On Measuring Aggregate "Social Efficiency"

Cross-country comparisons of social indicators controlling for income and/or social spending have been widely used to measure and explain "social efficiency" analogously to "technical efficiency" in production. The author argues...

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Main Author: Ravallion, Martin
Format: Policy Research Working Paper
Language:English
en_US
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2014
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2003/11/2820082/measuring-aggregate-social-efficiency
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/17903
id okr-10986-17903
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-179032021-04-23T14:03:40Z On Measuring Aggregate "Social Efficiency" Ravallion, Martin CROSS-COUNTRY EXPERIENCE SOCIAL INDICATORS INCOME GAPS PUBLIC SPENDING INCOME ESTIMATES SOCIAL CHOICE TECHNICAL EVALUATION PRODUCTION CAPACITY MEASUREMENT SYSTEMS LIFE EXPECTANCY (HUMAN) SOCIAL CONDITIONS HEALTH CARE DELIVERY AGGREGATE INCOME AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION AVERAGE INCOME BENCHMARK COUNTRY LEVEL COUNTRY PERFORMANCE CROSS-COUNTRY COMPARISONS CROSS-COUNTRY DIFFERENCES CROSS-SECTIONAL DATA DATA SETS DEVELOPING COUNTRIES DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE DEVELOPMENT REPORTS ECONOMIC THEORY EMPIRICAL FINDINGS EMPIRICAL MODEL EMPIRICAL MODELS EMPIRICAL WORK EXPECTED VALUES EXPLANATORY VARIABLES FUNCTIONAL FORM FUNCTIONAL FORMS GDP GDP PER CAPITA HEALTH CARE HEALTH INDICATORS HEALTH OUTCOMES HOUSEHOLD INCOMES HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INCOME INCOME DIFFERENCES INCOME DISTRIBUTION INCOME INEQUALITY INCOMES INDIVIDUAL COUNTRIES INEFFICIENCY INFANT MORTALITY INPUT PRICES INVERTED-U RELATIONSHIP LIFE EXPECTANCY LINEAR RELATIONSHIP LOG INCOME MEAN ERROR TERM MEAN INCOME MEASUREMENT ERROR MEASUREMENT ERRORS MORTALITY NATIONAL INCOME NEGATIVE GROWTH POLICY DISCUSSIONS POLICY RESEARCH POSITIVE CORRELATION POVERTY MEASURES POVERTY REDUCTION PRODUCERS PRODUCTION FUNCTION PRODUCTION FUNCTIONS PRODUCTION INPUTS PRODUCTION SET PUBLIC HEALTH PUBLIC SPENDING REDUCING POVERTY SERIES DATA SOCIAL OUTCOMES SOCIAL POLICY SOCIAL SERVICES TIME SERIES WAGES Cross-country comparisons of social indicators controlling for income and/or social spending have been widely used to measure and explain "social efficiency" analogously to "technical efficiency" in production. The author argues that these methods are clouded in ambiguities about what exactly is being measured. Standard methods of measuring technical efficiency require assumptions that seem unlikely to hold for social indicators. In the context of a simple parametric model of life expectancy, conditions are identified under which there will be a systematic pattern of bias in estimates of efficient health spending. 2014-04-17T17:29:30Z 2014-04-17T17:29:30Z 2003-11 http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2003/11/2820082/measuring-aggregate-social-efficiency http://hdl.handle.net/10986/17903 English en_US Policy Research Working Paper;No. 3166 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/ World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Publications & Research
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
en_US
topic CROSS-COUNTRY EXPERIENCE
SOCIAL INDICATORS
INCOME GAPS
PUBLIC SPENDING
INCOME ESTIMATES
SOCIAL CHOICE
TECHNICAL EVALUATION
PRODUCTION CAPACITY
MEASUREMENT SYSTEMS
LIFE EXPECTANCY (HUMAN)
SOCIAL CONDITIONS
HEALTH CARE DELIVERY
AGGREGATE INCOME
AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION
AVERAGE INCOME
BENCHMARK
COUNTRY LEVEL
COUNTRY PERFORMANCE
CROSS-COUNTRY COMPARISONS
CROSS-COUNTRY DIFFERENCES
CROSS-SECTIONAL DATA
DATA SETS
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE
DEVELOPMENT REPORTS
