Why Mass Media Matter to Planning Research: The Case of Megaprojects

This article asks how planning scholarship may effectively gain impact in planning practice through media exposure. In liberal democracies the public sphere is dominated by mass media. Therefore, working with such media is a prerequisite for effective public impact of planning research. Using the example of megaproject planning, it is illustrated how so-called "phronetic planning research," which explicitly incorporates in its methodology active and strategic collaboration with media, may be helpful in generating change in planning practice via the public sphere. Main lessons learned are: (1) Working with mass media is an extremely cost-effective way to increase the impact of planning scholarship on practice; (2) Recent developments in information technology and social media have made impact via mass media even more effective; (3) Research on "tension points," i.e., points of potential conflict, are particularly interesting to media and the public, and are especially likely to generate change in practice; and (4) Tension points bite back; planning researchers should be prepared for, but not afraid of, this

Strong consistency results for least squares estimators in general vector autoregressions with deterministic terms

A vector autoregression with deterministic terms and with no restrictions to its characteristic roots is considered. Strong consistency results for the least squares statistics are presented. This extends earlier results where deterministic terms have not been considered. In addition the convergence rates are improved compared with earlier results.Least squares estimator, Strong consistency, Vector autoregression

Cointegration Analysis in the Presence of Structural Breaks in the Deterministic Trend

When analysing macro economic data it is often of relevance to allow for structural breaks in the statistical analysis. In particular cointegration analysis in the presence of structural breaks could be of interest. To do this a vector autoregressive model is proposed with known break points in the structural breaks. Within this model it is possible to test cointegration rank, restrictions on the cointegrating vector as well as restrictions on for instance the slopes of broken linear trend.

Policy and planning for large infrastructure projects : problems, causes, cures

This paper focuses on problems and their causes and cures in policy and planning for large infrastructure projects. First, it identifies as the main problem in major infrastructure development pervasive misinformation about the costs, benefits, and risks involved. A consequence of misinformation is massive cost overruns, benefit shortfalls, and waste. Second, the paper explores the causes of misinformation and finds that political-economic explanations best account for the available evidence: planners and promoters deliberately misrepresent costs, benefits, and risks in order to increase the likelihood that it is their projects, and not the competition's, that gain approval and funding. This results in the"survival of the unfittest,"where often it is not the best projects that are built, but the most misrepresented ones. Finally, the paper presents measures for reforming policy and planning for large infrastructure projects, with a focus on better planning methods and changed governance structures, the latter being more important.ICT Policy and Strategies,Economic Theory&Research,Science Education,Scientific Research&Science Parks,Poverty Monitoring&Analysis

Power of tests for unit roots in the presence of a linear trend

Dickey and Fuller (1981) suggested unit root tests for an autoregressive model with a linear trend and a fixed initial value. This model has nuisance parameters so later authors have often worked with a slightly different model with a random initial value in which nuisance parameters can be eliminated by an invariant reduction of the model. This facilitates computation of envelope power functions and comparison of the relative performance of different unit root tests. It is shown here that invariance arguments also can be used when comparing power within the model with fixed initial value. Despite the apparently small difference between the two models the relative performance of unit root tests turns out to be very different.Envelope power function, maximal invariant parameter, maximal invariant statistic, most stringent test, unit root tests.

Overspend? Late? Failure? What the Data Say About IT Project Risk in the Public Sector

Implementing large-scale information and communication technology (IT) projects carries large risks and easily might disrupt operations, waste taxpayers' money, and create negative publicity. Because of the high risks it is important that government leaders manage the attendant risks. We analysed a sample of 1,355 public sector IT projects. The sample included large-scale projects, on average the actual expenditure was $130 million and the average duration was 35 months. Our findings showed that the typical project had no cost overruns and took on average 24% longer than initially expected. However, comparing the risk distribution with the normative model of a thin-tailed distribution, projects' actual costs should fall within -30% and +25% of the budget in nearly 99 out of 100 projects. The data showed, however, that a staggering 18% of all projects are outliers with cost overruns >25%. Tests showed that the risk of outliers is even higher for standard software (24%) as well as in certain project types, e.g., data management (41%), office management (23%), eGovernment (21%) and management information systems (20%). Analysis showed also that projects duration adds risk: every additional year of project duration increases the average cost risk by 4.2 percentage points. Lastly, we suggest four solutions that public sector organization can take: (1) benchmark your organization to know where you are, (2) de-bias your IT project decision-making, (3) reduce the complexities of your IT projects, and (4) develop Masterbuilders to learn from the best in the field.Comment: Published in Commonwealth Secretariat (Eds.): Commonwealth Governance Handbook 2012/13: Democracy, development and public administration, London: Commonwealth Secretariat, December 2012. ISBN 978-1-908609-04-

Analysis of co-explosive processes

A vector autoregressive model allowing for unit roots as well as explosive characteristic roots is developed. The Granger-Johansen representation shows that this results in processes with two common features: a random walk and an explosively growing process. Co-integrating and co-explosive vectors can be found which eliminate these common factors. Likelihood ratio tests for linear restrictions on the co-explosive vectors are derived. As an empirical illustration the method is applied to data from the extreme Yugoslavian hyper-inflation of the 1990s.Asymptotic normality, Co-explosiveness, Cointegration, Explosive processes, Hyper-inflation, Likelihood ratio tests, Vector autoregression