Public Services

Key highlights of a study: The situation of women in public transport

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The characteristics of people’s daily transport routines are different, as they differ according to the size of the settlement, various social and demographic characteristics, different travel destinations and even the season and time of day. In our empirical survey, we chose to examine one of the most significant influencing factors, namely the gender aspect in Debrecen and its immediate vicinity. According to a 2019 OECD report, the needs of men and women in public transport are different. The latter prefer to use public transport more than the opposite sex, yet their needs are taken into account less when making transport decisions. Read more… (Mihály Dombi – Dóra Lovas – Zoltán Jónás)

“Particularly vulnerable”: at-risk consumers in the European Union consumer protection regime

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In a previous blog post, I explored the notion of the average consumer as defined in European Union law and its interpretation by the European Court of Justice. This current article aims to serve as a continuation of the previous study, with the objective of presenting a brief analysis of two potential interpretations of consumer vulnerability developed in the literature of consumer protection, followed by an examination of the appearance of a singular major exception to the average consumer concept within the European Union consumer protection regime: the narrow scope of consumers acknowledged as ‘particularly vulnerable’. Read more… (Daniel Szilágyi)

Implications of a “no deal” Brexit for students at UK universities

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Following the “historic defeat” of PM Theresa May’s Brexit deal at the hands of the UK House of Commons, the possibility of a “no deal” Brexit seems higher than ever before, meaning a scenario in which the United Kingdom would leave the European Union immediately on 29 March 2019 with no agreements in place about what their relationship would be like in the future. Without further preparatory actions or commitments made by the UK government, a “no deal” Brexit would create immediate uncertainty for EU nationals in UK universities, prospective students and staff from across the EU, and for those participating in any of the Horizon 2020, Structural Funds or Erasmus+ programmes. Read more… (Daniel Szilágyi)

Will re-municipalisation in water sector influence donor policies?

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Increasing number of re-municipalisation cases and enhancing public influence in service provision indicate a major policy shift in public service management. The former privatisation trend in water management and other infrastructure services seem to be reversed. The question is whether international donors, financing institutions and technical assistance programs acknowledge these changes and take into account this new political reality? Read more… (Gábor Péteri)

PPP projects in Belarus: does it breakthrough in public services

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One of our previous blog posts already discussed the development of public-private partnership in the last two decades, as well as its benefits and potential negative effects in detail. Yuri Krivorotko‘s note will examine why PPPs need in Belarus and what are the main results and shortcomings in establishing the necessary regulatory and financial framework. The author argues that, for Belarusian economy and finance, PPP becomes even more demanded and urgent. Read more…

Welfare sector in Belarus: consistent public policy in the budget sphere?

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For a long time the Belarusian authorities characterized their national and subnational budgets with a welfare orientation. This brief note focuses on two questions: (i) what tendencies of social budgetary policy can be observed in the time of economic recession and (ii) how consistent was the welfare orientation of the central and local budgets in practice. Read more … (Yuri Krivorotko)

Regionalisation and competition – Finnish social and health care reform

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In Finland, the last Governments have very clearly recognized huge need for reforms in social and health care sector. Mr Juha Sipilä’s current Government has prepared the latest reply to the old challenge: over 800 pages of new legislation draft, issued in the end of June 2016. Markku Mölläri’s article explains the key issues of the government proposal. (Markku Mölläri) Read more…

Mission of the Blog

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Governmental roles are facing new challenges again in the market-based economy. Both the welfare state and the socialistic state aimed to widen the scope of intervention, however their instruments and conditions were very different. In contrary to this situation, reactions of liberalism in the late 20th century and regime changes aimed to minimize the power … Read more