In India, there are many legal forms of organisations into primary producer can organise themselves. A Producer Company (PC) is one such and relatively new legal entity of the producers of any kind, viz., agricultural produce, forest produce, artisanal products, or any other local produce, where the members are primary producers. PC as a legal entity was enacted in 2003 as per section IXA of the Indian Companies Act 1956. Since the above enactment, the PC has been hailed as the organizational form that will empower and improve the bargaining power, net incomes, and quality of life of small and marginal farmers/producers in India. In India, FPCs were originally promoted and supported by the State Government (Madhya Pradesh) under the World Bank (WB) poverty reduction project since 2005, and thereafter (since 2011) extensively under similar projects in states like Maharashtra. Such initiatives are also taking place in states like Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh. NGOs, the Small Farmers Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC), Department of Agriculture of State Governments (some supported with World Bank assistance) and the NABARD are promoting (FPOs) in rural areas in the form of producer companies with financial support of the Government of India. Kasturi initiative of Tata Chemicals society for Rural Development is working towards women agripreneurs to realize their leadership and network with other women across value chain. This includes identifying and networking potential partners for strengthening women agripreneurs and helping them for market linkages. The institutional partnerships will support to demonstrate the collective power for long term sustenance.
{"title":"Strategies for Sustaining the FPOs: Case Illustrations","authors":"Dr. Manjusha S Kadam","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3332531","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3332531","url":null,"abstract":"In India, there are many legal forms of organisations into primary producer can organise themselves. A Producer Company (PC) is one such and relatively new legal entity of the producers of any kind, viz., agricultural produce, forest produce, artisanal products, or any other local produce, where the members are primary producers. PC as a legal entity was enacted in 2003 as per section IXA of the Indian Companies Act 1956. Since the above enactment, the PC has been hailed as the organizational form that will empower and improve the bargaining power, net incomes, and quality of life of small and marginal farmers/producers in India. In India, FPCs were originally promoted and supported by the State Government (Madhya Pradesh) under the World Bank (WB) poverty reduction project since 2005, and thereafter (since 2011) extensively under similar projects in states like Maharashtra. Such initiatives are also taking place in states like Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh. NGOs, the Small Farmers Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC), Department of Agriculture of State Governments (some supported with World Bank assistance) and the NABARD are promoting (FPOs) in rural areas in the form of producer companies with financial support of the Government of India. Kasturi initiative of Tata Chemicals society for Rural Development is working towards women agripreneurs to realize their leadership and network with other women across value chain. This includes identifying and networking potential partners for strengthening women agripreneurs and helping them for market linkages. The institutional partnerships will support to demonstrate the collective power for long term sustenance.","PeriodicalId":365767,"journal":{"name":"Sustainability & Economics eJournal","volume":"32 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-09-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130847193","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This working paper (right now in the research proposal stage) examines the listed material sustainability standards for the commercial banking industry provided by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) and attempts to quantify them. The first initial step will be to develop normalized scores for each of these factors through the provided operating metrics in SASB's Bloomberg Report. In the quantification process, Principal Component Analysis will be used on these normalized scores to determine which factor is driving the variance, and in a sense, driving the ESG impact. After determining those driving factors, a multivariate regression will be used to compare these factors to the cost of debt of US banking firms with assets over 100 million. The goal and significance of this paper are to create a metric for banks. It will allow them to see that improving there sustainability will lead to a lower cost of debt, but on a more fundamental level, to see which specific SASB factors to focus to drive the cost of debt down in the most efficient way.
{"title":"Impact of Material ESG SASB Factors on the Cost of Debt in Banking","authors":"Dev Asnani","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3248154","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3248154","url":null,"abstract":"This working paper (right now in the research proposal stage) examines the listed material sustainability standards for the commercial banking industry provided by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) and attempts to quantify them. The first initial step will be to develop normalized scores for each of these factors through the provided operating metrics in SASB's Bloomberg Report. In the quantification process, Principal Component Analysis will be used on these normalized scores to determine which factor is driving the variance, and in a sense, driving the ESG impact. After determining those driving factors, a multivariate regression will be used to compare these factors to the cost of debt of US banking firms with assets over 100 million. The goal and significance of this paper are to create a metric for banks. It will allow them to see that improving there sustainability will lead to a lower cost of debt, but on a more fundamental level, to see which specific SASB factors to focus to drive the cost of debt down in the most efficient way.","PeriodicalId":365767,"journal":{"name":"Sustainability & Economics eJournal","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130598733","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In this paper we study the effect of violent crime on residential and firms location decisions and their implications for segregation in cities. We do so by proposing a new instrument to exogenously predict violent crime in city centers. We base our instrument on chemical and medical evidence that links local characteristics of the soil to lead poisoning and aggression. We show that the increase in violent crime between 1960 and 1990 due to lead poisoning moved almost 8 million people to the suburbs. Firms followed by leaving the city centers. We then show that the suburbanization process was characterized by “white flight”.
