A
A
Um estudo da Fundação Francisco Manuel dos Santos sobre valores, qualidade institucional e desenvolvimento em Portugal.

Values, Institutional Quality and Development

How do Portuguese institutions work? What is their nature? What is their quality?
What is their contribution to national development? Find the answer to these and other questions in this study by Fundação Francisco Manuel dos Santos.
3 min
Documentos
ValoresQualidadeInstiEDesenvEmPortugal

This study by Fundação Francisco Manuel dos Santos aimed to carry out a reliable assessment of the functioning and quality of Portuguese institutions through an intensive analysis of organisations and agencies considered to be emblematic in the country's institutional framework. In order to achieve this goal, the project was based on previous theoretical work aimed at a comprehensive and measurable definition of the concept of "institution" and on previous empirical research, for which a methodology was developed that would allow concrete existing institutions to be analysed and their influence on the social and economic progress of each country to be ascertained.

Given the impossibility of investigating all Portuguese institutions, six public and private national organisations were selected because they were not only important in their own right, but they were also likely to shed some light on the wider universe of the country's institutions:

  • Electricity – EDP;
  • Food and Economic Safety Authority – ASAE;
  • Post Office – CTT;
  • National Health Service – SNS (Santa Maria Hospital);
  • Lisbon Stock Exchange (New York Stock Exchange – Euronext Lisbon);
  • Tax and Customs Authority – AT


Through this study, Fundação Francisco Manuel dos Santos sought to contribute to more in-depth knowledge of the Portuguese reality, thus fulfilling its founding principle.

In clear contrast with the unanimous assessment of the organisations studied as "institutionally adequate" and the almost consensual acceptance of them as "developmental" institutions, the analysis of the assessments that was carried out using fuzzy set theory, as well as the questionnaire surveys carried out on the staff working in the institutions, recommend some scepticism. The near absence of meritocracy – highlighted in the institutional reports and the rankings they have achieved, and confirmed by the results of the surveys – is the first major concern.
Acessos rápidos
Documentos
ValoresQualidadeInstiEDesenvEmPortugal
Portuguese, Portugal