IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/eecrev/v51y2007i2p425-451.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

On the determinants of local government performance: A two-stage nonparametric approach

Author

Listed:
  • Balaguer-Coll, Maria Teresa
  • Prior, Diego
  • Tortosa-Ausina, Emili

Abstract

This article analyzes the efficiency of Comunitat Valenciana (Spain) local governments and their main explanatory variables. The analysis is performed in two stages. Firstly, efficiency is measured via (nonparametric) activity analysis techniques. The measurement techniques also enable the sources of inefficiency to be identified, i.e., whether inefficiencies are primarily overall cost, technical, or allocative. The second stage identifies some critical determinants of efficiency, focusing both on political and fiscal policy variables. In contrast to previous two-stage research studies, our approach performs the latter attempt via nonparametric smoothing techniques, rather that econometric methods ?such as OLS or Tobit related. Results show that inefficiencies are largely attributable to allocative factors, resulting in a notable gap between cost and technical efficiency. Inefficiencies are also larger for small municipalities. However, they are not exclusively attributable to poor management, as second-stage analysis reveals both fiscal and policy variables, either within or outside local governments control, to be explicably related to municipalities? performance. Este trabajo analiza la eficiencia de las corporaciones locales de la ComunidadValenciana y sus factores determinantes. El análisis se lleva a cabo en dos etapas. Enprimer lugar, la eficiencia es medida a través de técnicas (no paramétricas) de análisisde la actividad. El empleo de este tipo de técnicas permite también identificar lasfuentes de ineficiencia, esto es, si esta es básicamente en costes, técnica o de carácterasignativo. La segunda etapa identifica algunos determinantes clave de la eficiencia,centrándose tanto en variables políticas, así como de política fiscal. Frente a estudiosprevios en dos etapas, nuestro enfoque lleva a cabo este último objetivo a través detécnicas no paramétricas de suavizado, en lugar de métodos econométricos (tales comoMCO o modelos Tobit). Los resultados indican que
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • Balaguer-Coll, Maria Teresa & Prior, Diego & Tortosa-Ausina, Emili, 2007. "On the determinants of local government performance: A two-stage nonparametric approach," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 425-451, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:eecrev:v:51:y:2007:i:2:p:425-451
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0014-2921(06)00016-X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Léopold Simar & Paul Wilson, 2000. "Statistical Inference in Nonparametric Frontier Models: The State of the Art," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 13(1), pages 49-78, January.
    2. DiNardo, John & Fortin, Nicole M & Lemieux, Thomas, 1996. "Labor Market Institutions and the Distribution of Wages, 1973-1992: A Semiparametric Approach," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 64(5), pages 1001-1044, September.
    3. Lindsay, Cotton M, 1976. "A Theory of Government Enterprise," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 84(5), pages 1061-1077, October.
    4. Per Andersen & Niels Christian Petersen, 1993. "A Procedure for Ranking Efficient Units in Data Envelopment Analysis," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 39(10), pages 1261-1264, October.
    5. Deller, Steven C & Rudnicki, Edward, 1992. "Managerial Efficiency in Local Government: Implications on Jurisdictional Consolidation," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 74(2), pages 221-231, September.
    6. Walter Briec & Kristiaan Kerstens & Philippe Venden Eeckaut, 2004. "Non-convex Technologies and Cost Functions: Definitions, Duality and Nonparametric Tests of Convexity," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 81(2), pages 155-192, February.
    7. De Borger, Bruno & Kerstens, Kristiaan, 1996. "Cost efficiency of Belgian local governments: A comparative analysis of FDH, DEA, and econometric approaches," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 145-170, April.
    8. Henry Tulkens, 2006. "On FDH Efficiency Analysis: Some Methodological Issues and Applications to Retail Banking, Courts and Urban Transit," Springer Books, in: Parkash Chander & Jacques Drèze & C. Knox Lovell & Jack Mintz (ed.), Public goods, environmental externalities and fiscal competition, chapter 0, pages 311-342, Springer.
    9. Fried, Harold O. & Lovell, C. A. Knox & Schmidt, Shelton S. (ed.), 1993. "The Measurement of Productive Efficiency: Techniques and Applications," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195072181, Decembrie.
    10. Park, B.U. & Simar, L. & Weiner, Ch., 2000. "The Fdh Estimator For Productivity Efficiency Scores," Econometric Theory, Cambridge University Press, vol. 16(6), pages 855-877, December.
    11. Sole-Olle, Albert, 1997. "Tax Exporting and Redistributive Politics: An Empirical Investigation on the Determinants of the Spanish Local Tax Structure," Public Finance = Finances publiques, , vol. 52(1), pages 102-124.
    12. Arie Y. Lewin & John W. Minton, 1986. "Determining Organizational Effectiveness: Another Look, and an Agenda for Research," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(5), pages 514-538, May.
    13. Hardle, Wolfgang & Linton, Oliver, 1986. "Applied nonparametric methods," Handbook of Econometrics, in: R. F. Engle & D. McFadden (ed.), Handbook of Econometrics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 38, pages 2295-2339, Elsevier.
