Academic literature on the topic 'Legislative assembly'

The 9th National Assembly in Nigeria was elected in 2015 and represents the most extensive democratic period of legislative governance in the country’s history. This study examines the performance of the National Assembly as a mechanism of democratic governance in Nigeria. Specifically, we explore the legislative processes used by the Assembly, the extent of its accountability to the electorate, and the way it has impacted Nigerian democracy and development. Structural functionalism was adopted as the theoretical framework on the function of the Legislature, we employed qualitative methods to explain the Legislature and good governance, and evaluate the performance of the ninth assembly of the Nigerian State. The analysis of its roles in the creation of laws revealed a sizable disparity in terms of public involvement and consultation. Findings also revealed that the poor relationship between the executive and the legislative branch of government has slowed the development of democratic governance. It is recommended that Nigerian Legislators should prioritize legislative productivity and concentrate on passing legislation that will directly benefit society. In conclusion it was deduced that there is a substantial disparity between legislators and their constituents, according to the appraisal of legislators' performance in the Ninth Assembly in terms of representation as most law makers are perceived to be self-serving.

A “legislative flood” can lead to inefficiencies in the operation of acountry and increase the complexity of the legal system. As a countermeasure against this phenomenon, legislative impact analysis is gaining attention. Despite the various efforts that have been made to institutionalize legislative impact analysis, gaps remain. The bill cost estimation system, which is part of legislative impact analysis, is required by Article 79(2) of the National Assembly Act to attach a cost estimate to any bill that involves budgetary or funding measures, regardless of whether it is a parliamentary or government bill. However, the preliminary impact assessment report prepared during the government legislation process is not attached to the bill when it is submitted to the National Assembly. This article proposes that Article 79(4) of the National Assembly Act be amended to make it mandatory for the government to attach its own preliminary impact as sessment report to bills submitted to the National Assembly. For the sake of the structural delicacy of the legislative evaluation system, operational inefficiencies that occur in the government legislative process are presented and solutions are sought.

Although there are differences according to the characteristics of each country or the constitution of each country, the principle of parliamentary legislation is the most important element in most constitutionalist countries' constitutions. And legislative power is an essential and inherent power of Parliament. Nevertheless, the diversification, specialization, and diversity of legislative forms in modern society are weakening the position of the National Assembly as a legislative body. In other words, the legislative expertise of the current National Assembly has reached its limit. In the case of local councils, such a realistic problem can be said to be more serious. In this reality, we analyze and compare the legislative support systems of Korea and Germany to obtain implications. Analyzing the legislative support system of the German Bundestag and the House of Representatives and the Hessischer Landtag in comparison with the Korean National Assembly and the Gyeonggi Provincial Assembly, and comparatively examining the results, I think that it will make an academic contribution to enhancing the value of constitutionalism.…

Abstract: This paper describes about the role of the Village Consultative Assembly in village of Jati, Banjar Bendo, and Sumput of Sidoarjo regency in empowering the community. Village Consultative Assembly is an institution that is the embodiment of democracy in a village’s governance as an administrative element of the village. It functionates to set rules together with the Head of the village and accommodates the aspirations of the people. Village Consultative Assembly’s role in empowering the community in the village of Jati and Sumput are less active. While, the Village Consultative Assembly in Banjar Bendo is very active. Beeing active or not active in carrying out their role lies on the implementation of the legislative’s function that has been defined by Peraturan Pemerintah No. 72 year 2005 article 35 Juncto PERDA (Regional Legislation) of Sidoarjo No. 07 year 2006 article 12. The legislative duties and functions of the Village Consultative Assembly in Sidoarjo can not run optimally. This is indicated by the Village Consultative Assembly’s less comprehensive in Jati and Sumput in framing the conventional regulations into the written rules. It is so since they got less technical assistance from the local government, especially in the field of legislation.Keywords: Role, village consultative assembly, Sidoarjo

This study employs recursive path analysis techniques to develop a causal model of legislative success in the “one party-no party” state legislature of Arkansas. Utilizing a unique five-step process to measure bill-passage through the Arkansas House, four direct paths to legislative success were identified: educational level, age, race, and seniority. The final model suggests a legislative body in transition from amateur status and exclusivity to one more autonomous and competitive.

