How much of the variation in state effectiveness is due to the individuals and organizations responsible for implementing policy? We investigate this question and its implications for policy design in the context of public procurement, using a text-based product classification method to measure...

We propose a distinction between active waste and passive waste as determinants of the cost of public services. Active waste entails utility for the public decision maker (as in the case of bribery) whereas passive waste does not (as in the case of inefficiency due to red tape). To assess the...

This work proposes a methodology to find appropriate weights to be assigned to attributes to evaluate bids for government procurements. The new methodology complies with the European Union procurement directives and provides transparency about the weights’ tradeoffs for attributes in...