More effort needed on government integrity to help restore public trust - OECD

More effort needed on government integrity to help restore public trust - OECD

EPA Clean Power Plan Explained

President Obama's Plan to Fight Climate Change

Clean Power Plan Proposed Rule | Carbon Pollution Standards | US EPA

Clean Power Plan Proposed Rule | Carbon Pollution Standards | US EPA

EPA Proposes First Guidelines to Cut Carbon Pollution from Existing Power Plants/Clean Power Plan is flexible proposal to ensure a healthier environment, spur innovation and strengthen the economy

06/02/2014: EPA Proposes First Guidelines to Cut Carbon Pollution from Existing Power Plants/Clean Power Plan is flexible proposal to ensure a healthier environment, spur innovation and strengthen the economy

EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy announces Clean Power Plan Proposal

Governments can do more to regain trust, says OECD report

The global economic crisis has undermined trust in government. Today only four out of ten citizens in OECD countries say they have confidence in their national authorities. Not surprisingly, trust declined in the countries hit hardest by the crisis, such as Ireland, Greece, Slovenia and Portugal.

But measures can be taken to rebuild trust, according to a new OECD report. The OECD’s latest edition of Government at a Glance argues that governments need to be more inclusive, transparent, receptive and efficient. For that, they need to put their fiscal houses in order, deliver high quality services to their citizens and provide open and transparent data.


“Citizens look to governments to lead the way. Without strong leadership, supported by effective policies, trust is easily eroded. Good governance means putting the needs of people at the centre of policy-making,” said OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría.

See full Press Release: http://www.oecd.org/governance/governments-can-do-more-to-regain-trust-says-oecd-report.htm

Higher government wages may reduce corruption

Do higher government wages reduce corruption? This column argues that they do, but only in relatively poor countries. When a country’s poor, higher government wages reduce bureaucrats’ incentive to extract illegal incomes. However, as income per capita rises, higher government wages gradually lose their effectiveness in combating corruption.

Defined as the abuse of public office for private gain, corruption is found to have bad effects on economic development, weaken the institutional system and create cynicism in the political life (Rose-Ackerman 2004). Quite a few economists have been troubled with the question of whether government wages should be used as a means to reduce the ‘gains’ from corrupt activities, and thus, breaking the vicious circle of high corruption and economic stagnation. However, there is very little agreement on the actual impact of government wages on corruption.

See full Article: http://www.voxeu.org/article/higher-government-wages-may-reduce-corruption

Social, Environmental, Ethical and Governance Issues in Business Part 2

Women in parliament

ALMOST 20% of the world’s parliamentary seats are now occupied by women, up from 17.2% five years ago, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union. Nordic countries have the highest share of women in single or lower houses of parliament, averaging 42%. Europe, Africa and Asia follow with around 19-20% of total seats. Arab states still trail behind, with less than 12% women parliamentarians, though quotas have helped increase representation, up from 9.5% five years ago.

See full Article.

Women in parliaments: Contested geographies

Examining female participation rates in parliaments reveals a new picture of women's rights across the globe.

The war in the US over women's reproductive rights is appalling. The all-men panel at the congressional hearing that discussed female contraception was patently offensive as much as it was ironic. The pressure on women's health in the US is particularly disturbing because it takes place in broad day light, in a democratic context of a country that claims to be a world leader in individual freedoms.

While some societies appear to grant women considerable political equality, the form and content of political debates can be symptomatic of underlying structural inequalities that rarely receive scrutiny. There are many ways to analyse the current erosion of women rights in the US; one of them is that women's voices are too often absent or marginal when crucial decisions are made.

See full Article.

Regional Antitrust Chief Shot 3 Times

The chief of the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service's Ivanovo region branch was shot Monday morning while heading to work, investigators said.

Alexander Borovkov was shot three times and seriously wounded, the Investigative Committee said in a statement. As of Monday afternoon, he was hospitalized in grave condition, Interfax reported.

He was shot as he got out of his car to enter the service's office building in the town of Ivanovo, about 200 kilometers northeast of Moscow.

See full Article

Brazil corruption: President loses fourth minister

Brazil's Agriculture Minister Wagner Rossi has resigned amid a corruption scandal.

