Devolution in the Czech and Slovak institutions of cultural heritage

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis paper presents a comparative study of the impact of devolution on institutions in the area of cultural heritage in the Czech and Slovak Republics. Both states had formed a previous federation. After the break-up of the federation, public administration reforms with different trajectories took place in each state. In the Czech Republic, part of the museums was transferred from the authority of the ministries to the regions. This process, however, has had different trajectory in Slovakia. In this article, we compare the efficiency of Czech museums of a regional character with regional museums in Slovakia where the devolution did not occur. For comparison, we have utilized input-based envelopment data analysis. Our results suggest that institutions which have undergone the above-described form of devolution have lower performance than other institutions.