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Health insurance reform for rural China is at a crossroads. The achievements of recent reform initiatives appear remarkable as measured by coverage through the New Cooperative Medical Scheme (NCMS). Yet there is little evidence that NCMS has made major strides toward reducing the financial risks of health care for the rural population. We argue that to improve the overall performance of the NCMS, more attention should be directed to improve insurance benefit package, strengthen the roles of government agencies as purchasers and third-party payers, reforming provider payment methods, as well as to establish a fiscal redistribution mechanism to reduce inequities in health financing arising from different regions of the country. Our critical assessment also points to the danger that this system may be trapped in a vicious cycle of increases in government subsidies and resulting cost escalations in health care due to strategic responses among health care providers, a factor that hitherto has been largely overlooked.

China's New Co-operative Medical Scheme (NCMS), a government-subsidized health insurance programme, was launched in 2003 in response to deterioration in access to health services in rural areas. Initially designed to cover inpatient care, it has begun to expand its benefit package to cover outpatient care since 2007. The impacts of this initiative on outpatient care costs have raised growing concern, in particular regarding whether it has in fact reduced out-of-pocket (OOP) payments for services among rural participants. This study investigates the impacts on outpatient costs by analysing data from an individual-level longitudinal survey, the China Health and Nutrition Survey, for 2004 and 2009, years shortly before and after NCMS began coverage of outpatient services in 2007. Various health econometrics strategies were employed in the analysis of these data, including the Two-Part Model, the Heckman Selection Model and Propensity Score Matching with the Differences-in-Differences model, to estimate the effects of the 2007 NCMS initiative on per episode outpatient costs. We find that NCMS outpatient coverage starting in 2007 had little impact on reducing its participants' OOP payments for outpatient services. The new coverage may also have contributed to an observed increase in total per episode outpatient costs billed to the insured patients. This increase was more pronounced among village clinics and township health centres—the backbone of the health system for rural residents—than at county and municipal hospitals.

1: Policy Capacity: Conceptual Framework and Essential Components; Wu Xun, M Ramesh and Michael Howlett -- Part I -- Conceptual and Measurement Issues -- 2: Policy Capacity in Public Administration; B. Guy Peters -- 3: Policy Analytical Capacity: The Supply and Demand for Policy Analysis in Government; Michael Howlett -- 4: Measuring Policy Capacity through Governance Indices; Kris Hartley and Jingru Zhang -- 5: Measuring Policy Analytical Capacity for the Environment: A Case for Engaging New Actors; Angel Hsu -- Part II -- Theoretical and Empirical Issues -- 6: Innovation and the State: Towards an Evolutionary Theory of State Capacity; Erkki Karo and Reiner Kattel -- 7: The Role of Analysts in Public Agencies: Toward an Empirically Grounded Typology; Karol Olejniczak, Paweł Śliwowski and Rafał Trzciński -- 8: Policy Analytical Practice Investigated: Exploring Sectoral Patterns in Use of Policy Analytical Techniques; Ellen Fobé, Valerie Pattyn and Marleen Brans -- 9: Government's Credible Accountability and Strategic Policy Capacity: Evidence from the Asian NICs of Taiwan, South Korea, Malaysia, and Singapore; Fiona Yap -- 10: Does Political Legitimacy Matter for Policy Capacity? A Cross-National Study of Perceived Legitimacy; Honorata Mazepus -- 11: Interest Groups and Policy Capacity: Modes of Engagement, Policy Goods and Networks; Carsten Daugbjerg, Bert Fraussen and Darren Halpin -- Part III -- Case Studies -- 12: Building Organizational Political Capacity through Policy Learning: Communicating with Citizens on Health and Safety in the UK; Claire A. Dunlop -- 13: Exploring Capacity for Strategic Policy Work: Water Policy in Australia; Yvette Bettini and Brian Head -- 14: Philanthropic Foundations in the City Policy Process: a Perspective on Policy Capacity from the United States; Madeleine Pill -- 15: Policy Capacity within a Federation: The Case of Australia; Scott Brenton -- 16: Dynamic Mechanisms for Resolving Collective Incidents in China: A Policy Capacity Analysis; Jieren Hu, Guoqin Wang and Jingyan Fei -- 17: Policy-Related Expertise and Policy Work in Czech Political Parties: Theory and Methods; Martin Polasek, Vilém Novotny, and Michel Perottino -- 18: The Dynamic Nature of Policy Capacity: Internet Policy in Italy, Belarus and Russia; Nina Belyaeva.

