The number of municipalities in Japan has decreased from 3,232 in 1999 to 1,820 in 2006 because of municipal mergers, called Heisei-no-Daigappei. This paper estimates the effects of municipal mergers in Japan’s local public expenditure. In order to evaluate the expenditure of municipal...

In the context of China without a median voter system, this study examines whether the “flypaper effect”, an unconditional lump-sum grant from the upper governments to the county governments increases spending in a greater proportion than an equivalent rise in local income, holds true in...

Central and Eastern Europe has known in the last 20 years profound changes. The shift from a dictatorial system to a democratic system forced the states from this area to adopt structural measures for all public institutions. In this context, the institution of “civil servant” could not...

“The instruments” for supporting the strategies and programmes of public integrity represent a part of a general public integrity framework, comprising also the issue of ethics and public integrity, the legal framework, training and obviously the best practices used successfully by the...

The current paper approaches the theoretical and practical fundamental issues concerning the use of meritocratic criteria in public performance evaluation. Based on papers dealing with the meritocratic approach for the creation and development of a civil service system or papers applying the...

This paper presents a number of issues related to the mobility of civil servants and to the politicizing the civil service in Romania in the period 2000-2010. Analysis of the politicization phenomenon has allowed identification of three stages: 2000-2004, 2005-2008 and 2009-present. Application...

Using cross-country data for 51 countries, including 23 in Africa, the author controls for differences in per capita income and measures the effect of structural variables on a number of outcomes, including the quality, integrity and prestige of public service. He finds merit-based recruitment...