In frontier analysis, most of the nonparametric approaches (DEA, FDH) are based on envelopment ideas which suppose that with probability one, all the observed units belong to the attainable set. In these "deterministic" frontier models, statistical theory is now mostly available. In the presence...

Applying an outlier robust extension of the data envelopment analysis (DEA) followed by a geoadditive regression analysis, this study identifies and decomposes the efficiency of 439 German regions in using infrastructure and human capital. The findings show that the regions' efficiency is driven...

In productivity analysis an important issue is to detect how external (environmental) factors, exogenous to the production process and not under the control of the producer, might influence the production process and the resulting efficiency of the firms. Most of the traditional approaches...

This paper proposes a general formulation of a nonparametric frontier model introducingexternal environmental factors that might influence the production process butare neither inputs nor outputs under the control of the producer. A representation isproposed in terms of a probabilistic model...

Directional distances provide useful, flexible measures of technical efficiency of production units relative to the efficient frontier of the attainable set in input-output space. In addition, the additive nature of directional distances permits negative input or outputs quantities. The choice...

The issue of quality and its relationship with efficiency and performance is a crucial operational issue in many fields of study including production economics, operations research, engineering and business management. In this paper we provide a methodology for identifying latent quality...

Non-parametric data envelopment analysis (DEA) estimators based on linear programming methods have been widely applied in analyses of productive efficiency. The distributions of these estimators remain unknown except in the simple case of one input and one output, and previous bootstrap methods...