{"title":"Flight From Urban Blight: Lead Poisoning, Crime and Suburbanization","authors":"F. Curci, Federico Masera","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3245090","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3245090","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 In this paper we study the effect of violent crime on residential and firms location decisions and their implications for segregation in cities. We do so by proposing a new instrument to exogenously predict violent crime in city centers. We base our instrument on chemical and medical evidence that links local characteristics of the soil to lead poisoning and aggression. We show that the increase in violent crime between 1960 and 1990 due to lead poisoning moved almost 8 million people to the suburbs. Firms followed by leaving the city centers. We then show that the suburbanization process was characterized by “white flight”.","PeriodicalId":365767,"journal":{"name":"Sustainability & Economics eJournal","volume":"169 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-09-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"117011935","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Almost half of the world’s states provide bilateral development assistance. While previous research takes the set of donor countries as exogenous, this article introduces a new dataset on aid giving that covers all countries in the world, both rich and poor, and explores the determinants of aid donorship. It argues and shows empirically that democratic institutions support the setup of an aid program in richer countries but undermine its establishment in poorer countries. The findings hold in instrumental-variable regressions and the pattern is similar for the amount of aid. (JEL D72, F35, H87, O17, O19)
{"title":"Democracy and Aid Donorship","authors":"A. Fuchs, Angelika Müller","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3260859","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3260859","url":null,"abstract":"Almost half of the world’s states provide bilateral development assistance. While previous research takes the set of donor countries as exogenous, this article introduces a new dataset on aid giving that covers all countries in the world, both rich and poor, and explores the determinants of aid donorship. It argues and shows empirically that democratic institutions support the setup of an aid program in richer countries but undermine its establishment in poorer countries. The findings hold in instrumental-variable regressions and the pattern is similar for the amount of aid. (JEL D72, F35, H87, O17, O19)","PeriodicalId":365767,"journal":{"name":"Sustainability & Economics eJournal","volume":"1960 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129467804","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
We propose and develop a new conceptual framework for the economic analysis of cities, as a contribution toward a new interdisciplinary science of cities. The standard economic analysis of cities is based on a spatial market model of (production, transactional and consumption) externalities in which cities are agglomerative engines of economic growth. The new framework we propose takes the spatial agglomerative economic model as the starting point, but develops this toward: (1) a dynamic game-theoretic analysis of cities (as infrastructures and protocols) that compete for globally mobile resources, and; (2) a model of cities as two-sided markets (i.e. platforms) seeking to solve matching problems between idiosyncratic resources, (3) neural model of the city based on solving problems through information processing and learning. This suggests a new way of analyzing the mechanism underlying the economic performance of cities and potentially leads to new policy implications.
{"title":"City as Neural Platform - Toward New Economics of a City","authors":"Marek Banczyk, J. Potts","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3233686","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3233686","url":null,"abstract":"We propose and develop a new conceptual framework for the economic analysis of cities, as a contribution toward a new interdisciplinary science of cities. The standard economic analysis of cities is based on a spatial market model of (production, transactional and consumption) externalities in which cities are agglomerative engines of economic growth. The new framework we propose takes the spatial agglomerative economic model as the starting point, but develops this toward: (1) a dynamic game-theoretic analysis of cities (as infrastructures and protocols) that compete for globally mobile resources, and; (2) a model of cities as two-sided markets (i.e. platforms) seeking to solve matching problems between idiosyncratic resources, (3) neural model of the city based on solving problems through information processing and learning. This suggests a new way of analyzing the mechanism underlying the economic performance of cities and potentially leads to new policy implications.","PeriodicalId":365767,"journal":{"name":"Sustainability & Economics eJournal","volume":"80 3 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-08-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123432364","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Despite supportive government policies and rapid technological improvements, the participation of institutional investors in the clean energy sector remains relatively limited. One of the key challenges to increase capital flows to clean energy projects is a robust historical record of risk and financial return. Our paper helps to fill this knowledge gap by documenting the past financial performance of “Yieldcos,” publicly-listed equity vehicles holding multiple operational renewable energy projects. We document risk-adjusted returns for Yieldcos in North America and the United Kingdom. Over the period studied, a portfolio of UK Yieldcos generated risk-adjusted returns superior to the broad equity market and a range of sectoral indices. On the contrary, US Yieldco portfolio is characterized by high volatility and relatively poor financial returns. We provide evidence of diversification benefits from the UK Yieldco portfolio, indicating the potential for sustainable energy infrastructure to be characterized as a unique asset class whose risk/return characteristics cannot be replicated from within a diversified investment portfolio.