    14. De Borger, B & Kerstens, K. & Moesen, W. & Vanneste, J., 1994. "Explaining Differences in Productive Efficiency: An Application to Belgian Municipalities," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 80(3-4), pages 339-358, September.
    15. Michael Marlow, 1988. "Fiscal decentralization and government size," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 56(3), pages 259-269, March.
    16. Mei Xue & Patrick T. Harker, 1999. "Overcoming the Inherent Dependency of DEA Efficiency Scores: A Bootstrap Approach," Center for Financial Institutions Working Papers 99-17, Wharton School Center for Financial Institutions, University of Pennsylvania.
    17. Andrew Worthington, 2001. "An Empirical Survey of Frontier Efficiency Measurement Techniques in Education," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(3), pages 245-268.
    18. Angel Prieto & José ZofIo, 2001. "Evaluating Effectiveness in Public Provision of Infrastructure and Equipment: The Case of Spanish Municipalities," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 15(1), pages 41-58, January.
    19. Dominique Deprins & Léopold Simar & Henry Tulkens, 2006. "Measuring Labor-Efficiency in Post Offices," Springer Books, in: Parkash Chander & Jacques Drèze & C. Knox Lovell & Jack Mintz (ed.), Public goods, environmental externalities and fiscal competition, chapter 0, pages 285-309, Springer.
    20. Breton, Albert & Wintrobe, Ronald, 1975. "The Equilibrium Size of a Budget-maximizing Bureau: A Note on Niskanen's Theory of Bureaucracy," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 83(1), pages 195-207, February.
    21. Niskanen, William A, 1975. "Bureaucrats and Politicians," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 18(3), pages 617-643, December.
    22. Davis, Michael L & Hayes, Kathy, 1993. "The Demand for Good Government," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 75(1), pages 148-152, February.
    23. Hardle, Wolfgang & Linton, Oliver, 1986. "Applied nonparametric methods," Handbook of Econometrics, in: R. F. Engle & D. McFadden (ed.), Handbook of Econometrics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 38, pages 2295-2339, Elsevier.
    24. A. Charnes & W. W. Cooper & T. Sueyoshi, 1988. "A Goal Programming/Constrained Regression Review of the Bell System Breakup," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 34(1), pages 1-26, January.
    25. Grossman, Philip J. & Mavros, Panayiotis & Wassmer, Robert W., 1999. "Public Sector Technical Inefficiency in Large U.S. Cities," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 278-299, September.
    26. repec:cup:cbooks:9780521780506 is not listed on IDEAS
    27. -, 1986. "Agenda = Agenda," Series Históricas 8749, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL).
    28. Grosskopf Shawna & Hayes Kathy, 1993. "Local Public Sector Bureaucrats and Their Input Choices," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 151-166, March.
    29. Ladd, Helen F., 1994. "Fiscal impacts of local population growth: A conceptual and empirical analysis," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(6), pages 661-686, December.
    30. repec:cup:cbooks:9780521586115 is not listed on IDEAS
    31. Brueckner, Jan K., 1979. "Property values, local public expenditure and economic efficiency," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 223-245, March.
    32. Subhash C. Ray, 1991. "Resource-Use Efficiency in Public Schools: A Study of Connecticut Data," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 37(12), pages 1620-1628, December.
    33. repec:cup:cbooks:9780521355643 is not listed on IDEAS
    34. Marron, J.S. & Schmitz, H.-P., 1992. "Simultaneous Density Estimation of Several Income Distributions," Econometric Theory, Cambridge University Press, vol. 8(4), pages 476-488, December.
    35. Maria Teresa Balaguer-Coll & Diego Prior-Jiménez & José Manuel Vela-Bargues, 2002. "Efficiency and Quality in Local Government Management. The case of Spanish Local Authotities," Working Papers 0202, Departament Empresa, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, revised Feb 2002.
    36. Simar, Leopold & Wilson, Paul W., 2007. "Estimation and inference in two-stage, semi-parametric models of production processes," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 136(1), pages 31-64, January.
    37. Deaton, Angus, 1989. "Rice Prices and Income Distribution in Thailand: A Non-parametric Analysis," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 99(395), pages 1-37, Supplemen.
    38. repec:cup:cbooks:9780521785167 is not listed on IDEAS
    39. Andrew Worthington & Brian Dollery, 2002. "Incorporating contextual information in public sector efficiency analyses: a comparative study of NSW local government," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(4), pages 453-464.
    40. Leamer, Edward E & Leonard, Herman B, 1983. "Reporting the Fragility of Regression Estimates," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 65(2), pages 306-317, May.
    41. Nuria Bosch Roca & Francisco Pedraja & Javier Suarez Pandiello, 1999. "Measuring the efficiency in spanish municipal refuse collection services," Working Papers in Economics 46, Universitat de Barcelona. Espai de Recerca en Economia.
    42. Rolf Färe & Shawna Grosskopf, 2000. "Theory and Application of Directional Distance Functions," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 13(2), pages 93-103, March.
