This article provides early results from a long-term evaluation of the turnaround strategies by poorly-performing local authorities in England. The history and theory behind central government interventions into local government is reviewed, focusing on the Comprehensive Performance Assessment...

Changing the nature of governance arrangements comprises one element in the public service reform programme. New governance forms include arm's-length agencies, multi-organisational partnerships, hybrids and company structures. In theory, changed governance arrangements offer benefits in terms...

Improvement boards offer a new approach to supporting stronger performance by public service organizations, and especially those facing significant issues of change. They involve formalized peer challenge and support by senior politicians and managers from other agencies. The authors document...

The transfer of responsibilities from central to local government has often been justified on the grounds of efficiency and democracy under the principle of subsidiarity. The existing models for mapping local government power in Europe, however, are often insufficiently detailed to allow...

Over the past 25 years, the USA has pioneered a new technological revolution, based on large numbers of new small enterprises, financed by a dynamic venture (risk) capital market. The European Union, meanwhile, has lagged behind in this sector of economic activity, and compared to the US...

Business Angels are private individuals (or syndicates) who supply venture capital to businesses, mainly small start-up firms, in an informal investment market setting. This paper presents a preliminary analysis from the first phase of a research project that explores the emergence of Business...

The transition economies of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) are engaged in fierce competition for foreign direct investment (FDI). This paper examines FDI trends in CEE, FDI competition, the policy framework, and institutions such as inward investment agencies. It identifies patterns in FDI...

China has been experiencing a great transition from a socialist collective economy to a market economy since 1978. Before the transition started, the Communist Party had established a socialist collective system with very low levels of income and wealth inequality. With the deepening of the...

Accounting for the Gender Income Gap in Urban China Zizhuo Sun (ABSTRACT) Using data from the China Housing Survey, that was conducted in 1993, the present study attempts to learn whether and how specific factors--human capital (including education and health), guanxi (social connections),...