He is the fourth minister to leave office because of corruption allegations since President Dilma Rousseff came to power in January.

Mr Rossi said he had spent a month battling what he called "false accusations", and had had enough.

See full Article.

Governance: Fiscal consolidation should lead to more efficient government, says OECD

The fiscal effort made by governments to help citizens and businesses bounce back from the global economic crisis pushed government’s share of the economy to record highs, according to a new OECD report.

Several countries now require substantial progress in government efficiency in order to reconcile fiscal consolidation and responsiveness to citizens’ needs.

See full Press Release.

Why women in politics matter

The Arab Spring created hope for democracy in which women would at least have a voice. But we're still waiting

Of course, women's political participation and leadership are not the only necessary factors for general peace and prosperity. But they are necessary factors. Supporters of democracy everywhere, whether in Lebanon, France, or the United States, would do well to remember that.
Marianne Mollmann, women's rights advocacy director at Human Rights Watch

Following a five-month stalemate, Lebanon's prime minister has finally announced his 30-member cabinet. News reports have concentrated on the representation of various religious factions. But there has been little attention to the fact that all 30 ministers are men. Recent Lebanese governments were dominated by men, but not to the total exclusion of women.

See full Article

Governments are good at investing in public bads

Oxfam's new report: Growing a Better Future describes a new age of growing crisis: food price spikes and oil price hikes, devastating weather events, financial meltdowns, and global contagion. Behind each of these, slow-burn crises smoulder: creeping and insidious climate change, growing inequality, chronic hunger and vulnerability, the erosion of our natural resources.

Based on the experience and research of Oxfam staff and partners around the world and, Growing a Better Future shows how the food system is at once a driver of this fragility and highly vulnerable to it, and why in the twenty-first century it leaves 925 million people hungry.

See full Article.

N.Y. Ethics Bill May Lack Some Teeth

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s office unveiled legislation to improve ethics enforcement on Tuesday, revealing details that raised questions about whether the reforms would be weaker than expected.
Related

When Mr. Cuomo and legislative leaders announced an agreement on the ethics overhaul in a statement on Friday, they issued only a summary of the changes, refusing to release the actual bill. Their reluctance to do so kindled suspicions that the fine print contained concessions to legislative leaders.


See full Article.

Politics Plays Part in Achieving Rich-Nation Status

China is making great progress in lifting its people from the ranks of the world's poorest. But if the experience of other countries is any indicator, it will need a revolution to achieve rich-nation status.

Uprisings throughout the Middle East, and China's recent moves to suppress its own "Jasmine Revolution"—with steps such as jailing government critics—underscore a question facing the developing world: Can authoritarian or oligarchic states join the ranks of the world's wealthy, and even gain global economic primacy? Or is political change a prerequisite?

See full Article.

10 Most Corrupt State Governments

It seems that political corruption is influenced by several intrinsic factors that are almost impossible to change. Some states have struggled with the same issues of embezzlement, extortion and bribery for centuries, and have done little to change for the better, which explains why, as Americans, we’re perpetually cynical about our elected officials, despite purporting ourselves to be a moral beacon for the world. Charles Caleb Colton said it best: "Corruption is like a ball of snow; once it’s set a rolling, it must increase." The following state governments are proof of that, as their politicians have routinely made headlines for their wrongdoings. Hopefully, some day, each will undergo a sort of moral cleansing and make changes for the better.

See full Article.

Advancing women in government

Debates on the value of diversity and the empowerment and advancement of women have raged for centuries, but when it comes to gender equality, few achievements can compare with the rising role of women in government. The public sector's openness to women serves as a model for the private sector, and ultimately for women as a global workforce, but the path to achieving gender parity has been slow and uneven.

In the 21st century knowledge economy, the public and private sector continue to harness and mine the wealth of female talent to support continued growth and success. Institutional approaches to foster the advancement of women will help ensure economic competitiveness. With a critical mass of women in senior levels of government reaching around one-third representation, women’s issues begin to eclipse less gender centric issues, and pave the way for encouraging the next generation of women leaders.

See full Article.