Is public sector performance just a matter of money? The case of the Spanish regional governments

Authors

  • Raúl García-Gómez Instituto Complutense de Estudios Internacionales (UCM)
  • Jorge Onrubia-Fernández Instituto Complutense de Estudios Internacionales (UCM), FEDEA and GEN
  • Antonio Jesus Sanchez-Fuentes Instituto Complutense de Estudios Internacionales (UCM) and GEN-Uvigo

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17811/ebl.8.2.2019.74-84

Abstract

Efficient use of public resources is clearly a relevant issue to be studied from several points of view. Among others, it accounts for a significant share of the total economy activity and it deals with non-market oriented activities. In Spain, the regional level is particularly relevant due to the progressive decentralization of key public policies constituting the welfare state (as education, health, etc.) and their increasing financing needs, at the same time with important differences in fiscal capacity between them. Moreover, they mostly share (15 of 17) a common financing system in which an efficient use of resources is assumed but not evaluated. Our results show that normally a few of the regions tend to be the top performers, but there no regions performing poorly in every aspect. It is also worth noting that no dramatic changes can be seen in terms both of expenditure and performance during the recent Great Recession.

Author Biography

Antonio Jesus Sanchez-Fuentes, Instituto Complutense de Estudios Internacionales (UCM) and GEN-Uvigo

Es licenciado en Matemáticas por la Universidad de Sevilla y Doctor cum laude en Economía por la Universidad Pablo de Olavide. Actualmente trabaja como profesor Contratado Doctor en la Universidad Complutense de Madrid, donde ha sido nombrado secretario académico del Instituto Complutense de Estudios Internacionales y Coordinador Académico del Máster Universitario en Economía. Dirige el Grupo "Políticas de Familia" de la UCM y pertenece al grupo de investigación Governance and Economics research Network (GEN) en calidad de investigador asociado. Además ha trabajado como consultor externo para distintos organismos oficiales (AECID, Banco Central Europeo y la Comisión Europea, entre otros). Previamente, estuvo como profesor ayudante (Doctor) en la Universidad Pablo de Olavide (Sevilla, España) y como ayudante de investigación en la Fundación centrA. Sus principales áreas de investigación son la economía pública y la economía computacional.

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Published

28-10-2019

How to Cite

García-Gómez, R., Onrubia-Fernández, J., & Sanchez-Fuentes, A. J. (2019). Is public sector performance just a matter of money? The case of the Spanish regional governments. Economics and Business Letters, 8(2), 74–84. https://doi.org/10.17811/ebl.8.2.2019.74-84

Issue

Vol. 8 No. 2 (2019): June - Special Issue Quality of public finance

Section

Special Section

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