{"title":"Do Listed Clean Energy Infrastructure Shares Make Financial Sense for Investors?","authors":"Charles Donovan, Jianjun Li","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3175879","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3175879","url":null,"abstract":"Despite supportive government policies and rapid technological improvements, the participation of institutional investors in the clean energy sector remains relatively limited. One of the key challenges to increase capital flows to clean energy projects is a robust historical record of risk and financial return. Our paper helps to fill this knowledge gap by documenting the past financial performance of “Yieldcos,” publicly-listed equity vehicles holding multiple operational renewable energy projects. We document risk-adjusted returns for Yieldcos in North America and the United Kingdom. Over the period studied, a portfolio of UK Yieldcos generated risk-adjusted returns superior to the broad equity market and a range of sectoral indices. On the contrary, US Yieldco portfolio is characterized by high volatility and relatively poor financial returns. We provide evidence of diversification benefits from the UK Yieldco portfolio, indicating the potential for sustainable energy infrastructure to be characterized as a unique asset class whose risk/return characteristics cannot be replicated from within a diversified investment portfolio.","PeriodicalId":365767,"journal":{"name":"Sustainability & Economics eJournal","volume":"19 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-08-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121764890","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The secular decline in the labor share since the 1980's is a global phenomenon, and a trend that is concurrent with large liberalization episodes worldwide. In this paper we investigate the liberalization episode in India during the 1990's, which has been characterized by large and unexpected changes in trade and foreign investment policies. Contrary to what might be expected given the reduction in the aggregate data, we uncover a trade channel that raises the labor-to-capital relative factor shares in India. A reduction in capital tariffs and liberalization of FDI raise the share of income paid to labor relative to capital. Our results reveal access to foreign capital as a new mechanism through which openness affects factor shares. An increasing share of foreign capital in the total capital stock provides a capital-augmenting technical change and potentially reduces rental rates, both of which raises the relative labor share. We find capital and R&D intensities, and the borrowing capacity of the firm, to be important determinants of the factor share response to openness. Finally, we identify domestic deregulation policies and credit expansion as potential determinants of the observed decline in the labor share.
{"title":"Openness and Factor Shares: Is Globalization Always Bad for Labor?","authors":"Ariel Weinberger, Aslı Leblebicioğlu","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3289779","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3289779","url":null,"abstract":"The secular decline in the labor share since the 1980's is a global phenomenon, and a trend that is concurrent with large liberalization episodes worldwide. In this paper we investigate the liberalization episode in India during the 1990's, which has been characterized by large and unexpected changes in trade and foreign investment policies. Contrary to what might be expected given the reduction in the aggregate data, we uncover a trade channel that raises the labor-to-capital relative factor shares in India. A reduction in capital tariffs and liberalization of FDI raise the share of income paid to labor relative to capital. Our results reveal access to foreign capital as a new mechanism through which openness affects factor shares. An increasing share of foreign capital in the total capital stock provides a capital-augmenting technical change and potentially reduces rental rates, both of which raises the relative labor share. We find capital and R&D intensities, and the borrowing capacity of the firm, to be important determinants of the factor share response to openness. Finally, we identify domestic deregulation policies and credit expansion as potential determinants of the observed decline in the labor share.","PeriodicalId":365767,"journal":{"name":"Sustainability & Economics eJournal","volume":"2 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116802513","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The question of survival and sustenance are at the very foundation of every individual or organization. There are various factors that are essential for growth and sustenance of companies. There has been many research studies undertaken to gauge the success factors or to breakdown the components and study success in detail. Especially so, it gains even more importance when companies are serving the markets where consumers have very low incomes and have several unmet needs. Companies serving the base of the pyramid markets need relatively unique strategies and value propositions for success. The base of pyramid came into forefront when management thinkers C K Prahalad