Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

O presente trabalho visa analisar o impacto que a condição de migração dos pais exerce sobre a alocação do tempo dos filhos entre 10 e 14 anos no Estado de São Paulo. A atenção volta-se especialmente para a verificação empírica da probabilidade de a criança estudar/trabalhar, separando a amostra do estudo de acordo com as diferentes possibilidades de combinação das condições de migração dos pais da criança. No primeiro capítulo é apresentada uma revisão da literatura econômica referente ao trabalho infantil, com ênfase nos resultados obtidos no caso brasileiro. A seguir é mostrado como os fatores de curto e longo prazos da migração familiar podem interferir na alocação do tempo das crianças entre escola e trabalho. Para distinguir os impactos de curto e longo prazos da migração dos pais sobre a probabilidade de a criança estudar/trabalhar, os pais migrantes foram separados de acordo com o tempo de residência no Estado de São Paulo em: migrantes há menos de dez anos, que podem ter origem em outra Unidade da Federação, ou serem paulistas retornados e, ainda, migrantes de outros Estados que residem há pelo menos dez anos no local de destino. Essa distinção foi utilizada para analisar o diferencial de rendimentos de pais e mães migrantes em relação aos não migrantes através da aplicação da decomposição de Oaxaca, apresentada no capítulo 2. A constatação da seletividade positiva ou negativa de cada um dos três grupos de pais/mães migrantes em relação a pais/mães paulistas não migrantes auxiliou a análise de como a diferença de rendimentos colabora para a explicação das discrepâncias das probabilidades de estudar/trabalhar de seus respectivos filhos. No capítulo 3, antes do cálculo do probit bivariado para obter as probabilidades previstas de a criança estudar/trabalhar, a amostra dos filhos de 10 a 14 anos é separada de acordo com as possíveis combinações de pais e mães, segundo o tempo de residência no Estado de São Paulo. O probit bivariado para meninos e meninas é calculado para cada tipo de família e, com base nas probabilidades previstas obtidas, aplica-se a decomposição entre características observáveis e não observáveis da diferença das probabilidades de estudar/trabalhar entre os filhos de migrantes e não migrantes. De maneira genérica, os resultados encontrados mostram que a migração dos pais amplia as chances de seus filhos ofertarem trabalho no curto prazo, enquanto no longo prazo, dada a seletividade positiva dos adultos, os filhos de migrantes têm menor probabilidade de trabalhar. Este resultado aponta que durante o período de adaptação dos pais ao mercado de trabalho do local de destino, as chances de a família fazer uso da mão-de-obra de seus filhos têm uma leve ampliação. Por outro lado, os resultados indicam que a migração não interfere de maneira positiva sobre a probabilidade de a criança estudar, independentemente do tempo de residência de seus pais no local de destino. Como os filhos de migrantes apresentam probabilidade de estudar sistematicamente inferior à dos filhos dos não migrantes, o deslocamento geográfico para o Estado de São Paulo não pode ser visto como um processo que contribui para a redução da pobreza intergeracional. / The present work analyzes the impact of different parents migration condition over their children of 10-14 years time allocation in São Paulo State. The attention is especially turned toward the empirical approach of child probability to study/work following the sample segregation in accordance with different possible combinations of parent’s migration condition. In the first chapter a revision of economic literature of child labor is presented, with emphasis for the results gotten in the Brazilian case. To follow it is shown as the determinants of short and long terms of family migration can influence in child time allocation between school and work. To distinguish the impacts from short and long terms of parent’s migration on child probability to study/work, the father and mother migrants conditions was split up according with their time of residence in São Paulo State: migrants less than ten years (who can be born in another State or a returned) and migrants that live at least ten years in destination place. This distinction works as a base to differential wage calculation between the migrants and non-migrants parents carry through the application of Oaxaca decomposition in chapter 2. The evidence of positive or negative selectivity to each one of the three groups of fathers/mothers migrants in relation to non-migrants parents helps the analysis of how the wage differential contribute to explain the discrepancies of study/work probabilities between their children. In chapter 3, before bivariate probit calculation, the sample of the children of 10-14 years is separate in accordance with the possible combinations of fathers and mothers according to time of residence in São Paulo State. The bivariate probit for boys and girls is calculated for each type of family and based on the predict probabilities of study/work the difference between migrants and non-migrants children is decomposed in observed and not observed characteristics. The general results show that in short term the parents migration increase the chances of children work, while in the long term the migrants children have less probability to work, due to their parents positive selection. On the other hand, migrant conditions are not significant to explain the child study probability, independent of their parent’s time residence in destination place. Because the study probability of migrants children are continually lesser than non migrants child it is not possible to affirm that migration is a process that contributes for the reduction of intergerational poverty in São Paulo State.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

