Ex-post evaluation of regional bureaucracy development programs

Abstract

We study the influence of the program-targeted planning mechanisms on the civil service efficiency in the subjects of the Russian Federation. Our hypothesis is that the criteria for assessing effectiveness of civil service development programs are to increase the efficiency of its functioning and focus on solving problems of socio-economic development. The research methodology is based on the generalization of statistical data on the regions of the Central Federal District (CFD) of Russia in 2003-2016, and on the construction of some indices for civil service and socio-economic development. We have analyzed 67 programs of civil service development. Due to lack of financing Russian regions are forced to abandon many measures of the civil service reform. The average values of efficiency coefficients do not reach 30%, which indicates the existence of significant reserves for increasing the civil service development programs effectiveness. We have revealed that a crisis condition of socio-economic development resists the effective civil service development in the regions. At the same time, the region’s advanced positions in the economy do not automatically lead to a comparable high level of civil service development. This conclusion is important for extrapolating to regions of other federal districts and to the federal level in Russia.