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To estimate the performance of China in terms of energy use efficiency during the first two decades of the twenty-first century while also taking into consideration pollutant emission, this study uses a panel data set covering 30 provincial administrative regions in mainland China for the period 2000–2016. To overcome problems with the DEA-based method, this study proposes an SFA-based model that can estimate environmental energy efficiency while maintaining the regularity constraints imposed on undesirable output, by using Bayesian technique. Our empirical results show that the average value of environmental energy efficiency during the whole sample period changed from 0.7858 in 2000 to 0.7726 in 2016, with an average value of 0.7812 over the whole period. This result is in sharp contrast with findings based on the often-used GDP/energy and GDP/undesirable output indexes, both of which show an improving trend over same sample period. This study suggests that more sophisticated indexes should be used to evaluate meaningful energy efficiency and environmental protection-related performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper extends the concept of methodological crosschecking by examining whether bank efficiencies computed by the two frontier techniques, stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) and data envelopment analysis (DEA), are consistent. The study used a panel of 220 unbalanced observations from 27 Ghanaian banks between 2007 and 2016 to estimate cost and technical efficiencies and check for consistency using five criteria: efficiency distribution, ranking, ability to identify best or worst banks, stability of efficiencies, and relationship with accounting ratios. The results suggest that there is no consistency in the way parametric and non-parametric techniques rank or identify the best or worst banks. Also, there exists a weak relationship between the efficiency scores generated by both SFA and DEA and the non-frontier accounting ratios of Ghanaian banks. This suggests that the latter may contain some exogenous variables that make them weak measures of efficiency and should be used with caution, especially for bank supervision. However, the SFA approach yielded efficiency scores that were comparatively more stable over time. Therefore, the study concludes that the SFA approach is more practical and thus more appealing for regulatory purposes in Ghana due to the relatively consistent efficiency scores under the SFA approach compared to those under the DEA.

Port efficiency has different meanings for various stakeholders. This paper examines the existing studies on the efficiency types and analysis perspectives. Most studies focused on traditional port efficiencies (i.e., the technical, allocative and economic efficiency). Some extended these traditional types by considering ships' time in port and the negative environmental impacts. The majority of studies assessed port efficiency from the perspective of port authorities, managers, and operators. Few did it from the perspective of the users and the public. Even fewer noticed the possible conflicts between the port service level and its profitability. This highlights the need for port efficiency analyses to balance the interests of different stakeholders. Frontier methods are popular in port efficiency evaluation, but publications extending or combining different methods are still very rare. Several issues are identified, including the consistencies between decision-making units and the selection of input/output variables, the nature of port services, the extension and combination of these methods, and the impacts of new developments and occurrences, which can be the direction of further studies. • 301 studies on port efficiency analysis are reviewed from types and perspectives. • Majority assessed port traditional efficiency from the perspective of port. • Analysing efficiency from different perspectives needs more attentions. • Frontier methods are widely used, new approaches with combined methods are rare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Financial distress (FD) signals the early warning of the undesirable state of a firm's business failure. Such early signs are essential for the firm to resolve future business failures promptly. This study investigates the influence of technical efficiency (TE) on the firm's FD. This study combines techniques to provide a comparative analysis for robust outcomes. TE is measured using Data Envelope Analysis (DEA) and Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA). FD is calculated by various Altman's Z-scores (AZS) and BOS distress scores developed by Berger et al. (J Financ Econ 42:259–287, 1996) and AC distress scores by Almeida and Campell (Rev Financ Stud 20:1429–1460, 2007). A sample of 78 non-financial listed firms in India for the observation period 2016–2020 is taken for the panel data analysis. The study's findings reveal that TE impacts the firm's FD. Moreover, DEA and SFA