Main Beneficiaries (main + beneficiary)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


IS EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY POLITICALLY FEASIBLE?

ECONOMICS & POLITICS, Issue 1 2005
Stefan Zink
We develop a political-economy model where the amount of education subsidies is determined in a majority vote and spending is financed by revenues from taxation. Our analysis demonstrates that limiting the extent of subsidization and thus excluding the poor from gaining enough education can be a political equilibrium. Despite being the main beneficiaries of subsidies, the politically decisive middle class hesitates to extend monetary benefits, since improved access to higher education diminishes the return to education. Moreover, a non-monotone relation between inequality and the extent of redistribution through tax-financed educational subsidies obtains. [source]


Regional Devolution and Regional Economic Success: Myths and Illusions about Power

GEOGRAFISKA ANNALER SERIES B: HUMAN GEOGRAPHY, Issue 2 2006
Ray Hudson
Abstract The proposition that regional devolution in and of itself will lead to economic success has become deeply embedded in beliefs and policy discourses about the determinants of regional prosperity, and in turn has led to political demands for such devolution. In this paper I seek critically to examine such claims, using the case of the north-east of England as the setting for this examination. The paper begins with some introductory comments on concepts of power, regions, the reorganization of the state and of multi-level governance, and governmentality, which help in understanding the issues surrounding regional devolution. I then examine the ways in which north-east England was politically and socially constructed as a particular type of region, with specific problems, in the 1930s , a move that has had lasting significance up until the present day. Moving on some six decades, I then examine contemporary claims about the relationship between regional devolution and regional economic success, which find fertile ground in the north-east precisely due to its long history of representation as a region with a unified regional interest. I then reflect on the processes of regional planning, regional strategies and regional devolution, and their relationship to regional economic regeneration. A brief conclusion follows, emphasizing that questions remain about the efficacy of the new governmentality and about who would be its main beneficiaries in the region. The extent to which devolution would actually involve transferring power to the region and the capacity of networked forms of power within the region to counter the structural power of capital and shape central state policies remains unclear. [source]


The Size and Composition of Government Spending in Europe and Its Impact on Well-Being

KYKLOS INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF SOCIAL SCIENCES, Issue 3 2010
Zohal Hessami
SUMMARY This paper empirically analyzes whether large governments in Europe reflect efficient responses to a changing social and economic environment (,welfare economic view') as opposed to wasteful spending (,public choice view'). To this end, the effect of government size on subjective well-being is estimated in a combined survey and country-level dataset covering 153,268 respondents from twelve EU countries over the 1990,2000 period. The first finding is an inversely U-shaped relationship between government size and well-being. In addition, the analysis suggests that given the high institutional quality as compared to other parts of the world there might be scope for a further enlargement of governments in the EU from a well-being perspective. However, one must acknowledge that the effect on well-being may be quite small and that democratic societies in Europe have no experience with even larger governments. The investigation also reveals that the impact of government size on well-being depends negatively on levels of corruption and positively on the extent of decentralization. Moreover, left-wing voters and low-income earners are the main beneficiaries of a large public sector. Finally, in all twelve EU countries included in the sample higher levels of well-being could have been achieved by allocating a higher share of public resources to education, while Finland and Germany could have given an additional boost to well-being by cutting expenditures on social protection. [source]


Bauphysikalische, ökologische und ökonomische Bewertung von geförderten Sanierungskonzepten in Wien

BAUPHYSIK, Issue 3 2009
Azra Korjenic Univ.-Ass.
Energieeinsparung; Gebäudebestand Abstract In diesem Beitrag wird die Nachhaltigkeit von Gebäudesanierungen untersucht, wobei die Reduzierung des Energieverbrauchs das oberste Ziel ist, was mit bis zu 80 % erreicht werden kann. Während in anderen Großstädten Europas das Konzept der Flächensanierung praktiziert wurde und wird, wird in Wien die "sanfte Sanierung" propagiert und auch gefördert. Die Stadt Wien hat dafür verschiedene Sanierungskonzepte bei der Hand. In dieser Untersuchung werden die verschiedenen geförderten Sanierungskonzepte anhand eines realen Beispiels gezeigt und rechnerisch überprüft. Ein Vergleich der verschiedenen Konzepte beleuchtet die einzelnen Punkte der Sanierung: Energieeffizienz, Sanierungskosten, Belastung für den Eigentümer bzw. Mieter der Wohnungen und Belastung für den Fördergeber (Land Wien). Die Ergebnisse ausgeführter Sanierungskonzepte brachten folgende Erkenntnisse bzw. Problemstellungen: , die Sanierungsmaßnahmen kommen hauptsächlich den Mietern zugute, während der Kostenträger (Eigentümer) nur die Wertsteigerung als Nutzen hat; , mangelnde Bereitschaft der Bewohner zur Sanierung; , erhebliche Mehrkosten für Passivhaustechnik; , zu geringe höchstzulässige Gesamtsanierungskosten. Evaluation of retrofitting concepts and municipal sponsoring in Vienna. Major energy efficiency improvements can be achieved via building stock retrofit. While in some major cities in Europe, mostly large-area building retrofit measures have been targeted; in Vienna a gradual thermal improvement of the building stock has been practiced. Thereby, a number of different instruments and programs have been promoted by the regional government. In the present contribution, a number of such programs are compared and evaluated based on the demonstrative case of a concrete example. Thereby, multiple related issues were addressed: energy efficiency, retrofit expenses, burden for the building owners and tenants, and burden for the funding agency (Municipal of Vienna). The results suggest: , the main beneficiary of retrofit programs are typically the tenants. The landlords benefit indirectly due to the appreciation of property value; , there is a certain lack of willingness on the side of the occupants toward thermal building retrofit measures; , achieving passive house standard in the course of retrofit measures cause significant additional costs; , permissible (fundable) maximum total retrofit expenses has been set too low. [source]