Efficiency and Productivity in Government Programs

• In Event: African States' Spending and Revenue Generation: Between Innovation & Challenges

Abstract

When and why are government programs more efficient and less corruptible? Although this question figures prominently across the fields of development, conflict and democratization, we still have little systematic knowledge about the factors that compel government employees to carry out programs productively and as planned, rather than allowing the program to fall prey to corruption, cooptation, and inefficiency. This paper examines the determinants of successful public programs through a conjoint survey experiment administered to approximately 3000 central government employees across three African countries: Ghana, Malawi and Uganda. By asking employees about two hypothetical programs with randomly assigned characteristics, we test competing hypotheses about funding sources, visibility, coordination, oversight and politicization to understand: a) what conditions motivate employee productivity; b) what factors they perceive as most important to program success; and c) what sources of accountability shape program management. By testing multiple explanatory factors and multiple dimensions of program outcomes across different contexts, the paper contributes new knowledge about the determinants of government performance in a way that goes far beyond stylistic accounts based on neopatrimonialism or vague notions of accountability.

Authors

• Rachel Sigman, Naval Postgraduate School

• Adam Harris, University of Gothenburg

• Brigitte Seim, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill