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After the 1988 Constitution, Brazil experienced changes in fiscal federalism, decentralizing revenues to states and municipalities, but the restrictive federal fiscal scenario limited this. Law 9,478/97 increased royalty revenues for coastal municipalities in São Paulo, boosting investments in infrastructure and public services, which should be directed towards investments that consider the potential of each municipality. To conduct this study, we used exploratory research of a qualitative nature, with a bibliographic and documentary design. This study investigates the impact of these resources on tax revenues and economic development in the municipalities of São Sebastião and Ilhabela, concluding that, although they have boosted investments and public services, the lack of strategic direction could compromise the economic future of these regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of GeSec: Revista de Gestao e Secretariado is the property of Sindicato das Secretarias e Secretarios do Estado de Sao Paulo (SINSESP) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Abstract Weeds are attractive models for basic and applied research due to their impacts on agricultural systems and capacity to swiftly adapt in response to anthropogenic selection pressures. Currently, a lack of genomic information precludes research to elucidate the genetic basis of rapid adaptation for important traits like herbicide resistance and stress tolerance and the effect of evolutionary mechanisms on wild populations. The International Weed Genomics Consortium is a collaborative group of scientists focused on developing genomic resources to impact research into sustainable, effective weed control methods and to provide insights about stress tolerance and adaptation to assist crop breeding.

Copyright of Papers: Revista de Sociologia is the property of Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista Foco (Interdisciplinary Studies Journal) is the property of Revista Foco and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In Brazil, government purchases of products or services, by constitutional and legal impositions, must be preceded by bidding, whose supervision is the responsibility of the Courts of Auditors. Bids are subject to numerous frauds, including collusion between bidders, which sometimes occur through the exclusive or majority participation of the same group of business partners. The transparency of government spending is a global trend and, in Brazil, there are several public databases of the Courts of Auditors on bidding procedures. The present study, using public data, aims to verify the degree of involvement/engagement among bidders. Our research resulted in the identification of 688 bids in which the same economic group represented 100% (one hundred percent) of the bidders, which constitutes a strong presumption of fraud. The adopted approach uses graph-based databases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Innovar: Revista de Ciencias Administrativas y Sociales is the property of Universidad Nacional de Colombia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This work explores the nexus between ethical leadership and the effective management of public resources. The major force is that any nation's performance, seeking to achieve its goals, depends on its leadership. This is especially true when ethical leadership translates into wise public policy design and implementation and good public service delivery to meet citizens' needs and ambitions. Unfortunately, the post-independence period in Africa has been characterized by a never-ending quest for the depressing trajectory of African economies. This paper employs a literature review of various sources. The objective is to better understand ethical leadership and effective management of public resources for African development by bringing out the Tanzanian experience. This study is based on findings from the literature review. Further studies are needed to include findings from Africa and elsewhere to give an informative work from a global perspective. This work is expected to inform researchers and all stakeholders concerned with leadership and development to get crucial information on the theoretical and policy gaps that must be addressed when dealing with ethical leadership. Topical gaps in the literature are suggested as prospective research areas.

