This paper aims to analyse the allocation of the COVID-19 response funds from the perspective of the political alignment hypothesis. eTh authors focus on the allocation of the second and third rounds of the Governmental Fund for Local Investments (part of the COVID-19 Response Fund) in Poland. Using the logit and OLS models and the regression discontinuity design the authors show that mayors aligned with the central government were significantly more likely to receive the funds, as well as in higher per capita values, than mayors aligned with the opposition or unaligned with any party in parliament when the allocation was based on a discretionary decision. eTh results support the political alignment hypothesis and highlight the danger of partiality in the allocation of the COVID-19 response funds.
Theoretical background: There is an ongoing global acceleration of automation and digitalisation in financial processes, which points to significant changes in public spending policies. After an analysis of several scientific studies, fundamental approaches have been elaborated to understand public consumption and the system of state purchases. The basic hypothesis for this research was to study the possible impact of the electronic procurement market ProZorro on state purchases in Ukraine. Possible directions are: increasing competitiveness, optimising state expenditures and saving the budget funds of public services based on innovative digital technology.Purpose of the article: The main goal is to investigate the impact of the electronic public procurement system ProZorro on corruption and bureaucracy in the public sector of Ukraine. The study object is an analysis of the volume and structure of the public procurement market, the number of procedures and participants in a bidding process, and the savings amounts in ProZorro’s public purchases during the study period in Ukraine.Research methods: The following methods were used during the research of the Ukrainian electronic procurement system: dialectical method; analysis and synthesis method – for a comparison of certain types of public procurement; subthreshold and suprathreshold statistical methods – for analysing the dynamics of indicators of the domestic system of public procurement during the period under research for a comparison of the indicators of public consumption of certain ministries and departments, different regions and territorial entities; structural and logical analysis – for generalising the theoretical and methodological principles of building a public consumption system in Ukraine. The main source of data was the data and analytical base of the ProZorro electronic public procurement system.Main findings: Effects of the innovative digital paradigm on the transparency and efficiency of public procurement are determined. Considerable attention is paid to the implementation of the electronic public procurement system ProZorro in Ukraine. The expediency is substantiated for its implementation in the national practice of budget expenditures, and the principles and procedures of implementation are analysed. The practice and dynamics of the public procurement market in Ukraine are summarised. The conclusions of the advantages of electronic system are provided, including transparency and impartiality, stimulation of competition and non-discrimination of bidding participants, reduction of corruption and the effect of reducing the savings of budget funds. Potential risks, threats and disadvantages of the ProZorro system in Ukraine are highlighted. Among them are: a high proportion of non-competitive procedures; possible latent conflict regarding the participants’ interests; unreasonable time spent on individual procedures; the justification of the procurement procedure to one participant due to a dubious “urgent need”; unreasonable application of the procurement procedure to one participant due to the falsification of conditions or the division of the procurement subject; the existence of discriminatory requirements in the documentation of competitive bidding; and a lack of efficiency in the complaints handling mechanism.
Expansionary fiscal policy is mired in controversy. Its proponents suggest that during recession, it stimulates investors’ activity and has a stabilizing effect on economic growth. However, its opponents point to the costs associated with the budget deficit and public debt handling. Increased public spending may result in an increase in the interest rates, which may, in turn, hinder private investment and weaken the multiplier effect of public spending. The following study examines how private spending and market interest rates reacted to changes in public spending in Poland. The study has shown that public spending stimulates private spending, which is consistent with the Keynesian model, but it also leads to an increase in market interest rates, which is consistent with the neoclassical model.
This article examines the presence and activities of Green parties in governments of Central and Eastern Europe. In recent years, many ecologist parties and movements gained considerable electoral and general political success, especially in developed democracies of Western Europe. However, their ideological counterparts in new democracies tend to remain out of power and often out of parliament, albeit with a few notable exceptions. In this study, success of the Greens in CEE is operationalised through their impact on public spending and direct investments allocated to environmental protection. The hypothesis regarding the Greens’ impact on spending is tested within the regression models, along with other potential predictors of government expenditure. The research results demonstrate a low significance of Greens in government participation and also their impact on budgetary allocation, contributing to the debate about the Green politics’ position in the context of social and political cleavages in post-socialist societies.
