a right in the Bill of Rights has been infringed. A will that is found inconsistent with the South African Bill of Rights then cannot be enforced. Recent case law found that to leave out a specific gender (women) from a will, based entirely on the fact that they are of said specific gender, is in contravention of the Constitution and should, therefore, be declared invalid. It was said that the courts should take a transformative constitutional approach when equality rights are affected. Otherwise, the historical and insidious unequal distribution of wealth in South Africa will continue along the fault lines such as gender. This decision has opened the debate on the extent to which the state can interfere with the private autonomy of an individual who is deceased. Some of these arguments will be discussed, including the ambit of public policy in this regard.

Keywords: equality, discrimination, succession, public policy

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Authors: Parma Chakravartti

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The impact of government spending and taxation on economic growth has remained a central issue of fiscal policy analysis. There is a wide range of opinions over the strength of fiscal policy’s effect on macroeconomic variables. It can be argued that the impact of fiscal policy depends on the structure and economic condition of the economy. This study makes an attempt to examine the effect of fiscal policy shocks on growth in India using the structural vector autoregressive model (SVAR), considering data from 1950 to 2019. The study finds that government spending is an important instrument of growth in India, where the share of revenue expenditure to capital expenditure plays a key role. The optimum composition of total expenditure is important for growth and it is not necessarily true that capital expenditure multiplier is more than revenue expenditure multiplier. The study also finds that the impact of public economic activities on private economic activities for both consumption expenditure and gross capital formation of government crowds in private consumption expenditure and private gross capital formation, respectively, thus indicating that government expenditure complements private expenditure in India.

Keywords: government spending, fiscal policy, multiplier, growth

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Authors: Peter Ferguson

Abstract:

In 2018, Japan’s Ministry of Education revised the public elementary school curriculum. As part of widespread reforms, the recent Course of Study established English as an academic subject in Grades 5 and 6 plus lowered the starting age of 'foreign language activities' to Grade 3. These changes were implemented in April 2020. This presentation will examine the process and effects that policy implementation had on schools and teachers. A critical analysis of the 2018 Course of Study policy documents revealed several discourses were expressed concerning not only English education and foreign language acquisition, but that larger political and socioeconomic ideological beliefs on globalization, language, nation, culture, and identity were also articulated. Using excerpts from document analysis, the presenter will demonstrate how competing discourses were expressed in policy texts. Data from interviews with national policymakers also exposed several challenges policymakers faced as they tried to balance competing discourses and articulate important pedagogical concepts while having their voices heard. Findings show that some stakeholders were marginalized during the processes of policy creation, transmission, and implementation. This presentation is part of a larger multiple case study that utilized ethnography of language policy and critical analysis of discourse to examine how English education language policy was implemented into the national elementary school curriculum in Japan, and how stakeholders at the various educational levels contended with the creation, interpretation, and appropriation of the language policy.

Keywords: ethnography of language policy, elementary school EFL, language ideologies, discourse analysis

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Authors: Minh Thi Hai Vo

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This article draws on in-depth interviews with state employees at public hospitals and universities in its institutional analysis of the autonomy practices of public service delivery units in Vietnam. Unlike many empirical and theoretical studies that view formal and informal institutions as complements or substitutes, this article finds no evidence of complementary or substitutive relationships. Instead, the article finds that formal institutions accommodate informal ones and that informal institutions tend to compete and interfere, with the existing and ineffective formal institutions. The result of such conflicting relationship is that the actual autonomy of public service delivery units is, in most cases, perceived to be greater than the formal autonomy they are given. In the condition of poor regulation, the informal autonomy may result in unethical practices including rent-seeking and corruption. The implication of the study finding is policy-makers need to redesign and reorganize the autonomisation of public service delivery units to make informal institutions support and reinforce formal ones in a complementary manner.

Keywords: autonomy, formal institutions, informal institutions, public service delivery units, Vietnam

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Authors: Tianji Jiang

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Habermas' definition of public sphere is a classical and well-regarded theory of the formation of public opinions, laying the foundation for many researches on public opinions and public media. In recent decades, public media have been changing rapidly as social media are gaining increasing importance. However, the occurrence of group polarization on social media, which is a hot issue today, is challenging Habermas' theory of the public sphere. This article reviews the public sphere theory and studies group polarization and social media. It proposes ideas on how to understand group polarization within the public sphere and comes up with some suggestions and ideas to reduce polarization on social media.

