This article analyzes the efficiency of the public spending in cities and towns of the state of Rio de Janeiro during 1999-2000 applying data envelopment analysis. The study adopted social indicators of municipal expenses in following thematic areas of the social reality: education and culture; health and sanitation. The article reviews several DEA applications to public policies and then presents the indicators and models considered for social expenditure efficiency analysis. It adopted the BCC output model of DEA, so as to maximize outputs without decreasing inputs. Indicators of per capita expenditure on education and culture and on health and sanitation were used as inputs of the model in question. The ‘candidates’ for outputs were the following well-being indicators: literacy rate of 10-14 year-old children; ratio of permanent private homes with adequate sanitary disposal; ratio of permanent private homes with proper sanitation; the inverse of mortality rate by sanitation causes; ratio of 2-5 year-old children registered at day child-care centers or children schools. The analysis indicated as ‘good practices’, considering the efficiency of their public expenditure, the cities of São Gonçalo, Japeri, Queimados, Cantagalo, São João de Meriti, and Resende, due to the results they achieve in terms either of resource allocation or of medium revenue.
efficiency; public expenses; social indicators; DEA
