International Comparisons of Public Sector Performance: How to Move Ahead?
Public Management Review, Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 39-56, 2009
26 Pages Posted: 26 Nov 2008 Last revised: 20 May 2009
Date Written: November 26, 2008
Abstract
Measuring and comparing the overall performance of countries' public sectors requires agreement on definitions and objectives of government. I argue that such an agreement is about finding a consensus rather about finding better definitions. Measuring government requires a number of leaps of faith, where certain definitions, assumptions and statistics are accepted as good enough for measurement and comparison. The political science and economic research community have a different tradition of dealing with such agreements and leaps of faith, and this is reflected in their approaches to measuring and comparing the performance of public sectors. The implications of these traditions are particularly visible in the usefulness of measurement and indicators for policy makers.
Keywords: Performance measurement, size of government, philosophy of science, public sector statistics
JEL Classification: D73
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
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