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The effectiveness and efficiency of public spending - Ulrike Mandl, Adriaan Dierx and Fabienne Ilzkovitz
Author(s): Ulrike Mandl, Adriaan Dierx, Fabienne Ilzkovitz, European Commission
The effectiveness and efficiency of public spending - Ulrike Mandl, Adriaan Dierx and Fabienne Ilzkovitz 
(645 kB) 
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.
DOI: 10.2765/25272
JEL classification: H11, H52, C14
(European Economy. Economic Papers 301. February 2008.
Brussels. pdf. 36pp. Tab. Ann. Bibliogr. )
| KC-AI-08-301-EN-C (online) | |
| ISBN 978-92-79-08226-9 (online) | |
| ISSN 1725-3187 (online)
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