Keywords: public sphere, social media, group polarization, echo chamber, public opinion

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Authors: Iulian Clain

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In contemporary public administration, the demand for greater accountability, transparency, and efficient governance has intensified, particularly in the face of increasing public scrutiny and fiscal constraints. Internal auditing has emerged as a vital tool in strengthening governance structures, enhancing the effectiveness of public sector institutions, and ensuring compliance with regulatory frameworks. This paper examines the evolving role of internal auditing within public administration, with an emphasis on risk management, regulatory compliance, and fraud prevention. Building on institutional theory and risk management frameworks, this study explores how internal audits contribute to identifying operational inefficiencies, minimizing financial irregularities, and promoting ethical governance practices. Through case studies and comparative analysis of auditing practices across OECD nations, this research provides insights into how strategic internal audits can be harnessed to reinforce public sector governance, thereby improving the delivery of public services. The paper argues that the integration of internal audit findings into decision-making processes enhances not only financial accountability but also policy outcomes, fostering greater public trust in government institutions. Key recommendations are presented on how public institutions can further integrate internal auditing processes to enhance governance outcomes, focusing on best practices for institutionalizing audit functions within public sector governance frameworks. These findings are particularly relevant for policymakers, audit professionals, and public administration leaders striving to achieve better governance, operational efficiency, and integrity in the public sector.

Keywords: internal auditing role, public administration sciences, public administration audit, internal auditing in universities

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Authors: Amal Abdou, Yasser ElSayed, Nora Selim

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Public urban spaces are an essential component in any urban settlement. They are quite important in enhancing the quality of urban life while offering social, health, environmental and economic benefits to a city and its residents. Place-making assessment of public urban spaces has been one of the major guiding principles for urban planning and policymaking, of which the definition and evaluation have become the crucial research topic. It is increasingly being essential to mitigate the undesirable impacts of urbanization in cities while improving public urban space’s resilience to environmental, social, and economic changes. Globally, several place-making assessment tools (PATs) have been developed to make such informed decision-making. They act as a catalyst to increase market demand for sustainable products and services by providing a mechanism for recognizing excellence. Assessing how placemaking can positively contribute to urban environments is critical to inform both the continued development of the place and the way placemaking is done as a practice. Therefore, this study aims to review different themes for assessing urban placemaking in public urban spaces.

Keywords: urban placemaking, public urban spaces, placemaking assessment, literature review

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Authors: Bakhrouri Sarah

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The city of Algiers constitutes the first commercial pole of the country; 56.3% of its economic entities come from the commercial sector. Shopping centers are the new form of commerce that has emerged in the city since the 2000s. They are considered to be commercial and leisure poles and major generators of travel. However, shopping centers in the capital Algiers are poorly served by public transport, and their choice of location is mainly conditioned by the availability of land; accessibility by public transport does not appear to be an important criterion in the choice of their location. As a result, travel to and from these commercial centers is mainly by car, which breaks with the sustainability objectives of national transportation policy. Our study attempts to examine the impact of public transport accessibility of shopping centers on consumers' travel behaviour. The main objective of this research is to determine the link between the accessibility of these facilities, the use of private cars, and public transport modes. To this end, we analyze the choice of travel mode of consumers and the different factors that determine it by focusing on the influence of accessibility. The results showed a considerable influence of the accessibility on the travel behavior of the consumer in Algiers, so it is recommended to improve the accessibility of shopping centers by public transport in order to contribute to a modal shift.

Keywords: accessibility, shopping centers trips, public transportation, Algiers

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Authors: Afri Ananda Nugroho

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Privatization is one of the public policies closely related to the role of government in the economy due to the failure of the centralized system in the communist countries. This paper will discuss the basic issues of privatization as a global trend, the purpose of privatization, implementation, and impact on the success of State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN) in Indonesia. The analysis is done by looking at some important issues about the privatization problem, and some public policies are being applied such as why and how privatization is necessary and what impact it has. This paper also discusses the implications for top leaders of State-Owned Enterprises.

Keywords: privatization, state-owned enterprises, Indonesia, public policy

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Authors: K. Bokreta, D. Benanaya

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The objective of this study is to examine the relative effectiveness of monetary and fiscal policy in Algeria using the econometric modelling techniques of cointegration and vector error correction modelling to analyse and draw policy inferences. The chosen variables of fiscal policy are government expenditure and net taxes on products, while the effect of monetary policy is presented by the inflation rate and the official exchange rate. From the results, we find that in the long-run, the impact of government expenditures is positive, while the effect of taxes is negative on growth. Additionally, we find that the inflation rate is found to have little effect on GDP per capita but the impact of the exchange rate is insignificant. We conclude that fiscal policy is more powerful then monetary policy in promoting economic growth in Algeria.

