Literature Review on Efficiency Studies in the Public Sector

Abstract

In this chapter, an extensive review of the literature on public sector efficiency is provided. As will be seen in the following subsections, studies measuring the technical or cost efficiency of governments have so far mainly focused on particular areas of the public sector; efficiency studies which examine the global performance of single local governments or whole countries have, in contrast, attracted far less attention in the past. Despite the wide-ranging interest in investigating the technical or cost efficiency of the public sector, researchers have also been interested in the main drivers of this efficiency, since information about the sources of technical or cost efficiency of governments can provide helpful information for policy-makers or politicians.