The effect of social capital on the efficiency of government expenditures in Iran

Abstract: In this paper, the effect of social capital on the efficiency of government expenditures has been studied in the two sectors of education and health during the period 1364-1396. social capital has been estimated by The Multiple Causes-Impact (MIMIC) approach, and efficiency of government expenditures in both education and health is estimated by the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Bootstrap data envelopment analysis approaches. The effect of social capital on the efficiency of government expenditures are measured by the regression model of the deficit probe in both education and health.  The results of estimating social capital show that the trend of social capital is declining by the method of  Multiple Indicators and Multiple Causes during the study period. Also, the efficiency scores of government expenditures has been measured by Data Envelopment Analysis and Bootstrap Data Envelopment Analysis in Iran. The results show that on average, public spending is inefficient in education and health. Findings of the fractional probit model show, the effect of social capital is positive and significant on the efficiency of government spending in both education and health. The effect of per capita income, economic growth, government size, inflation and trade openness is different on efficiency of government expenditures in education and health sectors.  For example, the impact of economic growth­ is positive on the efficiency of government education and health spending. While the effect of government size is negative on the efficiency of government education and health spending.