The purpose of this study is to compare the legal systems of Switzerland and Germany to expand the participation of local governments in legislation in Korea. Today, opinions and participation of local governments are expanding through the strengthening of local autonomy and the expansion of decentralization. Currently, in Korea, local governments can indirectly present their opinions, participate in public hearings, hearings, etc. through the Local Autonomy Act, the National Assembly Act, and the legislative operation regulations, and these procedures remain objects, not subjects. In order to improve this, it is necessary to analyze the legal systems of Switzerland and Germany, where local governments and local government associations are actively participating as legislators and related parties in relation to autonomy, and review their implications for Korea. In the case of Switzerland, Kenton is widely recognized for his participation in legislation. To this end, the federal constitution stipulates in detail. Legislative participation is also recognized by expanding diplomatic affairs, and strong legislative participation is promoted through the right to request a referendum, and similar to Germany, federal senators can be formed as representatives of Canton to participate in parliamentary legislation. Looking at the characteristics of the legislative participation systems of Swiss and German local governments, the following characteristics are shown. First, legislative participation in the central government and the National Assembly is very actively recognized. On the other hand, in Germany, local governments and associations of local governments generally recognize limited and passive participation in legislation in the National Assembly. However, as a supplement to this, local governments are actively realizing legislative participation in the National Assembly through the exercise of members of the Federal Council or the right to vote. In Switzerland and Germany, the scope of affairs related to local governments is widely recognized for the scope of legislation that local governments and local government councils can participate in, but legislative participation is not limited to legislation, but even zero, rules, and plans are recognized. In order for local governments and local government councils to actively present their opinions on local autonomy and improve the legal system, including legislative participation by local governments It is thought that allowing the heads of local governments at the same national level to participate in actual state legislation and policies as State Council members could be a way to expand the institutional guarantees of local governments guaranteed under the constitution.

In Hungary legislative power rests with the National Assembly. According to the Fundamental Law of Hungary the authority to pass legislation is vested in the National Assembly, the supreme body of popular representation. This paper gives a general overview of the role of the branches of powers in law-making in Hungary. We introduce the role of the legislative power in law-making, the role of the executive power, the role of the judicial power in law-making, and finally the role of the President of the Republic in legislation.

AbstractThe emergence of the National Assembly for Wales as a devolved legislature producing first Measures and now Acts, together with the establishment of a Welsh Government with a range of powers to make secondary legislation, has added a new layer of complication to the already over-complicated legislative landscape of the United Kingdom. This article, written by Daniel Greenberg, examines briefly some of the resulting complications.

Purpose: The study examined the legislative influence of women in the context of gender quotas in Kenya’s National Assembly of the 11th parliament (2013-207). This article focuses on the methods women parliamentarians used to assert legislative influence. Methodology: This was a descriptive case study which focused on all 68 women in the National Assembly. Respondents were identified through stratified sampling based on: pathway to parliament; membership and leadership of parliamentary structures; contribution to debate; and sponsorship of Bills enacted. A total of 11 women were interviewed, derived from four of the seven parliamentary political parties, specifically the two largest political coalitions which contributed 94% of the legislature. The study also interviewed four purposively sampled key informants (KIs) - three male and one female. The data was processed manually, analysed and presented under each study objective. Sources of primary data were coded as follows: WL (Woman Legislator), ML (Male Legislator) and KI (Key Informant). All respondents were allocated specific numbers for identification and acknowledgement. Findings: The study established that women legislators used the following methods to influence legislation: mobilisation of male colleagues; solidarity across political parties; activism; leveraging committee positions; reliance on the National Assembly leadership; and compromise and conciliation. It notes that the methods were effective in some circumstances but failed in others. Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: The study outlines how various methods were applied by women legislators in Kenya’s National Assembly 2013-2017, the first time quotas were applied in Kenyan elections. It fills the gap in earlier studies that did not document these methods. The study notes that the methods were not intrinsically weak but their effectiveness was limited by circumstances, especially the attitude of male legislators. It illustrates the importance of diversifying approaches to influence legislation. The study recommends that women legislators should: work with supportive male legislators and other pressure groups in the legislature; introduce Bills early in the legislative calendar to improve chances of success; receive training on parliamentary work; and occupy influential parliamentary leadership positions.

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This work evaluates the organization of the legislative activities and the decision-making process within the Legislative Assembly of RN, emphasizing the role of ruling institutions on the Legislative Power working, as well as the structure of its decisions. The organization and the production of the decision-making process inside the Legislative Assembly will be seen along with how institutional norms determine the nature of the legislative process and influence his legal production. The period under study extends from 1990/94 to 1994/97 legislatures. The work is divided in three parts. The first analyzes the legislative process, the role of legal production, the nature of the legislation produced during the time referred and the role of the decisory instances: the directive Table, the leaders collegiate and the permanent commissions; the second part will present the results of questionnaires made to the deputies about their perspective concerning the actual power structure, as well as a more desirable power distribution among different decisory instances in the Assembly. At last, part three will focus on the Executive power role exerted on the legislative process, analyzing how it makes use of his initiating and veto prerogatives, via the study of some laws sanctioned in 1990-1997
No presente texto avaliamos a organiza??o dos trabalhos legislativos e o processo decis?rio no ?mbito da Assembl?ia Legislativa do RN, enfatizando o papel das institui??es reguladoras do funcionamento do Poder Legislativo e da estrutura de suas decis?es. Verificamos a organiza??o e a produ??o do processo decis?rio na Assembl?ia Legislativa, estudando como as normas institucionais determinam a natureza do processo Legislativo e influenciam sua produ??o legal. O per?odo coberto pelo estudo vai das legislaturas de 1990/94 a 1994/97. O trabalho se divide em tr?s partes. Na primeira analisamos o processo legislativo, o papel da produ??o legal, a natureza da legisla??o produzida no per?odo coberto pelo estudo e o papel das inst?ncias decis?rias: a Mesa diretora, o Col?gio de L?deres e as Comiss?es Permanentes. A segunda parte apresentar? os resultados de entrevistas feitas aos Deputados sobre sua percep??o a respeito da estrutura de poder existente, bem como sua opini?o sobre uma distribui??o mais desej?vel de poder entre diferentes inst?ncias decis?rias da Assembl?ia. Por fim, a parte tr?s centrar-se-? no papel que o Executivo exerce no processo legislativo, analisando o uso de suas prerrogativas de iniciativa e seu poder de veto, mediante o estudo de algumas leis sancionadas em 1990 1997

