The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the views of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/World Bank and its affiliated organizations, or those of the Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent.

Machine learning in finance has been on the rise in the past decade. The applications of machine learning have become a promising methodological advancement. The paper’s central goal is to use a metadata-based systematic literature review to map the current state of neural networks and machine learning in the finance field. After collecting a large dataset comprised of 5053 documents, we conducted a computational systematic review of the academic finance literature intersected with neural network methodologies, with a limited focus on the documents’ metadata. The output is a meta-analysis of the two-decade evolution and the current state of academic inquiries into financial concepts. Researchers will benefit from a mapping resulting from computational-based methods such as graph theory and natural language processing.

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Various local stakeholders with diverse needs seek different treatment and actions by their local governments. From the modern perspective of local governance, this article examines whether local governments are sufficiently responsive in meeting not only the mandatory responsibilities, but also the rapidly expanding range of societal expectations. This study enriches the existing local governance literature with a novel methodology and a set of indicators for measuring the quality of networked community local governance. The primary goal is to enlighten the local governance theory with a newly designed perspective and to offer our own innovative quantitative representation. The conclusions are based on theoretical refinements and our own innovative methodology supported by an empirical investigation. Finally, a composite indicator of social responsiveness of local governments is constructed, elaborated and illustrated through a case study.

Competing ethno-centered strategies over the local fiscal resources can seriously undermine political and economic stability of ethnically diverse societies. This study investigates the causal link between ethnic diversity and local government finances by focusing on the case of Macedonia. In particular: whether fiscal decentralization is used as a part of broader strategy for prevention and mitigation of inter-ethnic conflicts. The main argument is that low level of political culture and inter-ethnic tensions are frustrating the development of the government policy along a course of decentralization. The study confronts two emerging scenarios regarding decentralization and inter-ethnic relations. The first scenario puts the economic development at the forefront for country’s stability and treats decentralisation as a driving force to achieve this goal. Ethnic problems are expected to be solved along this path as rising economic stability reduces the inter-ethnic tensions. In the second scenario, the inter-ethnic stability is the main pillar of the country’s stability, which is expected to be accomplished through decentralisation. The paper analyses and synthesizes pros and cons of two scenarios from administrative, legal, political and economic perspectives.

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Jedan je od glavnih ciljeva lokalne samouprave približiti javne usluge građanima, no različite društvene skupine imaju različite zahtjeve u odnosu na pristup i postupke lokalnih vlasti. U radu se stoga razmatra jesu li lokalne vlasti odazivne i jednako otvorene prema potrebama svih građana ili su potrošili sredstva namijenjena budžetom isključivo iz zakonskih razloga. Kako se mjeri odazivnost lokalne samouprave i kako se povezuje s funkcioniranjem lokalnih službi u različitim sektorima? Rad pojašnjava novi koncept društvene odazivnosti lokalne samouprave. Ukratko, odgovorna lokalna vlast izvršava obveze i preuzima odgovornost za dodijeljene joj kompetencije. Odazivnost podrazumijeva brzu i otvorenu reakciju na osnovne potrebe građana, dok društvena odazivnost podrazumijeva više od otvorenosti – radi se o rješavanju manjih i većih potreba kako bi građani bili zadovoljni širokim rasponom javnih usluga na lokalnoj razini. Autori su stava da se od današnje lokalne samouprave ne očekuje samo brza i otvorena reakcija na osnovne potrebe građana, već rješavanje potreba većih i manjih društvenih skupina kako bi se održala društvena odazivnost i kako bi građani bili zadovoljni širokim rasponom javnih usluga na lokalnoj razini. Glavni rezultat rada je ispitivanje povezanosti društvene odazivnosti lokalne samouprave i funkcioniranja lokalnih službi u osnovnim područjima (komunalne usluge, obrazovanje, kultura i ostale kompetencije, ekonomski razvoj i dodjela prihoda) u slučaju Makedonije. Slijedi širi teorijski okvir, te autori predlažu teme za buduća istraživanja.

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