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The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a frontrunner in digitalising government services, demonstrating the successful implementation of National Digital Identity (NDI) systems. Unlike many developing nations with varying levels of success with electronic ID systems due to legal, socio-cultural, and ethical concerns, the UAE has seamlessly integrated digital identities into various sectors, including security, transportation, and more, through initiatives like UAE Pass. This study draws on the UAE's functional digital ID systems, such as those utilised in the Dubai Smart City project, to highlight the potential efficiencies and productivity gains in public services while addressing the associated risks of cybersecurity and privacy. This paper provides a comprehensive understanding of the UAE's NDI and its impact on the nation's digital transformation agenda, offering a thorough analysis of the effectiveness and challenges of NDIs, explicitly focusing on the UAE's approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the impact of automation on enhancing efficiency and decision-making within Kenya's Ministry of Finance. The research is guided by the question: How can the automation of financial processes be enhanced within the Ministry of Finance, Kenya? Using a qualitative research methodology, data were gathered from 20 ministry officials through snowball sampling techniques. The findings reveal significant challenges within existing manual systems, including frequent delays and inaccuracies that undermine effective governance. The adoption of automated solutions is proposed as a means to streamline operations, increase productivity, and create a more agile financial environment. Moreover, the integration of data analytics tools is recommended to empower ministry officials with real-time data for more informed decision-making, thereby improving fiscal policy formulation and execution. The research underscores the necessity of transitioning to automated processes to not only optimize internal workflows but also to strengthen Kenya's overall financial governance and accountability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our main contribution to this paper consists of analyzing the impact of public sector efficiency on economic growth. For this purpose, we based on a sample of seventy-five developing countries during the period 2000–2018. In the first step, we have estimated the countries' efficiency scores of public spending using data envelopment analysis (DEA). In the second step, we have incorporated them into a simple model of growth through government expenditure by applying a generalized method of moments (GMM). The results demonstrate that increasing government expenditure reduces economic growth in developing countries. However, when government expenditure is interacted with public sector efficiency, we find evidence for efficiency to boost the impacts of public spending on economic growth. Moreover, the empirical results show that above a critical threshold, efficiency lowers the optimal size of government expenditure required to maximize growth. Our findings can be useful for policymakers in order to set out a structural adjustment plan to improve the efficiency level of the public sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a frontrunner in digitalising government services, demonstrating the successful implementation of National Digital Identity (NDI) systems. Unlike many developing nations with varying levels of success with electronic ID systems due to legal, socio-cultural, and ethical concerns, the UAE has seamlessly integrated digital identities into various sectors, including security, transportation, and more, through initiatives like UAE Pass. This study draws on the UAE’s functional digital ID systems, such as those utilised in the Dubai Smart City project, to highlight the potential efficiencies and productivity gains in public services while addressing the associated risks of cybersecurity and privacy. This paper provides a comprehensive understanding of the UAE’s NDI and its impact on the nation’s digital transformation agenda, offering a thorough analysis of the effectiveness and challenges of NDIs, explicitly focusing on the UAE’s approach.

