Measuring effectiveness of public expenditures in Bangladesh: a survey based case study in the education sector

Public expenditure in a developing country like Bangladesh has a profound impact on economic growth and poverty reduction. However, for many impediments, such funds are not meeting their pre-designed goals. The reasons are many. To realize these impediments in the Bangladesh economy, in this study, a Public Expenditure Tracking Survey (PETS) has been conducted taking the primary education sub-sector as a test case. To understand the levels of accountability and transparency in expenditure in Bangladesh, a Quantitative Service Delivery Survey (QSDS) was performed along with the PETS. Primary data was gathered with the help of the above surveys and the results showed that the level of accountability, transparency and effectiveness of public expenditures in the said sector is very low.