Transparency portals must offer citizens free access to data in a clear, practical, authentic and secure way, thus providing a dynamic and reliable interaction regarding the veracity of information. This study aimed to identify the level of knowledge of the population of the municipality of Cortês/PE about the use of Transparency Portals. To achieve the proposed objective, a structured questionnaire was applied, adopting the survey technique with residents of the city of Cortês/PE, in the face-to-face and virtual modality with 394 participants. As a technique for analyzing the collected data, descriptive statistics were used. The results showed that the Cortês population's knowledge about the Transparency Portals is still in its infancy, considering the moment of the research and most of the participants did not have access to the transparency portal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the time trend of federal public resources invested in the Brazilian Food and Nutrition Security agenda from 2000--2022. METHODS: A time series study was carried out with data collected from a publicly accessible system on the Federal Government's planning and budget. We analyzed the budget actions and their resources indicated by the Budget Allocation and the Settled Amount. The actions were categorized into themes of the Food Nutrition Security agenda, analyzed using the Prais-Winsten regression, together with the Cochrane-Orcutt method. The values were adjusted by the Broad Consumer Price Index for January 2023. RESULTS: Investment in the area of Food and Nutrition Security has shown an upward trend over two decades of federal funding, although it has shown fluctuations in certain years. The Budgetary Allocation showed an annual variation of 10.1%, and the Settled Amount obtained 10.8%. However, there is an imbalance in federal funding between strategic areas, with an upward trend in health (37.4%), food sovereignty (23.7%), and access to food (12.3%); and a downward trend in investment in some areas, such as agrarian development (-7.0%). The allocation of resources was concentrated on welfare actions to guarantee access to food, averaging 73.4% of the total resources spent. CONCLUSION: The results show that public investment in Brazil's Food and Nutrition Security agenda has been on the rise, although there have been fluctuations in certain years and a concentration of resources in specific areas. Despite having two thirds of the budget aimed exclusively at actions toward access to food, recent data shows that hunger still plagues the Brazilian reality. This reinforces the need for continuous and more equitable investment between areas, as a way of strengthening structuring public policies that permanently guarantee Food and Nutrition Security for the Brazilian population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Dilemas Contemporáneos: Educación, Política y Valores is the property of Dilemas Contemporaneos: Educacion, Politica y Valores and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This work explores the nexus between ethical leadership and the effective management of public resources. The major force is that any nation's performance, seeking to achieve its goals, depends on its leadership. This is especially true when ethical leadership translates into wise public policy design and implementation and good public service delivery to meet citizens' needs and ambitions. Unfortunately, the post-independence period in Africa has been characterized by a never-ending quest for the depressing trajectory of African economies. This paper employs a literature review of various sources. The objective is to better understand ethical leadership and effective management of public resources for African development by bringing out the Tanzanian experience. This study is based on findings from the literature review. Further studies are needed to include findings from Africa and elsewhere to give an informative work from a global perspective. This work is expected to inform researchers and all stakeholders concerned with leadership and development to get crucial information on the theoretical and policy gaps that must be addressed when dealing with ethical leadership. Topical gaps in the literature are suggested as prospective research areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of controlling the implementation of the limited public resources is incontestable when it comes to the national health system. In recent years, however, there have been sneaking doubts about the effectiveness of the control functions exercised by the only public provider in the system - the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF). In this regard, the goal of this research is to study the dynamics of the opinions of the largest group of medical care providers, who are directly affected by the NHIF's control - namely, general practitioners (GPs) - before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. For the purposes of the comparative analysis we have used concrete results obtained through distributing a questionnaire to 311, and respectively 394 GPs from all over the country, who were in contractual relations with the NHIF during the periods of February-August 2020, and June-October2022 respectively. The summarised results solidify the predominant opinion among GPs, which is to doubt the results of the NHIF's preliminary control. The primary motives are that it is chiefly directed at detecting documentation oversights and/or incorrectly reported activities, which the NHIF refuses to remunerate, even if they have taken place, and not directed at identifying the unregulated practices in reporting activities, which are present according to a large share of the participants. There is a positive tendency in that the circle of those informed on the NHIF's reasons for denying remuneration has widened during the pandemic. The doubt in the NHIF's control providing lawful, and respectively effective, implementation of regulated resources in primary outpatient care (POC) is solidified and expressed by the majority. The primary reasons are the document-focused nature of the conducted inspections, as well as not rendering into account the health effect of the implementation of public resources. The presented information, along with the additionally predominant share of activities the NHIF has definitively refused to remunerate in the conditions of COVID-19, explains the lacking proactiveness in challenging the NHIF's remuneration declines. All this necessitates that actions are taken to discontinue the present unregulated practices, publicly render into account the health effect of the implementation of public resources, and comprehensively and clearly inform GPs about the reasoning behind decided remuneration for activities performed by them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The tense evolution of the conflict in Ukraine could not remain without economic and financial implications for nearby countries, such as Romania. The very large influx of refugees has put pressure on national health, defense and public order systems but also on the central public administration. The reaction of the Romanian authorities was not long in coming and consisted of the immediate mobilization of budgetary resources for accommodation, humanitarian assistance, the provision of basic necessities during the temporary stay such as food, clothing or personal hygiene materials, as well as the right to receive free medical care and appropriate treatment. This article seeks to capture the reaction of local government managers and the way in which they mobilized and reacted to provide aid to refugees, although the responsibilities for providing aid and assistance rested with the central government.

