Making Sense of Organizations in Public Management: A Back-to-Basics Approach

This article addresses some basic facts and ideas about organizations as a way of concluding the symposium. It identifies different types of organizations in terms of their legal-structural characteristics, and considers aspects of their legal power, ownership, financing, staffing, and outsourcing. It ends with some suggestions for further related research on organizations.     

Private Ownership versus Institutional Ownership: Exclusion Pricing of Initial Public Offerings

The authors examine the literature with respect to the pricing of initial public offerings and focus upon the relationship of pricing to the structure and conduct of the investment banking industry. Using a data base of all share offerings undertaken in the United States over a two and a half year period, the authors find that there is considerable evidence for the proposition that large, prestigious, and well capitalised investment banks tend to price their share offerings at a higher absolute level than those not meeting such characteristics. Using classical statistical methods, the authors find that the pricing strategy of investment banks is connected to their affiliation with investment funds and unit trusts. The motives for such pricing strategies, the authors argue, lie with the affiliation of investment banks with investment funds, suggesting that the pricing of new share offerings may be a means of excluding retail investors from participating in the strong returns such issues exhibit. The authors raise legal and regulatory implications of their findings in the context of the general consolidation observed within the investment banking industry. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Forest Fire Risk Management and Public Participation in Changing Socioenvironmental Conditions: A Case Study in a Mediterranean Region

Under current conditions of accelerated socioenvironmental change in the Mediterranean forested landscapes, fire is one of the most critical and difficult risks to tackle within the region. This article summarizes the lessons learned from a project based on the participatory integration of qualitative local stakeholders' knowledge with expert GIS fire simulations carried out in the County of El Bages, Catalonia, Spain. First, in this article, a theoretical model--the forest fire circle--is presented in order to explain the reasons for the rise in the damage and frequency of forest fires in this Mediterranean area. Second, it describes the methodology developed and the stages followed during the project. Results show that: (1) the advocacy of old forest reactive management paradigm assumptions and practices based on uncontrolled forest succession can put vast wooded areas of the Mediterranean basin at critical risk; and (2) forest fire management approaches that ignore the crucial role of long-term prevention and local capacity building strategies have failed. In the final section, the content and the specific dimensions of the old reactive paradigm that has characterized forest fire risk management in Catalonia are discussed and contrasted with the possibly emerging preventative paradigm.     

Public Meetings and Risk Amplification: A Longitudinal Study

This article offers longitudinal data tracking people who did and did not attend a series of public meetings in an upstate New York rural community grappling with the expansion of an existing solid waste landfill and remediation of an adjacent inactive hazardous waste site. Before and after the public meetings, mailed questionnaires measured risk perceptions and perceived credibility of risk managers (here, the state government agencies and the responsible industry) conducting the meetings. Respondents at each measurement point included meeting attendees and nonattendees, with some fluctuation over time when attendees at one measurement point were nonattendees at the next and vice versa. The results from the first survey indicate that following the first two public meetings, attendees perceived greater risks from the waste sites than did nonattendees; attendees also perceived the risk managers as less credible. After the third public meeting, the results showed that attendees' risk perceptions remained steady; however, perceptions of government agency credibility significantly decreased. After the fourth public meeting, the survey found that attendees' risk perceptions were again not significantly different, whereas perceptions of government agency credibility increased significantly. The industry's credibility also increased, though only among attendees who had attended the most recent public meeting, not among attendees who had attended both the third and fourth public meetings. For nonattendees, risk perceptions and credibility ratings did not change. The discussion examines how distinctive characteristics of communication at each public meeting may have resulted in different effects and proposes hypotheses for future research.     

公共利益的概念建构评析 ——行政伦理学的视角

文章系统地梳理了美国行政学理论发展过程中的“公共利益”观念的变迁;批判了诸种功利主义和技治主义行政学理论对于“公共利益”的片面甚至错误的看法;主张将“公共利益”取向视为行政人必备的一种精神,一种职业信仰和终极向往。     

基于创新导向的风险投资领域公共政策

风险投资对促进创新活动具有重要作用,然而风险投资的健康发展需要政府公共政策的干预。为此从公共政策、风险投资与创新三者之间的关系入手,从创新的需求和供给角度建立模型,分别研究了创新产品市场和风险投资市场,并运用均衡分析方法研究了整个市场的均衡状态,根据社会效用最大化目标,分析政府最优公共政策组合及其对社会福利的影响。因此,这种最优政策工具组合可供政府制定相关政策时参考。     

基于医疗质量的公立医院绩效体系构建研究

目的：运用德尔菲法构建一套科学、可操作的公立医院绩效评价体系。方法：采用文献法研究国内外绩效评价理论,结合问卷结果形成初始量表。通过德尔菲法对指标进行两轮筛选及优化。结果：初步形成由“社会效益”、“质量安全”、“运行效益与效率”为基本结构的指标体系,包括3个一级指标、13个二级指标和72个三级指标。结论：该指标体系重点关注医院公益性及内涵质量,对公立医院绩效评价具有一定参考意义。     

公众参与引导下的重大工程社会矛盾化解机制

新时代网络社会的不确定性、突变性等特征极大地颠覆了重大工程社会矛盾的阶段演化特性,对传统封闭性的社会矛盾化解机制设计提出了新挑战,具有多元非中心性的公众参与在应对该挑战中可发挥重要的引导作用。基于裂缝假说分析重大工程社会冲突困境,提出建立与公众参与水平相匹配的参与制度是困境化解的关键路径;将公众参与成熟度作为公众参与水平划分工具,按照低、中、高将其划分为3 个水平;引入网络化治理理论,建立与公众参与水平相匹配的公众参与机制,即形成“政府主导-社区参与”型、“政府引导-社会组织介入”型、“政府与社会组织协同合作”型机制,推动公众参与引导重大工程社会矛盾的自我疏导、自我治理和自我化解,形成全民共建共享的网络化治理新格局。     

我国绿色基础设施的经济价值预算与分析

绿色基础设施是自然的生态基础设施和半自然的市政绿色空间的结合,它遵循自然发展的规律,在改善生态环境和保护生物多样性的同时,也蕴藏着新的经济增长点.本研究尝试构建绿色基础设施经济价值评价指标,测算全国各省的绿色基础设施经济价值(2004-2015),探究其区域分布状况,并进一步运用灰色模型预测2016年、2020年和2025年我国绿色基础设施的经济价值,以期提升人们对绿色基础设施的认识,为在城市规划中建设和完善绿色基础设施提供参考,促进生态环境与经济的良性循环,推动城市可持续发展.     

教育政策的利益分析——以择校问题为例

利益是公共政策分析的基本范畴,实现公共利益是教育政策制定最重要的目标。教育政策的利益分析包括利益主体分析、利益需求分析、利益实现方式分析以及利益结果分析四个方面。从利益分析的角度来看,择校问题实际上是由于优质教育资源供需矛盾而导致的,其中教育资源分配不均衡是根本原因。择校代表了一种个人的基本权利,体现的是个人利益。通过改革不合理的教育供给方式、增加教育服务供给,是治理择校问题、平衡公共利益和私人利益的有效途径。