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Public Sector Efficiency: The Roles of Political and Budgetary Institutions, Fiscal Capacity and Democratic Participation

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Author Info
Lars-Erik Borge () (Department of Economics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology)
Torberg Falch () (Department of Economics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology)
Per Tovmo () (Department of Economics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology)

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Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether efficiency in public service provision is affected by political and budgetary institutions, fiscal capacity, and democratic participation. In order to address this issue we take advantage of a new global efficiency measure for Norwegian local governments. There is strong evidence that high fiscal capacity and a high degree of party fragmentation contributes to low efficiency. In addition we find that increased democratic participation tends to increase efficiency, while a centralized top down budgetary process is associated with low efficiency.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Department of Economics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology in its series Working Paper Series with number 8407.

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Length: 32 pages
Date of creation: 01 May 2007
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:nst:samfok:8407

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Related research
Keywords: Public sector efficiency; Political and budgetary institutions; Fiscal capacity; Democratic Participation;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
H72 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Budget and Expenditures
H75 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Health, Education, and Welfare

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
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    Other versions:
  3. António Afonso & Miguel St. Aubyn, 2004. "Non-parametric Approaches to Education and Health Expenditure Efficiency in OECD Countries," Working Papers 2004/01, Department of Economics at the School of Economics and Management (ISEG), Technical University of Lisbon.. [Downloadable!]
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  19. Falch, Torberg, 2001. "Collective bargaining in the public sector and the role of budget determination," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 75-99, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Geys, Benny & Heinemann, Friedrich & Kalb, Alexander, 2008. "Voter Involvement, Fiscal Autonomy and Public Sector Efficiency: Evidence from German Municipalities," ZEW Discussion Papers 08-024, ZEW - Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung / Center for European Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
  2. Geys, Benny & Heinemann, Friedrich & Kalb, Alexander, 2007. "Local Governments in the Wake of Demographic Change: Efficiency and Economies of Scale in German Municipalities," ZEW Discussion Papers 07-036, ZEW - Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung / Center for European Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
  3. Bruns, Christian & Himmler, Oliver, 2008. "Could you hand me the efficiency section, please? Newspaper circulation and local government efficiency in Norway," MPRA Paper 12582, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
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