Concept for Measuring the Efficiency of Public Goods Provision Based on the Education Sector in Poland

Abstract

The problem of quantifying public goods is one of the most complex problems related to public choice theory. We argue that the public goods constitute an isomorphic, socio-economic system which is not a “black box”. The central goal of the article is to develop a universal methodology for measuring the quantity and quality of public goods, and the efficiency of their provision in different sectors of the economy. The authors have applied the developed methodology to a study of the process of public goods provision in the Polish education sector. The empirical research bears out the theory that the supply of public goods in the education sector is determined by the structure of the local budgetary funds used for that purpose, and not only by the total amount of public spending