Public Administration

The state influences the economic decisions of individuals and companies in many ways. The prerequisite for such state intervention is an organization that implements and enforces the various instruments of public policy: the public administration.

Despite its enormous importance, public administration has been largely neglected by economists. Often, in economics we assume that the necessary infrastructure exists to implement government policies. Both the empirical and theoretical literatures have focused on the optimal design of government measures. However, even the best economic policies require appropriate administration to implement them. There are significant differences in the ability of administrations to implement public policies (administrative capacity), both across states and within states. We do research on the public administration as an organization and on the impact of administrative capacity on individual economic decisions and macroeconomic variables.