A large literature on the political economy of public sector organization asks how and when the legislature delegates authority to the public administration. We contribute to this literature by investigating a new question: under what conditions do politicians prefer a well-performing public...

The analysis of government sector productivity is still in an early stage of development. We look in detail at productivity trends in the UK social security system, which accounts for almost a quarter of total state spending. We look across twenty years, 1998-2008, and in detail at a period of...