A ciência política brasileira produziu explicações consistentes no que se refere ao funcionamento da democracia pós-1988. Os mecanismos de governabilidade e o processo decisório do sistema político brasileiro encontram-se amplamente discutidos pela literatura sob a rubrica do presidencialismo de coalizão. No entanto, duas agendas de pesquisa sobre nosso sistema político não foram suficientemente testadas, quais sejam: o estudo sobre as relações Executivo-Legislativo nas unidades subnacionais e os mecanismos de checks and balances em nossa democracia. O objetivo desta dissertação é analisar o ponto de toque ou mesmo a junção entre estas duas agendas: a dimensão de fiscalização e o controle nas unidades subnacionais brasileiras. Para isso, o desenho de pesquisa é composto pelo balanço do estado da arte das respectivas literaturas relevantes, juntamente à análise dos dados de 20 Estados da Federação Brasileira, na legislatura 2007-2010.
The Brazilian political science produced consistent explanations about the functioning of democracy in the post-1988 period. The mechanisms of governability and decision-making of the Brazilian political system are widely discussed in the literature under the rubric of coalition presidentialism. However, two research agendas on our political system have not been sufficiently tested, namely: the study of the Executive-Legislative relations in subnational units and mechanisms of checks and balances in our democracy. The goal of this dissertation is to analyze the touch point or even the junction between these two frameworks: the dimension of supervision and control in the Brazilian subnational units. To accomplish these objectives, the research design consists in the review of the relevant literature, along with the analysis of data from 20 states of the Brazilian Federation - from 2007 to 2010.

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A relação entre governadores e assembleias estaduais no Brasil é marcada pela tese de que os governadores possuem ampla capacidade para estabelecerem um pacto homologatório com os legislativos estaduais. Literatura recente tem buscado comparar as experiências dos diferentes estados. O Rio de Janeiro tem se destacado como um dos casos em que o legislativo conseguiu espaço para levar adiante uma agenda própria. Esse diagnóstico contrasta não só com a tese do poder dos governadores, mas também com a experiência histórica da máquina política chaguista no Estado. Essa tese busca entender como que a relação dos governadores do Estado do Rio de Janeiro com a Assembleia Legislativa do Estado se desenvolveu desde a retomada das eleições diretas para esse cargo em 1982 até o ano de 2010. A principal hipótese é a de que as mudanças no federalismo brasileiro e o ajuste fiscal levados a cabo durante os anos 1990 foram centrais para repactuar a relação entre os dois poderes. Essas mudanças nacionais permitiram que um desejo de maior independência na relação entre os poderes ganhasse espaço. A mudança na relação entre os poderes é comprovada pelo crescimento temporal na quantidade de vetos do governador derrubados pelo legislativo. A tese mostra, no entanto, que o ganho de espaço para atuação do legislativo não significou uma restrição às agendas do Executivo que continuou a ser ator central da política estadual.
The relationship between governors and state legislatures in Brazil is marked by the thesis that the governors have the capacity to establish a ratification pact with the state legislatures. Recent literature has sought to compare the experiences of different states. The Rio de Janeiro has emerged as one of the cases where the legislative was able to carry forward their own agenda. This diagnosis contrasts not only with the thesis of the governors powers, but also with the historical experience of chaguista political machine in the state. This thesis seeks to understand how the relationship of state governors of Rio de Janeiro with the State Legislative Assembly has developed since the resumption of direct elections for this position in 1982 through the year 2010. The main hypothesis is that the changes the Brazilian federalism and fiscal adjustment carried out during the 1990s decade were central to renegotiate the relationship between the two powers. These national changes allowed a desire for greater independence in the relationship between the powers to gain space. The change in the relationship between the powers is demonstrated by the growth in the amount of governor vetoes overturned by the legislature. The thesis shows, however, that the gain of the legislative did not meant a restriction on the agendas of the Executive which continued to be a central actor in state politics.

