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ISBN Number: Publication Date: Pages: 131 |
How government activities are measured matters. The size and the economic significance of the public sector make it a major contributor to economic growth and social welfare. The goods and services government provides, its redistributive and regulatory powers, and how those are exercised affect the way business is conducted and people live their lives in every country. Citizens are entitled to understand how government works and how public revenues are used. The last two decades have been characterised by significant public management reforms in OECD countries, but these have often been driven by policy fashion rather than solid evidence about costs and impacts, and arguably with significant over-claiming about best practices.
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This publication summarises the available OECD and other international data on public sector inputs and processes. It also examines the existing internationally comparable data on outputs and outcomes, an area that is at present limited, and recommends new approaches to measurement.
This report is a companion to the new OECD biennial Government at a Glance and will interest policy makers, civil servants and academics alike.
Chapter 1. Introduction
-Some key distinctions
-Measures for different audiences and purposes
Chapter 2. Why Measure Government Activities?
-Measurement matters
-How can internatioanl comparable data assist governments?
-The risks of measurement
-The risks of non-use and of absent or weak data
Chapter 3. Output Measurement: Key Issues
-Technical issues
-Utilisation
-Adding it up
Chapter 4. Outcome Measurement: Key Issues
-Introduction
-What outcome measures do governments use?
-Origins and growth of well-being measures
-Measures can provide a frame or vision for subsequent policy decisions
-Filling an apparent gap
-Developing comparative measures concerning trust in government
-Developing comparative measures concerning equity and economic and fiscal stability
Chapter 5. Improving the Measurement of Government Activities
-The scope of the data collection
-Establishing a coherentdata classification framework
-OECD's role
Annex A.
-Co-ordinating with Data Collections Developments in Non-OECD Countries
Annex B.
-Outcome Measures of Well-Being Included in at Leat Two National Publications Tracking
Government Performance
Glossary
Bibliography
Readers can access the full version of Measuring Government Activity by choosing from the following options:
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• Indicators on good governance, introducing 'Government at a Glance'
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