IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/jdevst/v43y2007i2p360-381.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Measuring and explaining government efficiency in developing countries

Author

Listed:
  • Glenn Rayp
  • Nicolas Van De Sijpe

Abstract

Governments in developing countries play an important role in the growth process, most notably through their budgetary policies. This potentially beneficial role is, however, hindered by government expenditure inefficiency. This is illustrated in a basic model of public spending and economic growth. Government efficiency is estimated for 52 developing countries using data envelopment analysis and subsequently employed in a general to specific approach in order to identify its determinants. We find government expenditure efficiency is primarily determined by structural country variables and governance indicators. Economic policy determinants apparently count less. The Asian countries and low income European countries in the sample have a significantly higher and lower efficiency, respectively.

Suggested Citation

  • Glenn Rayp & Nicolas Van De Sijpe, 2007. "Measuring and explaining government efficiency in developing countries," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(2), pages 360-381.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:jdevst:v:43:y:2007:i:2:p:360-381
    DOI: 10.1080/00220380601125230
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00220380601125230
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/00220380601125230?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Charles R. Hulten, 1996. "Infrastructure Capital and Economic Growth: How Well You Use It May Be More Important Than How Much You Have," NBER Working Papers 5847, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Rajkumar, Andrew Sunil & Swaroop, Vinaya, 2002. "Public spending and outcomes : does governance matter?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2840, The World Bank.
    3. Marijn Verhoeven & Mr. Sanjeev Gupta & Mr. Erwin H Tiongson, 1999. "Does Higher Government Spending Buy Better Results in Education and Health Care?," IMF Working Papers 1999/021, International Monetary Fund.
    4. Laffont, Jean-Jacques, 2001. "Incentives and Political Economy," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199248681.
    5. António Afonso & Ludger Schuknecht & Vito Tanzi, 2005. "Public sector efficiency: An international comparison," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 123(3), pages 321-347, June.
    6. Afonso, Antonio & St. Aubyn, Miguel, 2006. "Cross-country efficiency of secondary education provision: A semi-parametric analysis with non-discretionary inputs," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 476-491, May.
    7. Ablo, Emmanuel & Reinikka, Ritva, 1998. "Do budgets really matter? - evidence from public spending on education and health in Uganda," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1926, The World Bank.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ant—nio Afonso & Ludger Schuknecht & Vito Tanzi, 2023. "The size of government," Chapters, in: António Afonso & João Tovar Jalles & Ana Venâncio (ed.), Handbook on Public Sector Efficiency, chapter 1, pages 6-31, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    2. Gaspar, Ví­tor & Afonso, António, 2006. "Excess burden and the cost of inefficiency in public services provision," Working Paper Series 601, European Central Bank.
    3. António Afonso & Ana Venâncio, 2020. "Local territorial reform and regional spending efficiency," Local Government Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(6), pages 888-910, November.
    4. Tumaniants, Karen A. (Туманянц, Карэн) & Sesina, Julia E. (Сесина, Юлия), 2017. "Social Expenditures of Russian Regions in Terms of “Input-Output” [Расходы На Социальную Политику Российских Регионов В Координатах «Затраты — Результат»]," Ekonomicheskaya Politika / Economic Policy, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, vol. 5, pages 128-149, October.
    5. António Afonso & José Alves & Najat Bazah, 2024. "Public Sector Efficiency and the Functions of the Government," Working Papers REM 2024/0357, ISEG - Lisbon School of Economics and Management, REM, Universidade de Lisboa.
    6. António Afonso & João Tovar Jalles & Ana Venâncio, 2023. "Government Spending and Tax Revenue Decentralization and Public Sector Efficiency: Do Natural Disasters matter?," Working Papers REM 2023/0271, ISEG - Lisbon School of Economics and Management, REM, Universidade de Lisboa.
    7. Agénor, Pierre-Richard & Neanidis, Kyriakos C., 2015. "Innovation, public capital, and growth," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 252-275.
    8. Afonso, Antonio & St. Aubyn, Miguel, 2006. "Cross-country efficiency of secondary education provision: A semi-parametric analysis with non-discretionary inputs," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 476-491, May.
    9. António Afonso & Ludger Schuknecht, 2019. "How “Big” Should Government Be?," Working Papers REM 2019/78, ISEG - Lisbon School of Economics and Management, REM, Universidade de Lisboa.
    10. Aristovnik, Aleksander & Obadić, Alka, 2014. "Measuring relative efficiency of secondary education in selected EU and OECD countries: the case of Slovenia and Croatia," MPRA Paper 63936, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Cosmin Eugen ENACHE, 2012. "The efficiency of expenditure-related redistributive policies in the European countries," Timisoara Journal of Economics, West University of Timisoara, Romania, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, vol. 5(18), pages 380-394.
    12. Thöne, Michael & Dobroschke, Stephan, 2010. "Qualität der öffentlichen Finanzen – Anwendung des Ansatzes der EU-Kommission auf Deutschland [The Quality of Public Finances – Assessment and exemplary application of the proposed approach by the ," FiFo Reports - FiFo-Berichte 12, University of Cologne, FiFo Institute for Public Economics.
    13. Mihai MutaÅŸcu & Marius MiloÅŸ, 2009. "Optimal Size Of Government Spending. The Case Of European Union Member States," Annales Universitatis Apulensis Series Oeconomica, Faculty of Sciences, "1 Decembrie 1918" University, Alba Iulia, vol. 1(11), pages 1-45.
    14. Afonso, António & Fernandes, Sónia, 2008. "Assessing and explaining the relative efficiency of local government," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 37(5), pages 1946-1979, October.
    15. Maria Alessandra Antonelli & Valeria De Bonis, 2018. "More is better with good institutions: evidence from European public social spending," Review of Applied Socio-Economic Research, Pro Global Science Association, vol. 16(2), pages 5-12, December.
    16. Ant Afonso & Miguel St. Aubyn, 2013. "Public and private inputs in aggregate production and growth: a cross-country efficiency approach," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(32), pages 4487-4502, November.
    17. Rajkumar, Andrew Sunil & Swaroop, Vinaya, 2008. "Public spending and outcomes: Does governance matter?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(1), pages 96-111, April.
    18. António Afonso & Ludger Schuknecht & Vito Tanzi, 2010. "Income distribution determinants and public spending efficiency," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 8(3), pages 367-389, September.
    19. António Afonso & Ana Venâncio, 2016. "The relevance of commuting zones for regional spending efficiency," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(10), pages 865-877, February.
    20. Antonio Afonso & Ludger Schuknecht & Vito Tanzi, 2010. "Public sector efficiency: evidence for new EU member states and emerging markets," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(17), pages 2147-2164.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    JEL Codes: H21; H50; O23;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O23 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Development Planning and Policy - - - Fiscal and Monetary Policy in Development
    • H50 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - General
    • H21 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Efficiency; Optimal Taxation

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:jdevst:v:43:y:2007:i:2:p:360-381. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/FJDS20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.