This thesis builds on the existing constituency representation (or dyadic representation) literature that assesses how closely elected officials represent their constituents' views in their official roles. While much research has been completed on this type of representation in presidential systems, much less has been completed in parliamentary systems. There are typically high levels of constituency representation in presidential systems, but that does not mean that there is no presence of it in parliamentary systems. Following the research design of a study of constituency representation completed at the national level in Canada that found some evidence of this type of representation, this study seeks to replicate that study at the provincial level in Alberta to see if evidence can be found at that level also, thus adding to the broader comparative literature on constituency representation.
Cette thèse se fonde sur la littérature existante de la représentation de circonscription électorale (ou la représentation dyadic) qui évalue comment étroitement les élus représentent les avis de leurs constituants dans leurs rôles officiels. Tandis que beaucoup de recherche a été complétée sur ce type de représentation dans des systèmes présidentiels, beaucoup a moins été complétée dans des systèmes parlementaires. Il y a les typiquement hauts niveaux de représentation de circonscription électorale dans des systèmes présidentiels, mais cela ne signifie pas qu'il n'y a aucune présence de cela dans des systèmes parlementaires. Après le design de recherche d'une étude de représentation de circonscription électorale complétée au niveau national au Canada qui a trouvé un peu d'évidence de ce type de représentation, cette étude cherche à reproduire cette étude au niveau provincial en Alberta pour voir si l'évidence peut être trouvée à ce niveau aussi, ajoutant ainsi à la littérature comparative plus large sur la représentation de circonscription électorale.

The Victorian general election of 1859 occurred during a time of social transition and electoral reformation, which extended the vote to previously unrepresented adult males. Gold discoveries, including those on the Ovens, triggered the miners’ insistent demands for access to land and participation in the political process. The thesis identifies issues, which emerged during the election campaign on the Ovens goldfields, surrounding Beechworth. The struggle centred on the two Legislative Assembly seats for the Ovens and the one Legislative Council seat for the Murray District. Though the declared election issue was land reform, it concealed a range of underlying tensions, which divided the electorate along lines of nationality and religion. Complicating these tensions within the European community was the Chinese presence throughout the Ovens. The thesis suggests the historical memory of the French Revolution, the European Revolutions of 1848 and the Catholic versus Protestant revivals divided the Ovens goldfield community. The competing groups formed alliances; a Beechworth-centred grouping of traders, merchants and the Constitution’s editor, ensured the existing conservative agenda triumphed over those perceived radicals who sought reform. In the process the land hungry miners did not gain any political representation in the Legislative Assembly, while a prominent Catholic squatter who advocated limited land reform was defeated for the Legislative Council seat. Two daily Beechworth papers, Ovens and Murray Advertiser and its fierce competitor, the Constitution and Ovens Mining Intelligencer are the major primary sources for the thesis.

The author gives his view of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes of 1921, pointing out its importance at that time, but also its shortcomings. The choice of a centralist, unitary state system is recognized as one of the basic aspirations of the constitution-maker, that resulted in the king's dominant position as an integrative element, which made it impossible to establish (un)wanted balances between the king and parliament. In institutional terms, orleans parliamentarism is analyzed as an established type of parliamentary system of government, and also its functioning in practice. The author analyzed the constitutional position of the National assembly, emphasizing its weakness in relations with the king, explaining instruments such as the absolute legislative veto, through which the king exercised supremacy in the legislative sphere despite the constitutional proclamation to exercise legislative competence jointly. The unlimited right to dissolve the assembly, despite the undivided opinion of the constitutional theory on the prohibition of successive dissolution, further weakened the position of the National assembly, and established the king as an inviolable arbiter in resolving parliamentary crises, which may ultimately confront the people's will. The king's unrestricted right to dissolve parliament usurped the budgetary right of the National assembly, as one of the foundations of the parliamentary system, which further made it possible for the executive to rule without a budget. Constrained by the constitutional arrangement, insufficient representative functions, burdened by the democratic deficit, the National assembly proved to be weak in articulating various political interests, but was the scene of party and national tensions.

Legislative and presidential power, and the center of the constitution in all political systems, after presidential elections. This period has been suspended for a long time. However, it is possible for the institutions that can do this, because there is a constitution in their vicinity, for the exemplary assembly that can be done by the institution that can do this easily, by opening the door to extension, what happened . Actually in the region. To do the constitution by the constitution

If the law is concerned only with social ties, then there are freedoms that are subject to regulation, those whose effects extend to society, in the sense that its exercise affects the freedom of others or the interests of the group, and these freedoms are those related to the field of private activities and organized professions, such as freedom to work with its professional dimension Because it is not one of the privacy of the individual, but rather goes beyond that to society and to power itself. Freedoms whose effects extend beyond the individual to society and to power cannot be absolute, otherwise they would turn into chaos and carry with it the prostitution and aggression against the state and the freedoms of others. Therefore, it must be organized without leading to its denunciation or derogation from it, provided that the issue of its organization is entrusted to Parliament as a representative of the will of the people, just as the authority of Parliament in this regard cannot be absolute power, but rather is constrained by objective constitutional controls and restrictions that impose on it not to diminish From it and not confiscate it, and it just has to organize it in a way that makes it more effective. The legal regulation of freedom must ensure the balance, as far as possible, between the right of the individual to exercise his freedom and the restrictions that Parliament considers to be imposed, that is, achieving a balance between the freedoms that the individual needs and the authority that is indispensable and to the extent that prosperity is achieved for society and the individual. This balance is necessary for all Freedom, which is more binding on some public freedoms that are closely related to democracy, such as freedom of work and opinion, freedom of the press, and freedom of assembly And from it, how can a balance be achieved between the legislative organization of public freedoms and its practice in the field of private activities and regulated professions.

