The level of NPM-ness of public agencies: assessing the influence of time, place and task

hand, and the extent to which agencies show features of the so-called ideal type of NPM-agencies: structural disaggregation, managerial autonomy, focus on result control and focus on operations instead than on policy (as task in the policy cycle). The empirical data we rely on are taken from two databases (one Belgian and one Italian) that contain data on autonomous agencies in both Flanders (Belgium) and Italy. The data in the databases were collected via two surveys that were addressed to these agencies in Flanders (2003) and Italy (2006). We will test empirically the assumption that agencies will reflect more of the NPM- ideal type in the case that: -They were established in or after the nineties (during the “peak” of the NPM-wave). -They perform a highly measurable, tangible and standardized task. We will further test the assumption that no differences will be discovered between both countries under scrutiny, as both countries are considered as being rather slow and piecemeal adapters to the NPM-wave that ran across Western-Europe. These assumptions will be tested statistically, and discussed by referring to the existing empirical and theoretical literature