Applications of the DEA models show that inadequate results may arise in some cases, two of these inadequacies being: a) too many efficient units may appear in some DEA models; b) a DEA model may show an inefficient unit from the point of view of experts as an efficient one. The purpose of this...

There are some specific features of the non-radial DEA (data envelopment analysis) models which cause some problems under the returns to scale measurement. In the scientific literature on DEA, some methods were suggested to deal with the returns to scale measurement in the non-radial DEA models....

The distinction between the concepts outputs and outcomes can be made operational based on the consideration of the degree of control a public service producer has over its production activity. Resources are transformed into service outputs under the control of the organisation in question,...

A philosophical problem for studies of inefficiency of firms is how to rationalise the inefficiency. Since economists do not have any theory for inefficiency, explaining the results of efficiency analyses are notoriously more difficult than carrying out the estimations. The literature points to...

There are some specific features of the non-radial data envelopment analysis (DEA) models which cause some problems for the returns to scale measurement. In the scientific literature on DEA, some methods were suggested to deal with the returns to scale measurement in the non-radial DEA models....

A new DEA model has been introduced recently combining the primal and the dual models in order to impose strong complementary slackness conditions. It was claimed that a reference set that contains the maximum number of efficient units can then be determined. The model is very interesting as a...

In this paper, we suggest a simple derivation of the formulae for the scale elasticity in the variable returns-to-scale technology as used in data envelopment analysis. Our development is consistent with the existing literature but the proof is much shorter and applies to the general case...

The performance of local tax offices of Norway is studied over a three-year period applying Data Envelopment Efficiency analysis and a Malmquist productivity index. The estimates are bias-corrected using a bootstrap approach recently developed for DEA models. The results show that bias...

When regulating electricity distribution utilities, estimates of the past productivity improvement performance are very important for future requirements. A piecewise linear frontier technology, reflecting observed best practice, accommodating the multi-output nature of distribution utilities is...