Using cross-country data for 51 countries, including 23 in Africa, the author controls for differences in per capita income and measures the effect of structural variables on a number of outcomes, including the quality, integrity and prestige of public service. He finds merit-based recruitment...

Central and Eastern Europe has known in the last 20 years profound changes. The shift from a dictatorial system to a democratic system forced the states from this area to adopt structural measures for all public institutions. In this context, the institution of “civil servant” could not...

The current paper approaches the theoretical and practical fundamental issues concerning the use of meritocratic criteria in public performance evaluation. Based on papers dealing with the meritocratic approach for the creation and development of a civil service system or papers applying the...

This paper presents a number of issues related to the mobility of civil servants and to the politicizing the civil service in Romania in the period 2000-2010. Analysis of the politicization phenomenon has allowed identification of three stages: 2000-2004, 2005-2008 and 2009-present. Application...

Preventing corruption and improving the public service management are the main goals of the promotion of ethical standards for the civil servants. Several governments have revised their policies regarding the ethical conduct in the public service, implying both the corruption issue and the...

The observed two-part tariff price structure (consisting of a lump-sum price and a linear marginal price) for drinking water in Germany does not reflect the cost structure reported in the literature. Recovering marginal costs from a sample of 251 German counties, we see that there are positive...

We exploit differences in casualties sustained in pre-modern wars to estimate the impact of fiscal capacity on economic performance. In the past, states fought different amounts of external conflicts, of various lengths and magnitudes. To raise the revenues to wage wars, states made fiscal...

We examine the long-term links between state capacity and economic performance. Our database is novel and spans 11 countries and 4 centuries in Europe, the birthplace of modern economic growth. A dynamic simultaneous equation panel model indicates that the performance effects of states with...