The role of agencification in achieving value‐for‐money in public spending
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6264032 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Luciana Cingolani (0000-0001-9350-1450, Hertie School of Governance, corresponding author), Mihály Fazekas (0000-0002-8477-3961, Central European University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 33 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 545-563 |
| Publication date | 2020-07-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Governance (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0952-1895 • E-ISSN: 1468-0491 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/gove.12452 |
| OpenAlex | W3025404324 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 10 |
| References cited | 33 |
Agencification has been pursued globally under the promise of increasing public administration performance. In spite of ample theoretical arguments, the empirical evidence on the causal link between agencification and performance remains scarce and methodologically contested. We contribute to this debate by empirically testing the impacts of agencification across Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom on value‐for‐money, competitiveness, and timeliness during the period 2006–2016. We use unique administrative datasets, enabling objective and granular measurements of reforms and their effects, employing quasi‐experimental methods. Findings suggest heterogeneous effects both across countries and outcomes. On average, value‐for‐money improves by 2.8% or 1.7 billion EUR over a decade, while outputs and processes change only marginally. Recently agencified organizations barely improve their performance, while older agencies achieve substantial improvements. The three countries' heterogeneous administrative contexts play a critical role as mediating factors, with the biggest changes occurring in higher new public management take‐up countries
Business · Economics · Empirical evidence · Political science · Public economics · Public management · Value (mathematics · Value for money · Fiscal Policies and Political Economy · Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth · Local Government Finance and Decentralization · Public Administration · Accounting
Understanding vertical pay dispersion in the public sector
Ownership and organisation of urban development corporations in Danish towns and cities
Agencification, policy reversal and the reforms of the French health care system
Measuring regional quality of government
Larger, Not Leaner? Agencification and the Size of the Administrative Overhead in Local Governments
Non‐majoritarian institutions, media coverage, and “reinforced accountability
Can impact assessments tame legislative drift? Event history analysis of modifications of laws across Europe
Divided loyalties? The role of national IO staff in aid‐funded procurement
Valuation of sector‐switching and politicization in the governance of corporatized public services
Comparative Bureaucratic Politics
Agencies
The study of organisational autonomy
Comparing Agencies across Countries
Innovations in Objectively Measuring Corruption in Public Procurement
Autonomy and Control of State Agencies
Sources of Public Service Improvement
The effects of agency reform in Europe
Agency fever? Analysis of an international policy fashion
Bureaucratic Autonomy, Organizational Culture, and Habituation
Ambiguity in Policy Lessons
Rules Rather than Discretion
Animals in the administrative zoo
Effects of Autonomy, Performance Contracting, and Competition on the Performance of a Public Agency
The longer-run performance effects of agencification
Competency, Bureaucracy, and Public Management Reform
Regulatory Agencies—The Challenges of Balancing Agency Autonomy and Political Control
Recent Developments in the Econometrics of Program Evaluation
A Public Management for All Seasons
| Unique citing works | 10 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2 |
| Citation span | 2021 - 2024 (4) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 10 |