Assessing public spending efficiency in South East European countries—a data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach

Abstract

Input and output efficiency of the public sectors of South East European (SEE) countries was assessed through the non-parametric production frontier–data envelopment analysis (DEA). The same technique was also employed to assess the education and infrastructure sectors’ efficiency. The assessment indicates significant inter-country differences in both performance and efficiency. The results suggest that the best performer in SEE countries was Slovenia, while Albania was the most efficient. There were even more education and infrastructure sector specific efficiency variations, indicating performance improvement potentials.