Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/93079 
Year of Publication: 
2014
Series/Report no.: 
ZEW Discussion Papers No. 14-017
Publisher: 
Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung (ZEW), Mannheim
Abstract: 
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 with 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.
Subjects: 
Direct democracy
Public sector efficiency
Conditional efficiency
JEL: 
C14
D7
H7
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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