Evaluating the delivery performance of public spending programs from an efficiency perspective

• Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is proposed as a simple complementary managerial tool for comparative evaluation of programs and their implementers.
• The proposed performance evaluation framework is illustrated in the case of the Greek LEADER+ development program.
• The results of this application indicate that DEA is an insightful tool and can help in analyzing the sources of administrative inefficiencies, guiding benchmarking and allocating funds appropriately.

There is increasing recognition that performance evaluation of national as well as foreign public economic development programs should emphasize on their implementation rather than focus solely on their outcomes. This paper presents a framework for comparing the delivery or administrative efficiency of public spending programs at local level, based on a novel application of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). It is focused on the European Union context and specifically on the Greek LEADER operational program. The results of this application indicate that DEA, in contrast to traditional performance metrics, is an insightful tool in revealing administrative inefficiencies in program delivery by capturing the operational and scale components of performance while taking into account the complex mix of tasks and interventions carried out by its operators. The proposed technique may be easily integrated into a program evaluation scheme and may be utilized as a tool to support rational decision-making and program improvement.