Cloud based approach for remanufacturing is becoming a new technical solution for sustainable management of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE). This paper presents a service-oriented framework of a Cloud Based Remanufacturing System (CBRS) for WEEE. In remanufacturing of WEEE, disassembly plays an important role. However, complete disassembly is rarely an ideal solution due to the high disassembly cost, with the increasing customization and diversity, and more complex assembly processes of Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE). Selective disassembly focusing on disassembling only a few selected components is a better choice. In this paper, a Q-Learning based Selective Disassembly Planning (QL-SDP) approach embedded with a multi-criteria decision making model is developed. The multi-criteria decision making model is built according to the legislative and economic considerations of specific stakeholders of WEEE. And the QL-SDP approach is used to achieve optimized selective disassembly planning. An implementation example has been used to verify and demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of the approach. The developed QL-SDP approach is designed as a service implemented in the presented CBRS for WEEE.

When the legislative has delimited rights and freedoms illegally, Constitutional Court should step in as an efficient assurance and this forcefulness is undoubtedly related to the structure of the Constitutional Court. The Constitutional Court's organization and election of the members of the Constitutional Court and status have a great importance for freedom of the Court. As a matter of fact, the only way to protect people’s fundamental rights and freedoms is possible with independent verdict. Judiciary which fulfills the function of judgment behalf of the nation and the judges who hold the judicial power, have an indispensable importance. The assurance of people’s right and freedoms could be provided only, when the court has accomplished their mission away from all kinds of pressure and influence. The freedom of judges also means their appointments, employee rights and working condition therefore; in first place, the organization of the Turkish Constitutional Court (General Assembly, Department, Division, Commission), then the election of members of the Turkish Constitutional Court and the status are compared with the regulation of Macedonia, Germany, Austria, France, Italy and Spain.

In order to take advantage of the global economy, manufacturing companies have developed a complex and an extended supply chain which includes manufacturing components or parts in LCCs (low-cost countries) and shipping them to factories near to their consumer market for final assembly, customization and distribution. These activities involve several different organizations that follow widely different approaches in logistical management. In order to sustain the long shipment distances in different geographic regions, (i.e. China-Mexico-US-Europe), handling & environmental conditions & shipping modes (Air vs Ground vs Sea); suitable, flexible and economical packaging solutions are required. This flow of semi-finished goods usually requires packaging materials such as carriers (i.e. wooden pallets) and moisture inhibitors (i.e. desiccants) to protect the goods. Competitive pressures, environmental consciousness, customer awareness and legislative requirements have driven manufacturers to review business practices and redesign solutions that are environmentally friendly, as well as help reduce costs in the long run. The author of this paper will present an experience where "non-traditional" packaging is used as an economical and environmental friendly solution to globally transport goods between multiple facilities.

<div class="section abstract"><div class="htmlview paragraph">BS6.1 emission standards were implemented in India in 2020 followed by BS6.2 which added more controls on emission limits. For BS6.2 OBD (On Board Diagnostics) and RDE (Real Driving Emission) were added on to the existing BS6.1 emissions. Emission control changes usually need addition of new parts, calibration changes and durability requirements. For the current 1.5L, 3-cylinder diesel engine an pSCR (Passive Selective Catalytic Reduction) brick was added for control of NOx for meeting RDE. For meeting OBD requirements PM (Particulate Matter) and NOx sensors were added in the cold end pipe along with calibration changes to meet the BS6.2 norms.</div><div class="htmlview paragraph">In this paper we will discuss on the design aspects of sensors and pSCR only. The sensor and pSCR positioning plays vital role in meeting the legislative requirements and to ensure the ease of assembly and durability of the parts. We discuss on the various options explored for positioning, the constraints of sensor application and the importance of positioning on the emission compliance. Post the sensor positioning, parts were made, and successful testing and validation was completed demonstrating the emission compliance and sensor durability.</div></div>

The genesis of the Copyright Amendment Bill was in 2009, when the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) initiated various studies and impact assessments. In July 2015, the DTI published a Draft Copyright Amendment Bill for public comment. The final 2017 version of the Bill was approved by Parliament in 2019 and it was sent to President Cyril Ramaphosa for action in terms of Section 79(1) of the Constitution. Section 79(1) states that “The President must either assent to and sign a Bill passed in terms of this Chapter or, if the President has reservations about the constitutionality of the Bill, refer it back to the National Assembly for reconsideration”. The President referred the Bill back to Parliament for review on 16 June 2020, on constitutionality issues. In response to the President’s reservations, Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry has invited stakeholders and other interested parties to submit written submissions on certain sections of the Bill by no later than 9 July 2021. The current copyright law is outdated and does not address the digital environment. The Academy of Science of South Africa seeks to take into account the status of the copyright legislation and the anticipated effects of the amendment Bill on different issues and thereafter, provide recommendations to the President.

