Public sector efficiency: evidence for Latin America

Antonio Afonso, Alma Romero and Emma Monsalve

No 2013/20, Working Papers Department of Economics from ISEG - Lisbon School of Economics and Management, Department of Economics, Universidade de Lisboa

Abstract: We compute Public Sector Performance (PSP) and Public Sector Efficiency (PSE) indicators and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) efficiency scores for a sample of twenty-three Latin American and Caribbean Countries (LAC) to measure efficiency of public spending for the period 2001-2010. Our results show that the PSE is inversely correlated with the size of the government, while the efficiency frontier is essentially defined by Chile, Guatemala, and Peru. Moreover, on average, output quantities could theoretically be proportionally increased by 19 percent with the same level of inputs. In addition, the performed Tobit analysis suggests that more transparency and regulatory quality improve the efficiency scores, while more transparency and control of corruption increase output-oriented efficiency.

Keywords: public sector performance; technical efficiency; Tobit; DEA; Latin America; Caribbean. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C14 C61 H50 N16 O54 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eff, nep-lam and nep-pbe
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (42)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ise:isegwp:wp202013

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