Greek Public Sector’s Efficient Resource Allocation: Key Findings and Policy Management

Abstract

The public sector has limited resources, and how these resources are allocated in expenditures and investments is crucial. Our article focuses on controlling this allocation for the Greek economy from 2000 to 2021, which includes the country’s debt crisis. To do so, we utilized data from national accounts, categorized inputs and outputs, and examined their volatility and stability over time using statistical and mathematical methods. Our analysis revealed that the crisis impacted the size and allocation of public inputs and outputs. While some sectors of the Greek economy displayed stability in financing over time, others were more volatile. Using a mathematical accounting approach contributes to the academic discourse on rational resource allocation in the public sector. Our results validate the tax hypothesis for primary revenues and expenditures and advocate that it is necessary to make targeted recruitments in the sector that is needed each time while keeping the total number constant, which leads to the need to redistribute public sector workers. In the same way, public projects should not only focus on infrastructure projects but should also be spread to new areas related to climate change and the agricultural sector.