Land reforms sacrifice property rights in the name of a fairer distribution. The trade-off they imply makes their study of interest to Economic Historians: do the benefits of reduced land inequality justify the violation of property rights? The discussion about land reforms factors in both the social and efficiency consequences of land inequality. The debate preceding the Portuguese Agrarian Reform echoes these concerns and culminated in an anti-latifundia sentiment crystallized in the legislation used to justify the land occupations of 1974 to 1976. The aim of this paper is to critically assess the efficiency arguments used to justify the occupations. Was land productivity lower in latifúndio counties? A unique dataset drawn from primary sources was specially assembled to answer this question. Through standard OLS regression, this study finds that the number of agriculture journeyman per employer landowner has a statistically significant effect on agricultural productivity after controlling for geographical and soil characteristics. It also finds that introducing literacy as a control causes the effect of land inequality to disappear leading to the conclusion that policies aimed at improving human capital would have been just as effective as a land reform. Further, this study also identifies the crop mix selected as the proximate channel of transmission. Farmers in the region with the highest levels of land inequality favoured less valuable crops, like wheat. An arid climate combined with a lack of irrigation infrastructure and wheat protectionism justify this preference.

Banco de la República is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2023. This is a very significant anniversary and one that provides an opportunity to highlight the contribution the Bank has made to the country’s development. Its track record as guarantor of monetary stability has established it as the one independent state institution that generates the greatest confidence among Colombians due to its transparency, management capabilities, and effective compliance with the central banking and cultural responsibilities entrusted to it by the Constitution and the Law. On a date as important as this, the Board of Directors of Banco de la República (BDBR) pays tribute to the generations of governors and officers whose commitment and dedication have contributed to the growth of this institution.1 Banco de la República’s mandate was confirmed in the National Constitutional Assembly of 1991 where the citizens had the opportunity to elect the seventy people who would have the task of drafting a new constitution. The leaders of the three political movements with the most votes were elected as chairs to the Assembly, and this tripartite presidency reflected the plurality and the need for consensus among the different political groups to move the reform forward. Among the issues considered, the National Constitutional Assembly gave special importance to monetary stability. That is why they decided to include central banking and to provide Banco de la República with the necessary autonomy to use the instruments for which they are responsible without interference from other authorities. The constituent members understood that ensuring price stability is a state duty and that the entity responsible for this task must be enshrined in the Constitution and have the technical capability and institutional autonomy necessary to adopt the decisions they deem appropriate to achieve this fundamental objective in coordination with the general economic policy. In particular, Article 373 established that “the State, through Banco de la República, shall ensure the maintenance of the purchasing power of the currency,” a provision that coincided with the central banking system adopted by countries that have been successful in controlling inflation. In 1999, in Ruling 481, the Constitutional Court stated that “the duty to maintain the purchasing power of the currency applies to not only the monetary, credit, and exchange authority, i.e., the Board of Banco de la República, but also those who have responsibilities in the formulation and implementation of the general economic policy of the country” and that “the basic constitutional purpose of Banco de la República is the protection of a sound currency. However, this authority must take the other economic objectives of state intervention such as full employment into consideration in their decisions since these functions must be coordinated with the general economic policy.” The reforms to Banco de la República agreed upon in the Constitutional Assembly of 1991 and in Act 31/1992 can be summarized in the following aspects: i) the Bank was assigned a specific mandate: to maintain the purchasing power of the currency in coordination with the general economic policy; ii) the BDBR was designatedas the monetary, foreign exchange, and credit authority; iii) the Bank and its Board of Directors were granted a significant degree of independence from the government; iv) the Bank was prohibited from granting credit to the private sector except in the case of the financial sector; v) established that in order to grant credit to the government, the unanimous vote of its Board of Directors was required except in the case of open market transactions; vi) determined that the legislature may, in no case, order credit quotas in favor of the State or individuals; vii) Congress was appointed, on behalf of society, as the main addressee of the Bank’s reporting exercise; and viii) the responsibility for inspection, surveillance, and control over Banco de la República was delegated to the President of the Republic. The members of the National Constitutional Assembly clearly understood that the benefits of low and stable inflation extend to the whole of society and contribute mto the smooth functioning of the economic system. Among the most important of these is that low inflation promotes the efficient use of productive resources by allowing relative prices to better guide the allocation of resources since this promotes economic growth and increases the welfare of the population. Likewise, low inflation reduces uncertainty about the expected return on investment and future asset prices. This increases the confidence of economic agents, facilitates long-term financing, and stimulates investment. Since the low-income population is unable to protect itself from inflation by diversifying its assets, and a high proportion of its income is concentrated in the purchase of food and other basic goods that are generally the most affected by inflationary shocks, low inflation avoids arbitrary redistribution of income and wealth.2 Moreover, low inflation facilitates wage negotiations, creates