notoriously low selfemployment rate. Empirical evidence on the effectiveness of such programmes is scarce. The contribution of the … present paper is twofold: first, we evaluate the effectiveness of two start-up programmes for the unemployed. Our outcome … the results of this analysis, we conduct an efficiency analysis, i.e., we estimate whether the Federal Employment Agency …

We analyze the efficiency and productivity growth of a representative sample of Portuguese hospitals from 1997 to 2004 … productivity indicator that is decomposed into the usual constituents of productivity growth: technological change and efficiency …, using an innovative approach by employing the directional distance function and the Luenberger productivity indicator. The …

Economic development implies that the efficiency of firms in developing countries is approaching that of firms in … privatization, competition and foreign investment. We also test hypotheses positing that only firms near the efficiency frontier … find that privatization to domestic owners did not markedly improve the efficiency of firms; domestic firms are not …

while there was an increase in the productivity of factor inputs during the 1990s, most of the growth in value added is … explained by growth in the use of factor inputs. We also find that median technical efficiency declined in all but one of the … industries between the two years, and change in technical efficiency explains a very small proportion in the change in gross …

Germany in the last decade. The effectiveness of the most important programs (in terms of participants and spending) such as … effectiveness of two start-up programs in East Germany. Our findings – even though partly preliminary – are rather promising …

occupation it may harm some workers while benefitting others; and it may either reduce or increase the proportion of knowledge … workers in employment. In my model, knowledge (in a broad sense) is an input into the production function of human capital …-quality one. People differ in their exogenous ability and ability is complementary with the quality of the knowledge input in the …

the employer's knowledge (information) regarding the employees' productivity levels on the total time spent by the workers …

-interest, knowledge, and ideology in public opinion formation? And how do people learn about economic issues? Using a new, specially … important. Knowledge about the economy ranks somewhere in between. …

direct impact on knowledge and use of contraception. We investigate this issue using information on women in Mexico. In order … females' schooling beyond 6th grade increases their knowledge of contraception during their reproductive years and increases …