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The effectiveness and efficiency of public spending

Author

Listed:
  • Ulrike Mandl
  • Adriaan Dierx
  • Fabienne Ilzkovitz

Abstract

This paper shows that the efficiency in public services more generally and in public spending on education and R&D in particular varies significantly between countries. The paper, however, also illustrates the difficulties of measuring efficiency and effectiveness. Progress has been made in developing the necessary measurement techniques, but there is a lack of suitable data to apply those techniques. Good quality data are needed because the techniques available to measure efficiency are sensitive to outliers and may be influenced by exogenous factors. Against this background, analyses based upon individual spending areas seem to be a more promising approach to measure efficiency and effectiveness on a cross-country basis.

Suggested Citation

  • Ulrike Mandl & Adriaan Dierx & Fabienne Ilzkovitz, 2008. "The effectiveness and efficiency of public spending," European Economy - Economic Papers 2008 - 2015 301, Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
  • Handle: RePEc:euf:ecopap:0301
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    File URL: https://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/publications/pages/publication11902_en.pdf
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    The effectiveness and efficiency of public spending; education spending; R&D spending; efficiency frontier; public administration; input; output; environmental factors; Mandl; Dierx; Ilzkovitz;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H11 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - Structure and Scope of Government
    • H52 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Education
    • C14 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Semiparametric and Nonparametric Methods: General

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