The political economy of redistribution in Indonesia: political patronage and favoritism in intergovernmental fiscal transfer allocations

Cover -- Half Title -- Series Information -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Table of Contents -- Contributors -- 1 The Political Economy of Corruption: Some New Perspectives -- 2 The Political Economy of Corruption: On the Link Between Corruption Control and Cronyism -- Corruption Control: Promise and Practice -- How Corruption Control May Exacerbate Corruption: A Model -- Corruption and Policy -- Acknowledgment -- Notes -- References -- 3 Corruption, Institutional Trust and Legitimacy: A Vicious Circle -- Introduction -- The Importance of Trust -- Corruption and Trust -- Trust, Corruption and Compliance -- The Legitimacy Trap in Anti-Corruption Reforms -- Breaking Out of the Legitimacy Trap in Anti-Corruption Reforms -- Conclusion -- References -- 4 Legal Systems and Corruption -- Introduction -- Legal Origins and Corruption -- The Model -- Equilibrium Analysis -- Model With Bribery -- Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- 5 Corruption and Optimal Enforcement -- Introduction -- The Enforcement Problem -- Corruption: Collusion -- Dilution -- Preventing Collusion -- Corruption: Extortion and Harassment -- Fighting Extortion -- Overenforcement? -- Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- 6 A Theory of Joint Evolution of Corruption and Growth -- Introduction -- The Environment -- To Be Or Not to Be Corrupt -- Corruption, Tax Rate, Rate of Return and Capital Dynamics -- Case 1: Absence of Corruption -- Case 2: Full Prevalence of Corruption -- The Joint Evolution of Corruption and Growth -- Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- 7 Corruption and the Financial Sector: An Examination of the Literature -- Introduction -- The Literature -- Sand the Wheels Hypothesis -- Government Ownership of Banks -- Regulation, Intervention and Lack of Supervision -- Insider Trading and Risk-Taking Behaviour -- Non-performing Loans -- Political Connections.

Cover -- Half Title -- Series Page -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- List of Figures -- List of Tables -- Author's Notes -- Foreword -- Acknowledgements -- Chapter 1: Persistence of Underdevelopment -- 1.1 Explanation of Underdevelopment -- 1.2 Strategy of Development -- 1.3 Planning and Development -- 1.3.1 Soviet Union -- 1.3.2 China -- 1.3.3 South Korea -- 1.4 Planning and Growth Performance in Nepal -- 1.4.1 Objectives of Plans -- 1.4.2 Growth Performance -- 1.4.3 Nepal's Growth Performance Compared to SAARC Countries -- 1.5 National Pride Projects -- 1.6 Some Explanations of Failure of Planning -- 1.6.1 Paucity of Natural Resources -- 1.6.2 Internal Conflict and Political Instability -- 1.6.3 Planning Machinery and Planning System -- 1.7 Indicative Planning -- 1.8 Fifteenth Plan -- 1.8.1 Major Goals and Targets -- 1.8.2 Flaws of the Fifteenth Plan -- 1.9 Re-engineering NPC -- Notes -- Chapter 2: Rhetoric of Poverty Alleviation -- 2.1 Concepts of Poverty -- 2.2 Growth and Poverty Reduction -- 2.3 Concern for Poverty Reduction in Nepal -- 2.4 Basic Needs Programme -- 2.5 Poverty Estimates by Various Institutions -- 2.6 Nepal Living Standards Surveys -- 2.6.1 Poverty Rate -- 2.6.2 Poverty Differential by Districts -- 2.6.3 Poverty by Caste/Ethnicity -- 2.7 Multidimensional Poverty -- 2.8 Poverty by Federal Province -- 2.9 Nepal's Poverty in SAARC Countries' Context -- 2.10 Rhetoric of SAARC's Pledges on Regional Poverty Alleviation -- 2.11 Micro-finance and Poverty Alleviation -- 2.12 Demolition of Squatters' Settlements and Poverty -- 2.13 COVID-19 Pandemic and Poverty -- 2.14 Illusion of Poverty Reduction -- 2.14.1 Fallacy of Aggregate Figures -- 2.14.2 Myth of Poverty Reduction -- 2.14.3 Unrealistic Poverty Line -- 2.14.4 Neglect of Mountain and Remote Hill Districts -- 2.14.5 Worsening Income Inequality.

