Abstract

COVID-19 and the economic response have amplified and changed the nature of development challenges in fundamental ways. Global development cooperation should adapt accordingly. This paper lays out the urgency for new methods of development cooperation that can deliver resource transfers at scale, oriented to addressing climate change and with transparency and better governance. It looks at what is actually happening to major donor countries’ development cooperation programs and where the principal gaps lie, and offers some thoughts on how to move forward, notwithstanding the clear geopolitical rivalries that are evident.
The most immediate challenge is to provide a level of liquidity support to countries ravaged by the global economic downturn. Many developing countries will see double-digit declines in GDP, with some recording downturns not seen in peacetime. Alongside the short-term challenge of recovery, COVID-19 has laid bare longer-term trends that have pointed for some time to the lack of sustainability—environmental, social, and governance—in the way economic development was occurring in many places, including in advanced economies. This new landscape has significant implications for development cooperation in terms of scale, development/climate co-benefits, and transparency and accountability.

Abstract

COVID-19 has amplified existing imbalances, institutional and financing constraints associated with a development strategy that did not take sufficient account of challenges with emissions, environmental damage and health risks associated with climate change in a number of countries, including China. The recovery from the pandemic can be combined with appropriately designed investments that take into account human, social, natural and physical capital, as well as distributional objectives, that can also address commitments under the Paris agreement. An important criterion for sustainable development is that the tax regimes at the national and sub-national levels should reflect the same criteria as the investment strategy. Own-source revenues, are essential to be able to access private financing, including local government bonds and PPPs in a sustainable manner. Governance criteria are also important including information on the buildup of liabilities at all levels of government, to ensure transparent governance.
Despite differences in political systems, the Chinese experiences are relevant in a wide range of emerging market countries as the measures utilize institutions and policies reflecting international best practices, including modern tax administrations for the VAT, and income taxes, and benefit-linked property taxes, as well as utilization of balance sheets information consistent with the IMF’s Government Financial Statistics Manual, 2014. The options have significant implications for policy advice and development cooperation for meeting global climate change goals while ensuring sustainable employment generation with transparency and accountability.

Abstract India entered its so-called demographic dividend around 2005—expected to last until 2055. India has already utilized almost a third of the period of its demographic dividend—it saw a period of explosive growth from 2003–2012—but has not been able to sustain that growth. And since 2012, growth has generated less and less employment, as it has turned inward, and so it is not helping the working-age population get usefully employed. The labor force participation rate for women has been low and is now falling. What can be done to use India’s underlying factors of production better to generate greater, more inclusive, and sustained prosperity for its citizens? These second-generation reforms are not easy, as they need cooperative federalism and much broader consensus, but without them India’s demographic dividend may become a disaster.

Abstract The study examined the community-based approach to finance basic public infrastructures in residential neighborhoods. The primary objectives of the study were to determine the condition of public infrastructures, the level of community engagement, the modalities of financing and the prominent influencing factors. The study adopted convenience sampling and questionnaire survey techniques. A total of 120 questionnaires were administered to residents of selected high-income communities (HICs) and low/medium-income communities (L/MICs), out of which 48 (80%) and 52 (86.67%) were retrieved, respectively, and analyzed. The study deployed descriptive statistics of mean and standard deviation models and mean weighted score to analyze the data. The study found that the residents were satisfied with the security of the neighborhoods but deplored the state of the public potable water infrastructure in both communities. However, the residents in the HICs enjoy a better condition of road infrastructure compared with L/MICs. The residents in both communities indicated a high level of involvement in the financing of public infrastructures, with major engagement in security and waste disposal/management infrastructures. However, the HICs engaged more in road grading/maintenance, while the provision of community potable water was given as a priority by the L/MICs. The major mode of financing basic communal infrastructures is through membership levy/contribution, and prominent influencing factors are cooperation among members, fundraising and income status. Therefore, while private-sector support funds, such as from the CDAs, help in cushioning the effects of basic infrastructure decay, governments at all levels should provide an enabling environment that will motivate mutual communal relationships through integrated infrastructure policies.

