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Measuring Productivity in the Public Sector: Some Conceptual Problems

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  • Diewert, Erwin

Abstract

In many sectors of the economy, governments either provide various services at no cost or at highly subsidized prices. Examples are the health, education and general government sectors. The paper analyzes three possible general methods to measure the price and quantity of nonmarket government outputs. If quantity information on nonmarket outputs is available, then the first two methods of price valuation rely on either purchaser based valuations or on cost based valuations. If little or no information on the quantity of nonmarket outputs produced is available, then the method recommended in the System of National Accounts 1993 must be used, where aggregate output growth is set equal to aggregate input growth. The paper also discusses various methods of adjusting for quality change.

Suggested Citation

  • Diewert, Erwin, 2010. "Measuring Productivity in the Public Sector: Some Conceptual Problems," Economics working papers erwin_diewert-2010-6, Vancouver School of Economics, revised 13 Jul 2010.
    • Handle: RePEc:ubc:bricol:erwin_diewert-2010-6
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    File URL: http://faculty.arts.ubc.ca/ediewert/dp1004.pdf
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    Cited by:

    1. Jesús A. Tapia & Bonifacio Salvador, 2022. "Data envelopment analysis efficiency in the public sector using provider and customer opinion: An application to the Spanish health system," Health Care Management Science, Springer, vol. 25(2), pages 333-346, June.
    2. Førsund, Finn R., 2012. "Measuring Efficiency in the Public Sector," Memorandum 09/2012, Oslo University, Department of Economics.
    3. Florence JANY-CATRICE, 2020. "Une économie politique des mesures d’impact social," CIRIEC Working Papers 2014, CIRIEC - Université de Liège.
    4. Hamilton, Calumn & de Vries, Gaaitzen J., 2025. "The structural transformation of transition economies," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    5. Diewert, Erwin & Fox, Kevin J., 2014. "Decomposing Bjurek Productivity Indexes into Explanatory Factors," Economics working papers erwin_diewert-2014-32, Vancouver School of Economics, revised 30 Jun 2014.
    6. Førsund, Finn R., 2017. "Measuring effectiveness of production in the public sector," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 93-103.
    7. Diewert, W. Erwin, 2017. "Productivity Measurement in the Public Sector: Theory and Practice," Microeconomics.ca working papers erwin_diewert-2017-1, Vancouver School of Economics, revised 02 Feb 2017.
    8. Robert Pater & Tomasz Skica, 2014. "The productivity of public and private sector in Poland," Business and Economic Horizons (BEH), Prague Development Center, vol. 10(2), pages 120-137, July.
    9. Wulong Gu & Ambrose Wong, 2015. "Productivity and economic output of the education sector," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 43(2), pages 165-182, April.
    10. W. Erwin Diewert & Kevin J. Fox, 2018. "A decomposition of US business sector TFP growth into technical progress and cost efficiency components," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 50(1), pages 71-84, October.
    11. Florence Jany‐Catrice, 2022. "A political economy of social impact measurement," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 93(2), pages 267-291, June.
    12. W. Erwin Diewert & Kevin J. Fox, 2017. "Decomposing Value Added Growth into Explanatory Factors," Discussion Papers 2017-02, School of Economics, The University of New South Wales.
    13. Diewert, W. Erwin, 2014. "Decompositions of profitability change using cost functions," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 183(1), pages 58-66.
    14. Diewert, W. Erwin & Fox, Kevin J., 2017. "Decomposing productivity indexes into explanatory factors," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 256(1), pages 275-291.
    15. Cristina Drumea, 2020. "Work-related Stress and Subsequent Productivity in a Teleworking Environment Induced by Pandemic-related Confinement. Evidence from the Public Organizations," Ovidius University Annals, Economic Sciences Series, Ovidius University of Constantza, Faculty of Economic Sciences, vol. 0(1), pages 337-341, August.
    16. W. Erwin Diewert, 2022. "Duality in Production," Springer Books, in: Subhash C. Ray & Robert G. Chambers & Subal C. Kumbhakar (ed.), Handbook of Production Economics, chapter 3, pages 57-168, Springer.
    17. Savona, Maria & Steinmueller, W. Edward, 2013. "Service output, innovation and productivity: A time-based conceptual framework," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 118-132.
    18. Francette Koechlin & Paul Konijn & Luca Lorenzoni & Paul Schreyer, 2017. "Comparing Hospitals and Health Prices and Volumes Across Countries: A New Approach," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 131(1), pages 43-64, March.
    19. Paul Schreyer & Matilde Mas, 2016. "Measuring Health Services in the National Accounts: An International Perspective," NBER Chapters, in: Measuring and Modeling Health Care Costs, pages 25-52, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    More about this item

    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • C43 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: Special Topics - - - Index Numbers and Aggregation
    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity
    • E23 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Production
    • H40 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - General
    • H51 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Health
    • H52 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Education
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General

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