"Corruption, commonly defined as the misuse of public office for private gains, is multifaceted, multidimensional, and ubiquitous. This edited collection, featuring contributions from leading scholars in the field of corruption, goes beyond the standard enforcement framework wherein individuals only compare the expected costs and benefits of a corrupt act. These chapters explore the political-cultural contexts, legal and regulatory process, and above all moral and psychological factors in attempts to understand and explain corruption. The book explores a broad canvas where gender, technology, culture, institutional structures influence attitudes towards corruption. Design and implementation of anti-corruption strategies benefit from suitable identification of these factors contributing to the prevalence and persistence of corruption. Combining theoretical, and empirical studies with evidence from experiments as well as case studies, the book provides crucial state-of -the art in corruption research in a highly accessible manner. This book serves as a vital reference to students and scholars in economics, politics and development studies. Additionally, policy makers and development practitioners can use the insights from this book in successful design and implementation of anti-corruption policies"--

"The social and economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and of extreme climate events have brought into sharp relief the serious deficiencies of our political economies. The dominant global ideology of neoliberalism and its architects and beneficiaries are responsible for this. Bilateral development assistance is an integral part of the neoliberal grand design. However, while the deficiencies of neoliberalism have been starkly exposed by the pandemic, its collapse is unlikely in the short-term. Much bilateral assistance will therefore continue to be self-serving. Within these confines, and on the basis of a sharply critical analysis of the functioning of technical assistance at the point of the design and delivery of programmes and projects, this book identifies crucial supply-side nodes of power and influence where feasible and relatively straight-forward 'functional' reforms - strategy, structure, selection, training - would make genuinely developmental results for recipients more likely and enhance donor interests at the same time. It argues that more authentic, empathetic, and altruistic technical assistance will be essential to bringing this about. The arguments are supported by primary, published evidence gathered by the author during 18 years of full-time employment as a team leader or programme manager of technical assistance programmes. The book will be of interest to students of development management, development economics, political economy and international relations, as well as policy makers, development practitioners and supply- and demand-side government officials"--

"This book analyses how different institutional intergovernmental transfer designs influence patronage and favoritism in public fund allocations in Indonesia. Presenting original research and investigating existing theories on the determinants of public fund allocations, the book uses Indonesia as a case study. Indonesia, often claimed to be characterized by money politics, provides an ideal setting for this analysis. The countries' decentralized fiscal system consists of various institutional intergovernmental transfer designs allocating public funds to a large variety of districts to finance public service provision. The author exploits those distinctive differences between various institutional intergovernmental transfer designs and investigates their influence on the prevalence of favoritism and patronage in public funds allocations while holding the political system, the observation period, and the government officials involved constant. A valuable contribution to the literature on the political economy of redistribution, this book will be of interest to academics working on economics and political science, particularly in public finance and development economics, but also in development studies or Southeast Asian studies"--

"This book argues that mainstream economics cannot explain the underdevelopment and poverty of Nepal, neither can it be explained in terms of economics alone nor capital inadequacy even, as is conventionally believed. The author asserts that Nepal's underdevelopment needs to be located in the nature of the state which has been shaped by the collusion of interest among politicians and the resulting bureaucracy, triggering the growth of crony capitalism. The book presents a critical and radical analysis of factors that have kept Nepal in a state of underdevelopment and poverty, with huge section of the society in underprivileged and deprived socio-economic conditions, despite six decades of planning, seven decades of dependence on foreign aid, and numerous political regime changes, from the Rana regime for over a century from 1846-1950 through to the republic regime from 2007 onwards. To support this argument, the book delves into an exploration of growth performance in Nepal, government attempts at poverty alleviation, foreign aid and its effects in the economy and the nature of the state, with a focus on Maoists' 10-year rebellion. Each chapter presents the existing picture and examines the possible reasons for the failure in achieving the desired results. A comparative analysis of Nepal's position with respect to South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries is also presented in a number of chapters. The audience for the book will be students, academics and researchers, and within Nepal itself, intellectuals, politicians, and officials of the National Planning Commission, the central bank and other banks and financial institutions."

"The social and economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and of extreme climate events have brought into sharp relief the serious deficiencies of our political economies. The dominant global ideology of neoliberalism and its architects and beneficiaries are responsible for this. Bilateral development assistance is an integral part of the neoliberal grand design. However, while the deficiencies of neoliberalism have been starkly exposed by the pandemic, its collapse is unlikely in the short-term. Much bilateral assistance will therefore continue to be self-serving. Within these confines, and on the basis of a sharply critical analysis of the functioning of technical assistance at the point of the design and delivery of programmes and projects, this book identifies crucial supply-side nodes of power and influence where feasible and relatively straight-forward 'functional' reforms - strategy, structure, selection, training - would make genuinely developmental results for recipients more likely and enhance donor interests at the same time. It argues that more authentic, empathetic, and altruistic technical assistance will be essential to bringing this about. The arguments are supported by primary, published evidence gathered by the author during 18 years of full-time employment as a team leader or programme manager of technical assistance programmes. The book will be of interest to students of development management, development economics, political economy and international relations, as well as policy makers, development practitioners and supply- and demand-side government officials"--