When university Departments are under pressure to improve the assessed quality of their research and teaching in several different directions simultaneously, questions arise as to the nature of the corresponding feasible set and the shape of its frontier. When quality is judged by reference to...

One method of pursuing efficiency in the public sector has been the publication of performance indicators for individual agencies. It is often unclear how these indicators should be interpreted in isolation. This paper uses data envelopment analysis to show how the data underlying performance...

The BLU properties of OLS estimators under known assumptions have encouraged the widespread use of OLS multivariate regression analysis in many empirical studies that are based upon a conceptual model of a single explanatory equation. However, such a model may well be an imperfect empirical...

Examines the recent changes made to the public sector in the UK in the context of relevant economic models, including the principal‐agent model, public goods theory and the median voter model. Considers a umber of possible justifications for the changes, including the emulation of the private...