After two decades of dominating the public sector reform agenda, privatization is on the wane as states gradually reassert themselves in many formerly privatized sectors. The change of direction is a response to the realization that privatization is not working as intended, especially in public service sectors. This landmark volume brings together leading social scientists, including B. Guy Peters, Anthony Cheung and Jon Pierre, to systematically discuss the emerging patterns of the reassertion of the state in the delivery of essential public services. The state under these emerging arrangements assumes overall responsibility for and control over essential public service delivery, yet allows scope for market incentives and competition when they are known to work. The recent reforms thus display a more pragmatic and nuanced understanding of how markets work in public services . The first part of the book provides the theoretical context while the second provides sectoral studies of recent reforms in healthcare, education, transportation, electricity and water supply. It includes case studies from a range of countries: Brazil, China, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, USA, Hong Kong and the UK. This book will be of interest to students and scholars in Political Science, Public Administration, Public Policy, Geography, Political Economy, Sociology, and Urban Planning.

Annotation

"This book focuses on governance and management issues in the much publicized 'Ganga Rejuvenation Project', led by the Indian Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi. Attempts over the past three decades to clean up and rejuvenate one of the world's greatest rivers have proved futile. The major reasons for the lack of success are absence of long-term planning, poor co-ordination and failure to sustain whatever little infrastructure for water and sewage treatment could be developed. Focusing on these broad aspects, the book explores spaces for better governance through active community participation, knowledge management, prospects of Public-Private-Partnership, e-governance, youth education, waterfront development, lessons from past failures, comparative international analogies, utilization of external aid and global expertise in successful implementation of a sustainable long-term plan for a river basin's integrated development of both the economy and environment. A host of activities, such as, improving pollution monitoring systems, new development plans for tourism enhancement; river dredging and sewering riparian cities are already being carried in the hope of quick results. The Government of India has also appointed a task force for preparation of a long-term strategy. However, substantial knowledge gaps persist especially with regard to governance. This book aims to address the governance and policy issues and will be a very timely contribution to cleaning as well as rejuvenating Ganga, a river that is lifeline of millions of people."--

Introduction: managing the policy process -- Agenda setting -- Policy formulation -- Decision-making -- Policy implementation -- Policy evaluation -- Agenda for policy management : structuring and influencing the policy process -- Further readings -- References.

The paper investigates the determinants of bribery in sub-Saharan Africa by using probit models and data from the World Bank's Enterprise Survey of 10,457 firms in 30 countries in sub-Saharan Africa from 2009 to 2013. By doing so we find that securing a government contract is the most significant motivation for bribery and that overall, the propensity to bribe depends on the size of the firm as well as the predictability of the regulatory environment. Our findings have similarities and differences compared to Asian firms. The paper also highlights that the incidence and the determinants of bribery vary across the four sub-regions. On the basis of this evidence we suggest that when it comes to anti-corruption strategies, one size does not fit all and that country-specific and region-specific strategies should be adopted to address context-specific needs and conditions.

This Handbook provides a comprehensive global survey of the policy process. Written by an outstanding line up of distinguished scholars and practitioners, the Handbook covers all aspects of the policy process including:Theory - from rational choice to the new institutionalismFrameworks - network theory, advocacy coalition and development modelsKey stages in the process - Formulation, implementation and evaluationAgenda setting and decision makingThe roles of key actors and institutionsThis is an invaluable resource for all scholars, graduate students and practitioners in public policy and poli