Staff (mis)allocation in public agencies: evidence from protected area management in Brazil

Abstract

Misallocation of staff across subjurisdictions can have profound negative impacts on the performance of decentralized government agencies. Yet we lack an integrated view of the range of factors that can produce misallocation. I build a conceptual framework of the personnel (mis)allocation process through an historical study of Brazil’s federal protected areas agency, which, according to prior research, could have prevented 600–1,700 km2 of deforestation over its first 10 years through more effective personnel allocation. More broadly, this paper enhances our understanding of the determinants of bureaucratic structure, autonomy, and performance.