a good labor climate, and reduces the volatility of employment levels. Finally, low inflation helps to make the tax system more transparent and equitable by avoiding the distortions that inflation introduces into the value of assets and income that make up the tax base. From the monetary authority’s point of view, one of the most relevant benefits of low inflation is the credibility that economic agents acquire in inflation targeting, which turns it into an effective nominal anchor on price levels. Upon receiving its mandate, and using its autonomy, Banco de la República began to announce specific annual inflation targets as of 1992. Although the proposed inflation targets were not met precisely during this first stage, a downward trend in inflation was achieved that took it from 32.4% in 1990 to 16.7% in 1998. At that time, the exchange rate was kept within a band. This limited the effectiveness of monetary policy, which simultaneously sought to meet an inflation target and an exchange rate target. The Asian crisis spread to emerging economies and significantly affected the Colombian economy. The exchange rate came under strong pressure to depreciate as access to foreign financing was cut off under conditions of a high foreign imbalance. This, together with the lack of exchange rate flexibility, prevented a countercyclical monetary policy and led to a 4.2% contraction in GDP that year. In this context of economic slowdown, annual inflation fell to 9.2% at the end of 1999, thus falling below the 15% target set for that year. This episode fully revealed how costly it could be, in terms of economic activity, to have inflation and exchange rate targets simultaneously. Towards the end of 1999, Banco de la República announced the adoption of a new monetary policy regime called the Inflation Targeting Plan. This regime, known internationally as ‘Inflation Targeting,’ has been gaining increasing acceptance in developed countries, having been adopted in 1991 by New Zealand, Canada, and England, among others, and has achieved significant advances in the management of inflation without incurring costs in terms of economic activity. In Latin America, Brazil and Chile also adopted it in 1999. In the case of Colombia, the last remaining requirement to be fulfilled in order to adopt said policy was exchange rate flexibility. This was realized around September 1999, when the BDBR decided to abandon the exchange-rate bands to allow the exchange rate to be freely determined in the market.Consistent with the constitutional mandate, the fundamental objective of this new policy approach was “the achievement of an inflation target that contributes to maintaining output growth around its potential.”3 This potential capacity was understood as the GDP growth that the economy can obtain if it fully utilizes its productive resources. To meet this objective, monetary policy must of necessity play a countercyclical role in the economy. This is because when economic activity is below its potential and there are idle resources, the monetary authority can reduce the interest rate in the absence of inflationary pressure to stimulate the economy and, when output exceeds its potential capacity, raise it. This policy principle, which is immersed in the models for guiding the monetary policy stance, makes the following two objectives fully compatible in the medium term: meeting the inflation target and achieving a level of economic activity that is consistent with its productive capacity. To achieve this purpose, the inflation targeting system uses the money market interest rate (at which the central bank supplies primary liquidity to commercial banks) as the primary policy instrument. This replaced the quantity of money as an intermediate monetary policy target that Banco de la República, like several other central banks, had used for a long time. In the case of Colombia, the objective of the new monetary policy approach implied, in practical terms, that the recovery of the economy after the 1999 contraction should be achieved while complying with the decreasing inflation targets established by the BDBR. The accomplishment of this purpose was remarkable. In the first half of the first decade of the 2000s, economic activity recovered significantly and reached a growth rate of 6.8% in 2006. Meanwhile, inflation gradually declined in line with inflation targets. That was how the inflation rate went from 9.2% in 1999 to 4.5% in 2006, thus meeting the inflation target established for that year while GDP reached its potential level. After this balance was achieved in 2006, inflation rebounded to 5.7% in 2007, above the 4.0% target for that year due to the fact that the 7.5% GDP growth exceeded the potential capacity of the economy.4 After proving the effectiveness of the inflation targeting system in its first years of operation, this policy regime continued to consolidate as the BDBR and the technical staff gained experience in its management and state-of-the-art economic models were incorporated to diagnose the present and future state of the economy and to assess the persistence of inflation deviations and expectations with respect to the inflation target. Beginning in 2010, the BDBR established the long-term 3.0% annual inflation target, which remains in effect today. Lower inflation has contributed to making the macroeconomic environment more stable, and this has favored sustained economic growth, financial stability, capital market development, and the functioning of payment systems. As a result, reductions in the inflationary risk premia and lower TES and credit interest rates were achieved. At the same time, the duration of public domestic debt increased significantly going from 2.27 years in December 2002 to 5.86 years in December 2022, and financial deepening, measured as the level of the portfolio as a percentage of GDP, went from around 20% in the mid-1990s to values above 45% in recent years in a healthy context for credit institutions.Having been granted autonomy by the Constitution to fulfill the mandate of preserving the purchasing power of the currency, the tangible achievements made by Banco de la República in managing inflation together with the significant benefits derived from the process of bringing inflation to its long-term target, make the BDBR’s current challenge to return inflation to the 3.0% target even more demanding and pressing. As is well known, starting in 2021, and especially in 2022, inflation in Colombia once again became a serious economic problem with high welfare costs. The inflationary phenomenon has not been exclusive to Colombia and many other developed and emerging countries have seen their inflation rates move away from the targets proposed by their