Browsing by Subject "local government"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    Determinants of Expenditure Decentralization: Evidence from China
    (2013-03) Wu, Alfred M.; Wang, Wen
    This study is the first attempt to examine the determinants of expenditure decentralization at sub-provincial levels in China. The Chinese central government gives detailed guidelines to local governments on public finance, but, ironically, their expenditure assignment is far from being well-regulated. Differences in fiscal decentralization on the expenditure side are enormous among local governments. Employing a panel dataset of 1995-2006, we provide empirical evidence that transfer dependency negatively affects expenditure decentralization in Chinese local governments. It suggests that intermediate governments, i.e. provincial governments, may have “grabbed” central grants for self-interests.
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    The Impact of Property Assessment Standards on Property Tax Burden: An Examination of Systematic Bias in a Market Value versus a Non-Market Value Assessment Standard
    (2012-09) Payton, Seth B.
    Property tax is a tax on estimated values rather than on transactions—an important distinction from other taxes. Another distinction is that each state develops its own system for administering the property tax, including how properties are assessed. The consensus among scholars is that current market value assessment is the standard for achieving the most fair and equitable property tax burden. This study compares two disparate assessment standards in one urban county, analyzing potential determinants of systematic bias. The findings indicate that less systematic bias exists under the market value standard, but that the overall equity is only marginally better horizontally and tended toward a more regressive tax structure. A market value assessment standard may mitigate the inherent inequity (i.e., systematic bias) in a nonmarket value system. However, the inequities in the market value system, which may be less predictable, still must be monitored and addressed.
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    Police Performance As Symbolic Politics? Public Recognition and the Value of Awards
    (Taylor & Francis, 2020) Federman, Peter Stanley; School of Public and Environmental Affairs
    What constitutes “good” performance in a law enforcement agency, who decides, and how does public recognition of that performance change how an agency performs? This study uses a quasi-experimental design and propensity-score matching model to assess the impact of a law enforcement agency’s status as a finalist for the annual Cisco/International Chiefs of Police Association (IACP) Community Policing Award on performance in future years, as measured by crime clearance rates. It is found that after comparing the treated group (finalist agencies) with the untreated group (non-finalist nearest-neighbor agencies), there is no meaningful difference in crime clearance rates. This unexpected finding establishes that the public recognition of finalist status by the Department of Justice, which promotes finalist agencies as exemplars of best practices in community policing, does not impact the subsequent performance of those agencies. Additionally, the results of the model suggest that the impact of symbolic politics and social construction on the award finalist selection process and the choice by DOJ to promote the practices of those agencies should be explored. Questions are also raised as to the utility of crime clearance rates as a performance measure, and future avenues for research in each area are proposed.