PARTICIPATION IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF A LOCAL PUBLIC GOOD: A CASE STUDY OF WATERSHED MANAGEMENT IN THE ETHIOPIAN HIGHLANDS
This paper is a query about the determinants of individuals contribution to the production of local public goods subject to important indivisibilities. It is based on an econometric study of factors accounting for variations in individual participation in the construction of a central drainage channel in Ghinchi watershed, Ethiopia. Using a tobit model, the paper is able to show that individual contributions are crucially influenced by the personal interests which local farmers have in the drain. These contributions have been sufficient to avoid the Pareto-inefficient outcome in what typically amounts to a coordination game.
How can good educational practice move be~ond pockets of excellence to reach a much greater proportion of students and educators? While many children and young adults in school districts and communities around the countrt have long benefited from the tremendous accomplishments of successful teachers, schools, and programs, replicating this success on a larger scale has proven to be a diJficult and vexing issue. In this article, Richard Elmore addresses this problem by anal’tzing the role of school organ izat ion and incentive structures in thwarting large-scale adoption of in novative practices close to the “core” of educational practice. Elm ore then reviews evidence Jrom two attempts cit large-scale school reform in the past — the progressive movement and the