Concurrent sourcing, the simultaneous use of in-house provision and contracting out, remains underexplored. This study examines how the allocation between in-house and contracted modes in service delivery portfolios affects service performance. Using panel data on children's social care services provided by English local authorities from 2014 to 2023, we find that concentrated portfolios, in which one delivery mode dominates and the other plays a supporting role, are associated with better performance. By contrast, dominant mode itself and the mix of contractor types within outsourced provision show limited influence. The findings highlight portfolio design as central to concurrent sourcing.

We examine, in the context of international relations, the hypothesis from social psychology that punishment for defiance is more likely for in-group than out-group members. The United States publicly opposed the founding of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and pressured countries not to join the Chinese-led institution. Nevertheless, 57 countries became founding members of this new development bank-a potential competitor of the US-led World Bank. To test whether the United States punished in-group rather than out- group countries for their defiance, we consider a unique dataset on the voting behavior of the US executive director at the World Bank. We find that the United States is more likely to withhold support for new projects only for AIIB founding members that are closer to the United States, with no punishment for the more distant founders. Considering that almost all proposals are approved regardless of US support, the punishment appears merely gestural, making it even more surprising that the United States imposes it so judiciously. We suspect the action serves as a signal of discontent specifically directly toward in-group countries.

The World Bank, under the stewardship of the United States, stands out as the global leader among international development organizations. Does China's establishment of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) undermine this status? Examining this question, we focus on the borrowing practices of a special set of countries: the founding members of the AIIB. These founders openly defied the public preference of the United States, arguably to create a potential rival to the World Bank. Using a new causal inference method, Pang, Liu, and Xu's Dynamic Multilevel Latent Factor Model-as well as several well-known estimation models as robustness checks-we document at least a temporary decrease in the number of World Bank infrastructure projects that the developing AIIB founders have entered into. This study presents the first systematic evidence that China's AIIB could unsettle the political influence the United States has enjoyed over developing countries through its leadership of the World Bank. An important set of countries may be parting ways with the World Bank and looking to a Chinese institution for leadership in the world of development.

This study investigates venture capital (VC) reputation impact on the pre-IPO performance of the entrepreneurial firms backed by three kinds of VCs. This study employs backward stepwise regression models following prior theoretical frameworks to examine the research question. Based on a database of the top 50 VC firms ranked during 2016 to 2020 and their portfolio firms. This study shows some contingent contribution to pre-IPO firm performance. Firstly, the reputation of the Chinese government-owned VCs is negatively associated with their portfolio firm performance. Still, there is a positive relationship between foreign and local private VCs. Secondly, entrepreneurial firm performance is significantly associated with industry policy and entrepreneur’s performance than VC reputation. This study has practical implications for entrepreneurs and limited partners regarding their corporation relationships with the Chinese VCs. JEL codes: G24, G34

This manuscript conducts both a narrow and wide replication of Brudney et al. (2005, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 15[3], pp. 393-419), focusing on the scope, perceived effectiveness, and antecedents of contracting out. The replication joins the original study in indicating that state agencies widely used contracting out in service delivery, but their perceived effects on service costs and quality were mixed. The replication coincides with the original study in suggesting that contracting out was an agency-specific practice driven more by pragmatic factors but reports some divergences in the effects of individual factors. Overall, our replication concurs with the original study in many aspects, but also adds new nuances. There seems to be no single pattern underlying the use of contracting out, and thus no single factor could determine contracting out under all circumstances. Rather, contracting is a dynamic practice used by agencies for certain contingencies.

This empirical study employs regression models to investigate some deep economic determinants, such as human capital, business environment, to investigate what extent China’s economy structure is likely hit by SARS epidemic in 2003 and global financial crisis in 2008. It finds that China’s economy structure is unchanged after the hits, the deep economy determinants and GDP remain upward. Human capital accumulation is the significant deep factor, and both SARS epidemic and financial crisis have no impact on the long-run factor, accordingly, China’s economy growth is sustainable. It suggests further human capital including labor quantity and education is currently the most significant determinants for China’s economy sustainability, followed by the upgrading business environment. The evidence based on SARS and financial crisis may have certain reference value to estimate the potential impact of COVID-19 on China’s economy structure in the future.

政府购买公共服务是提高公共服务供给效能的有效措施,项目制是其中的重要模式.多年来,美国国际开发署在提供对外援助服务中形成了项目制外包的购买服务执行模式,并总结出"七步走"方式.项目制外包基于公开招标,立足于合作机构的多元化与购买援助服务范围的广阔性两个维度之上.美国国际开发署在项目制外包的执行中坚持了公共利益至上的目的导向,面向从政府本位思维转向多元共生的理念,并构建了项目制外包中的良性循环体系,但存在缺乏服务外包失败应对机制这一不足,也为我国与各国政府购买服务提供了借鉴.

