IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/ifwedp/201747.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

How costly are public sector inefficiencies? A theoretical framework for rationalising fiscal consolidations

Author

Listed:
  • Onrubia Fernández, Jorge
  • Sánchez Fuentes, Antonio Jesús

Abstract

Fiscal adjustments consisting of spending cuts or tax increases are generally presented as the unavoidable way for achieving public finance sustainability in the long term. However, this view of fiscal consolidation processes is limited as it leaves out other aspects related to public sector performance which are relevant not only from the macroeconomic but also from the microeconomic perspective. This paper models Public Sector Performance (PSP) by proposing a theoretical framework that integrates the conventional methodology for measuring its productive efficiency and the monetary assessment of social welfare changes linked to public policy reforms. Two equivalent measures of social welfare change generated by improving (or worsening) productive efficiency are deduced using duality theory. The first is obtained from the cost function, while the second arises directly from the production function. The results reveal that taking advantage of budgetary savings obtained from this approach constitutes a valuable tool for designing welfareenhancing fiscal consolidation packages, meanwhile promoting sound fiscal balances and growth prospects over the long term.

Suggested Citation

  • Onrubia Fernández, Jorge & Sánchez Fuentes, Antonio Jesús, 2017. "How costly are public sector inefficiencies? A theoretical framework for rationalising fiscal consolidations," Economics Discussion Papers 2017-47, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:ifwedp:201747
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.economics-ejournal.org/economics/discussionpapers/2017-47
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/163568/1/894774263.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fakin, Barbara & de Crombrugghe, Alain, 1997. "Field adjustments in transition economies : social transfers and the efficiency of public spending - a comparison with OECD countries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1803, The World Bank.
    2. Afonso, Antonio & St. Aubyn, Miguel, 2005. "Non-Parametric Approaches to Education and Health Efficiency in OECD Countries," Journal of Applied Economics, Universidad del CEMA, vol. 8(2), pages 1-20, November.
    3. Pierre Pestieau, 2009. "Assessing The Performance Of The Public Sector," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 80(1), pages 133-161, March.
    4. Kristof De Witte & Laura López-Torres, 2017. "Efficiency in education: a review of literature and a way forward," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 68(4), pages 339-363, April.
    5. Rodríguez-Álvarez, Ana & Rosete-Rivero, Mayte, 2017. "Spanish public hospital waiting lists: A theoretical and empirical approach," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 11, pages 1-21.
    6. Gibbons, Robert, 2005. "Four forma(lizable) theories of the firm?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 200-245, October.
    7. Walter Hettich & Stanley L. Winer, 1993. "Economic Efficiency, Political Institutions and Policy Analysis," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(1), pages 3-25, February.
    8. Charnes, A. & Cooper, W. W. & Rhodes, E., 1978. "Measuring the efficiency of decision making units," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 2(6), pages 429-444, November.
    9. Mueller,Dennis C., 2003. "Public Choice III," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521894753.
    10. Antonio Afonso & Ludger Schuknecht & Vito Tanzi, 2010. "Public sector efficiency: evidence for new EU member states and emerging markets," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(17), pages 2147-2164.
    11. Gronberg, Timothy J. & Jansen, Dennis W. & Taylor, Lori L., 2012. "The relative efficiency of charter schools: A cost frontier approach," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 302-317.
    12. António Afonso & Ludger Schuknecht & Vito Tanzi, 2005. "Public sector efficiency: An international comparison," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 123(3), pages 321-347, June.
    13. Lars-Erik Borge & Torberg Falch & Per Tovmo, 2008. "Public sector efficiency: the roles of political and budgetary institutions, fiscal capacity, and democratic participation," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 136(3), pages 475-495, September.
    14. Figlio, David N. & Kenny, Lawrence W., 2009. "Public sector performance measurement and stakeholder support," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(9-10), pages 1069-1077, October.
    15. Antonis Adam & Manthos Delis & Pantelis Kammas, 2011. "Public sector efficiency: leveling the playing field between OECD countries," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 146(1), pages 163-183, January.
    16. Willig, Robert D, 1976. "Consumer's Surplus without Apology," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 66(4), pages 589-597, September.
    17. António Afonso & Ludger Schuknecht & Vito Tanzi, 2010. "Income distribution determinants and public spending efficiency," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 8(3), pages 367-389, September.
    18. Timothy J. Coelli & D.S. Prasada Rao & Christopher J. O’Donnell & George E. Battese, 2005. "An Introduction to Efficiency and Productivity Analysis," Springer Books, Springer, edition 0, number 978-0-387-25895-9, November.
    19. Gupta, Sanjeev & Verhoeven, Marijn, 2001. "The efficiency of government expenditure: experiences from Africa," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 23(4), pages 433-467, May.
    20. Antonio Afonso & Carla Scaglioni, 2005. "Public Services Efficiency Provision in Italian Regions: a Non-Parametric Analysis," Working Papers Department of Economics 2005/02, ISEG - Lisbon School of Economics and Management, Department of Economics, Universidade de Lisboa.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Olawale Odewole, Philip & Oyesola Salawu, Rafiu, 2021. "Assessment Of The Efficiency Of Selected Public Sector Entities In Nigeria," Ilorin Journal of Economic Policy, Department of Economics, University of Ilorin, vol. 8(1), pages 18-30, June.
    2. Alan Kanamatovich Karaev & Vadim Vitalievich Ponkratov & Andrey Igorevich Masterov & Andrey Sergeevich Pozdnyaev & Nikolay Vladimirovich Kuznetsov, 2020. "The analysis of the comparative efficiency of state support for natural gas production: the case of some OECD and BRICS countries," Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues, VsI Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Center, vol. 7(3), pages 1778-1789, March.

