IDPM Archived Publications
Public Policy and Management Working Papers
Please note : this working paper is part of a series that has been discontinued and archived .
Measuring Public Sector Capacity
Charles Polidano
Abstract
This paper explores the possibility of creating an index of public sector capacity which is 'policy-neutral' and relies on information already available. It defines public sector capacity in terms of three elements: policy capacity, implementation capacity and operational efficiency. The paper also proposes a parallel index of 'enabling conditions' - environmental factors which lie beyond the control of the public sector, but which profoundly influence its capacity.
The paper finds that the construction of these indices is feasible, provided it is considered acceptable to rely on 'soft' data (subjective ratings) as well as hard statistics. The index would need to be used with caution on account of the inevitable limitations of the data.
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