政府绩效评价是提升政府治理能力的重要工具.本文从大城市公共管理的满意度、完成度和效率三个方面入手,利用上海城市综合执法大数据的一个微观样本,构建度量城市公共管理的整体绩效指标.同时,本文通过建立计量回归模型,剥离出外部客观环境约束对绩效造成的影响,构造工作绩效指标用于政府内部工作绩效评价或考核.本文的研究有助于建立起评价政府整体绩效和工作绩效的不同评价体系,能够引导城市公共管理绩效水平提升.同时,本文还在建立回归模型的基础上,以效率为例,进一步分析了城市公共管理效率的影响因素,发现常住人口规模或密度增加反而有助于提升城市综合管理效率.这一结论对于优化公共资源在城市内部的空间布局作出了贡献.

urpose:This study investigates firm performance after going public and explores whether Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) contribute to it.Design/methodology/approach: This study employs comprehensive regression models to examine IPO significance to both operating performance and market performance.Findings/results: It suggests that IPO firms retain their growth over the first 3 years after going public, but the growth does not sustain after the third year in terms of profit-related indicators, which is distinguishing from prior research. IPOs may contribute to firms’ market performance only, they are insignificant to firms’ operating performance in general, whilst industry-adjusted evidence suggests that IPOs are negatively associated with operating performance in terms of return on assets, return on sales and debt to assets.Practical implications: The practical implication for managers is to spend more IPO capitals on business operations to maximise firm value.Originality/value: Market value is taken into account, whilst operating performance is considered only by prior research, and it presents some different findings from prior studies based on developed stock markets.

美国国际开发署在美国的对外援助中扮演极其重要角色.然而,对其具体如何开展项目,尤其是与私人志愿组织合作开发,缺乏深入的研究.本文试图从公共管理视角,剖析两者间的合同关系.我们发现,在经历了三个阶段的发展后,两者已经形成一套比较系统的合同管理体系.但是,合同并不能保证援助效果的提高.本文认为政府亟需提高合同管理的能力以及私人志愿组织的守约行为,因为合同管理不是纯粹的技术过程,它也是一个政治化过程,合同关系受到国家援助政策的影响且同时制约着援助效果.本文尝试在当下中国逐渐崛起为国际上的主要捐助国之时,为优化本国对外援助管理体系建设和多元化对外援助主体提供一些"他山之石".

新冠肺炎疫情给我国经济发展带来前所未有的挑战.一季度,国内生产总值同比下降6.8％,市场销售减少、投资活动放缓、进出口双降,就业形势严峻.经过全国上下的努力,当前国内疫情防控阻击战取得重大战略成果,主要经济指标回升收窄.但境外疫情蔓延态势不减,世界经济贸易增长受到严重冲击,我国外防输入压力持续,产业链、供应链在供需两侧承压,财政政策必须有所作为.

As government financing of nonprofit organizations to deliver services and implement policies has become a common practice in the public administration landscape, the question of what factors affect government’s source selection has emerged as a significant one. Within this strand of research, how nonprofits’ administrative costs affect their receipt of government contracts is still not fully understood. This article explores that relationship using a large panel data set of U.S.-based international development nonprofits from 1967 to 2014. Different model specifications consistently demonstrate an inverted U-shaped relationship between a nonprofit’s level of administrative costs and its amount of government contracts. In particular, as a nonprofit’s level of administrative costs increases, its amount of government contracts will initially increase, but after its level of administrative costs reaches approximately 16% to 18% of total expenses, further increases in the nonprofit’s level of administrative costs will reduce its amount of government contracts. These findings have implications for both public and nonprofit management.

<span id="ChDivSummary" name="ChDivSummary" class="abstract-text">疫情冲击加大经济下行压力,也凸显了国家治理中的一些短板。针对疫情影响及暴露的问题,中央要求加大宏观政策调节力度,研究制定有力政策措施。财政是国家治理的基础和重要支柱,面对新形势新任务,积极的财政政策怎样才能更加积极有为,要匹配怎样的财税体制才能确保政策行稳致远,需要深入探讨。结合财政功能和运行经验,本文建议,未来我国财政政策应明确以补短板为重心,敢于退、勇于进,聚焦关键领域关键环节和关键主体积极布局,着重加大基本公共服务供给,提升产业链关键环节竞争力,释放青年群体活力,增强中心城市和城市群引领作用,强化社区治理基础。相应地,财税体制要在强化预算绩效管理、健全地方税体系以及落实完善财政事权和支出责任划分方案等方面,进一步深化改革。新方向的实质,是通过结构调整,推动稳增长和治理水平攀升良性循环。本研究丰富了积极财政政策的内涵和政策工具选择。</span>

