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Capacity Constraints and Public Financial Management in Small Pacific Island Countries

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  • Tobias Akhtar Haque
  • David Knight
  • Dinuk Jayasuriya

Abstract

Sound public financial management is a key concern of Pacific island country governments and their development partners. Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability assessments have become a ubiquitous tool for assessing public financial management performance in the region. This paper summarizes Pacific island country performance using global data and identifies a relationship between small population size and lower scores in Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability assessments. This relationship reflects capacity constraints to successful implementation of capacity-intensive public financial management functions measured in such assessments. The analysis suggests that high scores may be an unrealistic and inappropriate goal for Pacific governments and development partners. Greater account should be taken of population-related capacity constraints when designing and implementing public financial management reforms. Scarce capacity should be prioritized towards binding constraints to service delivery and macroeconomic management, rather than dispersed in attempts to improve assessment scores through adopting capacity-intensive ‘best-practice’ systems.

Suggested Citation

  • Tobias Akhtar Haque & David Knight & Dinuk Jayasuriya, 2015. "Capacity Constraints and Public Financial Management in Small Pacific Island Countries," Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 2(3), pages 609-622, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:asiaps:v:2:y:2015:i:3:p:609-622
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1002/app5.79
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Andrews, Matt, 2009. "Isomorphism and the Limits to African Public Financial Management Reform," Working Paper Series rwp09-012, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    2. Lant Pritchett, Michael Woolcock, Matt Andrews, 2010. "Capability Traps? The Mechanisms of Persistent Implementation Failure - Working Paper 234," Working Papers 234, Center for Global Development.
    3. Andrews, Matthew R., 2009. "Isomorphism and the Limits to African Public Financial Management Reform," Scholarly Articles 4415942, Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
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    Cited by:

    1. Andrés Rodríguez‐Pose, 2020. "Institutions and the fortunes of territories," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(3), pages 371-386, June.
    2. Andrés Rodríguez-Pose & Callum Wilkie, 2018. "Strategies of gain and strategies of waste: What determines the success of development intervention?," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 1826, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Jul 2018.

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