Public Education Spending Efficiency: the Effect of Economic, Institutional, and Political Factors in the MENA Region

This paper aims to determine the public spending efficiency in primary, secondary, and tertiary education and to study the effect of institutional, political, and economic factors in the MENA region for the period 1998-2018. A non-parametric Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach is used to assess efficiency. The results show that MENA countries are more performers in primary education despite that they spend considerably on secondary and tertiary education. A Censored Tobit regression model is adopted to analyze the determinants of public education efficiency. Many indicators affect efficiency, but primary education efficiency is more sensitive.