Report on Government Services
Efficiency
EfficiencyEfficiency
The concept of efficiency has a number of dimensions. Overall economic efficiency requires satisfaction of technical, allocative and dynamic efficiency:
- technical efficiency requires that goods and services be produced at the lowest possible cost
- allocative efficiency requires the production of the set of goods and services that consumers value most, from a given set of resources
- dynamic efficiency means that, over time, consumers are offered new and better products, and existing products at lower cost.
Dimensions of this framework
Inputs per output unit
Technical efficiency indicators measure how well services use their resources (inputs) to produce outputs for the purpose of achieving desired outcomes. Government funding per unit of output delivered is a typical indicator of technical efficiency.
Comparisons of the unit cost of a service are a more meaningful input to public policy when they use the full cost to government, accounting for all resources consumed in providing the service. Problems can occur when some costs are not included or are treated inconsistently (for example, superannuation, overheads or the user cost of capital).