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Federal infrastructure investment is receiving a great deal of attention, largely about money: how to finance capital investment, operations, and maintenance. Less discussed but very important is modernizing federal policy to support the mature and urban-centered economy of the United States—rather than the economy it had when most of the terms of federal engagement were set. This article summarizes a RAND Corporation report which addresses recent trends in infrastructure spending and finance and proposes improvements in federal infrastructure policy. We argue for modernizing federal policies related to funding, finance, and project selection. Modernization should recognize the centrality of regional initiatives that transcend local government and state boundaries and should encourage different types of financing—public, private, and public–private partnerships. Poorly targeted investment comes from poorly designed policy. Inadequate maintenance often is a symptom of failure of management and governance. More money will help, but it is not nearly enough.

An understanding of Tanganyika's economy must begin with the bleak geographical facts. In 1945 an area of some 343,000 square miles, larger than France and Britain together, supported a mere seven million people. The size and distribution of this population resulted from an oppressive physical environment over which remarkably little human control was exerted. One example of this was man's subservience to the tsetse fly, which—as a result rather than a cause of under-population1— infested some 60 per cent of the land. Even more serious were the hazards of a rainfall that exhibited all the vices—inadequate and irregular in its geographical distribution, capricious in its seasonal visitations. Prolonged periods of drought were common everywhere except at the coast and near Lakes Victoria and Nyasa. As the overwhelming majority of the people were subsistence producers, the incidence of rainfall was a principal and variable determinant of economic welfare. Thus, for example, 1946 was a bad year; there were food shortages in every province and in some areas the Government had to organise famine relief. The rice crop failed almost completely, maize was grievously affected, and even sorghum and millet, the most drought-resistant of grain crops, were sufficient for only half the year. In the following year rainfall was heavy and well distributed; indeed in the Highlands it was excessive, destroying crops through flood and disease. But generally harvests were the biggest since 1943 and 'a long back-log of tribal ceremonies' was elebrated.2

This thesis explores the opportunities to build a structural policy network model that is rooted in social network theories. By making a distinction between a process of steering in networks, and a process of steering by networks, it addresses the effects of network structures on network dynamics as well as on the production of policy outputs. Steering in policy networks refers to the process of horizontal bargaining over policy positions in which resources are exchanged between individual network actors. Steering by policy networks refers to the policy making processes in which policy networks are utilized as policy instruments. The details of network configuration profoundly influence individual actors' capacities to influence such bargaining processes and the social structures of policy networks change due to the process of steering in networks. The individual, sequential actions that characterize bargaining over various resources nevertheless do not explain how policy networks produce policy outputs. The study investigates how actor-based models of network dynamics provide a theoretical point of departure for explaining firstly the structural outcomes of steering in networks, and secondly the utility of any potential policy outputs for both government and individual actors. Because of the interdependency between actors in heterogeneous policy networks, outputs require subgroup-level coordination. There is therefore a mismatch between individual and group utility – whilst some individuals will benefit from a sparse network structure in negotiation processes, the optimum system outcome is produced by dense and cohesive social structures. The study elaborates on this paradox and shows the utility of different characteristics of network structures for both individual actors and government, and presents hypotheses on the relations between policy goals, policy positions, network structures, and the utility of policy outputs.

Leading small groups (领导小组, LSGs) are widely presumed to be the most important mechanisms for coordinating policy among the various government and Party bureaucracies in the Chinese political system. This article evaluates this assumption through a combination of statistical and case study analyses of LSGs operating under the State Council. Using information on 26 groups formed between 2004 and 2015, I estimate the effect of LSG participation on joint policy making. I demonstrate that some LSGs coordinate more effectively than others and argue that the reason for variation can be found in two factors: bureaucratic policy conflict and group leader authority. I argue that leader authority can spur agency coordination and move policy forward, while bureaucratic conflict can otherwise hinder coordination and create policy delays. Interaction between the two factors shapes the effectiveness of an LSG. A detailed case study of the two groups formed to promote health system reform, coupled with a shadow case study of the group for promoting the Belt and Road Initiative, illustrates the plausibility of the proposed mechanisms. Bureaucratic conflict and leader authority play important roles in China's policy coordination processes. (China J/GIGA)

Theoretical approaches to international migration for employment largely ignore the role of government policies in shaping both migratory flows and the functioning of international labor markets, despite empirical evidence that such policies exist. To facilitate considerations of policy in migration theory this article examines politics and ideology in the evolution of migration policy in Kuwait. Policy determinants are found to include not only changes in economic conditions, but also shifts in power among political actors and the salience of issues on the political agenda: security issues, regional political events, demographic changes and perceived social costs of immigration. Future prospects for the Gulf are also considered.

