Public Services Performance: An Extended Framework and Empirical Assessment across the Enlarged EU

Abstract

P erform an ce o f th e public sector is a t the core o f lo n g -term w ealth creation an d w elfare im provem ent. Yet, its m easurem ent rem ains in a d eq u a te an d flawed w ith d ata deficiency. In this p ap er we p ro p o se an extended fram ew o rk for the assessm ent o f public services perfo rm an ce th a t acco u n ts for long-term im pacts on w elfare an d em pirically evaluate it across tw enty-five E u ro p e an countries on the basis o f a w ide set o f proxy in d ic ato rs. We relate the perfo rm an ce scores to in p u t costs indices an d p ro p o se a co h eren t typology o f co u n tries th a t co rresp o n d s to the p a tte rn s o f econom ic effectiveness o f public services. T he em pirical analysis reveals th a t, because o f differences in in p u t costs across the enlarged EU , the econom ic effectiveness o f public services varies to a m uch larg er extent th a n the perform ance, w ith som e relatively large-sized governm ents (Sw eden, D en m a rk , A ustria) being the m o st effective ones.Keywords: perform ance, effectiveness, E u ro p e an U n io n , public services 1 In tro d u c tio n The current economic crisis and new socioeconomic concerns are exerting pressure on the public sector budget and have placed the discussion on how to allocate scarce resources effectively at the top of the political agenda. The key policy documents in Europe-the Europe 2020 Strategy', the Lisbon Reform Agenda, and the Stability and Growth Pactalso call for enhancing the quality and efficiency of the services provided to citizens and consumers. In particular, the provision of public services represents a crucial aspect, as they account for nearly a quarter of value added and a third of employment generation in the European Union.** 1' Therefore, assessing the performance of these activities is a matter of interest in its own right and also the result of the indirect influence they have on the economy. Despite considerable progress, research on this topic at the conceptual, methodological, and empirical level is still deficient and sometimes ambiguous because of the use of different concepts.'''Public or nonmarket services comprise public administration, defence, and compulsory social security; education; health and social work; other community, social, and personal services; and private households with employed persons.

Finančné zdravie a hospodárenie miestnej samosprávy na Slovensku – súčasné trendy a vybrané priestorové aspekty

“…Kľúčové strategické dokumenty v Európe -stratégia Európa 2020, Lisabonská reformná agenda a Pakt stability a rastu vyzývajú smerovať politiky za účelom zvýšenia kvality a efektivity služieb poskytovaných občanom a spotrebiteľom. Najmä poskytovanie verejných služieb predstavuje rozhodujúci aspekt tvorby takmer štvrtiny pridanej hodnoty a tretiny vytváraných pracovných miest v Európskej únii (Di Meglio et al, 2015).…”

Publicly funded R&D for public sector performance and efficiency: evidence from Europe

“…7. We have tested other two models to estimate the PSEI: a) Using only labour and capital costs over the value added (following Di Meglio et al (2015) among others); and b) Using public sector expenditures (following (2009) for an overview on the methodology behind the construction of the database. 9.…”

“… We have tested other two models to estimate the PSEI: a) Using only labour and capital costs over the value added (following Di Meglio et al () among others); and b) Using public sector expenditures (following Afonso et al () among others).a) b) Results among the three models do not present statistically significant differences neither in terms of the value of the indicators nor in terms of country rankings (results are available from the authors upon request)…”

“… See Di Meglio et al () for an in‐deep revision of this methodology and its applications to the measurement of performance and efficiency.…”

Efficiency and Sustainability of Local Public Goods and Services. Case Study for Romania

“…According to Di Meglio et al (2015), the provision of public services accounts for almost 25% of the value added and 33% of employment across the European Union, and as such, assessing the performance of these activities is a matter of interest in its own right and the result of the indirect influences they have upon the economy [9]. In the European context, adequate provision of public services is an essential pillar of social cohesion, which has multiple dimensions inside the European Union.…”