Transcript A Public Administration perspective on measurement

Public Management Institute
The use of indicators on output in management
and policy applications
Dr. Wouter Van Dooren
University of Leuven, Belgium
London
What’s the issue?
A Public Administration perspective on
measurement
Quality of Measurement per se is important, but the key
question is whether the data are used, by whom, why, why
not and with what effect?
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What’s the issue?
Supply and demand of information
low demand/use
high demand/use
low quality
supply
marginal measurement
demand frustration
high quality
supply
supply frustration
intense measurement
Examples
1. Marginal: green accounting? aren’t we missing something?
2. Frustrated supply; social indicator movement, official statistics?
3. Frustrated demand; objective performance of governance
4. Intense measurement; employment statistics
3
What’s the issue?
• The institutional context in which information is
embedded, should be taken into account.
• New Public Management doctrine (1980s and 1990s)
 more measurement
 more use
 more effects, both positive and negative
4
What’s the issue?
THE NPM triangle
societal context
intellectual context
Fiscal pressure
Managerialism
Waning Legitimacy
Public Choice
Efficiency
Accountability
public management reform
5
What’s the issue?
In between, output and outcome
15
environment
14
final
outcomes
1
2
socio economic
problems
needs
intermediate
outcomes
relevance
13
7
effectiveness
12
organisation or programme
objectives
3
4
inputs
5
9
8 economy
16
activities
6
outputs
efficiency
cost effectiveness
utility and sustainability
10
6
11
Issues in output measurement
design
Issue 1: Output as a Transaction or Output as a Provision?
-> Economic notion: output is counted when the transaction is
complete, i.e. when the output is consumed. Ex. Number of
pupils, prisoners.
-> Public Administration; output as products or services that come
out of the production process. Ex. Number of hours taught.
Why is this important? ; which indicator would you put in
a performance contract?
7
Issues in output measurement
design
Issue 2: Easy to measure vs. hard to measure
Issue 3: Individual vs. collective
Functional classification
Collective (public Individual (merit
goods)
goods)
Measurability Low
High
National defence Job counselling
Road
construction
Vehicle registration
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Issues in output measurement
design
Issue 2: Easy to measure vs. hard to measure
Issue 3: Individual vs. collective
Why is this important?
Eurostat directions make direct output measurement
compulsory for individual services, and recommended
for collective ones.
BUT the examples show that the distinction
individual/collective is not the same as measurable/not
measurable
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Issues in output measurement
design
Issue 4; simple versus aggregate
 How to aggregate and to weigh indicators?
 Weights are seldom politically neutral, they reflect
policy choices.
Why is this important?
Challenge for uniform international measurement standards,
such as for calculating GDP
10
Some useful measures
Useful measures are measures that allow for policy
learning.
Three examples from the report of the Dutch Social and
Cultural Planning Office: Public Sector Performance, an
international comparison.
(downloadable from www.scp.nl)
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Some useful measures
Cost effectiveness education (note, outcome measure)
education
9
CA
8
FI
7
NL
IE
NZ
6
effectiveness
SE
AU
UK
US
BE FR
AT
5
DK
CZ
DE
4
ES
HU
3
GR
PL
2
IT
1
PT
0
0
500
1000
1500
2000
expenditure per capita (euros)
2500
3000
12
Some useful measures
Convicts versus personnel (labour productivity)
40
35
Number of convicts per 1.000 population
FI
30
UK
25
20
15
BE
SE
DE
10
DK
NL
PL
5
GR
HU
FR
EE
CZ
LVPT
AT
SK
ES
LT
IT
SI
IE
CY
0
0
1
2
3
4
5
personnel police/justice per 1.000 population
6
7
13
8
Some useful measures
Cost effectiveness health care
7
SE
6
ES
FI
NZ
health status index
GR
UK
5
IE
IT
BE
AU
AT
DK
FR
NL
CA
DE
LU
CZ
US
4
PT
3
SK
PL
2
HU
1
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
Expenditure per capita (NL €)
3500
4000
4500
14
5000
Background document
OECD project on Management in Government:
Comparative Country Data
Issues in Output Measurement for "Government at a
Glance“
OECD GOV Technical Paper 2 (Second Draft)
Wouter Van Dooren (University of Leuven), Jana
Malinska (OECD), Nick Manning (OECD), Miekatrien
Sterck (University of Leuven), Dirk-Jan Kraan (OECD),
Geert Bouckaert (University of Leuven)
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