The present research aims at the comparative analysis of the conditions that support the manifestation of the principle of autonomy in public administration in the administrative-territorial units, with particularization at the commune of Mérignac in France, Quebec province in Canada and Tudora commune in Romania. Through the approach, we found that, in support of local autonomy, the French territorial communities are communes, departments, regions, communities with special status, overseas communities; the Canadian territory is divided into provinces and territories, the province of Quebec being divided by municipalities, cities, parishes, villages, cantons, united cantons; the Romanian national community is divided into local communities formed into counties, municipalities, cities and communes. At the level of the three administrative-territorial units analyzed, human, material and financial public resources were identified, which together provide support for the applicability of the principle of autonomy. In addition, the consistency of local autonomy is also conferred by the recognition of the full competence of the local public administration authorities to manage the affairs of the administrative-territorial units. The fact that the acts of the local public administration authorities in the three territorial divisions are subject to control does not express a restriction on the principle of autonomy.

Copyright of Revista Espacios is the property of Talleres de Impresos Oma and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of IUSTA is the property of Universidad Santo Tomas and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista Telos is the property of Revista Telos and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In order to improve the ability of residential disaster prevention, control, and governance, it is important to objectively measure how nearby residents' needs match the public resources of the residential area, and to understand the factors affecting the satisfaction of residents' needs at the time of lockdowns. Taking Changchun City as an example, this paper used Structural Equation Modeling (SEM)-logit and Importance–Satisfaction (I–S) evaluation methods to discuss the impact mechanism and improvement strategies of residential public resource elements on the satisfaction of residents' needs during the lockdown period. The results showed the influencing factors and the degree of importance of the satisfaction of residents' needs under different types of settlements have obvious differentiation characteristics. The level of resource management can better affect the overall evaluation of residents in newly built settlements, and the quality of the conditions of the space environment is more important for the old residential communities. The satisfaction of residents in settlements has a more significant impact. Finally, the study explained the renovation proposals and their priority levels that meet the needs of residents to provide beneficial support for the resilience of urban settlements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the deepening reform of natural resource management, it is necessary to establish a paid use system, realize the marketization of factors and establish a market system. This paper summarizes the progress and current situation of the construction of China's mining rights trading platform and analyzes the key problems that exist. In accordance with the unified public resources trading platform construction goals and the requirements of the natural resources management system reform. Put forward proposals for the revision of mining rights trading rules and reform ideas to improve the construction of mining rights trading platform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The results-based budgeting (RBB) framework is a public management strategy in which economic resources are allocated to certain budget programs, oriented towards delivering specific products and results to the population. The present paper analyzes the regional governments' efficiency in using their economic resources, under the RBB framework, with an application to the Peruvian context. To this end, we employ a data envelopment analysis (DEA) model with bootstrapping. In the first stage, different sectors of the regional governments are considered individually: education, security, health, sanitation, transportation, and recreation. In the second stage, the overall efficiency index is calculated using the sectoral indices obtained in the first stage. Finally, the factors or determinants influencing the level of efficiency are analyzed. The results show improvements in efficiency levels in the areas of health and sanitation, to the detriment of the rest of the sectors. The average overall efficiency level over the period 2013–2016 remains in the range of 0.25–0.30, which indicates an inefficiency level of 70%. Finally, the variables fiscal autonomy, capital stock, and population density show a positive relationship with respect to the overall efficiency index. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present research aims at the comparative analysis of the conditions that support the manifestation of the principle of autonomy in public administration in the administrative-territorial units, with particularization at the commune of Mérignac in France, Quebec province in Canada and Tudora commune in Romania. Through the approach, we found that, in support of local autonomy, the French territorial communities are communes, departments, regions, communities with special status, overseas communities; the Canadian territory is divided into provinces and territories, the province of Quebec being divided by municipalities, cities, parishes, villages, cantons, united cantons; the Romanian national community is divided into local communities formed into counties, municipalities, cities and communes. At the level of the three administrative-territorial units analyzed, human, material and financial public resources were identified, which together provide support for the applicability of the principle of autonomy. In addition, the consistency of local autonomy is also conferred by the recognition of the full competence of the local public administration authorities to manage the affairs of the administrative-territorial units. The fact that the acts of the local public administration authorities in the three territorial divisions are subject to control does not express a restriction on the principle of autonomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The tense evolution of the conflict in Ukraine could not remain without economic and financial implications for nearby countries, such as Romania. The very large influx of refugees has put pressure on national health, defense and public order systems but also on the central public administration. The reaction of the Romanian authorities was not long in coming and consisted of the immediate mobilization of budgetary resources for accommodation, humanitarian assistance, the provision of basic necessities during the temporary stay such as food, clothing or personal hygiene materials, as well as the right to receive free medical care and appropriate treatment. This article seeks to capture the reaction of local government managers and the way in which they mobilized and reacted to provide aid to refugees, although the responsibilities for providing aid and assistance rested with the central government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to analyze the state sources of budget revenues of Romania during 2019-2021 and trough this research we will see the influencing factors on the increase or decrease of the state budget income. Budget incomes are the necessary means for the formation of funds from which budget expenditures are made. In the second part of this article, we will analyze the budget revenues and expenditures in the same period to better understand how state institutions work and how our country's resources are distributed. Based on the information extracted from the website of the Ministry of Public Finance, we identified the evolution of public expenditures and the reasons that determined the allocation of amounts for each functional category. The paper is a brief assessment of the situation in which our country is during the 2017-2021 period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Venezolana de Gerencia (RVG) is the property of Revista de Filosofia-Universidad del Zulia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