efficiencies have exhibited positive and negative effects on the firm's FD. The Covid-19 pandemic also has enhanced the FD. The current findings deliver essential implications for the stakeholders by demonstrating that TE is crucial for a firm's FD condition. This study augments the existing knowledge body by assessing the efficiency and distress scores of non-financial firms in India. This study also contributes to the related literature on FD through its novel findings of TE's impact on FD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many methods exist for solving the problem of evaluating efficiency in different processes. They are divided into two basic groups, parametric and non-parametric methods, which can have significant differences in the results. In this study, the authors consider the process of assessing the business climate depending on realized foreign investments. Due to the expected difference in efficiency assessment using different approaches, the goal of this paper is to create an optimization model of an ensemble for efficiency assessment that uses both types of methods with the aim of creating a symmetrical approach that achieves better results than each type of method individually. The proposed solution simultaneously analyzes the impact of different factors on foreign investments in order to determine the most important factors and thus enable each local government to ensure the best possible efficiency in this process. The innovative idea of this study is in the inclusion of classification and feature selection methods of machine learning to fulfill the set goal. Our research, focused on a specific case study in various cities across the Republic of Serbia, evaluated the effectiveness of that process. This study extends previous research and confirms the published results, highlighting the advantages of the newly proposed model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study evaluates the technical efficacy of Côte d’Ivoire’s banks from 2005 to 2019, accounting for the effect of shareholding. The technical efficiency of the Ivorian banking system became much more efficient after 2012, according to the results of a Tobit random-effects model using the DEA and SFA methods. Additionally, private and foreign shareholding significantly and favorably influences technical efficiency, according to the study. We suggest that actions be taken to allow local and foreign private partners to purchase shares in Ivorian public banks, based on these findings.

Many methods exist for solving the problem of evaluating efficiency in different processes. They are divided into two basic groups, parametric and non-parametric methods, which can have significant differences in the results. In this study, the authors consider the process of assessing the business climate depending on realized foreign investments. Due to the expected difference in efficiency assessment using different approaches, the goal of this paper is to create an optimization model of an ensemble for efficiency assessment that uses both types of methods with the aim of creating a symmetrical approach that achieves better results than each type of method individually. The proposed solution simultaneously analyzes the impact of different factors on foreign investments in order to determine the most important factors and thus enable each local government to ensure the best possible efficiency in this process. The innovative idea of this study is in the inclusion of classification and feature selection methods of machine learning to fulfill the set goal. Our research, focused on a specific case study in various cities across the Republic of Serbia, evaluated the effectiveness of that process. This study extends previous research and confirms the published results, highlighting the advantages of the newly proposed model.

Research in the fields of public policy and efficiency evaluation in higher education intensifies amid the NPM spread. This paper advocates the need to increase awareness on whether universities transform and modernise their operations under performance-enhancing policies, and systematically reviews the existing empirical evidence on the effects of such policies in terms of efficiency and productivity. The study classifies the mechanisms of public intervention as ‘state as financier’, ‘the structuring state’ and ‘the autonomy steering state’. The synthesis of the fragmented evidence on the effects of public interventions in terms of universities’ efficiency and productivity addressed by data envelopment analysis and stochastic frontier analysis methodologies is follows. Enhancement of competitive environment and higher autonomy are associated with higher efficiency and productivity. Supply side concentration of resources through excellence initiatives and restructuring of the landscape because of Bologna Process were also effective in transforming universities’ production function. The evidence on top-down mergers is mixed, and we can question their implementation, as opposed to voluntary mergers.

