Review of Approaches to the Measurement of Public Sector Productivity Statistics

Mary O'Mahony, Mechelle Viernes and Martin Weale

Technical Reports from Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence

Abstract: Productivity is generally defined as a measure of the amount of output generated per unit of input. In many countries, public sector productivity has been assumed to be zero in the national accounts. The output of the government sector has been measured as equal in value to the total value of inputs. This output=input convention has increasingly come under scrutiny in recent years. The challenge is to devise alternative estimates based on output measurement in a public sector context – where collective services are provided and where there is, in most instances, no market transaction in services provided to individuals (Boyle, 2006). This report aims to provide a summary of approaches to defining and measuring public sector productivity. The first part of the paper begins with a review of international practices for a few national statistical institutes (NSIs) and Productivity Commissions where information was readily available from websites. This is followed by more general discussions of issues that impact on public sector productivity. We first consider the organization of public sector production which could feed into measurement. This draws heavily on a report reviewing measurement for the police, undertaken by The Productivity Institute (TPI). We then consider the question of weighting of outputs and quality adjustments. Next, we look at approaches that are based on outcomes rather than outputs and how to incorporate preventative measures. The final part contains some recommendations for future research.

Keywords: public sector productivity; input; measurement of output; quality adjustment; health; education; social security (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D24 H10 H11 H30 H40 H51 H52 H53 H55 H56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-03-05
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.repository-escoe.com/id/eprint/60/1/ESCoE%20TR-26.pdf

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eoe:escoet:escoe-tr-26

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Technical Reports from Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence, Melbourne House, Aldwych, WC2B 4PJ. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Communications Manager ().