To successfully deliver public goods and services in order to meet the needs of a society in a continuous growth, it was necessary to establish public resources available to the public sector. The formation of financial resources at the disposal of the state and their distribution to different institutions to cover the public needs is presented through the procedures used for the allocation of resources, with a strong emphasis on the relationship between the budgetary revenues and expenses. The traditional view of public finances emphasizes public spending, which means obtaining resources in advance to cover the needs, without considering their impact on the life quality of citizens. The modern view on public finances is focused especially on the effects that public expenses generate on the society as a whole.

Copyright of Verba Iuris is the property of Universidad Libre Bogota, Centre de Investigaciones Socio Juridicas de la Facultad de Derecho and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Turismo: Visão e Ação is the property of Turismo-Visao E Acao and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article aimed to investigate the efficiency in public spending of the municipalities of the state of Mato Grosso do Sul − Brazil, covering the period between 2005 and 2016. For the analysis, we considered the following variables: administration expenses, health, education, Gross Domestic Product per capita (GDPpc), the municipal population, and the Firjan Municipal Development Index. We used as an efficiency calculation method the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). The empirical results showed varied efficiencies among the municipalities, within the proposed period, and the average municipal efficiencies on the map were pointed out, which showed seven municipalities in the range I; 15 municipalities in the range II; 17 municipalities in range III; and 16 municipalities in range IV. From these results, we cannot say that a higher level of efficiency can lead to an increase or decrease in the Firjan Development Index, concluding that there is inefficiency in the management of public resources, and these do not guarantee results in improving income, longevity, and education of Mato Grosso do Sul. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Verba Iuris is the property of Universidad Libre Bogota, Centre de Investigaciones Socio Juridicas de la Facultad de Derecho and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Roa Iktissadia Review is the property of Roa Iktissadia Review and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Environmental taxation has been developing for decades and it started to gain its importance, especially with the European Union extending. The usage of taxes as a part of environmental policy has been known for some time in Romania and developments in this area continued year by year. The present paper explores the current system of environmental taxes in Romania. It highlights the importance of car pollution tax in financing Environmental Fund and the existence of many tax liabilities irrelevant as financial importance.

Copyright of Journal Public Administration & Social Management / Administração Pública e Gestão Social is the property of Administracao Publica e Gestao Social and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