Using data from the Brazilian Higher Education Census and other public institutions, this study aims to obtain and compare efficiency scores from stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) and data envelopment analysis (DEA) models for 56 Brazilian federal universities for the period of 2010 to 2016. The output distance function includes financial and human resources as inputs, and teaching, research, patents and third mission activities as outputs. The research is innovative considering: (i) the estimation of SFA for Brazilian universities as whole institutions, (ii) its comparison with DEA; and (iii) the inclusion of patents and third mission variables. The findings suggest there is inefficiency in Brazilian higher education production, with a very small increase through time and with some influence from universities and environmental characteristics. Thus, consolidated traditional institutions with university hospitals tend to be more efficient than the younger ones. The values and the rank of the efficiencies are sensitive to the model/method employed, presenting highly significant although modest correlations. In general, the inclusion of third mission activities improves the efficiencies for both approaches, mainly for DEA. Hence, as advised in other international comparative analyses, caution is required when deriving management and policy recommendations from the analytical results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to measure the technical efficiency of commercial banks in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and to analyze its determinants. To achieve this goal, on an unbalanced panel of 10 commercial banks observed from 2005 to 2019, the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) followed by two Truncated Regression (TR) models and the Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) were used. Return on Equity (ROE), loans, deposits, female workforce, number of branches, type of ownership, seniority, liquidity ratio, inflation rate, money supply growth rate, key interest rate and required reserve ratio are the significant covariates identified in this study. In addition, the most technically efficient sampled banks are: BOA, Ecobank, Equity Bank, Rawbank, Sofibanque and TMB. However, in terms of cost-efficiency, commercial banks in DRC operate on a sub-optimal scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has undergone radical changes as a consequence of international agreements. Through a parametric approach based on Stochastic Frontier Analysis, it has been possible to estimate the impact of financial subsidies allocated under the Common Agricultural Policy for the period from 2007 to 2017 in the framework of the first and second pillars to Romanian farms that are part of the FADN dataset. The findings have revealed the positive effect of financial subsidies allocated to disadvantaged rural areas in increasing technical efficiency, and a modest impact of decoupled payments disbursed under the first pillar of the CAP on the Romanian farms investigated.

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the efficiencies of ten of the leading European ports. The motivation of the research refers to the relevant topic of selection of indicators that can be involved in the comparative analysis. Concerning the theoretical model, the authors’ efforts are especially directed towards the usage of the stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) and of the data envelopment analysis (DEA). These techniques have been widely adopted for benchmarking and performance evaluation by involving indicators based on data from National Accounts. If one of these indicators, such as labour force consistency, is not available at a specific level of aggregation, detailed assumptions are needed to address this complication. The present study proposes an additive model in order to provide an estimation of ports’ economic activities by fixing the port activity boundaries and the spatial perimeter of the firms investigated. Several NUTS (Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics) levels and NACE (EU Statistical Classification of Economic Activities) codes are fixed to offer a useful comparable labour indicator. Empirical results reveal that each port area presents a combination of the NACE categories which significantly impact the efficiency that can reach very high performance values through both the SFA and DEA techniques. Since the managers can choose which sectors to improve, which particular improvement strategies to support, which specific service to add, their decisions impact this performance evaluation, and their performance can be verified through the approaches proposed.

Propomos uma metodologia apoiada em técnicas de benchmarking para o cálculo do chamado Fator-X, que é componente essencial da regulação por preço-teto, (em tese) adotada pelos contratos de concessão para exploração da infraestrutura rodoviária federal. Em 2012, o Fator-X foi introduzido na equação tarifária dos contratos de concessão de rodovias, com o intuito de promover ganhos de produtividade e compartilhá-los com os usuários das rodovias concedidas. Porém, a sua não definição tempestiva por parte da autoridade regulatória, pode ter contribuído para a exclusão do Fator-X de contratos mais recentes, como o da Rodovia de Integração do Sul (RIS), assinado em 2019. Realizamos uma revisão da literatura, a qual ressalta a importância de implementar uma regulação orientada a incentivos, e também fazemos a revisão das experiências internacionais sobre o assunto. Demonstramos que os resultados que vem sendo apresentados pelas concessionárias de rodovias são bastante criticados pelo Tribunal de Contas da União (TCU), como resultado da existência de uma estrutura de incentivos inadequada. A partir dos resultados das análises do tipo DEA, SFA e StoNED, desenvolvemos uma metodologia para o cálculo do Fator-X e a sua incorporação na equação tarifária. Os resultados obtidos mostram que o Fator-X calculado, considerando um ciclo de aplicação de cinco anos, e uma regra de decaimento exponencial para as parcelas a serem aplicadas anualmente, equivale, na média, a um desconto de 3,5% nas tarifas das vinte e uma concessionárias no primeiro ano do ciclo de regulatório. Portanto, a nossa proposta avança em relação a outras presentes na literatura, e tem o potencial de ser uma ação regulatória capaz de estimular a eficiência das concessionárias de rodovias. Os valores obtidos de Fator X são de magnitude relevante, e a metodologia é flexível o bastante para permitir sua melhor calibragem de acordo com a realidade do mercado regulado.

