Bureaucratic Structure and Performance in Asia

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Bureaucratic Structure and Performance in Asia
Julius Court Peace Governance Programme and
Office of the Rector court_at_hq.unu.edu

• United Nations University
• http//www.unu.edu/

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Bureaucratic Structure and Performance (in Asia)

• Rationale - evidence on bureaucratic performance
  based mostly on case studies
• Objective extended systematic data collection
  on bureaucratic structure and performance
• Innovative Methodology - survey of high level
  bureaucrats using country coordinators
• Results - extended database on bureaucracy and
  analysis (for researchers) and country sheets
  (for policy-makers and practitioners)
• From Court, Kristen and Weder, 1999.

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Simple Framework

• Development Performance

Knack and Keefer, 1995 Evans and Rauch,
1999a World Bank, 1997 (WDR)

• Bureaucratic Performance

Weber, 1968 Evans and Rauch, 1999b World Bank,
1993 (EAM)

• Bureaucratic Structure

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Bureaucracy Database extended global database
on bureaucracies

• Coverage 50 countries
• Timespan c1970-1998
• Sources Evans-Rauch database, WDR 1997, UNU
  survey.

http//www.unu.edu/hq/academic/Pg_area4/ b-structu
re.html
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Bureaucratic Structure and Performance -
Empirical Analysis

• Agency power - influence of core economic
  agencies in formulating new policies.
• Autonomy - do top civil service move when
  political leadership changes.
• Career opportunities - internal promotion,
  duration and civil service opportunities.
• Relative wage - compares public sector salaries
  to the private sector ones.
• Entrance mechanism - entrance via a formal exam
  and university degrees.

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Empirical Analysis Framework

• Bureaucratic Performance

• Dependent Variables
• Bur. Quality
• Consultation
• Corruption
• Efficiency
• Implementation

• Independent Variables
• Agency Power
• Autonomy
• Career Opportunities
• Private Sector Career
• Relative Wage

• Bureaucratic Structure

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Regression Findings
Significance - ten - five - one
level.
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Total Structural Quality
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Agency Power
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Autonomy
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Career Opportunities
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Relative Wages
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Tentative Conclusions

• New results with expanded data set are more
  solid than for original Evans / Rauch database.
• Certain structural issues are associated with
  cross-country differences in bureaucratic
  performance.
• Better bureaucratic performance is associated
  with greater autonomy to formulate policy good
  career opportunities good pay for public
  servants (and no shifting to the private sector).

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World Governance Survey Objectives

• To better understand why and how political
  institutions matter for growth and poverty
  reduction
• General
• Open governance debate in a constructive manner
• What aspects of governance matter at different
  stages
• Provide policy advice
• Specific
• Cohesive, global database on perceptions of
  governance
• Track changes over time within countries
  diagnostic
• Cross-country statistical analysis

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UNU at a Glance

•  Mission - generating and sharing knowledge for
  human security and development.
• Key Facts 
• Rector Hans van Ginkel
• Vice Rector for Peace and Governance Ramesh
  Thakur
• Staff 211
• Budget US 36 m
• Headquarters Tokyo, Japan
• 13 Institutes around the world
• Networks