Efficiency of public expenditure on education in elementary education in the state of Mato Grosso, using Data Envolvement Analysis (DEA)

Abstract

The main objective of this article is to evaluate the efficiency of public spending on elementary education in the municipalities of the state of Mato Grosso, through the Data Envelopment Analysis method using the output-oriented BCC model. The study investigates whether resources were allocated effectively in this area during the mentioned years. Municipal data relating to Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Spending per student and Ratio between number of teachers and number of students were used as input variables, and the fundamental average IDEB as output variable. The general hypothesis of the study adopted was that the municipalities considered efficient in relation to expenditure on elementary education were those with the highest Basic Education Development Indexes (Ideb). The results suggest that there is a positive correlation between the IDEB score and the efficiency index in both 2019 and 2021. Furthermore, it can be observed that only a small number of municipalities in Mato Grosso were efficient in relation to public spending on education , being 15 and 21 municipalities out of the 129 analyzed in 2019 and 2021, respectively. This points to the pressing need for public administration to review the methods of allocating resources in this crucial area.