Service delivery and human development in Papua New Guinea: the performance of provincial governments

Most indicators of health and education are much lower in Papua New Guinea (PNG) than they are in other countries in the Pacific. Successive waves of decentralisation have devolved most responsibility for service delivery to the country's Provincial Governments (PGs) yet a widespread deterioration in services has continued. Recent reforms and a strongly performing economy are leading to a sharp rise in resources for service delivery for most PGs. However, there is evidence from existing studies that the link between government spending and human development outcomes is weak. Using data for the period 2005-2009, this paper examines the importance of PG spending for health and education outcomes. It also adopts a Stochastic Production Frontier (SPF) approach to examine as to which PGs are most efficient at achieving these outcomes given their levels of expenditur