This study investigates how Chinese banking sector reforms have affected the relationship between banking performance and bank board structure. The study analyzes data from listed commercial Chinese banks between 2000 and 2013, and banking efficiency scores are estimated using the stochastic frontier approach (SFA) and data envelopment analysis (DEA). The impact of board structure and structural reforms on banking efficiency is further analyzed using panel data regression. We find that board independence has a negative influence on banking efficiency, but it becomes positive when the banks are listed on the stock market. This finding confirms the soft-budget constraint theory, which holds that large banks are less efficient than smaller ones as the former can more easily obtain financial support during times of distress. Further, the listing of state-owned banks positively moderates the relationship between board independence and banking efficiency. The study contributes to the literature on banking reforms, board structure, and banking efficiency. It confirms the theoretical basis for Chinese banking reforms and that banking efficiency has improved since the ownership restructuring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A systematic review of the literature on (eco)efficiency of agricultural and cattle raising was undertaken. MethodiOrdinatio filtered 100 articles from databases Science Direct and Web of Science, of which 69 articles were analyzed in depth to elucidate main approaches, variables and methods in studies on agriculture and cattle raising. Results revealed that 14% of the articles were published by the Journal of Cleaner Production and revealed its representativity and importance for the debate on current issue. Within the main approaches and in accordance to the acknowledgement of the environmental degradation capacity of agriculture and cattle raising, there was a significant growth in (eco)efficiency studies. The review of the literature showed that in 75% of the articles, research method was Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) or Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA). The addition of a second stage, or rather, the employment of DEA, showed the relevance of analyzing the influence of non-controllable factors in (eco)efficiency in agriculture and cattle raising. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The chief aim of this study was to analyze secondary healthcare providers' efficiency, focusing on the efficiency analysis of Slovene general hospitals. We intended to present a complete picture of technical, allocative, and cost or economic efficiency of general hospitals.

Copyright of Brazilian Review of Economics & Agribusiness / Revista de Economia e Agronegócio is the property of Brazilian Review of Economics & Agribusiness / Revista de Economia e Agronegocio and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Objective: As a great number of higher schools in Poland are financed from public resources, there arises a question about the adequacy of those schools’ inputs to the obtained outputs. The aim of this paper is to examine the technical efficiency of 27 state higher vocational schools in Poland. Research Design & Methods: The research was conducted for the years 2009-2011. There was applied the Stochastic Frontier Approach (SFA) as well as the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). The second one was calculated both for Constant Returns to Scale (CRS) and for Variable Returns to Scale (VRS). Findings: A majority of studied schools, found as inefficient in the analysis conducted with the DEA method with CRS models, are found to be efficient in VRS models, demonstrate a relatively lower efficiency when calculated with the SFA method. Implications & Recommendations: For efficiency evaluation of higher education institutions there should be applied models of VRS. It enables identifying the units that despite operating in a different scale are fully efficient. The size and scale of operations may have a significant impact on the efficiency of conducted activity by higher education institutions. Contribution & Value Added: The work compares two methods (parametric and non parametric) for evaluation of technical efficiency that are present in subject literature (SFA is less popular) but are rarely evaluated and compared for its applicability to the higher education sector. Article type: research paper Keywords: SFA; DEA; efficiency; higher education JEL codes: I23, C14

Local self-government has the task of enabling stable economic development, in addition to enabling a normal quality of life for citizens. This is why the state government should provide guidelines that will improve the local business climate, and by doing so enable local economic development. This can be done through the introduction of a business-friendly certification procedure, which is influenced by uncertain inputs and influences many output factors. Each local government has the important task of determining its rank of efficiency in this process. A number of methodologies developed to solve this problem are generally divided into two groups: Parametric and non-parametric. These two groups of methodologies could provide quite different results. Therefore, the purpose of this paper was to create a model using both approaches to achieve a balanced symmetrical approach that produces better results than each approach individually. For this purpose, the paper describes a multicriteria decision aid-based model of optimization to evaluate the effectiveness of this process, integrating classification, data envelopment analysis, and stochastic frontier analysis, as well as its application in a case study of business-friendly certification in the Republic of Serbia.