O presente trabalho visa analisar o impacto que a condição de migração dos pais exerce sobre a alocação do tempo dos filhos entre 10 e 14 anos no Estado de São Paulo. A atenção volta-se especialmente para a verificação empírica da probabilidade de a criança estudar/trabalhar, separando a amostra do estudo de acordo com as diferentes possibilidades de combinação das condições de migração dos pais da criança. No primeiro capítulo é apresentada uma revisão da literatura econômica referente ao trabalho infantil, com ênfase nos resultados obtidos no caso brasileiro. A seguir é mostrado como os fatores de curto e longo prazos da migração familiar podem interferir na alocação do tempo das crianças entre escola e trabalho. Para distinguir os impactos de curto e longo prazos da migração dos pais sobre a probabilidade de a criança estudar/trabalhar, os pais migrantes foram separados de acordo com o tempo de residência no Estado de São Paulo em: migrantes há menos de dez anos, que podem ter origem em outra Unidade da Federação, ou serem paulistas retornados e, ainda, migrantes de outros Estados que residem há pelo menos dez anos no local de destino. Essa distinção foi utilizada para analisar o diferencial de rendimentos de pais e mães migrantes em relação aos não migrantes através da aplicação da decomposição de Oaxaca, apresentada no capítulo 2. A constatação da seletividade positiva ou negativa de cada um dos três grupos de pais/mães migrantes em relação a pais/mães paulistas não migrantes auxiliou a análise de como a diferença de rendimentos colabora para a explicação das discrepâncias das probabilidades de estudar/trabalhar de seus respectivos filhos. No capítulo 3, antes do cálculo do probit bivariado para obter as probabilidades previstas de a criança estudar/trabalhar, a amostra dos filhos de 10 a 14 anos é separada de acordo com as possíveis combinações de pais e mães, segundo o tempo de residência no Estado de São Paulo. O probit bivariado para meninos e meninas é calculado para cada tipo de família e, com base nas probabilidades previstas obtidas, aplica-se a decomposição entre características observáveis e não observáveis da diferença das probabilidades de estudar/trabalhar entre os filhos de migrantes e não migrantes. De maneira genérica, os resultados encontrados mostram que a migração dos pais amplia as chances de seus filhos ofertarem trabalho no curto prazo, enquanto no longo prazo, dada a seletividade positiva dos adultos, os filhos de migrantes têm menor probabilidade de trabalhar. Este resultado aponta que durante o período de adaptação dos pais ao mercado de trabalho do local de destino, as chances de a família fazer uso da mão-de-obra de seus filhos têm uma leve ampliação. Por outro lado, os resultados indicam que a migração não interfere de maneira positiva sobre a probabilidade de a criança estudar, independentemente do tempo de residência de seus pais no local de destino. Como os filhos de migrantes apresentam probabilidade de estudar sistematicamente inferior à dos filhos dos não migrantes, o deslocamento geográfico para o Estado de São Paulo não pode ser visto como um processo que contribui para a redução da pobreza intergeracional. / The present work analyzes the impact of different parents migration condition over their children of 10-14 years time allocation in São Paulo State. The attention is especially turned toward the empirical approach of child probability to study/work following the sample segregation in accordance with different possible combinations of parent’s migration condition. In the first chapter a revision of economic literature of child labor is presented, with emphasis for the results gotten in the Brazilian case. To follow it is shown as the determinants of short and long terms of family migration can influence in child time allocation between school and work. To distinguish the impacts from short and long terms of parent’s migration on child probability to study/work, the father and mother migrants conditions was split up according with their time of residence in São Paulo State: migrants less than ten years (who can be born in another State or a returned) and migrants that live at least ten years in destination place. This distinction works as a base to differential wage calculation between the migrants and non-migrants parents carry through the application of Oaxaca decomposition in chapter 2. The evidence of positive or negative selectivity to each one of the three groups of fathers/mothers migrants in relation to non-migrants parents helps the analysis of how the wage differential contribute to explain the discrepancies of study/work probabilities between their children. In chapter 3, before bivariate probit calculation, the sample of the children of 10-14 years is separate in accordance with the possible combinations of fathers and mothers according to time of residence in São Paulo State. The bivariate probit for boys and girls is calculated for each type of family and based on the predict probabilities of study/work the difference between migrants and non-migrants children is decomposed in observed and not observed characteristics. The general results show that in short term the parents migration increase the chances of children work, while in the long term the migrants children have less probability to work, due to their parents positive selection. On the other hand, migrant conditions are not significant to explain the child study probability, independent of their parent’s time residence in destination place. Because the study probability of migrants children are continually lesser than non migrants child it is not possible to affirm that migration is a process that contributes for the reduction of intergerational poverty in São Paulo State.