    43. VANDEN EECKAUT, Philippe & TULKENS, Henry & JAMAR, Marie-Astrid, 1993. "Cost efficiency in Belgian municipalities," LIDAM Reprints CORE 1033, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    44. Marlow, Michael L, 1991. "Privatization and Government Size," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 68(1-3), pages 273-276, January.
    45. Rajiv D. Banker & Richard C. Morey, 1986. "The Use of Categorical Variables in Data Envelopment Analysis," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(12), pages 1613-1627, December.
    46. Deller, Steven C, 1992. "Production Efficiency in Local Government: A Parametric Approach," Public Finance = Finances publiques, , vol. 47(1), pages 32-44.
    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. Emili Tortosa Ausina & Diego Prior & María Teresa Balaguer-Coll, 2006. "Decentralization And Effiency In Spanish Local Goverment," Working Papers. Serie EC 2006-02, Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Económicas, S.A. (Ivie).
    2. António Afonso & Sónia Fernandes, 2005. "Assessing and Explaining the Relative Efficiency of Local Government: Evidence for Portuguese Municipalities," Working Papers Department of Economics 2005/19, ISEG - Lisbon School of Economics and Management, Department of Economics, Universidade de Lisboa.
    3. Simanti Bandyopadhyay, 2012. "Performance Evaluation of Urban Local Governments: A Case for Indian Cities," International Center for Public Policy Working Paper Series, at AYSPS, GSU paper1232, International Center for Public Policy, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University.
    4. Afonso, António & Fernandes, Sónia, 2008. "Assessing and explaining the relative efficiency of local government," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 37(5), pages 1946-1979, October.
    5. António Afonso & Sónia Fernandes, 2003. "Efficiency of Local Government Spending: Evidence for the Lisbon Region," Working Papers Department of Economics 2003/09, ISEG - Lisbon School of Economics and Management, Department of Economics, Universidade de Lisboa.
    6. De Borger, Bruno & Kerstens, Kristiaan, 1996. "Cost efficiency of Belgian local governments: A comparative analysis of FDH, DEA, and econometric approaches," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 145-170, April.
    7. Maria Balaguer-Coll & Diego Prior & Emili Tortosa-Ausina, 2010. "Decentralization and efficiency of local government," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 45(3), pages 571-601, December.
    8. Cuadrado-Ballesteros, Beatriz & García-Sánchez, Isabel-María & Prado-Lorenzo, José-Manuel, 2013. "Effect of modes of public services delivery on the efficiency of local governments: A two-stage approach," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 23-35.
    9. Geys, Benny & Moesen, Wim, 2008. "Measuring local government technical (in)efficiency: An application and comparison of FDH, DEA and econometric approaches," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Market Processes and Governance SP II 2008-21, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    10. António Afonso & Ana Venâncio, 2022. "Local Property Tax Reform and Municipality Spending Efficiency," CESifo Working Paper Series 9538, CESifo.
    11. 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.
    12. Fox, William F. & Gurley, Tami, 2006. "Will consolidation improve sub-national governments ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3913, The World Bank.
    13. Philippe K. Widmer & Peter Zweifel, 2008. "Public Good Provision in a Federalist Country: Tiebout Competition, Fiscal Equalization, and Incentives for Efficiency in Switzerland," SOI - Working Papers 0804, Socioeconomic Institute - University of Zurich, revised Dec 2010.
    14. 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.
    15. Geys, Benny, 2006. "Looking across borders: A test of spatial policy interdependence using local government efficiency ratings," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(3), pages 443-462, November.
    16. Simanti Bandyopadhyay, 2014. "Some New Thoughts on Performance Evaluation of Governments: An Application to Indian Cities," International Center for Public Policy Working Paper Series, at AYSPS, GSU paper1430, International Center for Public Policy, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University.
    17. Andrew Worthington & Brian Dollery, 2000. "Efficiency Measurement in the Local Public Sector: Econometric and Mathematical Programming Frontier Techniques," School of Economics and Finance Discussion Papers and Working Papers Series 078, School of Economics and Finance, Queensland University of Technology.
    18. 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).
    19. Geys, Benny & Moesen, Wim, 2008. "Exploring sources of local government technical inefficiency: evidence from Flemish municipalities [Ursachenforschung zur technischen Ineffizienz kommunaler Verwaltungen: Evidenz von flämischen Gem," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Market Processes and Governance SP II 2008-18, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    20. 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.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity
    • D60 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - General
    • H71 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue
    • H72 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Budget and Expenditures

    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:eee:eecrev:v:51:y:2007:i:2:p:425-451. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/eer .

    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.