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The general principle is that it is crucial for the government to provide a stable macroeconomic environment conducive to business development with a clear, transparent and neutral regulatory environment and neutral incentives to all firms and industries. Clear, transparent and neutral incentives (those which do not distinguish by sector or firm) are crucial so that entrepreneurial innovation is rewarded more highly than rent-seeking activities. The economy must provide its most talented members with the incentive to engage in entrepreneurial activities such as starting or expanding firms, developing new products and lowering costs. If the economy provides extensive subsidies or tax exemptions to industries or firms, or presents a difficult regulatory framework within which to do business, corruption will be encouraged and, crucially, talented people will find it more profitable to engage in the socially wasteful activity of lobbying the government for subsidies, protection, tax or regulatory relief. This socially wasteful lobbying is especially harmful because it attracts scarce entrepreneurial talent that would otherwise be devoted to helping the economy grow. First, there is the risk that the wrong industries will be identified. The market is a more reliable indicator of the industries that have comparative advantage than any economic model or theory. Over time this is particularly true, as comparative advantage changes with technological development. Moreover, targeting industries as "winners" will generate rent-seeking where industries will spend resources to obtain government subsidies rather than attempting to compete more effectively on the market. Governments often find it difficult to resist these pressures. And assistance that is designed to be temporary may become permanent. Thus, experience in most countries has shown that a government policy of attempting to "pick winners" is highly counter productive.

In the course of the development of Hong Kong from an over-populated refuge to an international city of state dimensions, its government and political institutions have seldom been the object of detailed analysis by outside observers. One explanation may be that hitherto foreigners have been interested mainly in the performance of the economy to the exclusion of other considerations; now that external factors are influencing the internal affairs of Hong Kong and affecting prospects for growth, the local reaction to the possibility of hard times may be carefully scrutinized. Another, equally plausible, explanation is that since the government is colonial in style with no political parties mutually contesting at regular intervals to form a new administration, the political scene lacks the punctuation marks which would stimulate outside interest. Further consideration of this latter feature suggests that while senior civil servants and appointed representatives may govern impeccably they perforce avoid public debate, and in their public appearances are in any case no substitute for the charismatic leader when it comes to attracting foreign attention. At home, the Government of Hong Kong and its political institutions do not escape scrutiny so easily. Both universities have scholars working in this field and vigorous popular comment and debate is a daily characteristic of the mass media. From a local vantage point, contrary to what may be the view from abroad of an unchanging government and political institutions, significant changes have taken place as Hong Kong has undergone rapid physical development. Although they are changes within an established tradition of government, and do not therefore constitute a fundamental reform, they represent an important advance in community involvement in the administration of Hong Kong.

Local government reform in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province between 2001 and 2009 is examined through the lens of multi-level governance. The reforms were initiated by the military-led government of Pervez Musharraf and entrenched the power of the federal government. The reforms of 2001–09 were similar to the reforms implemented by the governments of Ayub Khan in the 1960s and Zia-ul-Haque in 1979. The article argues that three different military governments pursued similar programmes of constitutional reform to secure themselves in power. We conclude that devolution may not always enhance democracy.

The GODORT Preservation Working Group urges the Government Documents Round Table (GODORT) to promote a national conversation about the value of preserving historic Government publications in multiple formats in order to serve a diverse public and to publicize the need for Government publications librarians to help the public access those publications. GODORT should urge ALA to ask the US Congress to appropriate funds for preservation of Federal Depository Library Program government publications. This money should be used for direct support of depository libraries who want to preserve their paper and digital government publications.

This article presents an overview of local government studies and particularly of recent developments. It looks first of all at the changing social and economic factors which influence the operation of local government. Globalization, political and institutional changes, demographic trends—all these structure the environment of local government. The article then looks at the changes in local government, best understood as a movement towards local governance. Finally, the article raises questions about the kinds of local government that would be the most desirable and most appropriate given the changes that are taking place.

Existing theory on the form of government suggests that a parliamentary system promotes a larger size of government than does a presidential system. This paper extends the existing theory by allowing for distortionary taxation. A main result is that if taxation is sufficiently distortionary, the parliamentary system may promote a smaller size of government than the presidential system. The proposed mechanism appears consistent with several empirical patterns in the data that cannot be explained by other theories. Adapted from the source document.

"Prepared for publication in Western City magazine." ; Mode of access: Internet.

AEI's Tony Mills and British biochemist Terence Kealey debate whether science needs government funding.

Power reviews 'The History of Government From the Earliest Times' by S. E. Finer.

AbstractThe Report of the Commission for the Simplification of Local Government in Multnomah County, Oregon.

This study investigates the factors that impact successful performance management in government internal audit units. Studies show that besides formal compliance with statutory and administrative mandates such as compilation and reporting, public sector performance measures are not utilized for managerial decision making, budgetary allocation and accountability. The National Performance Management Advisory Commission has identified in the Performance Management Framework for State and Local Government, activities that constitute key factors for sustaining performance management. Using 2012 benchmarking data from the Association of Local Government Auditors, this study analyzed the extent to which the uses of government internal audit performance reports, as well as audit performance of the activities identified as key factors in the above-mentioned framework, impact successful audit performance management. Results show that successful performance management is a function of audit oversight body's commitment, audit staff accountability, availability of adequate resources, as well as the use of audit performance report to monitor achievement against performance objectives, and to coordinate efforts within government. The results also generally confirm both the literature on the low utilization of performance measures and many key factors outlined in the performance management framework.

The 1980s were a decade of federal fiscal devolution. Federal cutbacks reflected the Reagan administration's commitment to decentralization and the realities of federal budget deficits. Cutbacks increased fiscal pressure on state and local governments, while restrictions on their borrowing capacity made it more difficult to use long-term tax-exempt debt to raise revenue in the short term. These restrictions also made it more difficult to finance public-private partnerships. To cope, state and local governments improved management techniques, transferred functions to the private sector and to other units of government, diversified their revenue systems, and looked for more discretionary revenue. Revenue enhancement was often limited by restrictive statutes, intergovernmental competition, and public opposition. Growing cynicism about the fairness of taxes prompted passage of the Tax Reform Act of 1986. This act significantly affected state and local taxing and borrowing. It did little, however, to allay state and local fears that the federal government would continue to capture more revenue for itself. As we enter the 1990s, the major question will undoubtedly be, Which governments can or should pay for what?