This article analyses the public spending performance and efficiency of South East European (SSE) countries for the period 2010–2019, ranking Slovenia as the best performer and Greece as the worst. The article provides evidence-based policy recommendations for countries to improve their performance with the same inputs, as well as to decrease inputs to achieve same performance. The authors used data envelopment analysis to provide an insight into how the effectiveness and efficiency of the education and public infrastructure sectors might be improved. Input and output efficiency of the public sectors of South East European (SEE) countries was assessed through the non-parametric production frontier–data envelopment analysis (DEA). The same technique was also employed to assess the education and infrastructure sectors' efficiency. The assessment indicates significant inter-country differences in both performance and efficiency. The results suggest that the best performer in SEE countries was Slovenia, while Albania was the most efficient. There were even more education and infrastructure sector specific efficiency variations, indicating performance improvement potentials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the effect of public sector efficiency on firm productivity using data from more than 400,000 Italian firms. Exploiting the large heterogeneity in the efficiency of the public sector across Italy's provinces and the intrinsic variation in the dependence of industries on the government, we find that public sector inefficiency significantly reduces the productivity of private sector firms. The results suggest that raising public sector efficiency could yield large economic benefits: If the efficiency in all provinces reached the frontier, output per employee for the average firm would increase by 9%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the importance of public sector efficiency in the design of a euro area-wide social benefit scheme. Our results reveal large-scale inefficiencies in the use of funds allocated to the scheme during the great recession and euro area sovereign debt crisis that followed, with member states wasting on average 34.6% of funds allocated to it. We therefore propose that to ensure the smooth functioning of the scheme, the fiscal union will first of all have to strengthen it at the national level by improving efficiency in the use of funds by governments. We show that this can be achieved by providing a framework for the transfer of the "critical success factors" in the policies implemented by the most efficient administrations. Furthermore, we show how public sector efficiency considerations can help ameliorate the problem of moral hazard associated with a centralized insurance scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evaluation of efficiency and effectiveness in the public sector has a long tradition in literature. The data envelopment analysis (DEA) method is hereby a commonly applied method for examining the efficiency of individual public sector units. It also applies to healthcare; however, research on individual parts of this activity is rare, particularly as regards the evaluation of laboratory-based activity. In this article, the DEA method is used to evaluate the efficiency of biomedical laboratories and the change upon quality standards introduction. This is the first example of verification of a change in technical efficiency in relation to the accreditation of ISO standards. In the article, the analysis of the efficiency of Slovenian medical laboratories is presented in terms of the obtained quality standard; moreover, a comparison of Slovenian medical laboratories and two laboratories from neighbouring countries, Austria and Italy, is provided. The results show that the use of the DEA method and the Malmquist index do not indicate an improvement in the technical efficiency of accredited laboratories but the quality indicators indicate a higher quality of performed work. The comparison of Slovenian and foreign laboratories indicates high technical efficiency of accredited laboratories, as they are the highest-ranked; however, the knowledge of laboratories indicates that there are also other reasons for such a ranking. These research results can be utilised in comparable areas and countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efficient use of public resources is clearly a relevant issue to be studied from several points of view. Among others, it accounts for a significant share of the total economy activity and it deals with non-market oriented activities. In Spain, the regional level is particularly relevant due to the progressive decentralization of key public policies constituting the welfare state (as education, health, etc.) and their increasing financing needs, at the same time with important differences in fiscal capacity between them. Moreover, they mostly share (15 of 17) a common financing system in which an efficient use of resources is assumed but not evaluated. Our results show that normally a few of the regions tend to be the top performers, but there no regions performing poorly in every aspect. It is also worth noting that no dramatic changes can be seen in terms both of expenditure and performance during the recent Great Recession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores several issues related to whether and how direct participation of citizens could be further developed in democratic systems. The analysis starts with an overview of Frey’s proposals for a democracy of the future. The article then addresses three main issues related to direct citizen involvement in public decision-making: (1) the link between extensive direct participation rights and Pareto optimality; (2) the question whether political parties do matter in representative democracies; and (3) the role of program evaluation in our modern democracies. The main conclusion of the analysis is that, given the current state of the literature, the search for Pareto-optimal policies does not appear as either a necessary condition (representative democracies have merits on their own) or a sufficient condition (referendums can yield inefficient outcomes) for extended democratic participation rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The need to balance austerity with growth policies has put government efficiency high on the economic policy agenda in Europe. Administrative reforms that boost the internal efficiency of bureaucracy can alleviate the trade-off between consolidation and public service provision. Against such a backdrop, this paper constructs (and makes available) a novel reform indicator to explore the determinants of public administration reforms for a panel of EU countries. The findings support political-economic reasoning: An economic and fiscal crisis is a potent catalyst for reforms, but a powerful bureaucracy constrains the opportunities of a crisis to promote reform. Furthermore, there is some suggestive evidence for horizontal learning from other EU countries, and for vertical learning associated with a particular type of EU cohesion spending. