Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/315406 
Year of Publication: 
2024
Citation: 
[Journal:] Public Choice [ISSN:] 1573-7101 [Volume:] 200 [Issue:] 1 [Publisher:] Springer US [Place:] New York [Year:] 2024 [Pages:] 89-118
Publisher: 
Springer US, New York
Abstract: 
Abstract This paper empirically links the efficiency and performance assessment of the general government, proxied by efficiency scores, to the trust in government. Government spending efficiency scores are first computed via data envelopment analysis (DEA). Then, relying on panel data and instrumental variable approaches, we estimate the effect of public sector efficiency on citizens trust on national governments. The sample covers 36 OECD countries between 2007 and 2019. We find that the more efficient countries in terms of government spending are Australia, Chile, Ireland, New Zealand, South Korea, Switzerland. Secondly, our main finding is that better public sector spending efficiency is positively associated with citizens’ higher trust in governments. In general, political economy variables and the existence of fiscal rules do not seem to significantly affect our measure of trust. The results hold using alternative proxies for public sector efficiency, alternative measures for trust, specifications with different control variables and different empirical approaches (instrumental variables).
Subjects: 
Government spending efficiency
DEA
Panel data analysis
Ideology
Fiscal rules
Confidence effects
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Additional Information: 
C14;C23;E44;G15;H11;H50
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by Logo
Document Type: 
Article
Document Version: 
Published Version
Appears in Collections:

Files in This Item:
File
Size





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.