Abstract Examining the interrelationships between critical success factors (CSFs) is of importance for the successful development of PPP airports. Many studies are available for the identification of CSFs for infrastructure projects, but very limited research have been conducted so far on investigating the interrelationships between the CSFs of PPP airports. The study is based on the institutional theory, which considers the exploration of the relationships between different institutional factors. The results show that Process Characteristics have comparatively more impact on Public Characteristics and, similarly, Cooperative Environment has more impact on Process Characteristics. However, Process Characteristics have a less significant impact on Private Characteristics. The study also revealed that to achieve high-quality services and the protection of public interest under a PPP mechanism, proper government supervision is required. Moreover, customers’ satisfaction and their opinion are also responsible for the achievement of high-quality services and better value for money.

Abstract

Flood risk analysis is the instrument by which floodplain and stormwater utility managers create strategic adaptation plans to reduce the likelihood of flood damages in their communities, but there is a need to develop a screening tool to analyze watersheds and identify areas that should be targeted and prioritized for mitigation measures. The authors developed a screening tool that combines readily available data on topography, groundwater, surface water, tidal information for coastal communities, soils, land use, and precipitation data. Using the outputs of the screening tool for various design storms, a means to identify and prioritize improvements to be funded with scarce capital funds was developed, which combines the likelihood of flooding from the screening tool with a consequence of flooding assessment based on land use and parcel size. This framework appears to be viable across cities that may be inundated with water due to sea-level rise, rainfall, runoff upstream, and other natural events. The framework was applied to two communities using the 1-day 100-year storm event: one in southeast Broward County with an existing capital plan and one inland community with no capital plan.

Abstract

Ride-hailing or private hire has taken the Singapore transport network by storm in the past few years. Singapore has had more than three revisions of its ride-hailing regulation in the six years since the arrival of the disruptive technology. Often quoted in the list of cities with commendable public transport policy, Singapore still manages to find a viable and significant position for ride-hailing. Cities from around the world are all searching for a model of regulation for ride-hailing that can be elevated as a benchmark. Singapore, to a large extent, has formulated a successful model based on current market parameters and, more importantly, an adaptive one that evolves constantly with the constantly disruptive technology. The experts and regulators of the Singapore transport sector were interviewed in depth, tapping into their opinions and technocratic commentaries on the city-state’s Point-to-Point, or P2P, sector regulation. The data were analyzed using the three-element model of social practice theory as an alternative to conventional behavioral studies, thereby eliminating bias on the commuters and rather shifting focus to the practice. Content analysis utilizing QDA is executed for categorization through fine-level inductive matrix coding to elaborate upon the policy derivatives of the Singapore model. The unique addition of the research to ride-hailing policy is the comprehension of the commonalities and patterns across industrial and technological disruption, practice and policy irrespective of sectoral variations, thanks to the utilization of social practice theory. The first-of-its-kind policy exercise in the sector can be repeated for any city, which is a direct testament to the simplicity and exhaustivity of the methodology, benefiting both operators and investors through equitable policy formulation.

Abstract China’s regional planning and development has been a key national priority since the start of economic reform and opening up. China’s regional development strategy has constantly evolved and has shifted to prioritizing integrated areas and mega-clusters to promote internal connectivity, increase urbanization and employment, and consequently, domestic consumption. This is distinct from past regional rebalancing initiatives, which were mainly aimed at reducing regional income gaps and relieving pressure from population flows to developed coastal regions. To support regional integration and sustain economic growth, institutional or structural policies to remove factor market distortions are just as necessary as increased investment in physical infrastructure, given that China’s domestic market is huge but highly fragmented. As China faces rising external geopolitical and global economic uncertainties, its regional development strategy will be to emphasize more on “dual circulation” to boost domestic demand and strengthen China’s supply chain resiliency, while still enhancing trade linkages with global markets to spur competition and support its industrial upgrading efforts.

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