Social and political factors afect the index of public management efciency: a cross‑country panel data study

Abstract

The application of new technologies and the implementation of e-government have profoundly modifed management systems in public administrations. In this article we create an index to measure efciency in the management of public resources in the countries of the European Union for the period 2007–2012, both overall and in the management of resources in functions that generate most interest for citizens—education, health care, and social protection. In a second stage, we perform a cross-country panel data study to analyze how the implementation of e-government and other political and social variables infuence the overall efciency index and, by functions—human capita; state of development, democracy and corruption. Our results show that e-government, state of development, and human capital promote national expenditure efciency. On the other hand, corruption promotes public inefciency.