and Staurt L. Hart, formulated the “Bottom of the Pyramid” theory in a 2002 article about how businesses can help the poor while still able to make a profit. They noted that there was little competition among the millions of the poor, who essentially live in a world of non consumption. Through low prices, new business models and innovative products, and inclusive value creation corporations along with the help of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and local governments, could make money and do good for the larger cause by tapping this underserved market. It has been the belief of many that BOP consumers are typically characterized by several unmet needs, it could range from food, sanitation, transport, communication, and connectivity. It is also interesting to note that in several BOP markets where are overlapping needs not necessarily following the need hierarchy. Information and communication technology businesses have been able to occupy a larger share of the BOP consumer’s wallet than even basic needs such as sanitation or electricity. What then prompts these consumers and how can businesses reach out to these segments in a phased successful manner. This paper develops the concept, postulates, explanations, theoretical model, and business case based proof on Cockroach Theory of Organizational sustainability and scalability by considering BOP business companies performance evidence. The study also discusses the applicability of this theory and its frameworks on companies and their business models focusing on BOP sectors along with the limitations.
生存和维持的问题是每一个个人或组织的基础。有各种各样的因素对公司的成长和维持至关重要。已经进行了许多研究来衡量成功因素或分解组成部分并详细研究成功。特别是，当公司服务于消费者收入非常低且有几个未满足需求的市场时，它就变得更加重要了。服务于金字塔市场底层的公司需要相对独特的战略和价值主张才能取得成功。2002年，管理思想家C·K·普拉哈拉德(C . K . Prahalad)和斯特拉特·l·哈特(t. L. Hart)在一篇文章中提出了“金字塔底部”理论，阐述了企业如何在帮助穷人的同时仍能盈利，金字塔底部的概念由此进入了人们的视野。他们指出，数百万穷人之间几乎没有竞争，他们基本上生活在一个没有消费的世界里。通过低价、新商业模式和创新产品，以及包容性价值创造，企业可以在非政府组织和地方政府的帮助下，利用这个服务不足的市场，赚钱并为更大的事业做贡献。许多人认为，防喷器消费者通常有几个未满足的需求，包括食品、卫生、交通、通信和连通性。同样有趣的是，在一些需求重叠的防喷器市场，不一定遵循需求层次结构。信息和通信技术企业在国际收支消费者钱包中所占的份额，甚至超过了卫生或电力等基本需求。然后是什么促使这些消费者，企业如何以一种分阶段成功的方式接触到这些细分市场。本文通过考虑BOP业务公司的绩效证据，发展了蟑螂理论的概念、假设、解释、理论模型和基于证明的商业案例。该研究还讨论了该理论及其框架在公司及其业务模式上的适用性，重点关注防喷器部门以及局限性。
{"title":"Cockroach Theory of Organizational Sustainability and Scalability: Detailed Study on Evidence Based on BOP Approach","authors":"K. Raj, Sreeramana Aithal","doi":"10.21013/JMSS.V12.N1.P1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21013/JMSS.V12.N1.P1","url":null,"abstract":"The question of survival and sustenance are at the very foundation of every individual or organization. There are various factors that are essential for growth and sustenance of companies. There has been many research studies undertaken to gauge the success factors or to breakdown the components and study success in detail. Especially so, it gains even more importance when companies are serving the markets where consumers have very low incomes and have several unmet needs. Companies serving the base of the pyramid markets need relatively unique strategies and value propositions for success. The base of pyramid came into forefront when management thinkers C K Prahalad and Staurt L. Hart, formulated the “Bottom of the Pyramid” theory in a 2002 article about how businesses can help the poor while still able to make a profit. They noted that there was little competition among the millions of the poor, who essentially live in a world of non consumption. Through low prices, new business models and innovative products, and inclusive value creation corporations along with the help of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and local governments, could make money and do good for the larger cause by tapping this underserved market. It has been the belief of many that BOP consumers are typically characterized by several unmet needs, it could range from food, sanitation, transport, communication, and connectivity. It is also interesting to note that in several BOP markets where are overlapping needs not necessarily following the need hierarchy. Information and communication technology businesses have been able to occupy a larger share of the BOP consumer’s wallet than even basic needs such as sanitation or electricity. What then prompts these consumers and how can businesses reach out to these segments in a phased successful manner. This paper develops the concept, postulates, explanations, theoretical model, and business case based proof on Cockroach Theory of Organizational sustainability and scalability by considering BOP business companies performance evidence. The study also discusses the applicability of this theory and its frameworks on companies and their business models focusing on BOP sectors along with the limitations.","PeriodicalId":365767,"journal":{"name":"Sustainability & Economics eJournal","volume":"69 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-07-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121151556","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jeffrey Selbin, Stephanie Campos-Bui, Joshua Epstein, Laura Lim, Shelby Nacino, Paula Wilhlem, Hannah Stommel
