The growing importance attached to education as a key factor to improve economic performance coupled with the persistent scarcity of resources for education makes it important that skills and literacy are produced efficiently. This paper provides an international comparison of the efficiency of...

Practitioners assess performance of entities in increasingly large and complicated datasets. If non-parametric models, such as Data Envelopment Analysis, were ever considered as simple push-button technologies, this is impossible when many variables are available or when data have to be compiled...

In case of regional discretionary on the implementation of policy measures, central govern­ments may consider the differences in outcomes as an indication on the effectiveness of policy. In turn, to motivate regional policy makers uniform incentives might be developed. However, if the...

This paper presents a methodology to aggregate multidimensional research output. Using a tailored version of the non-parametric Data Envelopment Analysis model, we account for the large heterogeneity in research output and the individual researcher preferences by endogenously weighting the...

In line with the Lisbon Agenda, set by the European Council in the year 2000, European governments formulated ambitious plans to half the level of early school leavers by 2012. This paper outlines the dropout prevention measures in the Netherlands and analyzes their effect at both the individual...

This paper examines which conguration of teaching activities (expressed in, e.g., problem solving, homework, lecturing) maximizes student performance. To do so, it formulates a non- parametric eciency model that is rooted in the Data Envelopment Analysis literature. In the model, we account for...

A combination of school mismanagement, weak financial situation and low student attainments led to a permanent closure of primary schools in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, in 2007. This study examines if the school closure positively affected the test scores that children achieved on a standardized...

This paper analyzes the conduct of publicly owned monopolistic utilities regulated by a voluntary sunshine regulatory model (i.e. publication of the performances of utilities). In particular, we examine the behaviour of Dutch drinking water utilities before and after the introduction of the...

Various applications require multilevel settings (e.g., for estimating fixed and random effects). However, due to the curse of dimensionality, the literature on non-parametric efficiency analysis did not yet explore the estimation of performance drivers in highly multilevel settings. As such, it...