| Title |
Assessment of public education expenditure efficiency across Lithuanian municipalities / |
| Authors |
Legenzova, Renata ; Gaigalienė, Asta ; Rudytė, Dalia ; Skunčikienė, Solveiga ; Kazlauskienė, Vilma |
| DOI |
10.2478/fiqf-2023-0027 |
| Full Text |
|
| Is Part of |
Financial internet quarterly.. Berlin : Walter de Gruyter GmbH. 2023, vol. 19, no. 4, p. 63-79.. eISSN 2719-3454 |
| Keywords [eng] |
public expenditure efficiency ; expenditure on education ; municipal finances |
| Abstract [eng] |
Efficiency of education expenditure is the ability to maximize the educational achievement given the resources invested. Although public education expenditure tends to increase, yet this does not necessarily guarantee high quality of education services. This study aims to assess public education expenditure efficiency of Lithuanian municipalities and to identify the factors explain-ing its variations. The study used data for 2013-2019 from 60 Lithuanian municipalities. Correct-ed Ordinary Least Squares method was employed for public education expenditure efficiency assessment and regression analysis was used to determine its influencing factors. Inputs includ-ed financial (public expenditure for education and maintenance) and nonfinancial (composition of teachers, occupied area, etc.) variables. Passing ratio of Lithuanian (national) language and math exams were used as efficiency outputs. The context variables represented environmental factors of educational achievements, such as number of business entities, users of social hous-ing, libraries, and culture centres as well as municipalities’ overall financial autonomy. Results of the research are ambiguous. When assessed by the overall passing of the exams, the efficiency was high, scoring 86-90%. But when evaluated by passing exams with the highest scores, it did not even reach 40%. Two types of public expenditure were identified as the most influential fac-tors - public expenditure for education with the negative trend, and municipality own financing with the positive influence on the public education expenditure efficiency. Such results support the decentralization of public education expenditure management and call for alternative output measures in the Lithuanian public education system. |
| Published |
Berlin : Walter de Gruyter GmbH |
| Type |
Journal article |
| Language |
English |
| Publication date |
2023 |
| CC license |
|