ECONOMIC THEORY
EMPIRICAL FINDINGS
EMPIRICAL MODEL
EMPIRICAL MODELS
EMPIRICAL WORK
EXPECTED VALUES
EXPLANATORY VARIABLES
FUNCTIONAL FORM
FUNCTIONAL FORMS
GDP
GDP PER CAPITA
HEALTH CARE
HEALTH INDICATORS
HEALTH OUTCOMES
HOUSEHOLD INCOMES
HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
INCOME
INCOME DIFFERENCES
INCOME DISTRIBUTION
INCOME INEQUALITY
INCOMES
INDIVIDUAL COUNTRIES
INEFFICIENCY
INFANT MORTALITY
INPUT PRICES
INVERTED-U RELATIONSHIP
LIFE EXPECTANCY
LINEAR RELATIONSHIP
LOG INCOME
MEAN ERROR TERM
MEAN INCOME
MEASUREMENT ERROR
MEASUREMENT ERRORS
MORTALITY
NATIONAL INCOME
NEGATIVE GROWTH
POLICY DISCUSSIONS
POLICY RESEARCH
POSITIVE CORRELATION
POVERTY MEASURES
POVERTY REDUCTION
PRODUCERS
PRODUCTION FUNCTION
PRODUCTION FUNCTIONS
PRODUCTION INPUTS
PRODUCTION SET
PUBLIC HEALTH
PUBLIC SPENDING
REDUCING POVERTY
SERIES DATA
SOCIAL OUTCOMES
SOCIAL POLICY
SOCIAL SERVICES
TIME SERIES
WAGES
spellingShingle CROSS-COUNTRY EXPERIENCE
SOCIAL INDICATORS
INCOME GAPS
PUBLIC SPENDING
INCOME ESTIMATES
SOCIAL CHOICE
TECHNICAL EVALUATION
PRODUCTION CAPACITY
MEASUREMENT SYSTEMS
LIFE EXPECTANCY (HUMAN)
SOCIAL CONDITIONS
HEALTH CARE DELIVERY
AGGREGATE INCOME
AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION
AVERAGE INCOME
BENCHMARK
COUNTRY LEVEL
COUNTRY PERFORMANCE
CROSS-COUNTRY COMPARISONS
CROSS-COUNTRY DIFFERENCES
CROSS-SECTIONAL DATA
DATA SETS
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE
DEVELOPMENT REPORTS
ECONOMIC THEORY
EMPIRICAL FINDINGS
EMPIRICAL MODEL
EMPIRICAL MODELS
EMPIRICAL WORK
EXPECTED VALUES
EXPLANATORY VARIABLES
FUNCTIONAL FORM
FUNCTIONAL FORMS
GDP
GDP PER CAPITA
HEALTH CARE
HEALTH INDICATORS
HEALTH OUTCOMES
HOUSEHOLD INCOMES
HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
INCOME
INCOME DIFFERENCES
INCOME DISTRIBUTION
INCOME INEQUALITY
INCOMES
INDIVIDUAL COUNTRIES
INEFFICIENCY
INFANT MORTALITY
INPUT PRICES
INVERTED-U RELATIONSHIP
LIFE EXPECTANCY
LINEAR RELATIONSHIP
LOG INCOME
MEAN ERROR TERM
MEAN INCOME
MEASUREMENT ERROR
MEASUREMENT ERRORS
MORTALITY
NATIONAL INCOME
NEGATIVE GROWTH
POLICY DISCUSSIONS
POLICY RESEARCH
POSITIVE CORRELATION
POVERTY MEASURES
POVERTY REDUCTION
PRODUCERS
PRODUCTION FUNCTION
PRODUCTION FUNCTIONS
PRODUCTION INPUTS
PRODUCTION SET
PUBLIC HEALTH
PUBLIC SPENDING
REDUCING POVERTY
SERIES DATA
SOCIAL OUTCOMES
SOCIAL POLICY
SOCIAL SERVICES
TIME SERIES
WAGES
Ravallion, Martin
On Measuring Aggregate "Social Efficiency"
relation Policy Research Working Paper;No. 3166
description Cross-country comparisons of social indicators controlling for income and/or social spending have been widely used to measure and explain "social efficiency" analogously to "technical efficiency" in production. The author argues that these methods are clouded in ambiguities about what exactly is being measured. Standard methods of measuring technical efficiency require assumptions that seem unlikely to hold for social indicators. In the context of a simple parametric model of life expectancy, conditions are identified under which there will be a systematic pattern of bias in estimates of efficient health spending.
format Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper
author Ravallion, Martin
author_facet Ravallion, Martin
author_sort Ravallion, Martin
title On Measuring Aggregate "Social Efficiency"
title_short On Measuring Aggregate "Social Efficiency"
title_full On Measuring Aggregate "Social Efficiency"
title_fullStr On Measuring Aggregate "Social Efficiency"
title_full_unstemmed On Measuring Aggregate "Social Efficiency"
title_sort on measuring aggregate "social efficiency"
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2014
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2003/11/2820082/measuring-aggregate-social-efficiency
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/17903
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