近年來台灣面臨了人口高齡化的現象，有關中高齡人口的議題成為了學者與社會大眾關注的焦點，其中，自1988以來中高齡已婚男性勞動參與率至2008年為止已下降了約十個百分點，這個現象值得我們去深入了解。本篇論文主要在探討中高齡已婚男性勞動參與的決定因素，研究的資料來源為1988至2008年的人力資源及人力運用調查。其中，我選擇了55至64歲的已婚男性為對象，而總樣本數為51,730，本論文先以probit與bivariate probit模型估計每一個變數對中高齡已婚男性勞動決策的邊際影響效果，再以Oaxaca與DiNardo, Fortin, and Lemieux (DFL)分解模式，試著拆解每一個變數對整體中高齡已婚男性勞動參與率的影響性。 此篇論文著重在兩個主要變數對中高齡已婚男性勞動參與的影響:妻子的勞動參與以及地區性的失業率。近年來越來越多已婚婦女投入職場，我想了解婦女勞動參與率的上升，對整體丈夫勞動參與率的影響；另外地區的失業率是表現出地區勞動市場的重要指標之一，過去的文獻提到失業嚴重的地區可能使當地勞工失業後找不到工作，或使想進入職場的勞工卻步。此篇論文研究結果顯示妻子的勞動參與會顯著的影響先生對勞動市場去留的決定，妻子影響個人的勞動參與機率6~18%左右，而1%地區性失業率的上升，則是對個人的勞動參與機率下降的影響約1.5%左右。在1988年至2008年整體中高齡已婚男性勞動參與率的分解中，勞動參與率下降了3.5%（占整體變化40%），可歸咎於地區失業率的升高。而若妻子的勞動參與沒有提升，仍維持1988年的水準，整體丈夫的勞動參與率將會下降1%（占整體變化10%）左右，本論文認為若政府能維持良好的就業市場環境，將有助於提高中高齡已婚男性人口勞動參與的比率，進一步能有效提高勞動生產力及降低社會負擔。 / As the proportion of the old population increases in Taiwan, issues of older individuals’ behavior attract public attention. During 1988 to 2008, labor force participation rate of older married men declined over 10 percent. What can explain this decline? This thesis tries to find out the determinants of older married men’s labor force participation in Taiwan. I use the data from Manpower Survey and Manpower Utilization Survey from 1988 to 2008, conducted by Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS). The sample comprise 51,730 observations of married men aged 55-64. Older married men’s labor participation decision is treated as a dependent variable and estimates are made with a probit and a bivariate probit model. Decompositions with methodology of DiNardo, Fortin, and Lemieux (1996) and Oaxaca (1973) are conducted for explaining the decline in labor participation rate of older married men between 1988 and 2008. The results indicate that the increase in wives’ labor force participation increases husband’s likelihood of participation and prevents aggregate husbands’ participation rate from declining about 1 percentage point (-8 percent of total decline). However, regional unemployment rate negatively affects husband’s likelihood of participation and can explain at least 3.5 percent (40 percent of total decline) of the decline in husband’s participation rate. This thesis suggests the labor force participation rate could be stopped from declining if the government maintains good labor market condition.

