Saturday, October 15, 2011
Thursday, September 29, 2011
The Oxford Handbook of Health Economics
1. Overview , Peter Smith and Sherry Glied
The Organization of Health Care Systems
2. Health Systems in Industrialized Countries ,3. Health Systems in Low and Middle Income Countries ,4. The Political Economy of Health Care ,
5. The Promise of Health: Evidence of the Impact of Health on Income and Well-Being ,
Determinants of Health
6. Health Production ,7. Socioeconomic Status and Health: Dimensions and Mechanisms ,8. Determinants of Health in Childhood ,9. Economics of Infectious Diseases ,10. Economics of Health Behaviours and Addictions: Contemporary Issues and Policy Implications ,
11. Economic and Mental Health: An International Perspective ,
Institutions of Health Care Finance
12. Public Sector Health Care Financing ,13. Voluntary Private Health Insurance ,14. Health Care Cost Growth ,
15. User Charges ,
Economic Problems of Health Care Finance
16. Insurance and the Demand for Medical Care ,17. Guaranteed Access to Affordable Coverage in Individual Health Insurance Markets ,
18. Managed Care ,
The Institutions of Health Care Supply
19. Hospitals: Teaming Up ,20. Primary Care ,21. The Global Health Workforce ,22. The Economics of the Biopharmaceutical Industry ,23. Disease Prevention, Health Care and Economics ,
24. Long-Term Care ,
Economic Problems of Health Care Supply
25. Physician Agency and Payment for Primary Medical Care ,26. Provider Payment and Incentives ,27. Non-Price Rationing and Waiting Times ,
28. Increasing Competition between Providers in Health Care Markets: The Economic Evidence ,
Assessing Performance
29. Measuring Organisational Performance ,30. Health System Productivity ,31. The Methods of Cost-Effectiveness Analysis to Inform Decisions about the Use of Health Care Interventions and Programmes ,32. Analysing Uncertainty in Cost-effectiveness for Decision Making ,
33. Health Utility Measurement ,
Economic Perspectives on Fairness
34. Concepts of Equity and Fairness in Health and Health Care ,35. Measuring Inequality and Inequity in Health and Health Care ,
36. Intergenerational Aspects of Health Care ,
Economic Methodology and Health Policy
37. Econometric Evaluation of Health Policies ,
38. Health Economics and Policy: The Challenges of Proselytising ,
Healthcare Reform
Monday, September 26, 2011
Performance Auditing Best Practice
Climate Engineering: Technical Status, Future Directions, and Potential Responses;
Climate engineering technologies do not now offer a viable response to global climate change. Experts advocating research to develop and evaluate the technologies believe that research on these technologies is urgently needed or would provide an insurance policy against worst case climate scenarios--but caution that the misuse of research could bring new risks. Government reports and the literature suggest that research progress will require not only technology studies but also efforts to improve climate models and data. The technologies being proposed have been categorized as carbon dioxide removal (CDR) and solar radiation management (SRM). CDR would reduce the atmospheric concentration of CO2, allowing more heat to escape and thus cooling the Earth. For example, proposed CDR technologies include enhancing the uptake of CO2 in oceans and forests and capturing CO2 from air chemically for storage underground. SRM technologies would place reflective material in space or in Earth's atmosphere to scatter or reflect sunlight (for example, by injecting sulfate aerosols into the stratosphere to scatter incoming solar radiation or brightening clouds) or would increase the planet's reflectivity (for example, by painting roofs and pavements in light colors). GAO found these technologies currently immature, many with potentially negative consequences. Some studies say, for example, that stratospheric aerosols might greatly reduce summer precipitation in places such as India and northern China. Many experts advocated research because of its potential benefits but also recognized its risks. For example, a country might unilaterally deploy a technology with a transboundary effect. Research advocates emphasized the need for risk management, envisioning a federal research effort that would (1) focus internationally on transparency and cooperation, given transboundary effects; (2) enable the public and national leaders to consider issues before they become crises; and (3) anticipate opportunities and risks. A small number of those we consulted opposed research; they anticipated major technology risks or limited future climate change. Based on GAO's survey, a majority of U.S. adults are not familiar with climate engineering. When given information on the technologies, they tend to be open to research but concerned about safety.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Wholeheartedly agree with Matt Andrews
If only all development organizations were required to provide background stories like these for the innovations they so easily reproduce everywhere. One wonders if ministers of finance in French speaking African countries would so willingly agree to Medium Term Expenditure Framework reforms if they knew where these ideas came from (select advanced Anglophone countries like Australia), what kind of process MTEFs emerged from in these settings, what kind of political context they demand, what capacities they require etc. Ditto for just about every good, better or best practice one can think of. We need more of what ISS is providing: materials to help theorize what makes a best or innovative practice best or innovative and to assist us in thinking about whether these practices fit into new contexts...or what will be required to facilitate the fit. Visit their web site at http://www.princeton.edu/successfulsocieties/
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Carlo Cottarelli on Bloomberg
Head of Fiscal Affairs Department of the IMF;“IMF’s Cottarelli Urges ‘Targeted’ Cuts of U.S. Budget”
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Irish Fiscal Advisory Council
The government announced the establishment of the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (IFAC) on July 7, 2011. The IFAC is mandated to provide an assessment of:-Ireland: Third Review Under the Extended Arrangement - Staff Report
(i) the soundness of official macro-fiscal forecasts;
(ii) the appropriateness of the fiscal stance (including the government’s stated medium-term budgetary objective); and(iii) the consistency between budgetary plans and fiscal rules (the latter are to be specified in a Fiscal Responsibility Bill by year-end).