European perspectives and national discourses on the migrant crisis /Jenny Ritter, Markus Rhomberg, Melani Barlai, Birte Fähnrich, Christina Griessler --Albania, refugees, and the European Union /Donald Pasha, Sebastian Niemetz --"Refugees (no longer) welcome" : asylum discourse and policy in Austria in the wake of the 2015 refugee crisis /Oliver Gruber --Constructing the "refugee crisis" in Flanders : continuities and adaptations of discourses on asylum and migration /Benjamin de Cleen, Jan Zienkowski, Kevin Smets, Afra Dekie, Robin Vandevoordt --Bulgaria : the migrant influx /Lilia Raycheva --Humanitarianism and its limits : the refugee crisis response in Croatia /Senada Šelo Šabić --The migrant crisis in German public discourse /Dennis Lichtenstein, Jenny Ritter, Birte Fähnrich --The Greek paradigm on the migrant and refugee crisis /Sophia Kaitatzi-Whitlock, Clio Kenterelidou --A Hungarian trademark (a "Hungarikum") : the moral panic button /Melani Barlai, Endre Sik --The public debate on the Italian isolation in the European Union migration crisis /Andrea Stocchiero --The media discourse on migrants/refugees in Macedonia /Dale Taleski, Lura Pollozhani --Poland's response to the EU migration policy /Piotr Sadowski, Kinga Szczawińska --"The great exchange" : the political and media debate about the European migrant crisis in Romania /Marc Stegherr --Serbia between humanity and (un)security /Zoran Jevtović, Zoran Aracki --Framing of the Syrian refugee crisis in the Spanish press /Francisco Seoane Pérez --From "open your hearts" to closed borders : Sweden, the refugee crisis and the role of discourse /Gregg Bucken-Knapp --Media and immigration : communication research in Switzerland /Heinz Bonfadelli --Policies and discourses regarding the Syrian diaspora in contemporary Turkey : from "refugee crisis" to "minority problem"? /J. Eduardo Chemin, N. Ela Gokalp-Aras --The UK's discourse on the "migrant crisis" in summer 2015 /Christina Griessler --National discourses on the European migrant crisis /Jenny Ritter, Markus Rhomberg.

The industrial development of South Korea is an exceptional success story. However, there were several side effects of the strong economic growth, such as rapidly increasing city populations and severe socio-economic inequality. The population in the area of the capital currently amounts to half of the national population of South Korea. The Korean government has implemented various regional development policies for a more balanced national development. This paper investigates the series of Five-Year Economic Development Plans from 1962-1997 and the Saemaul Undong movement, who contributed to the record of economic development of South Korea, and discusses the rural development policies recently promoted by the South Korean government to address problems such as the progressive decrease and stagnation of agricultural productivity, the depopulation and aging trends in rural areas, the deterioration of farm household income structure, and import expansion and unstable grain supply by free trade agreement. Abstract. Perkembangan industri Korea Selatan adalah kisah sukses yang luar biasa. Namun, ada beberapa efek samping dari pertumbuhan ekonomi yang kuat, seperti populasi kota yang meningkat pesat dan ketimpangan sosial ekonomi yang parah. Penduduk di wilayah ibu kota saat ini berjumlah setengah dari penduduk nasional Korea Selatan. Pemerintah Korea telah menerapkan berbagai kebijakan pembangunan daerah untuk pembangunan nasional yang lebih seimbang. Makalah ini menyelidiki serangkaian Rencana Pembangunan Ekonomi Lima Tahun dari 1962-1997 dan gerakan Saemaul Undong, yang berkontribusi pada rekor pembangunan ekonomi Korea Selatan, dan membahas kebijakan pembangunan perdesaan yang baru-baru ini dipromosikan oleh pemerintah Korea Selatan untuk mengatasi masalah-masalah seperti sebagai penurunan progresif dan stagnasi produktivitas pertanian, depopulasi dan tren penuaan di daerah perdesaan, kerusakan struktur pendapatan rumah tangga pertanian, dan ekspansi impor dan pasokan biji-bijian yang tidak stabil oleh perjanjian ...

Costing billions of dollars annually, international trade in agricultural products are impactful, and influenced by several factors, including climate change and food policy, and government legislation. The third edition of Agricultural Policy, Agribusiness, and Rent-Seeking Behaviour provides comprehensive economic analyses of the policies that affect agriculture and agribusiness in Canada and the United States. Looking at current agricultural policies, the third edition includes new chapters on food pyramids, climate change, and GMOs, while also highlighting the effect of international policies on Canadian trade, including the problematic US ethanol policy. The new edition addresses current issues, including how the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively affected agricultural value chains and played a hand in the ongoing growth in opioid use. Including a number of key findings, and discussing current debates on topics including foreign ownership of Canadian farmland, Agricultural Policy, Agribusiness, and Rent-Seeking Behaviour will appeal to students in agricultural economics and policy, as well as policymakers, agricultural firms, energy companies, and readers wishing to reduce their nation's carbon footprint