Linking the theoretical predictions of the research on lending relationships with those of the literature on managerial incentives, we investigate whether the duration of credit relationships impacts on SMEs’ technical efficiency. Our hypothesis is that the balance between costs and benefits of enduring banking relationships might have heterogeneous effects on managers’ incentives depending on the level of firms’ indebtedness. Using a large sample of European SMEs, observed in the period 2001-2008, and adopting both parametric and non-parametric measures of efficiency, we find that the positive impact of longer lending relationships on efficiency decreases as indebtedness increases, suggesting that moral hazard problems may endanger firms’ technical efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microfinance has played a key role in the fight against exclusion and the promotion of entrepreneurship in developing countries. An important question today is how to increase the reach and profitability of microfinance, in a context where subsidies are withdrawing to promote the viability and sustainability of microfinance institutions (MFIs). Efficiency analysis has found favor in this context and has attracted growing interest among professionals, partners, and researchers. Abundant empirical work has been conducted over the last ten years on this subject, in very different contexts and with different methodologies. The purpose of this article is to provide a meta-regression analysis on parametric and nonparametric estimations of Mean Technical Efficiency (MTE) in microfinance, using a data set of 262 observations from 38 studies. The results show that, in the microfinance industry, MTE scores have increased over time. However, with an MTE rate of approximately 61.1%, there is room for improving efficiency. MFIs use more resources than necessary for the results achieved in terms of outreach and revenue generated . Our results show heterogeneity of MTE according to the methodological approach of the studies. Studies with a larger number of variables (inputs and outputs) produced higher MTE scores than did those with a smaller number of variables. Studies using the variable returns to scale assumption resulted in higher MTE scores than those using constant returns to scale. In addition, those with a production approach had higher MTEs than did those using the intermediation approach, while studies of a large number of MFIs had lower scores than did those involving a small sample size. Moreover, research estimating social efficiency generated lower MTEs compared to those estimating financial efficiency. Studies using data from African MFIs obtained lower MTEs than did those on MFIs in Latin America and MENA, which confirms the poor performance of African microfinance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista de Economía (Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán) is the property of Universidad Autonoma de Yucatan, Facultad de Economia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Research Papers of the Wroclaw University of Economics / Prace Naukowe Uniwersytetu Ekonomicznego we Wroclawiu is the property of Uniwersytet Ekonomiczny we Wroclawiu and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study investigates to which extent results produced by a single frontier model are reliable, based on the application of data envelopment analysis and stochastic frontier approach to a sample of Chinese local banks. Our findings show they produce a consistent trend on global efficiency scores over the years. However, rank correlations indicate they diverge with respect to individual performance diagnoses. Therefore, these models provide steady information on the efficiency of the banking system as a whole, but they become divergent at the individual level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the technical efficiency in family farming, using as case of study the production of goat milk at the basin of Santiago del Estero, and using DEA and SFA. Regarding the efficiency of the studied farmers, it is observed that goat milk basin of Santiago del Estero has technical efficiency average indices of 0.567 (using DEA CRS), 0.693 (using DEA VRS) and 0.745 (using SFA). By comparing the results it shows that there are no differences in outcomes between DEA (VRS) and SFA, however differences are observed comparing the results of DEA (CRS) and SFA. In this context, no grounds were found to use either method for efficiency studies on family farming. The decision regards of which method to use should be taken considering each particular case, according to the type of information available, the formation of each research and the purpose of each particular study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivated by the cost reductions and outcome improvements generated by benchmarking in many industries, we focus on in-country global health programs to identify and quantify opportunities for process improvement. We empirically study the major efficiency drivers of reproductive health (RH) country programs in Sub-Saharan Africa sponsored by international funding organizations. To ensure a level playing field for comparison across countries, we quantify the impact of cross-country heterogeneity and random shocks on the efficiency of RH programs. To analyze these relationships and isolate the effects attributable to managerial inefficiency, we use a three-stage Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA)/Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) model. We show the impact of environmental factors on program efficiency, linking policy making decisions with operational and health outcome performance. We also show that donor fragmentation negatively impacts managerial efficiency, and we suggest actions to mitigate this effect. We then provide a way to improve performance through benchmarking efforts within groups of countries