Artikel
On the cost of opportunistic behavior in the public sector: A General-Equilibrium approach
This paper studies the wasteful effect of bureaucracy on the economy by addressing the link between opportunistic behavior of government bureaucrats and the public sector wage bill. In particular, public officials are modeled as individuals competing for a larger share of those public funds. A simple extraction technology in the government administration is introduced in a standard Real-Business-Cycle (RBC) setup augmented with detailed public sector. The model is calibrated to German data for the period 1970-2007. The main findings are: (i) the model performs well vis-a-vis the data; (ii) Due to the existence of a significant public sector wage premium and the high public sector employment, a substantial amount of working time is spent in opportunistic activities, which in turn leads to significant losses in terms of output; (iii) The model-based loss measures obtained for the EU-12 countries are highly-correlated to indices of bureaucratic inefficiency.
- Language
-
Englisch
- Bibliographic citation
-
Journal: Journal of Public Economic Theory ; ISSN: 1467-9779 ; Year: 2016 ; Wiley
- Classification
-
Wirtschaft
Fiscal Policy
Public Sector Labor Markets
Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook: Other
Business Fluctuations; Cycles
- Subject
-
rent-seeking
opportunism
public employment
government wages
- Event
-
Geistige Schöpfung
- (who)
-
Vasilev, Aleksandar
- Event
-
Veröffentlichung
- (who)
-
ZBW - Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Wirtschaftswissenschaften, Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft
- (where)
-
Kiel, Hamburg
- (when)
-
2016
- DOI
-
doi:10.1111/jpet.12206
- Handle
- Last update
-
10.03.2025, 11:43 AM CET
Data provider
This object is provided by:
ZBW - Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Wirtschaftswissenschaften - Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft. If you have any questions about the object, please contact the data provider.
ZBW - Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Wirtschaftswissenschaften - Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft. If you have any questions about the object, please contact the data provider.
Object type
- Artikel
Associated
- Vasilev, Aleksandar
- ZBW - Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Wirtschaftswissenschaften, Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft
Time of origin
- 2016
Other Objects (12)
On the cost of opportunistic behavior in the public sector: A General-Equilibrium approach
Insurance-markets Equilibrium with Sequential Non-convex Private- and Public-Sector Labor Supply
Insurance-markets Equilibrium with Sequential Non-convex Market-Sector and Divisible Informal-Sector Labor Supply
Essays on Real Business Cycle Modeling and the Public Sector
Macroeconomic effects of public-sector unions
Indeterminacy and multiplicity of equilibria in a two-sector economy with a public-sector production
Insurance-markets Equilibrium with Sequential Non-convex Private- and Public-Sector Labor Supply
Aggregation with sequential non-convex public- and private-sector labor suply decisions
Insurance-markets Equilibrium with Sequential Non-convex Market-Sector- and Divisible Informal-Sector Labor Supply
Cyclical and welfare effects of public sector unions in a Real-Business-Cycle model
Aggregation with a double non-convex labor supply decision: indivisible private- and public-sector hours
Fiscal policy in a Real-Business-Cycle model with labor-intensive government services and endogenous public sector wages and hours
On the cost of opportunistic behavior in the public sector: A General-Equilibrium approach
Insurance-markets Equilibrium with Sequential Non-convex Private- and Public-Sector Labor Supply
Insurance-markets Equilibrium with Sequential Non-convex Market-Sector and Divisible Informal-Sector Labor Supply
Essays on Real Business Cycle Modeling and the Public Sector
Macroeconomic effects of public-sector unions
Indeterminacy and multiplicity of equilibria in a two-sector economy with a public-sector production
Insurance-markets Equilibrium with Sequential Non-convex Private- and Public-Sector Labor Supply
Aggregation with sequential non-convex public- and private-sector labor suply decisions
Insurance-markets Equilibrium with Sequential Non-convex Market-Sector- and Divisible Informal-Sector Labor Supply
Cyclical and welfare effects of public sector unions in a Real-Business-Cycle model
Aggregation with a double non-convex labor supply decision: indivisible private- and public-sector hours
Fiscal policy in a Real-Business-Cycle model with labor-intensive government services and endogenous public sector wages and hours
On the cost of opportunistic behavior in the public sector: A General-Equilibrium approach
Insurance-markets Equilibrium with Sequential Non-convex Private- and Public-Sector Labor Supply
Insurance-markets Equilibrium with Sequential Non-convex Market-Sector and Divisible Informal-Sector Labor Supply
Essays on Real Business Cycle Modeling and the Public Sector
Macroeconomic effects of public-sector unions
Indeterminacy and multiplicity of equilibria in a two-sector economy with a public-sector production
Insurance-markets Equilibrium with Sequential Non-convex Private- and Public-Sector Labor Supply
Aggregation with sequential non-convex public- and private-sector labor suply decisions
Insurance-markets Equilibrium with Sequential Non-convex Market-Sector- and Divisible Informal-Sector Labor Supply
Cyclical and welfare effects of public sector unions in a Real-Business-Cycle model
Aggregation with a double non-convex labor supply decision: indivisible private- and public-sector hours