V. Working Group on Public Finance and Public Financial Management
Lucie Sedmihradska, Lecturer, Department of Public Finance, University of Economics, Prague, Czech Republic
E-mail: sedmih@vse.cz
Lucie Sedmihradska is a Lecturer at the Department of Public Finance, University of Economics in Prague. Aside from teaching she has been involved in several local and international research projects focusing on public budgets, local government finance and inter-municipal cooperation. She has published approximately two dozen journal articles and book chapters. She has been involved in NISPAcee since 2000, and since 2007 has been one of the coordinators of the WG on Public Sector Finance and Accounting and the WG on Fiscal Policy. She has also edited (co-edited) three books on local government finance issues in transition countries which were the outcome of the activities of the WG on Public Sector Finance and Accounting.
Juraj Nemec,, Professor of Public Finance and Management, Masaryk University Brno, Czech Republic and Matej Bel University Banska Bystrica, Slovakia
E-mail: juraj.nemec@umb.sk
He holds an MBA in Business Administration, a Ph.D. in Public Sector Economics and is a Professor of Public Finance and Public Management, with more than 33 years’ experience in teaching in public sector management and procurement. He has published over 400 books and scientific articles in this field and held several academic posts, including the position of "Dean of the Faculty of Finance". During his academic and professional career he has gained immense experience in the political and administrative situation in the European integration process and EU enlargement.
Aleksander Aristovnik, Associate Professor, Faculty of Public Administration, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
E-mail: aleksander.aristovnik@fu.uni-lj.si
Aleksander Aristovnik is employed at the Faculty of Public Administration (University of Ljubljana) as an Associate Professor in the Department of Economics and Public Sector Management. In addition, he is an Associate Professor in the Department of International Economics at the Faculty of Economics (University of Ljubljana). He has actively participated in around sixty international conferences and has recently performed as the head or a member of a few international and domestic research projects financed by the Slovenian Research Agency (SRA). He has also published and reviewed many professional and scientific articles in domestic and international (ISI-cited) journals. He is a member of editorial board of numerous international journals (e.g. International journal of knowledge and learning, Journal of applied economic sciences, etc.) and various international associations/organisations (e.g. EEA, INFER, ATINER, etc.).
The WG on Public Finance and Public Finance Managementannounces two specificresearch tracksfor the 2017conference: (1) Performance financingand (2) "Better” governmental spending as a reaction to the crisis. Papers dealing with all other aspects of public finance and public financial management are also welcome for the general track.
Track 1: Performance financing
The papers in this research track are expected to deliverinterestingcase studies about the pros and cons of the introduction of performance financing schemes on any level of a public administration system. Performance financing is used as a part of the budgeting process, but also in many cases as the direct tool for the allocation of resources to public organisations. Programme performance budgeting is recommended to CEE countries by many international bodies and donors, but does not deliver the expected outcomes. Any attempt to use performanceindicators as the basis of allocating finance to public bodies (or granting finance to the private - normallynon-profit - sector) is risky and may cause important pervasive effects.
Possible research questions:
Positive and negativeoutcomes from introducing performance financing schemes.Pros and cons of using performance indicators. The availability and actual use of the right performance indicators.To what extent are governments/public organisations utilising different kinds of performance indicators and tools in performance financing? What kinds of performance indicators and/or performance measurement instruments may be best suited for different purposes? Different incentive structures of linking performance to financing. How crisis and austerity measures affected performance financing?Implementation of performance financing schemes - purposes, actors, expected and achieved results and theirexplanation. Main factors determining the outcomes of introducing performance financing schemes.Potential risks and benefits of performancefinancing schemes.
Structure of the proposed abstract:
· The objective of the research (includepossible research questions). Brief description of the proposed case study, or plannedresearch design.
Structure of the paper:
The paper can have a standardcase study/comparative analysisformat, or standard primary or secondaryresearch paper format.
All papers from this track will be evaluated and may be selected for an edited volume on the topic, published by an international publisher (probably Bruylant).
Track 2:"Better” governmental spending as a reaction to the crisis.
Most public administration and public finance experts feel that expenditurecuts and tax increases cannot help to cope with the current crisis, at least not in a long-term perspective: efficiency and effectiveness of public spending might be much more important from this point of view.
The aim of this track is to collect papers analysing all aspects connected with the "level” of efficiency and effectiveness of governmental spending in CEE, but also from a broader perspective. This means that this track provides the space for really different types of contributions, such as:
- Analysing the gaps in public financial management sub-areas (budgeting, procurement, contracting, etc) and possible responses.
- Providing examples of successful changes, explaining why positive changes happen.
- Providing examples of needed, but failed or unrealised changes, explaining why the situation does not improve.
Also, for this track, we provide a suggested (but not compulsory) structure of both the proposed abstract and the paper in order to stimulate the authors to realise an empirical research, even in the case of a small sample and case study research design. This template allows accommodating all kinds of research questions and research methods in order to obtain, as a whole group, quite rich evidence on what is happening.
Structure of the proposed abstract:
- The objective or the research question,
- Methodology,
- Expected findings.
Structure of the paper:
- Introducing the case analysed,
- Short literature review of the phenomena studied, based on both local and international literature,
- Methodology,
- Analysis,
- Policy implications.
Applications on other related topics are welcome. The abstract should give a clear idea about these aspects of the proposed paper:
- The objective or the research question,
- Methodology,
- Expected findings.