Measuring Public Spending Efficiency in Brazilian Municipalities: A Nonparametric Approach

The importance of public expenditure in such social services as education and public health represent a decisive contribution to a nation’s progress. A major problem is how to allocate government spending in such a way as to provide public services efficiently. In a political federation as the Brazil, the critical issue becomes the choice of the degree of decentralization in the provision of public services. Decentralization is advantageous in the production and distribution of public services due to: i) the proximity of users facilitates the ranking of the priorities; ii) it is easier to control the use of resources; Hi) the requirements of managerial capacity are lower.

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