Direct Democracy and Local Government Efficiency

Abstract

Die Dis cus si on Pape rs die nen einer mög lichst schnel len Ver brei tung von neue ren For schungs arbei ten des ZEW. Die Bei trä ge lie gen in allei ni ger Ver ant wor tung der Auto ren und stel len nicht not wen di ger wei se die Mei nung des ZEW dar.Dis cus si on Papers are inten ded to make results of ZEW research prompt ly avai la ble to other eco no mists in order to encou ra ge dis cus si on and sug gesti ons for revi si ons. The aut hors are sole ly respon si ble for the con tents which do not neces sa ri ly repre sent the opi ni on of the ZEW. 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. Direct Democracy and Local Government Efficiency

Big data and the measurement of public organizations’ performance and efficiency: The state-of-the-art

“…In a recent opinion piece in Public Administration Review (O’Malley, 2014), the former mayor of Baltimore, O’Malley describes how geographic information systems (GIS) were used to collect citizen requests about city actions and services and argues that this has changed the way Baltimore is governed resulting in better administrative choices and better results. Asatryan and De Witte (2015) show for German municipalities that this form of direct democracy fosters local public government efficiency.…”

“…The literature addressing the empirical measurement of public sector efficiency employs a wide range of techniques and focuses on various units of analysis: local governments (Asatryan and De Witte, 2015;De Borger and Kerstens, 1996;De Witte and Geys, 2011;De Witte and Moesen, 2010;Revelli and Tovmo, 2007), public hospitals (Hollingsworth, 2008), public agencies (Neshkova and Guo, 2012), public transportation services (Pina and Torres, 2001;Sampaio et al, 2008), and, education (Cherchye et al, 2010;De Witte and Lopez-Torres, 2017). 2,3 The application of empirical models for assessing the efficiency of public entities can also open the door to the study of its determinants, and consequently have interesting implications for policy, administration and management of the public services.…”

The Impact of Fiscal Openness on Public Spending Technical Efficiency in Developing Countries

“…More fiscal openness, in terms of higher levels of fiscal transparency and enhanced public participation in budget processes, is expected to improve PSTE by making governments use lower levels of public spending to achieve the same (or better) output level. This can occur through, for example, ensuring transparent public procurement procedures and enabling citizens to reject inefficient spending projects (Asatryan & De Witte, 2015;Heald, 2003). However, increasing the level of fiscal openness beyond a certain level may also undermine PSTE.…”

Making Decentralisation Work

“…The ideal scenario for the occurrence of the solicited citizen participation is direct democracy. A study of Asatryan and al. (2015) shows that direct democracy activities are associated with more efficiency of the government than the inverse.…”