RESUMENEn este artí­culo se efectúa un análisis del desempeño de la defensoría pública del Ecuador con el objetivo de identificar factores administrativos que afectan la eficiencia de esta institución para proponer soluciones que permitan una mejora en su rendimiento ya que, en los últimos años, se ha evidenciado la falta de productividad en este organismo. Esto resulta pernicioso si se considera que de su actuación depende el ejercicio de los Derechos de muchas personas en el paí­s. En este documento, a través de la introducción del modelo principal-agente se explica la trascendencia de los costos de agencia en los resultados de la labor de la defensorí­a pública, como gestor, y los perjuicios que recibe la ciudadaní­a como principal. Además, se analizan algunos incentivos para combatir el problema de agencia en instituciones públicas y finalmente, se llega a la conclusión que el desempeño ineficiente de la defensorí­a pública, radica en un problema estructural de la administración ecuatoriana. ABSTRACTIn this article an analysis of the performance of the public defense of Ecuador is carried out with the objective of identifying administrative factors that affect the efficiency of this institution to propose solutions that allow an improvement in its performance since in recent years there has been a lack of productivity In this body, which is pernicious to consider that the exercise of the rights of many people in the country depends on their actions. In this project, through the introduction of the principal-agent model, the importance of the costs of agency in the results of the work of the public defense, as manager, and the damages that the citizenship receives as principal is explained. Some incentives to combat the problem of agency in public institutions are analyzed and finally the conclusion is reached that the inefficient performance of public defense lies in a structural problem of the Ecuadorian public administration. KEYWORDS: productivity, costs of agency, public defense, administrative litigation, incentive. JEL CODE / CLASIFICACIÓN JEL: L44, L51In this article an analysis of the performance of the public defense of Ecuador is carried out with the objective of identifying administrative factors that affect the efficiency of this institution to propose solutions that allow an improvement in its performance since in recent years there has been a lack of productivity In this body, which is pernicious to consider that the exercise of the rights of many people in the country depends on their actions. In this project, through the introduction of the principal-agent model, the importance of the costs of agency in the results of the work of the public defense, as manager, and the damages that the citizenship receives as principal is explained. Some incentives to combat the problem of agency in public institutions are analyzed and finally the conclusion is reached that the inefficient performance of public defense lies in a structural problem of the Ecuadorian public administration. KEYWORDS: productivity, costs of agency, public defense, administrative litigation, incentive. JEL CODE: L44, L51