6533b858fe1ef96bd12b65f8
RESEARCH PRODUCT
Explaining local governments' cost efficiency: Controllable and uncontrollable factors
Maria Teresa Balaguer-collEmili Tortosa-ausinaIsabel Narbón-perpiñáIván Arribassubject
quantile regressionSociology and Political Science0211 other engineering and technologies0507 social and economic geography02 engineering and technologyDevelopmentEconomicsEconometricslocal governmentEndogeneityGovernmentCost efficiencybusiness.industry05 social sciencesInstrumental variablePublic sector021107 urban & regional planningConditional probability distributioninstrumental variableQuantile regressionUrban StudiesefficiencyTourism Leisure and Hospitality ManagementLocal governmentbusiness050703 geographydescription
Abstract Efficient and effective management of public resources is essential at all levels of government. This issue has gained momentum due to the strains that affected public sector finances after the onset of the 2007/08 crisis in many countries, particularly in Europe. In this article, we evaluate the influence of environmental variables that affect local government efficiency in one European country, Spain, during the crisis years (2009–2015). To this end, and considering the possible influence of both controllable and uncontrollable factors, we use an approach that is able to analyse their impact across the conditional distribution of performance, and which controls for the (likely) existence of endogeneity among regressors. Results show an asymmetry in the determinants of performance since the role played by some variables depends largely on the conditional distribution of efficiency. Results are robust not only because of the instrumental variables quantile regression approach considered, but also due to the variety of models specified to measure municipalities' performance as well as the diversity of covariates.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-05-01 | Cities |