The IFAC will submit, at least three times a year, written reports to the Minister for Finance, which will automatically be communicated to the Oireachtas within 24 hours. This effectively means that the IFAC’s reports are published with the Minister having advance notice of their content. There are no restrictions, otherwise, on the Council’s communication with the public.
The IFAC comprises five members, appointed by the Minister for Finance for initial tenures of two to four years. The members will serve in a voluntary capacity, assisted by a small secretariat including full-time economist staff. The Council has been allocated initial funding for the remainder of 2011.
Among the range of fiscal councils in Europe, the IFAC appears most similar to the Swedish Fiscal Policy Council, both in terms of mandate and funding. For instance, the IFAC is charged with assessing, rather than producing, the official macro-fiscal forecasts, which explains its relatively modest resources compared with say, the U.K.’s Office for Budget Responsibility
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
A mathematician on Capital Budgeting
Priority-setting and capital budgeting. Allocating a budget often involves the comparisons of diverse projects whose benefits are difficult to directly estimate and then compare. Organizations also often confuse budget items defined by accounting conditions with actionable projects. A good budgeting process is built by creating useful "decision units," robust measurement criteria and a group process for obtaining inputs and finally ranking projects. Such budgeting processes are equally useful in private corporations and governmental organizations. I have developed such ranking processes for Los Alamos National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratory, ChevronTexaco. Included in the projects are rankings to allocate yearly budgets for contaminated site cleanups, repair priorities for oil pipelines and capital project rankings for electric utilities.
From John Kadvany
Risk: A Very Short Introduction
1. Risk decisions
2. Defining risks
3. Analyzing risks
4. Risk perceptions
5. Risk communication
6. Reconciling risks
7. Risk, culture and society
Friday, September 2, 2011
Artists sentenced by Tax Authorities
Norwegian officials have sentenced the painter Odd Nerdrum to two years in prison on charges that he evaded paying the full amount of taxes on $2.6 million that he made selling artwork between 1998 and 2002.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Mauritius PEFA update
Mauritius appears to have done an update of its PEFA;
Mauritius continues to perform well against the PEFA benchmarks. The scores show progress compared to the 2007 PEFA assessment, with 27 out of the 31 reported ratings higher or equal to those obtained in 2007...
Comprehensiveness and transparency have improved since the last PEFA
assessment. The budget classification system adopted for the 2008-09 budget, which incorporates a program budget approach for the first time, is based on the IMF Government Finance Statistics Manual (GFSM) 2001. Budget documentation is relatively comprehensive, meeting seven out of nine of the required benchmarks. However, the analysis and discussion of macro-fiscal projections and fiscal outputs are limited, and transactions between the central government and extra-budgetary units are not fully reported
The monitoring of fiscal risks has been progressively strengthened over the
reporting period, though gaps still remain. Monitoring and reporting of fiscal risks is not always systematic and coverage remains incomplete―financial institutions and extra-budgetary units are not monitored. Budget integrity is in general sound, with some remaining issues in the monitoring and publication of contract awards and the tracking of flows of funds to primary service delivery units.
