Public Sectors in the Pacific Islands : Are They 'Too Big' and Do They 'Crowd Out' the Private Sector?
Public sectors in the Pacific Islands are frequently described as being 'too big' and as 'crowding out' private sector economic activity. Reducing their size, it follows, would provide much-needed space for private sector expans...
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| Format: | Policy Research Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank Group, Washington, DC
2014
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2014/11/20372972/public-sectors-pacific-islands-too-big-crowd-out-private-sector http://hdl.handle.net/10986/20615 |
| Summary: | Public sectors in the Pacific Islands
are frequently described as being 'too big' and as
'crowding out' private sector economic activity.
Reducing their size, it follows, would provide much-needed
space for private sector expansion and result in higher
levels of economic growth. This paper addresses these
issues, arguing that there is not a good case for supposing
that public sectors in the Pacific Islands are excessively
large, when the challenges of public administration and
public service delivery in such small, remote, dispersed,
and divided states are taken into account. Rather than being
preoccupied with their size, it would be more useful to
focus on whether the resources available to their public
sectors are being used efficiently and effectively to
provide an adequate range and quality of administrative
functions and public services. The paper also argues that,
at a general level, the case for crowding out in the Pacific
Islands is not particularly compelling, and that it would be
more useful to focus on the trade-offs for the private
sector of public sector engagement in any given
administrative function or area of service delivery. In
light of the arguments put forward, the paper sets out the
key elements of a refocused agenda on public sector reform
in the Pacific Islands. |
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