Work Motivation and Incentives in the Public Sector

TL;DRAbstract

The public sector makes up for an important part of our economy. According to estimates by the OECD (2008) a large share of the labor force in OECD countries is employed by the public sector. These public sector workers provide a wide range of goods and services to the public. Examples of services that are publicly provided range from education, health care, transport, garbage collection, to public safety. This large variety in public services suggests that all people, at some point in their lifetime, will either have to deal with or rely on public service. The performance of public sector organizations, therefore, receives considerable attention from the public. Even more so, because public services are paid for by taxes. People expect good services and value for tax money. The delivery of public goods and services is highly labor intensive. Key to good public services are the e¤orts and output of public sector workers. However, incen- tivizing public sector workers to work hard may p

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