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R. ROSE AND C. PEIFFER
Estonia has pioneered measures that give individuals access to their personal records held in government files. Each Estonian is assigned a unique identity number at birth and all residents over the age of 15 have electronic identity cards. The cards can be used to obtain public services such as health care or to pay for riding on a public bus. In addition, an individual can use their card to examine files about themselves in public offices. The Estonian system is thus not only about preventing favouritism and corruption, which is low by the standards of ex-Communist states. It is also about securing the efficient and fair delivery of retail services to citizens. Match the supply of services to entitlements and obligations. The logic of bureaucratic administration is that laws determine who is entitled to receive public services, and the government provides the resources to ensure an adequate supply of teachers, nurses and other public services. Insofar as this happens, then problems of scarcity do not arise. Even if there is competition for admission to the best schools, everyone entitled to further education can be given a university place. However, if there is a gap between the demand from all entitled and the supply of a service, the resulting scarcity undermines the principle of bureaucratic allocation. Queuing is an impartial way to allocate services when demand exceeds supply. It is used in bus queues at rush hour and in retail shops. Because people needing health care or education want the government to provide these services, there is an incentive for politicians to promise that all demands will be met. The consequences can be acute in developing countries that create universal entitlements to social benefits without being able to provide an adequate supply. Contrary to theoretical expectations, statistical analysis in Chapter 5 found no statistically significant evidence of a shortage in the supply of education and health care reducing contact with these services or increasing bribery to get them (Table 2 in Chapter 5). This implies that overpromising reduces the quality of the affected service. Class sizes can be doubled but there is not an adequate supply of desks, books and online facilities for every pupil. Doctors can reduce the time they spend examining patients, thereby increasing the proportion of inadequate diagnoses, and overburdened nurses can make patients wait for hours for attention. While such activities do not violate formal standards of corruption, they violate informal standards. The quality of the service is corrupted and the politicians responsible have corrupted their reputation for trustworthiness in pursuit of votes by promising an expansion of social services. In especially