A clear annual budget calendar exists and is largely adhered to. The budget
circular provides the guidance necessary for line ministries to prepare a complete and detailed budget submission. However, strategic planning capacity in government remains limited and the links between macroeconomic projections, fiscal strategy, ministry-level strategic plans, and the budget process require strengthening. In particular, insufficient time is available at the early stages of the budget process for discussions between line ministries and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (MoFED) to determine strategic priorities within the fiscal framework. This is particularly apparent on the capital side of the budget, where significant capacity constraints result in substantial underspending.
Monday, August 8, 2011
Quote of the Day
Steven VanRoekel is the new CIO.
He brought a .com mentality to the FCC, including a perspective that “everything should be an API” that caught some tech observers’ eye. He worked with an innovative new media team that established a voice for social media for the @FCC on social media where that had been none and a FCC.gov/live livestream that automatically detected what device you’d used to access it.
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Happy Birthday GAO
Accountability Is Their Middle Name
Some recent reports from GAO:
Economic Development: Efficiency and Effectiveness of Fragmented Programs Are Unclear
Climate Change Adaptation: Aligning Funding with Strategic Priorities
Financial Education and Counseling Pilot Program
Pakistan Assistance: Relatively Little of the $3 Billion in Requested Assistance Is Subject to State's Certification of Pakistan's Progress on Nonproliferation and Counterterrorism Issues
Cost and Legal Authority for Selected Financial Literacy Programs and Activities
The Democratic Republic of the Congo: Information on the Rate of Sexual Violence in War-Torn Eastern DRC and Adjoining Countries
Child Fatalities from Maltreatment: National Data Could Be Strengthened
NASA Needs to Better Assess Contract Termination Liability Risks and Ensure Consistency in Its Practices
Child Maltreatment: Strengthening National Data on Child Fatalities Could Aid in Prevention
Combating Terrorism: Additional Steps Needed to Enhance Foreign Partners' Capacity to Prevent Terrorist Travel
Antibiotic Resistance: Data Gaps Will Remain Despite HHS Taking Steps to Improve Monitoring
Influenza Pandemic: Lessons from the H1N1 Pandemic Should Be Incorporated into Future Planning
American Samoa and Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands: Employment, Earnings, and Status of Key Industries Since Minimum Wage Increases Began
Friday, August 5, 2011
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Dashboards are only tools: effectiveness depends on their use
A new report for the IBM Center by Dr. Sukumar Ganapati, “Using Dashboards in Government” provides a snapshot into the internal and external uses of dashboards as ways of monitoring performance and providing accountability and transparency in large organizations. Ganapati says: “Dashboards summarize key performance metrics of organzations. They typically integrate data from different sources and display performance measures through informative graphics. The visualization allows readers to understand complex data in less time than it would take to read similar material ocated in the text of a full report.
He says there are different types of dashboards: operational (for monitoring in real time such as call centers or air traffic control); tactical (for analysis and benchmarking such as welfare caseload processing); and strategic (such as balanced scorecards of agency performance).
Source: Using Dashboards in Government
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Public Finance and Society
“… public finances are one of the best starting points for an investigation of society. The spirit of a people, its cultural level, its social structure, the deeds its policy may prepare — and this and more is written in its fiscal history.” He cites Goldscheid. 1917. Staatsozialismus order Staatskapitalismus. “the budget is the skeleton of the state stripped of all misleading ideologies.”
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Sunday, February 20, 2011
The Singapore Way
Related:
If Singapore has one thing to teach America, it is about taking governing seriously, relentlessly asking: What world are we living in and how do we adapt to thrive. “We’re like someone living in a hut without any insulation,” explained Tan Kong Yam, an economist. “We feel every change in the wind or the temperature and have to adapt. You Americans are still living in a brick house with central heating and don’t have to be so responsive.” And we have not been
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Improving Government Performance- You do whatever it takes
-Imported From Britain: Ideas to Improve SchoolsWhen it comes to failing schools, Sir Michael expresses impatience. When a public school is failing — not just going through a rough patch, but also systematically failing to educate its students — he says there is only one question the authorities should consider: “How do I get these children a good education as fast as possible?”
“Once you have the answer to that question, you just do it,” he said. “If it’s close the school, you close it and move the children into a better one. If there are no better schools nearby, close it and replace it with another on the same site. But you do whatever it takes.”
Related;
Education Reform Lessons from England
'Deliverology' is the way forward, says Barber
US Education Delivery Unit
Tony Blair on Deliverology
Blair talks about the Delivery Unit as one of his successes in his memoir and gives credit to Sir Machael Barber.
