Measuring Public Sector Capacity

This paper explores the possibility of creating an index of public sector capacity which is “policy-neutral” and relies on information already available. It defines public sector capacity in terms of three elements: policy capacity, implementation authority and operational efficiency. The paper also proposes a parallel index of “enabling conditions”—environmental factors which lie beyond the control of the public sector, but which profoundly influence its capacity. Construction of the index is feasible, provided it is considered acceptable to rely on subjective ratings as well as hard statistics. The index would need to be used with caution on account of the inevitable data limitations.