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Research Papers of the Wroclaw University of Economics / Prace Naukowe Uniwersytetu Ekonomicznego we Wroclawiu is the property of Uniwersytet Ekonomiczny we Wroclawiu and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper studies the role of direct democracy in ensuring efficient and cost-effective provision of goods and services in the public sector. The sample consists of the population of municipalities in the German State of Bavaria, where in the mid-1990s considerable direct democratic reforms granted citizens wide opportunities to directly participate in local affairs through binding initiatives. Using information on the municipal resources and the municipal provision of public goods, and applying a fully non-parametric approach to estimate local government overall efficiency, the analysis shows that more direct democratic activity is associated with higher government efficiency. This result suggests that more inclusive governance through direct decision-making mechanisms may induce more accountable and less inefficient governments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an analysis of the performance and efficiency of the public sector in the European Union (EU). Using composite indicators and data envelopment analysis, we focus on the new EU member countries, which were involved over the past decade in the accession and integration process. Results of the analysis indicate that, unlike "old" EU members, which invested more in sectors such as education or health, countries in Central and Eastern Europe, the "new" EU member states, have directed public resources mainly toward the performance of the government sectors. However, greater efficiency has been achieved precisely in those areas where they have invested less. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Research Papers of the Wroclaw University of Economics / Prace Naukowe Uniwersytetu Ekonomicznego we Wroclawiu is the property of Uniwersytet Ekonomiczny we Wroclawiu and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper studies the impact of fiscal decentralization on public sector efficiency (PSE). We first use a theoretical framework that illustrates the two opposing forces that shape a non-monotonic effect of fiscal decentralization on PSE. Subsequently, we carry out an empirical analysis for 21 OECD countries, between 1970 and 2000. A country-level dataset is used to measure PSE in delivering education and health services and the new indices are regressed on well-established decentralization measures. Irrespective of whether PSE concerns education or health services, an inverted U-shaped relationship has been identified between government efficiency in providing these services and fiscal decentralization. This relationship is robust across several different specifications and estimation methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Research Papers of the Wroclaw University of Economics / Prace Naukowe Uniwersytetu Ekonomicznego we Wroclawiu is the property of Uniwersytet Ekonomiczny we Wroclawiu and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study examines the importance of incorporating public sector efficiency considerations in the design of a "COVID Fund" in the euro area, aimed at providing insurance for member states against common health shocks. To test our proposition, we examine the efficiency of government spending on health during periods of severe resource constraints, which mirrors what occurs during pandemics like COVID-19. Specifically, we considered 19 administrations in the euro area during the global financial crisis and euro area sovereign debt crisis that followed. The results support our proposition. First, they reveal the average efficiency for all 19 administrations to be 0.950, which implies that member countries had wasted about 5% of funds allocated to health during this period. This suggests the need for the supranational institution to first of all ensure improvements in the use of public funds allocated to health by national governments in order to prevent wastage of the financial aid transferred to them during pandemics. Also, two of the four administrations that adopted the Economic and Financial Adjustment Programme of the troika (Portugal and Greece) during the twin crisis were among the most efficient. This suggest that making conditionalities an integral part of the central coordination of health funds during pandemics will result in improvements in the efficiency of funds transferred to member states., Competing Interests: None, (© 2022 University of Venice. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Abstract: This paper examines whether governance quality affects public sector efficiency in the policy areas of administration, education, infrastructure, and stability. Using cross-country evidence, we find that a country''s measures of governance quality are positively and significantly associated with public sector efficiency in the policy areas of administration, infrastructure, and stability. However, regression results suggest that a country''s governance quality cannot affect efficiency in the policy area of education, even after controlling for some explanatory variables. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This section offers abstracts of articles published in this journal including the economic determinnants of foreign direct investment, the politics of bank supervision and the volatility spillover from a major stock market.