As China become a major donor in international development, there is an urgent need to improve its capacity to govern its aid policy and management system. This study provides a comprehensive review of China's aid governance system and its evolution along the time, showing its changes and nonchanges. Path dependence effects are used to explain such evolution and are further illustrated by the consistent central role of the Ministry of Commerce in the aid system and by the central–provincial arrangement of development finance. Further, by exploiting limited yet novel evidence of the newly established State International Development Cooperation Agency, we argue that path dependence effects make it difficult to achieve the goal to comprehensively restructure the aid governance system by establishing State International Development Cooperation Agency. The study offers a useful perspective to understand the functioning and future evolution of China's aid governance system.

Under the new governance models, the scope of government funding of nonprofit activities in service delivery and policy implementation is extensive. There is a long-standing concern that government funding may compromise nonprofit operations and lead to unintended consequences. This research examines the concern by exploring the effect of government funding on nonprofits' spending on programs and services. Existing theories and empirical evidence propose competing arguments concerning the relationship between government funding and nonprofits' program spending. Using a 20-year panel dataset of international development nonprofits registered with the United States Agency for International Development, we find that nonprofits receiving more government funding spend significantly higher proportions of their organizational resources on development programs. Government funding seems to increase nonprofits' program spending and to make them more focused on their mission-related activities.

This paper attempts to quantify the resource misallocation arising from firm ownership and to evaluate the SOE reform policy in China. State-owned enterprises (SOEs) in China typically enjoy preferred policies such as better access to financial system, reflecting the connections between these firms and various levels of government. This, however, leads to potential important distortions, with implications for resource allocation, productivity, and thus long-term growth. The SOE reform policy that seeks to “Grasp the Large, Let Go of the Small” could further exacerbate the distortions. By investigating a large firm-level data set with the methodology of Foster et al. (Am Econ Rev 98(1): 394–425, 2008 ) and Olley and Pakes (Econometrica 64(6):1263–1297, 1996 ), we show that SOEs are significantly less likely to have efficient resource allocation than firms not controlled by the various levels of China’s government. Industries with dominant state-owned firms likewise have less efficiency, suggesting the impact China’s SOE policy that has especially favored the largest of the state-owned firms. The results have important policy implications in suggesting that reforms that allow for greater market forces among firms would lead to potential economic growth in China.

As one of the hallmarks of China’s increasing participation in global economic governance, the establishment of the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has been widely studied by scholars and policy circles worldwide. However, most of the existing studies use narrative methods and lack microscopic or macroscopic evidence. By selecting two highly comparable cases, road projects from the AIIB and the traditional multilateral development bank, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), we analyze the management structure, procurement, economy, risk, supervision and safeguard policy framework for both cases. We find that the AIIB mostly aligns with international practices in critical principles but has streamlined project procurement, risk and supervision, which reflects its claim of being “lean” and “clean”. We argue that compared with the ADB, the AIIB is probably more efficient and economically sustainable, which is an improvement on the traditional multilateral development banks (MDBs). However, whether the streamlined procedures lead to higher risks will be tested in time as the AIIB conducts more independent projects in the future.

The benefits and risks of revenue diversification lead scholars to propose within-source diversification as a possible compromise. Although this revenue strategy sounds promising, no scholarly attention has been devoted to empirically examining it. This study explores within-source diversification across government funding, specifically whether nonprofit receipt of support from a major government funder affects support from other government funders. Using a panel dataset of U.S.-based international development nonprofits from 1995 to 2014, we find that nonprofits with more funding from the major funder are associated with significantly less funding from other funders. This crowding-out effect weakens as organization size grows. The findings imply that the within-source diversification strategy might be more desirable for larger organizations with the capacity to manage multiple funding relationships.

近年来,以中国为代表的新兴经济体在国际发展援助领域扮演了越来越重要的角色,对外发展援助成为我国公共治理的新兴领域.文章运用“整体性治理”视角,形成分析对外援助治理结构的初步理论框架,对巴西、印度、南非和中国等金砖国家的对外援助治理结构进行系统比较.通过比较发现中国和印度的整合性援助机构较好地将援助的政策和实施功能结合起来,在内部运行机制上表现更好;巴西则在援助纲领构建和监测评估体系建设方面有明显优势.中国的援助治理结构应进一步强化整合性援助机构的职能,形成对外援助的纲领性文件,理顺内部运行机制,建立完善的数据跟踪与监测评估体系.