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Nonparametric tests of optimizing behavior in public service provision: Methodology and an application to local safety

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Author Info
Laurens Cherchye ()
Bruno De Borger ()
Tom Van Puyenbroeck ()

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Abstract

We develop a positive non-parametric model of public sector production that allows us to test whether an implicit procedure of cost minimization at shadow prices can rationalize the outcomes of public sector activities. The basic model focuses on multiple C-outputs and does not imply any explicit or implicit assumption regarding the trade-offs between the different inputs (in terms of relative shadow prices) or outputs (in terms of relative valuation). The proposed methodology is applied to a cross-section sample of 546 Belgian municipal police forces. Drawing on detailed task-allocation data and controlling, among others, for the presence of state police forces, the cost minimization hypothesis is found to provide a good fit of the data. Imposing additional structure on output valuation, derived from available ordinal information, yields equally convincing goodness-of-fit results. By contrast, we find that aggregating the labor input over task specializations, a common practice in efficiency assessments of police departments, entails a significantly worse fit of the data.

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Paper provided by Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Centrum voor Economische Studiën, Working Group Public Economics in its series Public Economics Working Paper Series with number ces0416.

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Length: 29 pp.
Date of creation: 2004
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Handle: RePEc:wpe:papers:ces0416

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Keywords: Public agencies optimizing behavior nonparametric production local police departments

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
C14 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: General - - - Semiparametric and Nonparametric Methods
C61 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods and Programming - - - Optimization Techniques; Programming Models; Dynamic Analysis
D21 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior
D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Capital and Total Factor Productivity; Capacity

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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. Drake, Leigh & Simper, Richard, 2002. "X-Efficiency and Scale Economies in Policing: A Comparative Study Using the Distribution Free Approach and DEA," Applied Economics, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 34(15), pages 1859-70, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. Ziggy MacDonald, 2002. "Official Crime Statistics: Their Use and Interpretation," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 112(477), pages F85-F106, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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    Other versions:
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    Other versions:
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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. Miguel St. Aubyn, 2008. "Law and Order Efficiency Measurement – A Literature Review," Working Papers 2008/19, Department of Economics at the School of Economics and Management (ISEG), Technical University of Lisbon.. [Downloadable!]
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