Dear Colleagues,
The Blavatnik School of Government, University of OXFORD has just released a paper on SPOTTING INTEGRITY GAPS: A Practical and Appropriate Role for Public
Auditors in the Fight Against Corruption.
This is a research paper authored by former Auditor General of Nepal Mr. Tanka Mani Sharma Dangal and 
Professor of Practice of Public Integrity, Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford Mr. Christopher Stone.
This paper gives new insights for SAIs around the globe to deal with integrity gaps and addressing.
I do believe that you will find this paper interesting and useful. Here is a link to the paper.

https://www.bsg.ox.ac.uk/research/publications/chandler-papers-spotting-integrity-gaps

If you have any feedback or suggestions for the author, you may contact Mr. Dangal at sharmatm@gmail.com
Thank you.

Difficult to know which board to post this but it does relate to "against rule-of-thumb economics".


just been in Ireland (for the successful  defence of the 6 Nations) and a few articles in the papers were of interest.

The first related to a briefing on new European rules relating to fiscal policy which is going through formal EU legislation process and is expected to be in force in May.
Essentially it is setting out a 4 to 5 year framework rather than the one year many countries have (including Ireland which the article "McGrath to update Ministers in new fiscal rules" By Jack Horgan-Jones The Irish Times March 20 2024, mentions)

https://www.irishtimes.com/politics/2024/03/20/michael-mcgrath-to-update-ministers-on-new-fiscal-rules-currently-going-through-formal-eu-legislative-process/

The only webpage I can find  is
https://economy-finance.ec.europa.eu/economic-and-fiscal-governance/fiscal-frameworks-eu-member-states/fiscal-rules-eu-member-states_en
which is a bit dated.


On a more serious note there was an article in the Sunday Independent on St Patrick's day (the day after that game) by Tom Rowley entitled : A gaggle of economists walk into a pub in Castlebar and reckon they’re in Cascais.
https://m.independent.ie/life/tom-rowley-a-gaggle-of-economists-walk-into-a-pub-in-castlebar-and-reckon-theyre-in-cascais/a483953223.html

The first paragraph is:

"What is it about economists? They’re hard to live with a lot of the time, but it seems we can’t live without them. George Bernard Shaw wryly said that if all the economists were laid end to end, they’d never reach a conclusion. The Canadian educator Laurence J Peter reckoned “an economist is an expert who will know tomorrow why the things he predicted yesterday didn’t happen today”. For me, British fashion designer Vivienne Westwood really hit the nail on the head when she concluded that “economists treat economics as if it’s a pure science divorced from the facts of life”.

It is an amusing read but I hope that the second article is not related to the first!

At least as Tom Rowley states "The economists loved the quaintness of the pub and the earthy, good humour of the regulars".  That is something I can relate to!

Another related article

A PLACE FOR POLITICS
JEFFRY FRIEDEN
MARCH 2024

"Politics is often messy, but it’s how society puts a value on things economists can’t measure."

"Economics is good at identifying policies that could raise aggregate social welfare. One such policy is free trade. Virtually all economists believe that most economies could be improved by removing barriers to trade. No sensible economist or policymaker pretends that this is costless: while consumers and exporters may benefit, firms and industries that have trouble competing with imports are likely to suffer.

There is a simple economic solution. If a social-welfare-improving policy creates losers, the benefits it generates for society can be used to compensate those harmed. The government can tax those advantaged by trade liberalization—exporters, consumers—to help those disadvantaged, autoworkers for instance. Since by definition the policy increases social welfare, spreading the gains will still leave society better-off, only in a more equitable fashion than if we simply left newly unemployed autoworkers to fend for themselves."

https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/fandd/issues/2024/03/A-Place-for-Politics-Jeffry-Frieden?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery


Economics: How should it change? 

From financial crises to climate change to technological innovation, the global economy has evolved drastically in recent decades, yet economics as a discipline is much slower to adapt.

In the March issue of Finance & Development we ask, Economics: How should it change?

“Extensive professional soul-searching since the global financial crisis of 2008 has focused on how economics can better integrate social sciences and elevate welfare and distributional issues,” writes F&D editor-in-chief, Gita Bhatt.
“There has been much rethinking of macroeconomics and the design of policy approaches. And there is a growing consensus that the profession must be open to new ideas and frameworks if it hopes to solve the world’s biggest problems.”
This issue of F&D takes a fresh look at the discipline. We invited leading economists and other eminent thinkers to share their views on how economics must change to better address the challenges of the 21st century.

Leading with our symposium, How Economics Must Change, we ask six prominent economists to contemplate how the profession can improve:
•   Rethinking My Economics | Questioning one’s views as circumstances evolve can be a good thing | Angus Deaton
•   Why and How Economics Must Change | Economics needs greater humility, a better sense of history, and more diversity | Jayati Ghosh
•   Renewing Economics | Fundamental economic changes require a departure from simplistic economics | Diane Coyle
•   How Inflation Radically Changes Economic Ideas | Inflation teaches us that supply, not demand, constrains our economies, and government borrowing is limited | John H. Cochrane
•   Breaking the Debt Supercycle | Dependence on credit to boost demand imperils the world economy—we must correct the underlying imbalances | Atif Mian
•   Economics and Innovation | Economists can play a crucial role in the development of innovations for serving social, environmental, and other human needs | Michael Kremer

If done properly 16.2, 17.2, 18.1, 18.2?

Gord's interesting "polemic" post in 2010 is worth revisiting in the light of the PEFA 2016 Framework?  Does Pillar IV Policy-based fiscal strategy and budgeting, PI-11 Public investment management and PI-8 Performance information for service delivery address his MTEF and PEFA concerns?  Certainly there is much more attention to non MoF decision-making if the assessment is done properly.

And another from Gord to link-in!

https://pfmboard.com/index.php?topic=4396.0

and this on MTEF

https://pfmboard.com/index.php?topic=12.0