    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. Jorge Onrubia-Fernández & A. Jesús Sánchez-Fuentes, 2014. "How costly are the public sector ineffiencies? An integrated theoretical framework for its welfare assessment," Working Papers. Collection A: Public economics, governance and decentralization 1407, Universidade de Vigo, GEN - Governance and Economics research Network.
    2. 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.
    3. Aristovnik, Aleksander & Obadić, Alka, 2014. "Measuring relative efficiency of secondary education in selected EU and OECD countries: the case of Slovenia and Croatia," MPRA Paper 63936, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. António Afonso & Ludger Schuknecht & Vito Tanzi, 2010. "Income distribution determinants and public spending efficiency," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 8(3), pages 367-389, September.
    5. Sona Stikarova, 2014. "Economic growth, inequality and efficiency," Department of Economic Policy Working Paper Series 006, Department of Economic Policy, Faculty of National Economy, University of Economics in Bratislava.
    6. Aleksander Aristovnik, 2013. "Relative Efficiency of Education Expenditures in Eastern Europe: A Non-parametric Approach," Journal of Knowledge Management, Economics and Information Technology, ScientificPapers.org, vol. 3(3), pages 1-4, June.
    7. Antonio Afonso & Ludger Schuknecht & Vito Tanzi, 2010. "Public sector efficiency: evidence for new EU member states and emerging markets," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(17), pages 2147-2164.
    8. Jean-François Brun & Constantin Thierry Compaore, 2021. "Public Expenditures Efficiency On Education Distribution in Developing Countries," Working Papers hal-03116615, HAL.
    9. Ranjan Kumar Mohanty & N.R. Bhanumurthy, 2018. "Assessing Public Expenditure Efficiency at Indian States," Working Papers id:12837, eSocialSciences.
    10. Aleksander Aristovnik, 2014. "Relative Efficiency Of Primary Education: An International Comparison," Economy & Business Journal, International Scientific Publications, Bulgaria, vol. 8(1), pages 17-24.
    11. Jean-François Brun & Constantin Thierry Compaore, 2021. "Public Expenditures Efficiency On Education Distribution in Developing Countries," CERDI Working papers hal-03116615, HAL.
    12. António Afonso & José Alves, 2023. "Are fiscal consolidation episodes helpful for public sector efficiency?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(31), pages 3547-3560, July.
    13. Antonio Afonso & Carla Scaglioni, 2005. "Public Services Efficiency Provision in Italian Regions: a Non-Parametric Analysis," Working Papers Department of Economics 2005/02, ISEG - Lisbon School of Economics and Management, Department of Economics, Universidade de Lisboa.
    14. António Afonso & João Tovar Jalles & Ana Venâncio, 2023. "Government Spending and Tax Revenue Decentralization and Public Sector Efficiency: Do Natural Disasters matter?," Working Papers REM 2023/0271, ISEG - Lisbon School of Economics and Management, REM, Universidade de Lisboa.
    15. Antonis Adam & Manthos Delis & Pantelis Kammas, 2014. "Fiscal decentralization and public sector efficiency: evidence from OECD countries," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 15(1), pages 17-49, February.
    16. António Afonso & Ludger Schuknecht, 2019. "How “Big” Should Government Be?," Working Papers REM 2019/78, ISEG - Lisbon School of Economics and Management, REM, Universidade de Lisboa.
    17. Cosmin Eugen ENACHE, 2012. "The efficiency of expenditure-related redistributive policies in the European countries," Timisoara Journal of Economics, West University of Timisoara, Romania, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, vol. 5(18), pages 380-394.
    18. Lucas Menescal & José Alves, 2023. "Tax Structure and Public Sector Efficiency: New Evidence for Developing Countries," CESifo Working Paper Series 10726, CESifo.
    19. António Afonso & João Tovar Jalles & Ana Venâncio, 2022. "A Tale of Government Spending Efficiency and Trust in the State," Working Papers REM 2022/0253, ISEG - Lisbon School of Economics and Management, REM, Universidade de Lisboa.
    20. Afonso, António & Tovar Jalles, João & Venâncio, Ana, 2022. "Do financial markets reward government spending efficiency?," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    public sector efficiency; technical efficiency; allocative efficiency; social welfare changes;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity
    • D60 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - General
    • D61 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Allocative Efficiency; Cost-Benefit Analysis
    • H40 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - 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:ifwedp:201747. 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/iwkiede.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.