Abstract

1Younes Boujelben and 1Nahed Trabelsi-Ltifi*

This paper assesses the efficiency of developing countries in utilizing public resources for health and education and has two major parts. The first one estimates efficiency by applying a non-parametric methodology: Data Envelopment Analysis, Input-efficiency is scored in a sample of 75 countries using data from 1996 to 2011. The second part of the paper seeks to identify empirical regularities that explain cross-country variation in the efficiency through a Tobit regression. Results show that countries with higher expenditure levels register lower efficiency scores. Similarly, countries with higher income inequality score lower efficiency, as those countries plagued by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Countries with higher revenue per capita tend to score higher efficiency as well as countries where the degree of urbanization is a larger share of total population.