PL
Niniejszy artykuł analizuje obecność i osiągnięcia partii Zielonych w gabinetach rządowych Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej. W ostatnich latach wiele partii i ruchów ekologicznych odniosło znaczne sukcesy wyborcze czy ogólnie polityczne, zwłaszcza w rozwiniętych demokracjach Europy Zachodniej. Jednak ich ideologiczne odpowiedniki w nowych demokracjach mają tendencję do pozostawania poza sferą władzy i często poza parlamentem, choć z kilkoma godnymi uwagi wyjątkami. W niniejszym badaniu sukces Zielonych w Europie Środkowo-Wschodniej jest operacjonalizowany poprzez ich wpływ na wydatki publiczne i inwestycje przeznaczone na ochronę środowiska. Hipoteza dotycząca wpływu Zielonych na wydatki jest testowana w modelach regresji, wraz z innymi potencjalnymi predykatorami wydatków rządowych. Wyniki wskazują na niskie znaczenie Zielonych, jeśli chodzi o udział w rządach, a także o wpływ na alokację budżetową, co pogłębia debatę na temat pozycji „zielonej” polityki w kontekście społecznych i politycznych podziałów w społeczeństwach post-socjalistycznych.
Praca dotyczy analizy efektywności powiatów we wschodnim regionie Polski. Analizowano wydatki i dochody powiatów w okresie 2008–2012. W analizie wykorzystano dane Głównego Urzędu Statystycznego. Podstawą oceny efektywności było pięć rodzajów wydatków i dwa rodza-je dochodów. W analizie wykorzystano metodę DEA, w wersji zmodyfikowanej dla potrzeb oceny efektywności instytucji non profit. Rezultaty analizy wskazują, że efektywność wydatków publicznych we wschodnim regionie Polski jest zróżnicowana i niższa niż w całym kraju. Wydaje się, że głównych czynników mają-cych wpływ na efektywność należy upatrywać w wielkości i lokalizacji badanych jednostek. Wyż-szą efektywnością charakteryzują się większe powiaty, położone w pobliżu ośrodków miejskich.
EN
The objective of this paper is to analyze the efficiency of poviats’ expenditures of the Eastern Polish region. There were examined poviats’ expenditures and revenues during the period 2008–2012. The analysis is based on the data published by the Central Statistical Office. Five types of inputs and two types of outputs were used to estimate the effectiveness of expenditures. The modi-fied Data Envelopment Analysis method for non-profit institutions was applied. The results prove that efficiency of public spending in the eastern region is diverse and lower than across the country. It seems that the main factors influencing public spending efficiency are the size and the localization of public administration unit. Higher efficiency is for larger poviats, situated near larger cities.
Kapitałochłonność inwestycji z zakresu budownictwa komunalnego powoduje, że większości jednostek samorządu terytorialnego (JST) w Polsce nie stać, aby dostarczać mieszkania komunalne w tempie umożliwiającym ograniczenie liczby gospodarstw domowych oczekujących na przydział mieszkania. Wzmocnienie oraz rozwój sektora mieszkalnictwa komunalnego lub o umiarkowanym czynszu jest jednym z kluczowych wyzwań, z którym polityka mieszkaniowa na szczeblu lokalnym w Polsce powinna się zmierzyć. Zdaniem autora ciekawym rozwiązaniem, jest włączenie partnerstwa publiczno-prywatnego do zestawu narzędzi realizacji polityki mieszkaniowej. Rozwiązanie tego typu stosowane jest od dłuższego czasu w Anglii, gdzie ciężar dostarczania mieszkań gospodarstwom domowym o niskich dochodach, przeniesiony został z JST na prywatne podmioty działające na zasadzie non-profit.
EN
Municipal housing is highly capital-intensive and therefore the majority of local government units (LGUs) in Poland cannot afford to provide council housing fast enough to shorten the waiting lists. Strengthening and development of municipal or affordable rent housing sector is one of the key challenges that housing policy at the municipal level in Poland has to face. According to the author, an interesting solution in this respect is to incorporate public-private partnership into the toolkit for implementing housing policy. This solution has been used for a long time in England, where the burden of providing housing to low income households was passed from LGUs to private non-profit organisations.
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