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Management of Bureaucrats and Public Service Delivery: Evidence from the Nigerian Civil Service

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  • Rasul, Imran
  • Rogger, Daniel

Abstract

We study how the management practices bureaucrats operate under correlate to the quantity of public services delivered, using data from the Nigerian Civil Service. We have hand-coded independent engineering assessments of 4700 project completion rates. We supplement this with a management survey in the bureaucracies responsible for these projects, building on Bloom and Van Reenen [2007]. Management practices matter: increasing bureaucrats' autonomy is positively associated with completion rates, yet practices related to incentives/monitoring of bureaucrats are negatively associated with completion rates. Our evidence provides new insights on the importance of management in public bureaucracies in a developing country setting.

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  • Rasul, Imran & Rogger, Daniel, 2016. "Management of Bureaucrats and Public Service Delivery: Evidence from the Nigerian Civil Service," CEPR Discussion Papers 11078, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:11078
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Bureaucracy; Management;

    JEL classification:

    • J33 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Compensation Packages; Payment Methods
    • O20 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Development Planning and Policy - - - General

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