IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/roswps/101.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Public-sector efficiency and interjurisdictional competition: An empirical investigation

Author

Listed:
  • Becker, Daniel Thomas

Abstract

This paper investigates the performance and efficiency of the public sector in 74 countries worldwide for the years 1985, 1990, 1995 and 2000. Similar to what is done in Afonso / Schuhknecht / Tanzi (2005, Public Choice), I calculate performance measures for various fields of government policy, including education, health, security or macroeconomic stability. These performance measures are then used as output variables in a non-parametric FDH (free disposable hull) and DEA (data envelopment analysis) approach for the calculation of efficiency scores. Government expenditure is used as input for the evaluation of efficiency. In the last step the efficiency scores are regressed upon variables that describe the environment of government policy. I find that smaller public sectors tend to be more efficient, but the effect is not very sizeable. The same is true for countries that are more globalised. The pattern of (in-)efficiency can be large explained by continent-dummies.

Suggested Citation

  • Becker, Daniel Thomas, 2008. "Public-sector efficiency and interjurisdictional competition: An empirical investigation," Thuenen-Series of Applied Economic Theory 101, University of Rostock, Institute of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:roswps:101
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/39745/1/610725033.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. 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.
    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. Norman Gemmell & Patrick Nolan & Grant Scobie, 2017. "Public sector productivity: Quality adjusting sector-level data on New Zealand schools," Working Papers 2017/02, New Zealand Productivity Commission.
    2. Becchetti, Leonardo & Conzo, Pierluigi & Salustri, Francesco, 2017. "The impact of health expenditure on the number of chronic diseases," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 121(9), pages 955-962.
    3. 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.
    4. Aparicio, Juan & Santin, Daniel, 2018. "A note on measuring group performance over time with pseudo-panels," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 267(1), pages 227-235.
    5. Christl, Michael & Köppl-Turyna, Monika & Kucsera, Dénes, 2018. "Public sector efficiency in Europe: Long-run trends, recent developments and determinants," Working Papers 14, Agenda Austria.
    6. Gaspar, Ví­tor & Afonso, António, 2006. "Excess burden and the cost of inefficiency in public services provision," Working Paper Series 601, European Central Bank.
    7. Miningou, Élisé Wendlassida & Vierstraete, Valérie, 2013. "Households' living situation and the efficient provision of primary education in Burkina Faso," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 910-917.
    8. Tommaso Agasisti & Giuseppe Munda, 2017. "Efficiency of investment in compulsory education: An Overview of Methodological Approaches," JRC Research Reports JRC106681, Joint Research Centre.
    9. 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.
    10. Camanho, Ana S. & Stumbriene, Dovile & Barbosa, Flávia & Jakaitiene, Audrone, 2023. "The assessment of performance trends and convergence in education and training systems of European countries," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 305(1), pages 356-372.
    11. Asem Alshami, 2016. "Theoretical Evidences Regarding Methodologies Of Calculating Efficiency Of Public Sector," Management Strategies Journal, Constantin Brancoveanu University, vol. 34(4), pages 88-94.
    12. 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.
    13. 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.
    14. Bruno Eugène, 2008. "The efficiency frontier as a method for gauging the performance of public expenditure : a Belgian case study," Working Paper Research 138, National Bank of Belgium.
    15. Ece Ucar & E. Ertugrul Karsak, 2024. "Evaluating Educational Performance of OECD Countries with Common-Weight DEA-Based Models," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(3), pages 13673-13700, September.
    16. Peter Bogetoft & Eskil Heinesen & Torben Tranæs, 2014. "The efficiency of educational production: A comparison of Denmark with other OECD countries," Study Papers 71, Rockwool Foundation Research Unit.
    17. António Afonso & José Alves & Najat Bazah, 2024. "Public Sector Efficiency and the Functions of the Government," CESifo Working Paper Series 11487, CESifo.
    18. Giorgia Zotti, 2024. "Regional Differences in Italian School Efficiency: A Conditional DEA Approach," SERIES 05-2024, Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza - Università degli Studi di Bari "Aldo Moro", revised Nov 2024.
    19. Hanushek, Eric A. & Woessmann, Ludger, 2011. "The Economics of International Differences in Educational Achievement," Handbook of the Economics of Education, in: Erik Hanushek & Stephen Machin & Ludger Woessmann (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Education, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 2, pages 89-200, Elsevier.
    20. Fabiana Machado, 2013. "Decentralization and Accountability: The Curse of Local Underdevelopment," Research Department Publications IDB-WP-397, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Public-Sector Efficiency; Free Disposable Hull; Data Envelopment Analysis;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C14 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Semiparametric and Nonparametric Methods: General
    • H50 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - General

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:zbw:roswps:101. 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: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ivrosde.html .

    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.