Related:
Imported From Britain: Ideas to Improve Schools
'It was relatively a small organizatiion, staffed by civil servants but also outsiders from McKinsey, Bain and other private sector companies, whose job was to track the delivery of key government priorities. It would focus like a laser on an issue, draw up a plan to resolve it working with the department concerned, and then performance-manage it to a solution. It would get first-class data which it would use for stocktakes that I took personally with the minister, his key staff and mine, every month or so. The unit would present a progress report and any necessary action would be authorised....
We also created the Strategy Unit, to look ahead at the way policy would devlop, the fresh challenges and new ideas to meet them. That also was higly successful. It allowed us to take a medium- and even long-term view of certain issues that were looming but not imminent. Whereas the Policy Unit handled the day-to-day and focused on managing the departments to produce the policies and their implementation that derived from the manifesto or the departmental plans, the Strategy Unit was trying to trying to construct the next policy platform...
In summary, extra money plus system change delivered results...'
Related:
Imported From Britain: Ideas to Improve Schools
“What have all the great school systems of the world got in common?” he said, ticking off four systems that he said deserved to be called great, in Finland, Singapore, South Korea and Alberta, Canada. “Four systems, three continents — what do they have in common?
“They all select their teachers from the top third of their college graduates, whereas the U.S. selects its teachers from the bottom third of graduates. This is one of the big challenges for the U.S. education system: What are you going to do over the next 15 to 20 years to recruit ever better people into teaching?”
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Social Impact Bonds or PPP Reinvented?
David Cameron’s Conservative government in Britain is already testing it, at a prison 75 miles north of London. The Bloomberg administration in New York is also considering the idea, as is the State of Massachusetts. Perhaps most notably, President Obama next week will propose setting aside $100 million for seven such pilot programs, according to an administration official.-For Federal Programs, a Taste of Market Discipline
The idea goes by one of two names: pay for success bonds or social impact bonds. Either way, nonprofit groups like foundations pay the initial money for a new program and also oversee it, with government approval. The government will reimburse them several years later, possibly with a bonus — but only if agreed-upon benchmarks show that the program is working.
Related;
A Bond to Save Lives
What Are Social-Impact Bonds?
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
PFM Lesson of the Day
Albert van Zyl reviews some reviews of PFM systems;
Related:
Weekend reading- Mathew Andrews paper mentioned above.
Budgets are made better than they are executed
So for example, Matt Andrews (2010), in his study of 31 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa found that “they have alarmingly similar reforms in place” (page 44), “an MTEF was implemented in 28 countries, programme budgeting in 25 and an IFMIS in 20”. As a result of these findings, Andrews calls for “less similarity of reforms and more context appropriateness”, as one of his three main recommendations.
Related:
Weekend reading- Mathew Andrews paper mentioned above.
Budgets are made better than they are executed
Obama's Management Agenda checklist
A quick list of Obama's planned management reforms;
- The promise to create a “chief performance officer” reporting to him
- The promise to replace the Program Assessment Review Tool (PART) with a new Performance Improvement and Analysis Framework
- The appointment of Jeff Zients as the chief performance officer, and as deputy director for management at the Office of Management and Budget
- A commitment to a governmentwide performance portal
- The creation of “high-priority performance goals”
- A commitment to program evaluation
- The outlining of six “performance strategies” for the Administration’s Accountable Government Initiative.
Better Know Your Baselines
Why baselines are important;
Baselines are essentially the status quo, the starting point for whatever fiscal discussion you're having, and help show the change certain policies might have on the federal budget. However, as TaxVox, the Tax Policy Center's blog, pointed out in a great post last year, not everyone uses the same baseline, and some baselines are better than others
Monday, February 7, 2011
Does India need a PAIS?
Better and more effective Planning of government expenditures has many elements. Some of the elements of planning that need improvement have been discussed in this note. These include clearer definition of program outputs and outcomes and detailed operational plans for achieving these goals. With the availability of new technology, government management information systems and public accountability can be vastly improved. The paper proposes a Public accountability information system (PAIS), with a web enabled public information system and a smart card recording all the benefits that the poor are entitled to receive through government programs. This would empower the poor, particularly in rural and remote areas, by converting entitlements into a financial right – a virtual credit/debit card based on government funds. If implemented sincerely, with inevitable modifications and adaptations arising out of implementation experience, this can help improve the efficiency and effectiveness of government expenditure over the next five years.-PLANNING FOR RESULTS: The Public Accountability Information System
Working Paper No. 1/2007-PC, India National Planning Council Working Paper
Expenditure Tracking in India
The connection between release of funds by the Central Government and actual expenditures for physical inputs by the implementing agencies is
currently, very obscure
We highly recommend the Report of the Technology Advisory Group for Unique Projects, the chapter on Expenditure Information Network.