本研究主旨是從人力資本理論以及勞動市場條件的觀點，來探討原、漢族群的工資不平等之現象根源。長久以來，原住民從成長、學校教育，到進入職場，莫不受各種條件的不足所制，以至於與主流社會的社經處境有難以克服的落差。本研究採用2007年「社會變遷基本調查第五期第三次」階層組以及休閒組調查，和2007年「臺灣原住民社會變遷與政策評估調查研究」，三筆具代表性且規模相近的面訪資料、共2393位私部門受雇者來加以比較。透過群體加權校正，本研究首先透過多元迴歸與交互作用分析，來探討兩族群的人力資本和勞動市場條件與工資取得高低之間的關係。接著，再以經Heckman校正Blinder-Oaxaca差異分解，來分析兩族群工資落差中的結構與現象差異。 研究結果顯示，人力資本和勞動市場條件能說明原住民族與漢人之間，確有工資上的族群歧視現象。原住民教育的工資報酬率在義務教育階段後即無顯著效果，而不同於漢人能持續成長；不論是年資、職業聲望或是工作型態，原住民的工資報酬率都顯著也比漢人低落，且影響更勝教育差異。這些現象即使是在差異分解校正結構差異後依舊存在。是故，既有量化研究除了從教育面向來探討原、漢族群社經不平等之外，實應持續重視原住民族進入職場後，所面對的勞動市場問題。 / The aim of this research is to study the wage gap between aborigines and Han Chinese in Taiwan. The research explores the impacts of human capital and labor market conditions on the wage gap. Throughuot the life course trajectories of schooling and labor market participation, aborigines in Taiwan persistently face dire straits, resulting in insurmountable soci-economic gaps with Han Chinese. The data sources of the research are from Taiwan Social Changy Survey (TSCS) 2007, Phase 5, Wave 3: The Social Stratification module and The Leisure Time module, and Social Change and Policy of Taiwanese Indigenous Peoples Survey (TIPS) 2007, which are representative to the adult population in Taiwan. The total sample sizes are 2393 employees in private sector and roughly equal in size between two ethnics. With weighting, regression interaction effects were estimated to analyze the impacts of human capital and labor market conditions on wage differences between aborigines and Han Chinese. Moreover, the research uses two-steps Heckman selection model to correct selection bias of labor marke participation as well as Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition to analyze the ethnic disparities in wage. The finding of interaction models show that human capital and labor market conditions can explain the wage gap and reveal the negative effects of discrimination against aborigines. While only the compulsory education has positive effects on aborigines’ wage, Han Chinese could benefit from all stage of education. Job tenures, occupational prestiage, and employment types are more benefitical to Han Chinese than to aborigines, and the impacts of these factors on wage are greater than education. These results are also consistent with decomposition analysis. Other than education inequality, the finding of this research suggests that future studies of ethnic disparities in soci-economic inequality should concern more about ethnic differences in labor market conditons.

The Brazilian labor market is characterized by considerable differences in income, treatment and occupational insertion between white and black workers. With this in mind, this paper aims to identify and measure the factors causing this discrepancy between blacks and whites, highlighting discrimination and occupational segregation and using the PNAD 2009 as database. In order to measure the level of occupational segregation by color we used the following Occupational Segregation Indices: Index of Dissimilarity Duncan & Duncan (D) Index of Dissimilarity Standardized by Size (Ds) and Karmel-MacLachlan index (KM). The results of these indices showed that there is considerable occupational segregation by color in the Brazilian labor market, and the blacks are inserted in occupations with lower pay. The analysis of color discrimination was performed using the Oaxaca decomposition, and this method was applied separately for integrated and segregated occupations, indicating that the integrated occupations have a high level of discrimination and the occupation of majority white show less discrimination. The analyzes were also applied separately to the Northeast and Southeast in order to more efficiently capture the determinants of the wage differential by color between these different regions of Brazil. It was shown that both occupational segregation and discrimination are important factors to explain the wage gap between whites and blacks, and public policies necessary to combat this discriminatory treatment, especially policies aimed at equal opportunities, in order to obtain greater social justice and equal treatment among different groups of workers. / O mercado de trabalho brasileiro se caracteriza por consideráveis diferenças de rendimentos, tratamento e inserção ocupacional entre trabalhadores brancos e negros. Tendo isso em vista, a presente dissertação objetiva identificar e mensurar os fatores que causam essa discrepância entre brancos e negros, destacando a discriminação e a segregação ocupacional e utilizando a PNAD de 2009 como base de dados. A fim de medir o nível de segregação ocupacional por cor foram utilizados os seguintes Índices de Segregação Ocupacional: Índice de Dissimilaridade de Duncan e Duncan (D), Índice de Dissimilaridade Padronizado pelo Tamanho (Ds) e Índice de Karmel-MacLachlan (KM). Os resultados desses índices demonstraram que existe considerável