Measuring Government Activity

✍ Scribed by OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

• Publisher: OECD Publishing
• Year: 2009
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 135
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

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. This book provides a significant contribution to developing a coherent, reliable system for data collection and analysis. It 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, and recommends new approaches to measurement. Table of Content : 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