Theoretical Economics Letters, 2021, 11, 1055-1066 https://www.scirp.org/journal/tel ISSN Online: 2162-2086 ISSN Print: 2162-2078 DOI: 10.4236/tel.2021.116067 Nov. 12, 2021 1055 Theoretical Economics Letters Determinants of Productive Efficiency of Public Service: What Effect of the Interaction of Corruption Control and Average Wage? Alastaire Sèna Alinsato , Calixe Bidossessi Alakonon * Laboratory of Public Economics, University of Abomey-Calavi, Abomey-Calavi, Benin Abstract This paper seeks to analyze the determinants of the civil service productive efficiency in West African Economic Monetary Union (WAEMU) countries over the period 2003-2017. Using the two-stage Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) model, our results show that the average productive efficiency of the public services studied is 87.4%. This suggests that there is room for im- provement in the level of output of the public services, all other things being equal. We also found that the average wage, the square of corruption control, and the interaction term between corruption control and the average wage have a positive effect on productive efficiency. These findings suggest that before getting improvement in the productive efficiency of public service in the WAEMU region, countries should reach a higher level of corruption con- trol and a substantial level of the average wage. Keywords Productive Efficiency, Public Service, Governance, DEA, WAEMU 1. Introduction The efficiency of public intervention is an important concern in economic anal- ysis. There is a controversy among economists about the legitimacy and effi- ciency of state action. For statist economists, public intervention could be effi- cient. Liberals, on the other hand, believe that all state action is inefficient and wasteful of resources. Thus, for them, state action lacks rationality and leads to an inefficient allocation of resources because the state is not guided by the profit motive. In the provision of public goods and services, the state uses a certain amount How to cite this paper: Alinsato, A. S., & Alakonon, C. B. (2021). Determinants of Productive Efficiency of Public Service: What Effect of the Interaction of Corrup- tion Control and Average Wage? Theoreti- cal Economics Letters, 11, 1055-1066. https://doi.org/10.4236/tel.2021.116067 Received: February 8, 2021 Accepted: November 9, 2021 Published: November 12, 2021 Copyright © 2021 by author(s) and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY 4.0). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Open Access