segregação ocupacional por cor no mercado de trabalho brasileiro, sendo que os negros estão inseridos nas ocupações de menor remuneração. A análise da discriminação por cor foi realizada por meio da decomposição de Oaxaca, sendo que esse método foi aplicado separadamente para ocupações integradas e segregadas, indicando que as ocupações integradas apresentam alto nível de discriminação e as ocupações de predominância de brancos exibem menor discriminação. As análises também foram aplicadas separadamente para as regiões Nordeste e Sudeste, a fim de captar de forma mais eficiente os determinantes do diferencial salarial por cor entre essas distintas regiões brasileiras. Foi demonstrado que tanto a segregação ocupacional quanto a discriminação são importantes fatores para explicação do hiato de rendimentos entre brancos e negros, sendo necessárias políticas públicas que combatam esse tratamento diferenciado, principalmente políticas que visem igualdade de oportunidades, a fim de se obter maior justiça social e tratamento igualitário entre os diferentes grupos de trabalhadores. / Mestre em Economia

This research provides a comparative study of the Japanese and German nursing home sectors. Faced with aging populations, both countries share similar long-term care policies based on social insurance. However, descriptive statistics indicate significant differences in the outcomes and costs in their respective nursing home sectors. This research aims to identify the reasons for this state of affairs by examining demographic and policy differences between the two countries. To shed light on the subject from multiple angles, we conduct three types of empirical analysis—regression, the Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition, and data envelopment analysis—on regional data from the past decade. Our findings indicate that the different outcomes are driven by both demographic and policy differences where policy relates to long-term care as well as to additional welfare aid. In terms of policy, a key difference is found in the designs of the welfare programs for low-income elders. In Germany, our results are consistent with moral hazard due to the generous design of the welfare program, while in Japan, our results do not indicate moral hazard, which may be due to strict nursing home admission rules for welfare recipients.

本文採民國94、96、98、100、102年的台灣 「人力運用調查」 資料庫, 以關聯結構法找出組合誤差間的關聯結構密度函數與聯合機率密度函數, 建構隨機邊界關聯結構模型, 解決勞動市場上樣本選擇性問題。 之後分別針對男性及女性估計薪資方程式, 探討每位勞工的薪資效率程度。 本文男、 女性的勞工各按年齡、 工作經驗、 職業、 行業、 教育程度、 公司規模、 工作身分、 婚姻狀態、 工作地分為9大類, 在各類中分群比較薪資效率。 實證結果顯示, 公司規模、 工作身分、 工作地等 3 類, 不論有無考慮樣本選擇, 同一性別中的薪資效率變動趨勢大致一致, 但其餘 6 類, 有考慮樣本選擇的薪資效率變動明顯不同於未考慮樣本選擇。 在考慮了樣本選擇之後的實證結果大多打破以往文獻的預期, 可能是因為過往文獻探討薪資效率時, 大多未考慮樣本選擇, 即將無工作者樣本完全排除, 導致迴歸分析結果僅適用於有工作者。 除了探討薪資效率外, 本文也嘗試在隨機邊界法的架構下, 提出一個衡量性別歧視的新觀點, 將兩性薪資無效率的差異視為一種性別歧視。 若以新觀點衡量台灣的勞動市場, 會發現這5個年度中, 薪資差異幾乎可以完全歸諸於性別歧視。 這顯示即使兩性的薪資差異雖然逐年縮小, 但性別的刻板印象仍存於當今的台灣勞動市場, 造成明顯的性別歧視。 / This paper adopts the "Manpower Utilization Survey" data, a database conducted by Directorate General of Budget, Accounting & Statistics, Executive Yuan, ROC (DGBAS), to study the issues of gender wage differentials and underpayment. The econometric model considers sample selection under the framework of the stochastic frontier model with copula methods. It requires to correct for sample selection and derive the copula density function and joint probability density function by copula method. We separately estimate the male and female wage equations, respectively, to evaluate the wage efficiency and decompose the average wage differential between male and female into several components. The paper distinguishes workers into 9 categories, including age, experience, occupation, industry, education, firm size, working identity, marital status and working area, and compares the wage efficiency between those categories. The empirical results shows that, the trend of wage efficiency in the categories of firm size, working identity, and working area are almost the same in each gender whether correcting for the sample selection bias or not. However, in the remaining 6 categories, the wage efficiency changes substantially after correcting the sample selection bias. With the correction of the sample election bias, most of the findings differ from those from the past literatures. This may be attributed to the fact that the past works mainly focus on employed workers and lead to possible sample selection bias. The paper also tries to offer a new method to measure the gender discrimination, which considers the difference in wage inefficiency between the male-female inefficiency as an element of discrimination. The paper finds that the wage differential between male and female can explain almost the entire discrimination. This findings confirms that the gender discrimination still exists in the Taiwan’s labor market eventhough the wage differential between male and female decreases over time.

