Working Paper: NBER ID: w18268
Authors: Alberto Chong; Rafael La Porta; Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes; Andrei Shleifer
Abstract: We mailed letters to non-existent business addresses in 159 countries (10 per country), and measured whether they come back to the return address in the US and how long it takes. About 60% of the letters were returned, taking over 6 months, on average. The results provide new objective indicators of government efficiency across countries, based on a simple and universal service, and allow us to shed light on its determinants. The evidence suggests that both technology and management quality influence the quality of government.
Keywords: government efficiency; postal service; management quality; Weberian bureaucracy
JEL Codes: H11; L32; L87; P48
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| management quality (L15) | postal efficiency (L87) |
| government efficiency (H11) | postal efficiency (L87) |
| management practices (M54) | government quality (H11) |
| management quality (L15) | government quality (H11) |
| private sector management quality (L33) | public sector efficiency (H83) |