Abstract: This paper explores the relationship between public sector efficiency (PSE) and the level of democracy, both theoretically and empirically. At the theoretical level a simple model of elections with two time periods is presented, which takes into account whether the political regime is democratic or not. Specifically, we assume that elected officials in democracies are “more” accountable to voters than the respective ones in autocracies. This mechanism induces the democratic politicians to produce the public good in a more efficient way, in order to remain in power. In the empirical section we examine the effect of democracy on PSE for a panel dataset of 50 developing and developed countries over the period 1980–2000. Our results suggest that the relationship between PSE and democracy is positive and statistically significant, thus confirming our theoretical priors. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Several papers have attempted to derive computable analytical formulas for the Marginal Cost of Funds (MCF). However, this literature is often cast in the pure labor supply general equilibrium model, which is not completely consistent with real tax systems where Labor Income Taxation (LIT) is not the only instrument used by governments. Hence, we explicitly introduce Value-Added Taxation (VAT) on consumption goods in the conventional model, and we derive an analytical formula for the MCF which does incorporate general equilibrium interactions between the different tax bases. Then, we illustrate how much this matter for empirical estimates of MCF using French data. Our numerical example suggests that, when computing MCF for a LIT reform, taking account of the impact of LIT reform on tax revenue from VAT can make a great deal of difference, typically increasing MCF and accounting for around 0.2 to 0.8 of estimates. In addition, MCF is then really less likely to be less than one than in the conventional framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While many developing countries have devolved public responsibilities to local governments in recent years, some studies have examined whether decentralization actually leads to greater public sector allocation efficiency. This paper approaches this question by assessing the efficiency of government expenditure on public sector under fiscal decentralization. The area of public expenditure is of great importance making the findings have strong implications with regard to public sector efficiency. We compute public sector performance (PSP) and public sector efficiency (PSE) indicators, comprising of composite and 9 sub indicators, for 33 provinces in Indonesia. The first 6 sub indicators are opportunity indicators that take into account education, health outcomes, poverty, gender equality, quality of public infrastructure (transportation and energy). 3 order indicators reflect the standard musgravian tasks for the government: allocation, distribution, and stabilization. The input and output efficiency of public sectors across provinces is then measured using a non-parametric production frontier technique. Free Disposable Hull (FDH) analysis is used to estimate the extent of slack in government expenditures. The study finds significant differences in PSP and PSE, which suggests a large potential for expenditure savings in many provinces. All these findings suggest diminishing marginal products of higher public spending. We also estimate a semi parametric model of the public sector production process by regressing FDH analysis output scores on non discretionary variables using the Tobit procedure. We show that inefficiency is strongly related to GDP per capita, human development index, and degree of fiscal dependence. The central message of this paper is that increasing budgetary allocations for public sector may not be the only or most effective way to increase public sector outcome, and that more attention should be given to increasing the efficiency of expenditure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we seek a robust methodology for the measurement of the relative public sector efficiency of 19 OECD countries over the period 1980-2000. We estimate relative efficiency scores for five disaggregated accounts of public spending as well as for aggregate public spending. Then, we use a semi-parametric econometric method to isolate the impact of government inefficiency from the inefficiency arising from the socioeconomic environment and luck. To verify the validity of our index, we use it to examine a number of well-established relationships in the public choice literature, which have only been tested using local government data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Using the case of Russia’s regions, this paper extends the literature on public sector efficiency in three directions: an attempt to better understand differences in public sector efficiency through the study of subnational governments in one country; the first examination of public sector efficiency of subnational governments in emerging markets; and the first study of public sector efficiency in Russia. Three types of scores of public sector performance and efficiency indicate substantial differences across regions. An econometric examination suggests that they are largely explained by per capita income, the share of federal transfers in subnational government revenue, quality of governance and democratic control, and the level of spending. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Copyright of Družboslovne Razprave is the property of Druzboslovne Razprave and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether efficiency in public service provision is affected by political and budgetary institutions, fiscal capacity, and democratic participation. In order to address this issue we take advantage of a new global efficiency measure for Norwegian local governments. We find that high fiscal capacity and a high degree of party fragmentation contribute to low efficiency. In addition there is some evidence that democratic participation increases efficiency, while a centralized top-down budgetary procedure is associated with low efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]