Business improvement districts (“BIDs”) are private entities funded by local property assessments that play an increasingly large role in managing public space in California cities. First authorized by state law in the 1960s to help revitalize struggling urban areas, BIDs have grown considerably in number and influence, especially since 1994 when the State Legislature reduced public oversight of BIDs and expanded their assessment and spending authority. Today, approximately 200 California BIDs collect hundreds of millions of dollars annually in compulsory property assessment revenue, which they spend on a wide range of activities. Researchers and policymakers have paid little attention to the rise of BIDs and their growing influence on municipal and state affairs. BIDs typically are located in downtown areas where businesses are concentrated. These same areas, especially in California, often have a high concentration of homeless people, including many people who are unsheltered. The interests and activities of BIDs and homeless people intersect and conflict in several important ways, including in the areas of public policy, policing practices, and social services. In this report, we share research findings about the relationship between California BIDs and homelessness. We conducted a literature review, studied municipal laws that target or disproportionately impact homeless people, researched the legal framework authorizing BIDs, and surveyed BIDs in California’s 69 largest cities. To help interpret the data from these sources, we conducted in-depth case studies of eleven BIDs in the cities of Berkeley, Chico, Los Angeles, Oakland, Sacramento, San Diego, and San Francisco, including analysis of public records, interviews with BID officials, and surveys and interviews of homeless people. Our key finding is that BIDs exclude homeless people from public spaces in their districts through policy advocacy and policing practices. BID involvement in social services is experienced by homeless people as an additional form of policing, surveillance, and harassment. Our findings raise several legal concerns. When BIDs spend property assessment revenue on local and statewide policy advocacy, they may violate California law. BID spending on policy advocacy with revenue from assessments of publicly owned properties raises special statutory and constitutional concerns. Further, BID policing practices may violate the legal rights of people experiencing homelessness and expose BIDs to criminal liability. The findings and legal concerns inform several key recommendations, spelled out in more detail in the report. First, the State Legislature should amend state laws that grant BIDs broad authority to collect and spend property assessment revenue and to operate largely independent of government oversight. Second, city governments should provide more careful scrutiny and regulation of BID activities within their jurisdictions. Finally, BIDs should assume
{"title":"Homeless Exclusion Districts: How California Business Improvement Districts Use Policy Advocacy and Policing Practices to Exclude Homeless People from Public Space","authors":"Jeffrey Selbin, Stephanie Campos-Bui, Joshua Epstein, Laura Lim, Shelby Nacino, Paula Wilhlem, Hannah Stommel","doi":"10.2139/SSRN.3221446","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/SSRN.3221446","url":null,"abstract":"Business improvement districts (“BIDs”) are private entities funded by local property assessments that play an increasingly large role in managing public space in California cities. First authorized by state law in the 1960s to help revitalize struggling urban areas, BIDs have grown considerably in number and influence, especially since 1994 when the State Legislature reduced public oversight of BIDs and expanded their assessment and spending authority. Today, approximately 200 California BIDs collect hundreds of millions of dollars annually in compulsory property assessment revenue, which they spend on a wide range of activities. \u0000 \u0000Researchers and policymakers have paid little attention to the rise of BIDs and their growing influence on municipal and state affairs. BIDs typically are located in downtown areas where businesses are concentrated. These same areas, especially in California, often have a high concentration of homeless people, including many people who are unsheltered. The interests and activities of BIDs and homeless people intersect and conflict in several important ways, including in the areas of public policy, policing practices, and social services. \u0000 \u0000In this report, we share research findings about the relationship between California BIDs and homelessness. We conducted a literature review, studied municipal laws that target or disproportionately impact homeless people, researched the legal framework authorizing BIDs, and surveyed BIDs in California’s 69 largest cities. To help interpret the data from these sources, we conducted in-depth case studies of eleven BIDs in the cities of Berkeley, Chico, Los Angeles, Oakland, Sacramento, San Diego, and San Francisco, including analysis of public records, interviews with BID officials, and surveys and interviews of homeless people. \u0000 \u0000Our key finding is that BIDs exclude homeless people from public spaces in their districts through policy advocacy and policing practices. BID involvement in social services is experienced by homeless people as an