Keywords: economic growth, monetary policy, fiscal policy, VECM

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Authors: Lukasz Kurowski, Paweł Smaga

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We explore the procyclicality of monetary policy decisions towards the financial cycle in the 1995−2015 period on a sample of six central banks. Using interest rate paths and the credit-to-GDP gap to construct a monetary policy procyclicality ratio, we provide evidence that monetary policy procyclicality was high in BoE and CNB and low in Riksbank and ECB. The results support the need for coordination between macroprudential and monetary policies, for example, by including financial stability considerations to the inflation targeting strategy.

Keywords: central bank, financial stability, macroprudential policy, monetary policy

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Authors: Paule Olivia Akotto

Abstract:

The recent literature suggests spending between 50%-85% of oil rents. However, there are not yet clear guidelines for allocating this windfall in the public investment system, while most of the resource-rich countries fail to improve their intergenerational mobility. We study a design of the optimal spending system in Senegal, a low-income developing country featuring newly discovered oil fields and low intergenerational mobility. We build a dynamic general equilibrium model in which rural and urban (Dakar and other urban centers henceforth OUC) households face different health, education, and employment opportunities based on their location, affecting their intergenerational mobility. The model captures the relationship between oil rents, public investment, and multidimensional inequality of opportunity. The government invests oil rents in three broad sectors: health and education, road and industries, and agriculture. Through endogenous productivity externality and human capital accumulation, our model generates the predominant position of Dakar and OUC households in terms of access to health, education, and employment in line with Senegal data. Rural households are worse off in all dimensions. We compute the optimal spending policy under two sets of simulation scenarios. Under the current Senegal public investment strategy, which weighs more health and education investments, we find that the reform maximizing the decline in inequality of opportunity between households, frontloads investment during the first eight years of the oil exploitation and spends the perpetual value of oil wealth thereafter. We will then identify the marginal winners and losers associated with this policy and its redistributive implications. Under our second set of scenarios, we will test whether the Senegalese economy can reach better equality of opportunity outcomes under this frontloading reform, by allowing the sectoral shares of investment to vary. The trade-off will be between cutting human capital investment in favor of agricultural and productive infrastructure or increasing the former. We will characterize the optimal policy by specifying where the higher weight should be. We expect that the optimal policy of the second set strictly dominates in terms of equality of opportunity, the optimal policy computed under the current investment strategy. Finally, we will quantify this optimal policy's aggregate and distributional effects on poverty, well-being, and gender earning gaps.

Keywords: developing countries, general equilibrium, inequality of opportunity, oil rents

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Authors: Perpetual Onyejelem, Kenichi Matsui

Abstract:

Solid waste management is one essential area for urban administration to achieve environmental sustainability. Proper solid waste management (SWM) improves the environment by reducing diseases and increasing public health. On the other way, improper SWM practices negatively impact public health and environmental sustainability. This article evaluates SWM in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, with the goal of determining the current solid waste management practices and their health implications. This study used secondary data, which relies on existing published literature and official documents. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) statement and its four-stage inclusion/exclusion criteria were utilized as part of a systematic literature review technique to locate the literature that concerns SWM practices and the implementation of solid waste management policies between 2014-2023 in PortHarcourt and its health effects from specific databases (Scopus and Google Scholar). The results found that despite the existence and implementation of the Rivers State Waste Management Policy and the formulation of the National Policy on Solid Waste Management in Port Harcourt, residents continued to dump waste in drainages. They were unaware of waste sorting and dumped waste haphazardly. This trend has persisted due to a lack of political commitment to the effective implementation and monitoring of policies and strategies and a lack of training provided to waste collectors regarding the SWM approach, which involves sorting and separating waste. In addition, inadequate remuneration for waste collectors, the absence of community participation in policy formulation, and insufficient awareness among residents regarding the 3R approach are also contributory factors. This caused the emergence of vector-borne diseases such as malaria, lassa fever, and cholera in Port Harcourt, increasing the expense of healthcare for locals, particularly low-income households. The study urges the government to prioritize protecting the health of its citizens by studying the methods other nations have taken to address the problem of solid waste management and adopting those that work best for their region. The bottom-up strategy should be used to include locals in developing solutions. However, citizens who are always the most impacted by this issue should launch initiatives to address it and put pressure on the government to assist them when they have limitations.

Keywords: health effects, solid waste management practices, environmental pollution, Port-Harcourt

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