Starting from existing static decompositions of overall economic efficiency on nonparametric production and cost frontiers, this article proposes more comprehensive decompositions including several cost-based notions of capacity utilization. Furthermore, in case prices are lacking, we develop...

The need to adapt Data Development Analysis (DEA) and other frontier models in the context of negative data has been a rather neglected issue in the literature. Silva Portela, Thanassoulis, and Simpson (2004) proposed a variation on the directional distance function, a very general distance...

Quite a few studies have considered efficiency at the bank branch level by comparing mostly a single branch network, while an abundance of studies have focused on comparing banking institutions. However, to the best of our knowledge no study has ever assessed performance at the level of the...

The literature suggests that investors prefer portfolios based on mean, variance and skewness rather than portfolios based on mean-variance (MV) criteria solely. Furthermore, a small variety of methods have been proposed to determine mean-variance-skewness (MVS) optimal portfolios. Recently, the...

This note first succinctly summarizes the currently available methods to solve the various nonconvex free disposal hull (FDH) models for technical efficiency as well as for minimum costs. It also offers some empirical illustration as to their computational efficiency. Second, this note briefly...

There is a burgeoning literature using non-parametric frontier methods to measure mutual fund performance. These articles measure the relationship between the various characteristics (mainly return information and some costs of ownership) of these specialized financial products to establish a...