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Public sector efficiency in transition and beyond: evidence from Czech local governments

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  • Lenka Šťastn᠍
  • Martin Gregor

Abstract

This article provides the first comparison of public sector efficiency in and beyond transition. We compare the comprehensive efficiency scores of 202 local governments in the Czech Republic in the transition period of 1995-1998 and the post-transition period of 2005-2008 and identify the period-specific determinants of local government efficiency. We observe convergence to the best practice frontier but also a growing efficiency gap between small and large governments. In both periods, municipal size and the main fiscal variables qualitatively affect efficiency in the same direction and in line with the fiscal stress hypothesis. Left-wing ideology is only robustly associated with cost inefficiency in the transition period. The geographic distances begin to matter for efficiency only in the post-transition period.

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  • Lenka Šťastn᠍ & Martin Gregor, 2015. "Public sector efficiency in transition and beyond: evidence from Czech local governments," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(7), pages 680-699, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:applec:v:47:y:2015:i:7:p:680-699
    DOI: 10.1080/00036846.2014.978077
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    Cited by:

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    2. lo Storto, Corrado, 2020. "Performance evaluation of social service provision in Italian major municipalities using Network Data Envelopment Analysis," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    3. Lazović-Pita Lejla & Šćeta Lamija, 2021. "A Stochastic Frontier Approach to Measuring Inefficiency of Local Communities in Bosnia and Herzegovina," South East European Journal of Economics and Business, Sciendo, vol. 16(1), pages 18-29, June.
    4. Isabel Narbón-Perpiñá & Mª Teresa Balaguer-Coll & Marko Petrovic & Emili Tortosa-Ausina, 2017. "Which estimator to measure local governments’ cost efficiency? An application to Spanish municipalities," Working Papers 2017/06, Economics Department, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón (Spain).
    5. Enrique J. Buch‐Gómez & Roberto Cabaleiro‐Casal, 2020. "Turnout, political strength, and cost efficiency in Spanish municipalities of the autonomous region of Galicia: Evidence from an alternative stochastic frontier approach," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 99(3), pages 533-553, June.
    6. Titl, Vitezslav & De Witte, Kristof & Geys, Benny, 2021. "Political donations, public procurement and government efficiency," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    7. Vidoli, Francesco & Auteri, Monica & Marinuzzi, Giorgia & Tortorella, Walter, 2023. "Spatial interdependence in cost efficiency and local government optimal size: The case of Italian municipalities," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    8. Maria Teresa Balaguer‐Coll & Isabel Narbón‐Perpiñá & Jesús Peiró‐Palomino & Emili Tortosa‐Ausina, 2022. "Quality of government and economic growth at the municipal level: Evidence from Spain," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(1), pages 96-124, January.
    9. Isabel Narbón-Perpiñá & Maria Teresa Balaguer-Coll & Marko Petrović & Emili Tortosa-Ausina, 2020. "Which estimator to measure local governments’ cost efficiency? The case of Spanish municipalities," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 11(1), pages 51-82, March.
    10. Isabel Narbón-Perpiñá & Kristof De Witte, 2016. "Local governments’ efficiency: A systematic literature review – Part I," Working Papers 2016/20, Economics Department, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón (Spain).
    11. Michal PlaÄ ek & Milan Křápek & Jan ÄŒadil & Bojka Hamerníková, 2020. "The Influence of Excellence on Municipal Performance: Quasi-Experimental Evidence From the Czech Republic," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(4), pages 21582440209, December.
    12. Isabel Narbón-Perpiñá & Maria Balaguer-Coll & Emili Tortosa-Ausina, 2019. "Evaluating local government performance in times of crisis," Local Government Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(1), pages 64-100, January.
    13. Caitlin T. O’Loughlin & Paul W. Wilson, 2021. "Benchmarking the performance of US Municipalities," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 60(6), pages 2665-2700, June.
    14. Jose M. Cordero & Francisco Pedraja-Chaparro & Elsa C. Pisaflores & Cristina Polo, 2017. "Efficiency assessment of Portuguese municipalities using a conditional nonparametric approach," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 48(1), pages 1-24, August.
    15. Plaček, Michal & Valentinov, Vladislav & del Campo, Cristina & Vaceková, Gabriela & Ochrana, František & Šumpíková, Markéta, 2021. "Stewardship and administrative capacity in green public procurement in the Czech Republic: Evidence from a large-N survey," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 33.
    16. D'Inverno, Giovanna & Carosi, Laura & Ravagli, Letizia, 2018. "Global public spending efficiency in Tuscan municipalities," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 102-113.

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