The UK medium-term budgetary framework introduced in 1997 addressed a number of weaknesses of the former regime, notably a bias against capital expenditure and, more generally, poor conditions for longerterm planning adversely affecting central government spending departments, local authorities...

This paper assesses the impact on economic growth of increased efficiency of public spending in primary and lower-secondary education. Higher efficiency in public spending in schools can bolster growth through two main channels. On the one hand, it can allow a transfer of labour from the public...

The economic crisis in the early 1990s prompted action on reforming the Swedish welfare state and its institutions, including deregulation of a wide range of product markets. In that way, Sweden took early action compared to other OECD countries currently struggling with how to make public...

This paper analyses the main features of Sweden’s public expenditure and addresses some key policy issues. Public spending is high relative to GDP, reflecting the wide support for the Swedish welfare state. The institutional framework within which spending decisions are made has both strengths...

This paper highlights some key policy issues regarding the performance of public expenditure and proposes an analytical framework for its assessment. The framework distinguishes three economic objectives of policies in the pursuit of better performance of public expenditure: macroeconomic...

This paper presents composite indicators of the institutional and policy characteristics of educational systems, collated from the questionnaire responses of 26 Member countries. These indicators provide an overview of the institutional framework in the primary and secondary education sector and...

Public spending is very high in Norway, partly reflecting an extensive coverage of the welfare system and ambitious regional development objectives. Moreover, several institutional features contribute to dampening the cost-effectiveness of many public-spending programmes. Abundant oil revenues...

Over the past decade, Portugal has experienced imbalances and inefficiencies in the public sector that have impeded better economic performance. Though Portugal’s total spending as a proportion of GDP is somewhat below the EU average, the rapid and uncontrolled growth of its primary current...

This paper examines problems of entry, exit and competition in Ukrainian product markets. It finds that Ukraine still has too little of all three, and that exit mechanisms, in particular, function poorly. Since impediments to entry and exit are largely the product of excessive and ill...

The inefficiency, corruption and lack of accountability that afflict public administration in Russia impose substantial direct costs on both entrepreneurs and ordinary citizens. This paper examines the major weaknesses of Russia’s public administration and assesses the government’s recently...