Infrastructure projects are notoriously hard to manage so it is important that society learns from the successes and mistakes made over time. However, most evaluation methods run into a conundrum: either they cover a large number of projects but have little to say about their details, or they focus on detailed single-case studies with little in terms of applicability elsewhere. This book presents Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) as an alternative evaluation method that solves the conundrum to enhance learning.
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The Evaluation of Complex Infrastructure Projects
A Guide to Qualitative Comparative Analysis
Lasse Gerrits and Stefan Verweij
Teaching Benefit-Cost Analysis
Tools of the Trade
Edited by Scott Farrow
Teaching Benefit-Cost Analysis provides detail and inspiration that extends and clarifies standard textbooks. Each short, self-contained module includes guidance to additional sources while many also provide class exercises. Classes for advanced undergraduates, practitioners, or Masters students could especially apply these tools of the trade.
The Ecology of Tax Systems
Factors that Shape the Demand and Supply of Taxes
Vito Tanzi
This groundbreaking book analyzes how the ecology of taxation is fundamental for the success or failure of tax systems. It specifically focuses on the role of the ecological environment on taxation; the factors that determine the ecology of taxation; and how the ecology of taxation has changed and may continue to evolve. The implicit, important conclusion is that there are no permanent or universal optimal tax theories: all theories are related to this ecology.
Fighting Terrorism at Source
Using Foreign Aid to Delegate Global Security
Jean-Paul Azam and Véronique Thelen
This book offers a unique and insightful econometric evaluation of the policies used to fight transnational terrorism between 1990 and 2014 using a sample of 124 countries. It proves that foreign aid plays a crucial role by inducing recipient governments to protect the donors’ political and economic interests within their sphere of influence. In contrast, US troops on the ground are counter-productive as they increase the supply of terrorist attacks from the host countries, even though this effect has been significantly reduced by the Obama administration.
The Reform of Network Industries
Evaluating Privatisation, Regulation and Liberalisation in the EU
Edited by Massimo Florio
Network industries such as electricity, gas, rail, local public transport, telecommunications and postal services are recognised by the EU as crucial for fostering European social and territorial cohesion. Providing an overview of key policy reforms in these industries and an empirical evaluation, this thought-provoking book offers a critical perspective on the functioning of the networks that provide vital services to EU citizens.
Central and Local Government Relations in Asia
Achieving Fiscal Sustainability
Edited by Naoyuki Yoshino and Peter J. Morgan
Sustainable and inclusive growth in emerging Asian economies requires high levels of public investment in areas such as infrastructure, education, health, and social services. The increasing complexity and regional diversity of these investment needs, together with the trend of democratization, has led to fiscal decentralization being implemented in many Asian economies. This book takes stock of some major issues regarding fiscal decentralization, including expenditure and revenue assignments, transfer programs, and sustainability of local government finances, and develops important findings and policy recommendations.
Mark Skidmore
This timely research review presents and discusses essential readings for those interested in the economics of natural disasters. It features analysis of influential articles on the macroeconomic and regional impacts of natural disasters, natural disaster vulnerability, resilience, recovery and adaptation. Topics covered include short-run and long-run economic impacts, poverty and vulnerability, emerging life-saving technologies, the role of government in fostering resilience and adaptation in response to disasters. This detailed new review will be an invaluable source of reference for researchers and policymakers alike.
Mark Tushnet
This research review presents and discusses a carefully considered selection of the most significant articles to aid and guide research into comparative constitutional law. Topics covered include historical studies of public law in different nations, theoretical accounts of rights and structures, detailed examinations of particular features common to many constitutions, and descriptions and comparisons among a large number of domestic jurisdictions. Written by a leading authority in the field, this comprehensive and timely review is an essential resource for academics and practitioners alike.
A History of American State and Local Economic Development
As Two Ships Pass in the Night
Ronald W. Coan
A History of American State and Local Economic Development relates the history of American local and state economic development from 1790 to 2000. This multi-variable, multi-disciplinary history employs a bottom-up policy-making systems approach while exploring the three eras of economic development.
Public or Private Goods?
Redefining Res Publica
Edited by Brigitte Unger, Daan van der Linde and Michael Getzner
The book explores the core public tasks that the state has traditionally provided but which increasingly are being privatized and subsumed by the private sector. The night-watchman state role of providing security is instead offered by private prisons and security guards. Legitimized by the argument of efficiency gains, social security including public housing, pensions, unemployment insurance and health care are all being gradually privatized. This book argues that on the basis of efficiency, morality and equality there is still an overwhelming need for public intervention – the res publica. Although the state still funds and regulates core domains, it provides fewer and fewer visible goods. The authors show how this apparent invisibility of the state presents serious challenges for both income equality and democracy.