Using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), we provide a framework to analyze the potential gains from quota trading. We compare the industry profit and structure before and after a free trade reallocation of production quotas. The effects of tradable production quotas depend on several technological...

In Denmark, many small-scale forest owners are affiliated to local district offices of The Danish Forestry Extension Service. Increasing economic pressure has caused a search for more efficiency in the Service, including potential reorganisation. In this paper, the efficiency of the different...

In a recent paper, Petersen (Petersen, N. C. 1990. Data envelopment analysis on a relaxed set of assumptions. Management Sci. 36 305--314.) proposed to relax the convexity assumptions invoked in traditional Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). Unfortunately, the new approach is not consistent with...

In Denmark, many small-scale forest owners are affiliated to local district offices of The Danish Forestry Extension Service. Increasing economic pressure has caused a search for more efficiency in the Service, including potential reorganisation. In this paper, the efficiency of the different...

We analyse how the aggregation of production processes affects efficiency evaluations. A production unit can be inefficient even though all its production processes are efficient. We show how to test if observed "inefficiencies" may be caused by an aggregation and how to correct efficiency...

Many studies have attempted to explain estimated inefficiency, for instance by bounded rationality, ignorance, lack of incentives or motivation etc. However, the presence of inefficiency remains in conflict with the neo-classical idea of economic rationality. This paper suggests ways in which...

In this paper, we discuss the pros and cons of using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to evaluate and enhance the efficiency of natural resource management. The need for a multi-dimensional production frontier approach is sketched, along with examples from other regulated multi-output industries....

In this paper we consider staffing decisions in branches of a large Canadian bank. The bank has well-developed staffing models and the branches work in a highly competitive environment. One would therefore expect limited ‘inefficiency’ in the sense of wasted resources and over-staffing....