and present an initial prototype of such efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: As a great number of higher schools in Poland are financed from public resources, there arises a question about the adequacy of those schools' inputs to the obtained outputs. The aim of this paper is to examine the technical efficiency of 27 state higher vocational schools in Poland. Research Design & Methods: The research was conducted for the years 2009-2011. The Stochastic Frontier Approach (SFA), as well as Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) were applied. The other one was calculated both for Constant Returns to Scale (CRS) and for Variable Returns to Scale (VRS). Findings: The majority of the studied schools, found as inefficient in the analysis conducted with the DEA method with CRS models, are found to be efficient in VRS models, demonstrate relatively lower efficiency when calculated with the SFA method. Implications & Recommendations: For the efficiency evaluation of higher education institutions, models of VRS should be applied. It enables to identify the units that despite operating in a different scale are fully efficient. The size and the scale of operations may have a significant impact on the efficiency of activities conducted by higher education institutions. Contribution & Value Added: The work compares two methods (parametric and non parametric) for the evaluation of technical efficiency that are present in subject literature (SFA is less popular) but are rarely evaluated and compared for its applicability to the higher education sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses beta and sigma convergence of commercial, savings, and cooperative banks in the Eurozone from 1999 to 2012. For this purpose, concepts of the growth and efficiency convergence literature are consulted and GMM, fixed effects models, and OLS are applied. Convergence is analyzed by calculating two efficiency metrics – data envelopment analysis (DEA) and stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) – and two risk metrics – equity to total assets (E/TA or EQTOAS) and Z-scores (ZSCORN). For commercial banks, efficiency convergence of both metrics is found, however, savings banks show no signs of convergence and cooperative banks only show signs of SFA convergence. Banks of all three specializations show E/TA convergence, but only savings banks convergence with respect to Z-scores. Nevertheless, the EU's Single Market Program still has a long way to go to create identical conditions for all member countries’ financial markets. The discovery that there are considerable differences between banks’ specializations, and even more, that there is convergence with respect to E/TA as a risk metric are among the main academic contributions of this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Islamic Rural Bank (IRB) in Indonesia are placed in diverse geographical conditions. Indonesia is an archipelago with a centralized economy in the Java Island. Thus the performance of IRB between Java region and out of Java region has different characteristics. This study aims to measure the level of efficiency of the IRB region which is divided into six zones (Jakarta, West Java-Banten, Central Java-Yogyakarta, East Java, Sumatra and Eastern Indonesia) by using the method of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) as nonparametric method and Stochastic Frontier Approach (SFA) as parametric method. The division in six regional zones is vital given that IRB has different characteristics between regions that needs solutions that fits each character. This study shows that the IRB in Eastern Indonesia is more efficient than the five other regions in Indonesia either by using the approach of DEA and SFA. The results of this study are expected to be input for each stakeholder along with the publication of the Draft Regulation of the Financial Services Authority (RPOJK) on Rural Bank in Indonesia to, then be formulated into regulation. Moreover, it can be concluded that the DEA is more appropriate to measure the efficiency of IRB in Indonesia given the existence of some constraints in using the SFA approach, which is not normal distribution of the data as well as data that does not meet the assumption of homogeneity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies indicate that Finnish hospitals have significantly higher productivity than in the other Nordic countries. Since there is no natural pairing of observations between countries we estimate productivity levels rather than a Malmquist index of productivity differences, using a pooled set of all observations as reference. We decompose the productivity levels into technical efficiency, scale efficiency and country specific possibility sets (technical frontiers). Data have been collected on operating costs and patient discharges in each diagnosis related group for all hospitals in the four major Nordic countries, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. We find that there are small differences in scale and technical efficiency between countries, but large differences in production possibilities (frontier position). The country-specific Finnish frontier is the main source of the Finnish productivity advantage. There is no statistically significant association between efficiency and status as a university or capital city hospital. The results are robust to the choice of bootstrapped data envelopment analysis or stochastic frontier analysis as frontier estimation methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines whether different approaches for estimating the technical efficiency of a primary healthcare centre --PHC-- can have significantly different results. Although effective regulation demands the development of measures for establishing good operation levels, few studies have compared results from a data envelopment analysis ?DEA? and stochastic frontier analysis ?SFA? in a