The first chapter investigates the factors that explain the level of technical efficiency of a firm. In an empirical analysis, a unique sample of about 35,000 firms in 256 industries from the German Cost Structure Census over the years 1992-2004 is used. The technical efficiency of the firms is...

In this research we will focus on three topics which we think are particularly relevant for hospital competition: i) quality, ii) efficiency, and iii) ownership.i) Quality of health care is the most important good of the health production process. The present thesis presents both a theoretical...