An economic approach to the measurement of growth in the output of public services

This article explores the application of economic theory to the measurement of growth in public service output. This approach is designed to take account of changes in the quality of the output. The article discusses two alternative economic approaches; the basic expenditure determinants approach and the use of outcome production functions. The article demonstrates how the approaches could work in practice with ahypothetical example of expenditure and outcome production functions for police services. The findings of the article will be discussed further with stakeholders before being taken forward for use in UKCeMGA's work on the productivity of public services.