FISCAL STRESS AND THE PRODUCTION OF PUBLIC SAFETY - A DISTANCE FUNCTION-APPROACH

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: GROSSKOPF, S; HAYES, K; HIRSCHBERG, J
• 署名单位: Southern Methodist University; Southern Illinois University System; Southern Illinois University; University of Melbourne
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0047-2727
• DOI: 10.1016/0047-2727(94)01445-T
• 发表日期: 1995
• 页码: 277-296
• 关键词: PUBLIC SAFETY; EFFICIENCY; distance function; MORISHIMA

摘要

Faced with increasing crime rates, but nonincreasing budgets, local governments are seeking cost saving means of providing public safety. This paper investigates a bureaucracy's response to fiscal stress as well as its ability to efficiently substitute civilian for uniformed personnel. Exploiting duality theory, a distance function is used to model technology, retrieve information concerning substitutability and shadow prices of personnel, and test for cost minimization. Morishima elasticities are adopted to allow for asymmetry in substitution between types of personnel. It is found that the more adverse the public safety environment and budgetary condition, the more efficiently resources are allocated.