Le secteur public joue un rôle important dans la société. Dans la plupart des pays en développement, les dépenses publiques constituent une partie importante du PIB et les entités du secteur public sont les principaux pourvoyeurs d’emploi et les principaux acteurs du marché des capitaux. Le secteur public détermine, généralement par le biais d'un processus politique, ses objectifs économiques et sociaux ainsi que les différents types d'intervention à mettre en place pour les atteindre. Comment le secteur public atteint ses objectifs constitue une question cruciale étant donné que sa taille et son importance économique en font un moteur principal de la croissance et du bien-être social. Ses performances sont jugées à travers la qualité et la nature de sa gestion des finances publiques, les infrastructures qu'il finance ainsi que la qualité de sa régulation des activités économiques. La manière dont les activités du secteur public délivrent les résultats attendus est ainsi une variable clé du développement; pourtant les études empiriques pour comprendre ce qui fonctionne dans le secteur public et pourquoi restent remarquablement limitées. Deux principales raisons expliquent cette situation: les performances dans ce secteur sont difficiles à analyser car les outputs des divers services qu’il fournit sont difficiles à mesurer et même à définir, et le manque de données quantitatives et qualitatives rend difficile une analyse économétrique rigoureuse.Dès lors, l’objectif de cette thèse est de documenter cette littérature et de proposer différentes méthodes empiriques pour évaluer les performances du secteur public dans les pays en développement. Notre analyse est organisée comme suit: la Première Partie - Chapitres 1 et 2 - présente deux essais sur l’évaluation des performances du secteur public “en amont” tandis que la Seconde Partie - Chapitres 3 et 4 - présente deux essais sur l’évaluation des performances du secteur public “en aval” Le Chapitre 1 fait usage de la technique de Blinder-Oaxaca pour examiner comment la qualité des institutions budgétaires affecte les performances budgétaires – déficit budgétaire et dette publique - en Afrique sub-Saharienne. Dans le Chapitre 2, nous utilisons une approche par le Synthetic Control pour étudier l'impact des Offices de Recettes sur la mobilisation des ressources publiques dans une vingtaine de pays en développement. Le Chapitre 3 présente un Benchmarking systématique des performances infrastructurelles de l'Afrique dans les secteurs de l'électricité, de l'eau et de l’assainissement, des technologies de l'information et de la communication, et des transports. Enfin nous évaluons, dans le Chapitre 4, les effets de la mise en place d'une Autorité Indépendante de Régulation sur les performances du secteur de l'électricité dans les pays en développement. / The public sector plays a major role in society. In most developing countries, public expenditure represents a significant part of gross domestic product (GDP) and public sector entities are substantial employers and major capital market participants. The public sector determines, usually through a political process, the outcomes it wants to achieve and the different types of intervention. How the public sector achieves results matters as its size and economic significance make it a major contributor to growth and social welfare. Its achievements emerge in the quality and nature of its financial management, the infrastructure it finances and the quality of its social and economic regulation. How well those public sector activities deliver their expected outcomes is a key development variable; yet explicit evidence base for understanding what works and why in the public sector remains strikingly limited compared with other policy areas. There are two main reasons for this situation: the performance in these areas is difficult to analyze because the outputs of many such services are hard to measure or even to define, and the lack of quantitative and qualitative longitudinal data precludes rigorous econometric analysis.Therefore the objective of this thesis is to document this literature and to propose different ways of measuring public sector performance in developing countries. The dissertation is divided into two Parts: the first Part – Chapters 1 and 2 – presents two essays on “upstream” public sector performance while the second Part – Chapters 3 and 4 – presents two essays on “downstream” public sector performance. The Chapter 1 makes use of the Blinder-Oaxaca Decomposition to examine how the quality of budget institutions affects fiscal performance – Primary Balance and Public Debt – in sub-Saharan Africa. In Chapter 2 we use a Synthetic Control Approach to investigate the impact of Semi-Autonomous Revenue Authorities (SARAs) on revenue mobilization in twenty developing countries. The chapter 3 provides a first systematic Benchmarking of Africa’s infrastructure performance on four major sectors: electricity, water and sanitation, information and communication technologies, and transportation. Finally we evaluate the effects of the establishment of an Independent Regulatory Authority (IRA) on electricity sector performance in developing countries in Chapter 4.