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Evaluating local government performance in times of crisis

Author

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  • Isabel Narbón-Perpiñá
  • Maria Balaguer-Coll
  • Emili Tortosa-Ausina

Abstract

In recent years, Spanish local governments have come under increasing pressure to accommodate severe economic restrictions while maintaining their provision of local public services. We analyse overall cost efficiency in Spanish local governments during the period of the economic crisis (2008–2013), under four different non-parametric methodologies. Moreover, given how problematic it is to precisely define what municipalities do, we compare three different output models with various measures of quantity as well as quality. Results suggest that Spanish local government efficiency improved over the period 2008–2013 since budget expenditures (inputs) fell while local public services and facilities (outputs) were maintained. We also find evidence of the possible implications of service quality when measuring municipalities’ efficiency, and of structural differences in the average efficiency between municipalities located in different Spanish regions. Finally, our results confirm that the level and variation of efficiency scores are affected by the approach taken.

Suggested Citation

  • Isabel Narbón-Perpiñá & Maria Balaguer-Coll & Emili Tortosa-Ausina, 2019. "Evaluating local government performance in times of crisis," Local Government Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(1), pages 64-100, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:flgsxx:v:45:y:2019:i:1:p:64-100
    DOI: 10.1080/03003930.2018.1507908
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    Cited by:

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    2. Dionisio Buendía-Carrillo & Juan Lara-Rubio & Andrés Navarro-Galera & María Elena Gómez-Miranda, 2020. "The impact of population size on the risk of local government default," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 27(5), pages 1264-1286, October.
    3. Kristiaan Kerstens & Ignace Van de Woestyne, 2021. "Cost functions are nonconvex in the outputs when the technology is nonconvex: convexification is not harmless," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 305(1), pages 81-106, October.
    4. Pedro-José Martínez-Córdoba & Nicola Raimo & Filippo Vitolla & Bernardino Benito, 2020. "Achieving Sustainable Development Goals. Efficiency in the Spanish Clean Water and Sanitation Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-13, April.
    5. PETRIC Nicolae, 2019. "Fiscal Pressure In The Eu: An Econometric Approach," Annals of Faculty of Economics, University of Oradea, Faculty of Economics, vol. 1(2), pages 189-199, December.
    6. Maria Teresa Balaguer‐Coll & Isabel Narbón‐Perpiñá & Jesús Peiró‐Palomino & Emili Tortosa‐Ausina, 2022. "Quality of government and economic growth at the municipal level: Evidence from Spain," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(1), pages 96-124, January.
    7. Isabel Narbón-Perpiñá & Maria Teresa Balaguer-Coll & Diego Prior & Emili Tortosa-Ausina, 2021. "Searching for the optimal territorial structure: the case of Spanish provincial councils," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(4), pages 645-664, April.
    8. García, Israel & Hayo, Bernd, 2021. "Political budget cycles revisited: Testing the signalling process," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    9. Dilber Çağlar Onbaşıoğlu, 2021. "The Turkish Cypriot Municipalities’ Productivity and Performance: An Application of Data Envelopment Analysis and the Tobit Model," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-19, August.
    10. Isabel Narbón-Perpiñá & Maria Teresa Balaguer-Coll & Marko Petrović & Emili Tortosa-Ausina, 2020. "Which estimator to measure local governments’ cost efficiency? The case of Spanish municipalities," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 11(1), pages 51-82, March.
    11. Qingqi Long & Ke Song, 2022. "Operational Performance Evaluation of E-government Microblogs Under Emergencies Based on a DEA Method," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 24(5), pages 1-18, October.
    12. Valero-Carreras, Daniel & Aparicio, Juan & Guerrero, Nadia M., 2021. "Support vector frontiers: A new approach for estimating production functions through support vector machines," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    13. Ermini, Barbara & Santolini, Raffaella & Ciommi, Mariateresa, 2023. "Equitable and sustainable well-being in Italian municipalities: Do women in politics make the difference?," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    14. Benito, Bernardino & Martínez-Córdoba, Pedro-José & Guillamón, María-Dolores, 2021. "Measurement and determinants of efficiency in the municipal police service," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    15. lo Storto, Corrado, 2020. "Performance evaluation of social service provision in Italian major municipalities using Network Data Envelopment Analysis," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    16. Michal PlaÄ ek & Milan Křápek & Jan ÄŒadil & Bojka Hamerníková, 2020. "The Influence of Excellence on Municipal Performance: Quasi-Experimental Evidence From the Czech Republic," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(4), pages 21582440209, December.

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    JEL classification:

    • C14 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Semiparametric and Nonparametric Methods: General
    • H11 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - Structure and Scope of Government
    • H70 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - General
    • R15 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Econometric and Input-Output Models; Other Methods

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