Governments provide a host of goods and services to their populations, to achieve various economic and social objectives. The efficiency with which these goods and services are provided is important, not only in the debate on the size of the government and the possible role of the private sector,1 but also in macroeconomic stabilization and economic growth. The purpose of this paper is to assess the efficiency of government spending on education and health in 37 countries in Africa, both in relation to each other and in comparison with countries in Asia and the Western Hemisphere. Besides ranking countries within Africa for their efficiency during a given time period and over time, this paper assesses changes in efficiency in the three regions.
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