Template-type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Author-Name:  Revelli Federico
Author-Email: federico.revelli@unito.it
Author-Name: Tovmo Per
Author-Email: Per.Tovmo@SVT.NTNU.NO
Author-Workplace-Name: University of Turin
Author-Workplace-Homepage: http://www.est.unito.it/
Title: Declared vs. revealed yardstick competition:Local government efficiency in Norway
Abstract: This paper investigates whether the production efficiency of Norwegian local governments exhibits a 
spatial pattern that is compatible with the hy­pothesis of yardstick competition. In order to check whether 
yardstick com­petition is really responsible far the observed spatial pattern, and to rule out alternative 
theoretical explanations, the paper exploits unique information from a survey on Norwegian local governments, 
where local public officials are explicitly asked whether they compare their own performances in the provision of 
public services to those of other governments (benchmarking). Merging the latter information - "declared" yardstick 
competition - with the observed interdependence in local efficiency measures - "revealed" yardstick competition - 
the paper provides evidence that comparative performance evaluation generates spatial auto-correlation in local 
efficiency indicators.
Length: 25 pages
Creation-Date: 2006-06
File-URL: http://www.est.unito.it/do/home.pl/Download?doc=/allegati/wp2006dip/5_wp_revellitovmo.pdf
File-Format: Application/PDF
Handle: RePEc:uto:dipeco:200605