central banks.5 The reasons for this phenomenon have been analyzed in recent Reports to Congress, and this new edition delves deeper into the subject with updated information. The solid institutional and technical base that supports the inflation targeting approach under which the monetary policy strategy operates gives the BDBR the necessary elements to face this difficult challenge with confidence. In this regard, the BDBR reiterated its commitment to the 3.0% inflation target in its November 25 communiqué and expects it to be reached by the end of 2024.6 Monetary policy will continue to focus on meeting this objective while ensuring the sustainability of economic activity, as mandated by the Constitution. Analyst surveys done in March showed a significant increase (from 32.3% in January to 48.5% in March) in the percentage of responses placing inflation expectations two years or more ahead in a range between 3.0% and 4.0%. This is a clear indication of the recovery of credibility in the medium-term inflation target and is consistent with the BDBR’s announcement made in November 2022. The moderation of the upward trend in inflation seen in January, and especially in February, will help to reinforce this revision of inflation expectations and will help to meet the proposed targets. After reaching 5.6% at the end of 2021, inflation maintained an upward trend throughout 2022 due to inflationary pressures from both external sources, associated with the aftermath of the pandemic and the consequences of the war in Ukraine, and domestic sources, resulting from: strengthening of local demand; price indexation processes stimulated by the increase in inflation expectations; the impact on food production caused by the mid-2021 strike; and the pass-through of depreciation to prices. The 10% increase in the minimum wage in 2021 and the 16% increase in 2022, both of which exceeded the actual inflation and the increase in productivity, accentuated the indexation processes by establishing a high nominal adjustment benchmark. Thus, total inflation went to 13.1% by the end of 2022. The annual change in food prices, which went from 17.2% to 27.8% between those two years, was the most influential factor in the surge in the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Another segment that contributed significantly to price increases was regulated products, which saw the annual change go from 7.1% in December 2021 to 11.8% by the end of 2022. The measure of core inflation excluding food and regulated items, in turn, went from 2.5% to 9.5% between the end of 2021 and the end of 2022. The substantial increase in core inflation shows that inflationary pressure has spread to most of the items in the household basket, which is characteristic of inflationary processes with generalized price indexation as is the case in Colombia. Monetary policy began to react early to this inflationary pressure. Thus, starting with its September 2021 session, the BDBR began a progressive change in the monetary policy stance moving away from the historical low of a 1.75% policy rate that had intended to stimulate the recovery of the economy. This adjustment process continued without interruption throughout 2022 and into the beginning of 2023 when the monetary policy rate reached 12.75% last January, thus accumulating an increase of 11 percentage points (pp). The public and the markets have been surprised that inflation continued to rise despite significant interest rate increases. However, as the BDBR has explained in its various communiqués, monetary policy works with a lag. Just as in 2022 economic activity recovered to a level above the pre-pandemic level, driven, along with other factors, by the monetary stimulus granted during the pandemic period and subsequent months, so too the effects of the current restrictive monetary policy will gradually take effect. This will allow us to expect the inflation rate to converge to 3.0% by the end of 2024 as is the BDBR’s purpose.Inflation results for January and February of this year showed declining marginal increases (13 bp and 3 bp respectively) compared to the change seen in December (59 bp). This suggests that a turning point in the inflation trend is approaching. In other Latin American countries such as Chile, Brazil, Perú, and Mexico, inflation has peaked and has begun to decline slowly, albeit with some ups and downs. It is to be expected that a similar process will take place in Colombia in the coming months. The expected decline in inflation in 2023 will be due, along with other factors, to lower cost pressure from abroad as a result of the gradual normalization of supply chains, the overcoming of supply shocks caused by the weather, and road blockades in previous years. This will be reflected in lower adjustments in food prices, as has already been seen in the first two months of the year and, of course, the lagged effect of monetary policy. The process of inflation convergence to the target will be gradual and will extend beyond 2023. This process will be facilitated if devaluation pressure is reversed. To this end, it is essential to continue consolidating fiscal sustainability and avoid messages on different public policy fronts that generate uncertainty and distrust. 1 This Report to Congress includes Box 1, which summarizes the trajectory of Banco de la República over the past 100 years. In addition, under the Bank’s auspices, several books that delve into various aspects of the history of this institution have been published in recent years. See, for example: Historia del Banco de la República 1923-2015; Tres banqueros centrales; Junta Directiva del Banco de la República: grandes episodios en 30 años de historia; Banco de la República: 90 años de la banca central en Colombia. 2 This is why lower inflation has been reflected in a reduction of income inequality as measured by the Gini coefficient that went from 58.7 in 1998 to 51.3 in the year prior to the pandemic. 3 See Gómez Javier, Uribe José Darío, Vargas Hernando (2002). “The Implementation of Inflation Targeting in Colombia”. Borradores de Economía, No. 202, March, available at: https://repositorio.banrep.gov.co/handle/20.500.12134/5220 4 See López-Enciso Enrique A.; Vargas-Herrera Hernando and Rodríguez-Niño Norberto (2016). “The inflation targeting strategy in Colombia. An historical view.” Borradores de Economía, No. 952. https://repositorio.banrep.gov.co/handle/20.500.12134/6263 5 According to the IMF, the percentage change in consumer prices between 2021 and 2022 went from 3.1% to 7.3% for advanced economies, and from 5.9% to 9.9% for emerging market and developing economies. 6 https://www.banrep.gov.co/es/noticias/junta-directiva-banco-republica-reitera-meta-inflacion-3