Quiz April 3rd

Questions courses 1 – 6
Protopopescu Ioana Veronica
Group 383, series D

I.

Which are the features of the public utilities as part of the public services of general interest
Utilities are part of the public services of general interest and have the following features:
 a) have technical-urban character;
 b) the operation may have monopoly characteristics;
 c) have economic-social character;
 d) have a permanent and continuous operation mode;
 e) respond to demands and needs of public interest and utility;
 f) assume the existence of an appropriate technical infrastructure;

How the public services need to be delivered?

Public services need to be delivered: with integrity, centered around citizens and responsive to
their needs, particularly the needs of the most vulnerable.

What are the international public goods? The national public goods are they complementary to
international public goods? Explain.
International public goods are goods with benefits and costs that potentially extend to all
countries, people, and generations. For example the contribution to global knowledge is an
international public good, but the education received by the individual is a complementary
activity that helps them to contribute to the core activity of producing global knowledge.

Which are the main ‘sectors’ for public goods?

The main Sectors for public goods are te following:
• environment,
• health,
• knowledge,
• security/peace and
• governance.

Which are the fundamental feature of international public goods?

International public goods have the following features: non-excludable and non-rival nature over
a global spatial range and is available more-or-less worldwide.

I.
Some goods are what we call “pure public goods”. Explain and give 2-3 examples.
In the case of a pure public good, nobody can be prevented from enjoying the benefits – they
cannot be excluded nor do the benefits enjoyed by others reduce the benefit available to anybody
else. Examples: parks, streets.

Present the classical definition of Services of General Interest (SGI).

Services of General Interest (SGI) refers to basic services which are essential to the lives of the
majority of the general public and where the state has an obligation to ensure public standards (to
defend the public interest).

In the White Paper of 2004, the Commission makes a clear distinction between “Public service”
and “Public service obligations”. Comment this distinction
Public service – this term sometimes refers to the fact that a service is offered to the general
public, it sometimes highlights that a service has been assigned a specific role in the public
interest, or refers to the ownership or status of the entity providing the service.
Public service obligations is the term used in the White Paper and it refers to specific
requirements that are imposed by public authorities on the provider of the service in order to
ensure that certain public interest objectives are met, for instance, in the matter of air, rail and
road transport and energy. Community terminology tries to take account of these differences.

Why the Public administration is an important provider of labor force in public services?
It seems that at national, regional or local level the public administration represents on average
7.2% of total employment across the EU.

We should differentiate in terms of the contribution of SGIs to the GDP two main aspects.
Present them
Regarding the SGI contribution to GDP, two main aspects can be differentiated: the direct
contribution that can be calculated and the indirect impact, which can only be estimated.

II.
What does an OBC (Outline Business Case) demonstrate?
1. That a project is economically sound, financially viable and will be managed

III.

Which best describes advantages and disadvantages of government form of organization?

Advantages and disadvantages of government of organization
Advantages
 Control and proper supervision of resources
 Government carry responsibility to meet up demand of public
 Help in assessing needs of people
 Large level of network
 Minimum financial restrictions
Disadvantages
 No flexibility
 Lack of efficiency
 Political considerations dominate in policy making

What is the name of the institution in charge to design, build finance and maintain the public
utilities at national level?
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Which of the following are the purposes of public utilities ?
 Serve the economy of country
 Deliver satisfactory service
 Provide services at fair price
 Serve without any prejudice
Which on of the non-commercial collective services are offered by the state, by the authorities or
local collectivities inclusive? Give in the columns your examples.
The other non-commercial collective services are offered by the state, by the authorities or local
collectivities inclusive, in two ways: The State provides the production itself (the aggregate
educational, medical (public hospitals), cultural (museums, libraries, cultural centers, etc.) public
services), research services, equipping and maintaining road network, public lighting. The State
provides only finance resources and authorizes the private sector production.

The term utilities refers to: the set of services provided by the organizations and consumed by the
public;

Drawback of Local Government run P.U is: not capable to cater and solve the needs of P.U
related issues of public and politicizations

IV.

What means “Public Choice Theory” and why is/isn’t inadequate in facilitating privatization?
Public choice or public choice theory represents the use of economic tools to deal with
traditional problems of political science.

Mention the 3 stages of market structure, when discussing about the prerogatives of
privatisation.
The 3 main stages of market structure can be: monopoly, monopoly and competition and
competition

What are the main reasons for state ownership of public utilities?
The main reasons for state ownership of public utilities are:
 to ensure social ownership of production
 to allow economic planning of key sectors
 to distribute income
 because they can provide positive externalities
 because they create a less adversarial industrial relations environment
 because of the existence of Natural monopoly.

To what refers the mechanisms for disproportional government control?

Instruments allowing shareholders to separate ownership and voting rights in listed companie,
commonly considered as a key instrument for family controlled company groups, are equally
available for states to retain control over partly privatized enterprises. The most commonly used
such mechanisms include dual voting right shares, ownership and voting caps, supermajority
provisions and in some cases also pyramidal holding structures. In some cases these mechanisms
may be hard to distinguish from golden shares.
What means “Property Rights Theory” and why is/isn’t inadequate in facilitating privatisation?
Property rights define the theoretical and legal ownership of resources and how they can be used.
These resources can be both tangible or intangible and can be owned by individuals, businesses,
and governments. There is no direct interest in the yield from state assets because there are no
shareholders .Management is less constrained in nationalised industries. Poor management will
not depress the capitalised value of the enterprise and tend not to be visible

V.
What do you understand by “Environment Protection”?
Environmental protection is the practice of protecting the natural environment by individuals,
organizations and governments.

To what refers the “Environment protection”?

Environmental protection refers to any activity to maintain or restore the quality of
environmental media through preventing the emission of pollutants or reducing the presence of
polluting substances in environmental media.

In what consists the expenditure for environmental protection?

Expenditure for environmental protection consists of outlays and other transactions related to:
 inputs for environmental protection activities
 (energy, raw materials and other intermediate
 inputs, wages and salaries, taxes linked
 to production, consumption of fixed
 capital);
 capital formation and the buying
 of land for environmental protection
 activities;

Mention some provisions of Romanian legislation concerning the “Environment protection”?

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On what principles EU environment policy rests?

Eu environment policy rests on the principles of precaution, prevention and rectifying pollution
at source, and on the ‘polluter pays’ principle.

Statistics on environmental protection expenditure present data on the economic resources

devoted by resident units to EP. What sectors the data are covering?
Statistics on environmental protection expenditure present data on the economic resources
devoted by resident units to EP. The data cover:
 private and public specialised producers of EP services,
 the business sector,
 the general government sector, and,
 the household sector.