ISSN 2167-0439
International Journal of Management and Business Studies ISSN: 2167-0439 Vol. 3 (9), pp. 118-128, November, 2013. © International Scholars Journals
Full Length Research Paper
Expenditure efficiency of social services in developing countries
1Younes Boujelben and 1Nahed Trabelsi-Ltifi*
Faculty of Economics and Management, University of Sfax, Street of Airport, km 4.5, LP 1088, Sfax 3018, Tunisia.
*Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected].
Accepted 9 March, 2013
Abstract
This paper assesses the efficiency of developing countries in utilizing public resources for health and education and has two major parts. The first one estimates efficiency by applying a non-parametric methodology: Data Envelopment Analysis, Input-efficiency is scored in a sample of 75 countries using data from 1996 to 2011. The second part of the paper seeks to identify empirical regularities that explain cross-country variation in the efficiency through a Tobit regression. Results show that countries with higher expenditure levels register lower efficiency scores. Similarly, countries with higher income inequality score lower efficiency, as those countries plagued by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Countries with higher revenue per capita tend to score higher efficiency as well as countries where the degree of urbanization is a larger share of total population.
Key words: Efficiency, public education and health, data envelopment Analysis, Tobit regression model.