Clientelism in the Public Sector : Why Public Service Reforms Fail and What to Do about It

Clientelism in the Public Sector : Why Public Service Reforms Fail and What to Do about It

In many developing countries (and beyond), public sector workers are not just simply implementers of policies designed by the politicians in charge of supervising them -- so called agents and principals, respectively. Public sector workers can have...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Bold, Tessa, Molina, Ezequiel, Safir, Abla
Format: Working Paper
Language:English
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2018
Subjects:
SERVICE DELIVERY
GOVERNANCE
PUBLIC SECTOR REFORM
CLIENTELISM
RENT SEEKING
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/557331526302017028/Clientelism-in-the-public-sector-why-public-service-reforms-fail-and-what-to-do-about-it
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/29845
id okr-10986-29845
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-298452021-06-08T14:42:46Z Clientelism in the Public Sector : Why Public Service Reforms Fail and What to Do about It Bold, Tessa Molina, Ezequiel Safir, Abla SERVICE DELIVERY GOVERNANCE PUBLIC SECTOR REFORM CLIENTELISM RENT SEEKING In many developing countries (and beyond), public sector workers are not just simply implementers of policies designed by the politicians in charge of supervising them -- so called agents and principals, respectively. Public sector workers can have the power to influence whether politicians are elected, thereby influencing whether policies to improve service delivery are adopted and how they are implemented, if at all. This has implications for the quality of public services: if the main purpose of the relationship between politicians and public servants is not to deliver quality public services, but rather to share rents accruing from public office, then service delivery outcomes are likely to be poor. This paper reviews the consequences of such clientelism for improving service delivery, and examines efforts to break from this "bad" equilibrium, at the local and national levels. 2018-05-16T20:43:27Z 2018-05-16T20:43:27Z 2018-05 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/557331526302017028/Clientelism-in-the-public-sector-why-public-service-reforms-fail-and-what-to-do-about-it http://hdl.handle.net/10986/29845 English Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8439 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
topic SERVICE DELIVERY
GOVERNANCE
PUBLIC SECTOR REFORM
CLIENTELISM
RENT SEEKING
spellingShingle SERVICE DELIVERY
GOVERNANCE
PUBLIC SECTOR REFORM
CLIENTELISM
RENT SEEKING
Bold, Tessa
Molina, Ezequiel
Safir, Abla
Clientelism in the Public Sector : Why Public Service Reforms Fail and What to Do about It
relation Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8439
description In many developing countries (and beyond), public sector workers are not just simply implementers of policies designed by the politicians in charge of supervising them -- so called agents and principals, respectively. Public sector workers can have the power to influence whether politicians are elected, thereby influencing whether policies to improve service delivery are adopted and how they are implemented, if at all. This has implications for the quality of public services: if the main purpose of the relationship between politicians and public servants is not to deliver quality public services, but rather to share rents accruing from public office, then service delivery outcomes are likely to be poor. This paper reviews the consequences of such clientelism for improving service delivery, and examines efforts to break from this "bad" equilibrium, at the local and national levels.
format Working Paper
author Bold, Tessa
Molina, Ezequiel
Safir, Abla
author_facet Bold, Tessa
Molina, Ezequiel
Safir, Abla
author_sort Bold, Tessa
title Clientelism in the Public Sector : Why Public Service Reforms Fail and What to Do about It
title_short Clientelism in the Public Sector : Why Public Service Reforms Fail and What to Do about It
title_full Clientelism in the Public Sector : Why Public Service Reforms Fail and What to Do about It
title_fullStr Clientelism in the Public Sector : Why Public Service Reforms Fail and What to Do about It
title_full_unstemmed Clientelism in the Public Sector : Why Public Service Reforms Fail and What to Do about It
title_sort clientelism in the public sector : why public service reforms fail and what to do about it
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2018
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/557331526302017028/Clientelism-in-the-public-sector-why-public-service-reforms-fail-and-what-to-do-about-it
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/29845
_version_ 1764470534618218496

Similar Items