PHC. Furthermore, to the best of our knowledge, no studies have used Chilean nationwide data. Efficiency refers to the relation between the number of output units per input unit. Effectiveness evaluates the outcome of medical care and can be influenced by efficiency. The data that were used in this study came from 259 Chilean municipalities. We included two outputs - medical and check-up visits - and three inputs - staff, general service and drugs expenses. For the DEA, we used a variable return to scale output-oriented model. Before applying the SFA, a principal component analysis ?PCA? combined the two outputs. The results were similar for both methods: the SFA efficiency averages were 70.89% and 65.83% and the DEA averages were 68.37% and 54.46% for the urban and rural municipalities, respectively. In addition to defining a frontier of "best practice", this study merged the PCA with the SFA to form an innovative approach to combining outputs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we investigate the association between the efficiency of infrastructure provision and the level of corruption, in the province in which the infrastructure takes place, employing a large dataset on Italian public works contracts. We, first, estimate efficiency in public contracts' execution using a smoothed DEA bootstrap procedure that ensures consistency of our estimates. Then, we evaluate the effects of corruption using a semi-parametric technique that produces a robust inference for an unknown serial correlation between efficiency scores. In order to test the robustness of our results, the parametric stochastic frontier approach has also been employed. The results from both nonparametric and parametric techniques show that greater corruption, in the area where the infrastructure provision is localised, is associated with lower efficiency in public contracts execution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Research Papers of the Wroclaw University of Economics / Prace Naukowe Uniwersytetu Ekonomicznego we Wroclawiu is the property of Uniwersytet Ekonomiczny we Wroclawiu and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this article, Technical Efficiency (TE) of dairy farms is estimated and analysed with two methodologies: Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA). Using DEA, the TE scores for different states are determined. Further, logistic regression is applied to TE scores to explain how known technical and policy variables affect a farm's probability of being efficient. The second methodology employs SFA to estimate and analyse TE scores. Two federal milk policies are considered in this research: marketing policy and milk income loss policy. Federal milk marketing program has shown a significant and negative impact on TE with both methods. Payments under the milk income loss program have shown a positive significant impact in SFA analysis. Both methodologies produced similar outcomes on regional impacts and on the significance of several considered variables. Categorical representation of some variables in graphs provided some additional insights of their effects on TE. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: This paper presents a meta-analysis of variations in seaports’ Mean Technical Efficiency (MTE) scores based on 40 studies published in refereed academic journals. We link the variation in estimated MTE scores to differences in the following factors: the frontier methodology used, which essentially are the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and the Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA); regions where seaports are situated; type of data used; number of observations; and the total number of variables used. Furthermore, we compare fixed-effects against a random-effects regression model where the latter assumes that the individual study specific characteristics matter while the former assumes that there is one general tendency across all studies. We present several findings based on the data: (1) the random-effects model outperforms the fixed effects model in explaining the variations in MTEs, (2) recently published studies have lower MTE scores as compared with earlier published studies, (3) studies that used nonparametric DEA models depict higher MTE scores as compared with those that used SFA models, (4) panel data studies have lower TE scores as compared with cross-sectional data, and (5) studies using European seaport data produce lower MTE scores when compared with the rest of the world. Finally, our results contradict some previous meta-analysis studies of TE scores. We encourage the use of random-effects models in meta-analysis studies because they account for individual study specific effects. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The present study is believed to be the first to apply the VlseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR) methodology to perform a benchmarking analysis in the hotel industry. This study used VIKOR to measure the performance of 26 international hotels to identify the benchmarking enterprise and to analyse strategies for performing a benchmark. During the calculation procedure, the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (AHP) was applied to calculate the weights of the individual performance criteria using expert feedback. The findings suggest that the VIKOR technique integrating fuzzy AHP can be utilized to overcome the small shortcomings of stochastic frontier analysis and data envelopment analysis and that the technique is a feasible tool for benchmarking analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We discuss four frequently overlapping developments in the brief history of efficiency analysis. The developments involve modes of invention, graduate students, international travel, and influential but under-appreciated scholars. We suggest lessons to be learned from each. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]