The influence of management on the cost of fire protection

• 成果类型: Article; Proceedings Paper
• 署名作者: Donahue, AK
• 署名单位: University of Connecticut; University of Connecticut
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF POLICY ANALYSIS AND MANAGEMENT
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1520-6950
• DOI: 10.1002/pam.10179
• 发表日期: 2004
• 页码: 71-92
• 关键词: local public-services; volunteer; PAID

摘要

An important and unresolved issue central to the study of government performance is how the actions of managers and the nature of organizations affect the cost of public services. This paper presents an empirical analysis of fire departments that estimates the influence of managerial choices on per capita spending within a simultaneous public production system. It does so by refining a theoretical cost model from the field of public management to include fundamental dimensions of government organizations and administration. Two-stage least squares regression analysis is then employed to examine the fire protection case. The results of the analysis substantiate the intuition that managerial practices and decisions influence the cost of a public service. They show that the cost of fire protection depends significantly on the outcomes of a departments fire prevention and suppression activities, some key aspects of a departments management practices, the configuration of its workforce and equipment, its legal structure, and factors in its external environment. (C) 2004 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.