To successfully deliver public goods and services in order to meet the needs of a society in a continuous growth, it was necessary to establish public resources available to the public sector. The formation of financial resources at the disposal of the state and their distribution to different institutions to cover the public needs is presented through the procedures used for the allocation of resources, with a strong emphasis on the relationship between the budgetary revenues and expenses. The traditional view of public finances emphasizes public spending, which means obtaining resources in advance to cover the needs, without considering their impact on the life quality of citizens. The modern view on public finances is focused especially on the effects that public expenses generate on the society as a whole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Roa Iktissadia Review is the property of Roa Iktissadia Review and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The health system is complex and costly for the management of municipalities. This article aims to understand how the public management seeks the balance of accounts in the provision of the service for the treatment of cancer. The purpose of this study is to analyze the influence of the relationship between expenditure and revenues in the public health area on the cancer mortality rate. To reach the results, the quantitative method of panel data with linear regression, with data between the years 2007 to 2014, was used. Among the main results it is noticed that the reduction of health expenditure raises the level of mortality by cancer in the municipalities. In this case, it is recommended that public management perform care networks to reduce costs and better care for cancer treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accessibility-oriented development (AOD) strategies are the extension of transit-oriented development (TOD) strategies but focus more on access to destinations. Adopting AOD strategies can help identify and improve the defects of imperfect TOD construction. Based on AOD strategies, this paper evaluated the comprehensive accessibility to multiple public facilities with the Gaussian-based two-step floating catchment area method (G2SFCA) in the heart area of Chengdu City and further analyzed its equity issues. The comprehensive accessibility analysis proved the efficiency of AOD-based analysis in public resources shortage area determination and TOD level evaluation. The equity analysis indicated that the improvement of equity could not reflect the progress on total accessibility but only rationalize the allocation structure of public resources. Based on the case study, several suggestions for policy-making are given, including the construction of the non-motorized transportation system, adjustment of supply allocation, and comprehensive consideration of equity and accessibility in urban planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pāua (abalone) are a treasured natural resource that supports a recreational fishery worth $2 million annually to the local economy of the Kaikōura district in New Zealand. From 2016, the fishery was closed for 5 years in response to widespread mortality caused by co-seismic uplift in the 7.8 M w Kaikōura earthquake. The fishery re-opened in 2021 for three months with a recreational fishing allocation of 5 tonnes. We constructed scenario models informed by fishing pressure observations and show that this catch target was severely exceeded (by a factor of ∼9). We then evaluated alternative management settings involving daily bag limit (DBL) adjustments and temporal controls on the open season. Only the most drastic modelled scenarios could achieve the 5 t allocation with similar levels of daily fishing effort showing the need for a greater focus on fishing effort to achieve sustainable management. Severely reduced DBLs (1–2 pāua) were required in all scenarios suggesting a need for significant departure from this management focus since very low DBL settings force poor cost-return ratios on fishers. Instead, temporal controls that shift opening times away from high visitation periods provide a means of maintaining modest DBLs outside of longer-term protected areas. These seasonal timing strategies can also support a greater proportion of the harvest accruing to local fishers thereby influencing benefit-sharing aspects of the recreational fishery. We discuss insights for equitable solutions to potential influxes of fishing effort and highlight the opportune aspects of disaster recovery contexts for conceiving and implementing new policy directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both the size of appropriation as well as their distribution have had a profound impact on the shape and activities of the science sector. The creation of a fair system of distribution of public resources to research that will also facilitate the effective implementation of the pursued scientific policy goals represents a major challenge. The issue of the determination of the right proportions of individual distribution channels remains critical. Despite this task being the responsibility of the State, establishing cooperation in this respect with the scientific community is desirable. The implementation of solutions that raise the concerns of scientists leads to system instability and reduced effectiveness which is manifest among others in a lower level of indicators of scientific excellence and innovation in the country.

Distribution of resources is at the core of politics. Although this activity is primarily economic in nature, the existing research shows that political representatives often use the allocation of public money to reward their allies at the expense of their rivals. This paper analyses a 2015 governmental programme of local sport grants in Slovakia that aimed to build sport facilities for children and young people. In order to avoid any political bias, the programme was established as a neutral mechanism with an anonymous evaluation of grant requests. The results of analysis, however, provide substantial evidence that the subsidies were given primarily to towns with closer political ties to the government while municipalities led by mayors from the opposition were nearly fully ignored. In addition, the presented social and economic aims of the funding programme were not effectively pursued. The paper thus represents a valuable contribution to the discussion of distributive politics, in general, as it shows that, despite the respective legal framework, the allocation of resources may still end up as a process fuelled by partisan interests.

The argues that welfare state reforms and higher education reforms are closely linked to increasing intergenerational conflicts over public resources in aging societies, and reforms pressures are linked to the shrinking tax base, the power of neoliberal ideology, and changing social attitudes across Europe. The indirect impact of aging societies on all public sector services will lead to growing pressures on all public expenditures and to increased competition for public funding. A new context of university reforms in Europe is therefore defined in this paper as welfare state reforms. The paper discusses global agenda-setting and global diffusion of ideas; the impact of aging societies on intergenerational conflicts over public priorities (and public resources); globalization and pressures on welfare states; “university attitudes”, parallel to “welfare attitudes”; post-industrial societies; the role of supportive discourses in the survival of public institutions; and the role financial and ideological pressures, as well as of changing social beliefs, in reforming European welfare states and higher education.