additional form of policing, surveillance, and harassment. Our findings raise several legal concerns. When BIDs spend property assessment revenue on local and statewide policy advocacy, they may violate California law. BID spending on policy advocacy with revenue from assessments of publicly owned properties raises special statutory and constitutional concerns. Further, BID policing practices may violate the legal rights of people experiencing homelessness and expose BIDs to criminal liability. \u0000 \u0000The findings and legal concerns inform several key recommendations, spelled out in more detail in the report. First, the State Legislature should amend state laws that grant BIDs broad authority to collect and spend property assessment revenue and to operate largely independent of government oversight. Second, city governments should provide more careful scrutiny and regulation of BID activities within their jurisdictions. Finally, BIDs should assume ","PeriodicalId":365767,"journal":{"name":"Sustainability & Economics eJournal","volume":"104 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-07-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"117139623","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
India is at the forefront of the use of digital technology to transform the way in which citizens interact with states. This paper provides a picture of the perceived impact of digitization reforms in Rajasthan, based on a survey of beneficiaries of several benefit programs. We find that, on balance, the reforms appear to have improved perceptions of service delivery despite some difficulties during the digitization process and the possibility—which we cannot fully assess with our data—that there could have been some degree of exclusion. The proportion of people preferring the new systems, at 40–60 percent, far exceeded the proportion who expressed a preference for the old system (5–12 percent). In the case of food and cooking gas subsidy reforms, the reason for the preference is relatively clear—they considered that the new systems gave them greater control over their entitlements and reduced the ability of others to claim their benefits or divert them. The main problems arise from biometric authentication. Shifting pensions from postal delivery to bank deposits is overwhelmingly supported, partly because of better regularity. Reforms in Rajasthan also had two cross-cutting goals: financial inclusion and women’s empowerment. Our survey confirms that virtually all respondents have bank accounts, often two or more per family, as do all heads of household who are officially mandated to be women. Two thirds of these women had not owned bank accounts before the reforms. Mobiles emerge, however, as a male preserve. This suggests a further frontier for policies and programs to shift India towards a digital society—ensuring that all people have the capacity to access and to use digital technology.
{"title":"Digital Governance in Developing Countries: Beneficiary Experience and Perceptions of System Reform in Rajasthan, India","authors":"A. Gelb, Anit Mukherjee, Kyle Navis","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3310458","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3310458","url":null,"abstract":"India is at the forefront of the use of digital technology to transform the way in which citizens interact with states. This paper provides a picture of the perceived impact of digitization reforms in Rajasthan, based on a survey of beneficiaries of several benefit programs. We find that, on balance, the reforms appear to have improved perceptions of service delivery despite some difficulties during the digitization process and the possibility—which we cannot fully assess with our data—that there could have been some degree of exclusion. The proportion of people preferring the new systems, at 40–60 percent, far exceeded the proportion who expressed a preference for the old system (5–12 percent). In the case of food and cooking gas subsidy reforms, the reason for the preference is relatively clear—they considered that the new systems gave them greater control over their entitlements and reduced the ability of others to claim their benefits or divert them. The main problems arise from biometric authentication. Shifting pensions from postal delivery to bank deposits is overwhelmingly supported, partly because of better regularity. Reforms in Rajasthan also had two cross-cutting goals: financial inclusion and women’s empowerment. Our survey confirms that virtually all respondents have bank accounts, often two or more per family, as do all heads of household who are officially mandated to be women. Two thirds of these women had not owned bank accounts before the reforms. Mobiles emerge, however, as a male preserve. This suggests a further frontier for policies and programs to shift India towards a digital society—ensuring that all people have the capacity to access and to use digital technology.","PeriodicalId":365767,"journal":{"name":"Sustainability & Economics eJournal","volume":"58 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-07-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133529791","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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