Friday, February 4, 2011
India's Independent Evaluation Office
The Union Cabinet today approved the establishment of an Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) to undertake impartial and objective assessment of the various public programmes and improve the effectiveness of public interventions. This is in pursuance of the Presidential address to the Joint Session of both Houses of Parliament in June, 2009 to establish an Independent Evaluation Office at an arms' distance from the Government to assess the outcomes and impact of the major flagship programmes of the Government of India.
The IEO will be an independent office attached to the Planning Commission under a Governing Board chaired by the Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission. It will be funded by the Planning Commission and will have, as its head, a full-time Director General (DG) in the rank and status of Member, Planning Commission. It will have full functional autonomy to discharge its functions. The IEO will also advise the Planning Commission and the implementing agencies in developing appropriate management systems consistent with the evaluation objectives.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Books about Government Accounting
Essentials of Accounting for Governmental and Not-for-Profit OrganizationsPaul Copley
What other books do you recommend?
Related:
Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board
Summary Report of the 2010 Financial Report of the United States Government
AICPA
Government Accounting Standards Board
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Job Opportunities
RA job at BIS- deadline 24th January. Qualification required- Master's in economics, econometrics or statistics.
Jobs at Institute of International Finance
Jobs at Institute of International Finance
Development NGOs of the Week- DAI
DAI’s mission is to make a lasting difference in the world by helping developing nations become more prosperous, fairer and more just, cleaner, safer, healthier, more stable, more efficient, and better governed.
DAI Washington traces its origins to 1970, when three graduates of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University combined their savings, aspirations, and career goals to establish a consulting firm in Washington, D.C., focusing on market-based approaches to economic development. DAI Washington's founders were bold and persistent. They named the company “Development Alternatives, Inc.”—now known simply as DAI—to emphasize their commitment to innovation and new ways of solving problems.
See more job opportunites at DAI
Cascading Peformance Agreements
For Discussion: Which type of performance arrangements is best suited for a small island developing countries?
Source: Performance-based Arrangements for Senior Civil Servants: OECD and Other Country Experiences
Source: Performance-based Arrangements for Senior Civil Servants: OECD and Other Country Experiences
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Government Results Act fails
The bill, known as the 2010 Government Performance and Results Modernization Act, would also have required agencies to post program performance scorecards on a single public website on a quarterly basis, the release said.-House kills bill to improve agency performance
It set a first-year goal of a 10 percent reduction in the number of written reports required by previous Congresses and presidential administrations that are little used or obsolete. As Federal Times has previously reported, agency officials sometimes have to compile massive reports that are outdated as soon as they are printed.
"Taxpayers fund 44 separate programs in nine different federal departments that support workforce training, and we also pay for 17 separate initiatives across seven federal departments that deal with food safety," Warner said in the release. "We need a better system — a system that allows us to review the results of each program and evaluate its impact in addressing overall policy goals, whether it's the important work of retraining people who've lost their jobs or ensuring the safety of the food we eat."
The Obama administration has already created its own website, performance.gov, to track agency progress in meeting high-priority goals laid out in the administration's 2011 budget request. The site, available to federal managers since August, was supposed to open to the public this year. That move has now been delayed to "kick the tires a little more" and to get agency feedback, Office of Management and Budget spokeswoman Moira Mack said Friday
We Promise to Obey IMF and adopt a Fiscal Responsibility Law
We are preparing institutional reform of the budget system taking into account anticipated reforms of economic governance at the EU level. A reformed Budget Formation Process will be put in place. Furthermore, we will introduce a Fiscal Responsibility Law which will include provision for a medium-term expenditure framework with binding multiannual
ceilings on expenditure in each area by end-July 2011 (structural benchmark). A Budget Advisory Council, to provide an independent assessment of the Government’s budgetary position and forecasts will also be introduced by end-June 2011 (structural benchmark). These important reforms will enhance fiscal credibility and anchor long-term debt sustainability.
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