The Measurement of Productive Efficiency and Productivit Growth - Hardcover

9780195183528: The Measurement of Productive Efficiency and Productivit Growth

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0195183525 ISBN 13: 9780195183528

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2008

When Harold Fried, et al. published The Measurement of Productive Efficiency: Techniques and Applications with OUP in 1993, the book received a great deal of professional interest for its accessible treatment of the rapidly growing field of efficiency and productivity analysis. The first several chapters, providing the background, motivation, and theoretical foundations for this topic, were the most widely recognized. In this tight, direct update, these same editors have compiled over ten years of the most recent research in this changing field, and expanded on those seminal chapters. The book will guide readers from the basic models to the latest, cutting-edge extensions, and will be reinforced by references to classic and current theoretical and applied research. It is intended for professors and graduate students in a variety of fields, ranging from economics to agricultural economics, business administration, management science, and public administration. It should also appeal to public servants and policy makers engaged in business performance analysis or regulation.

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About the Author:

Harold O. Fried is Professor of Economics at Union College and David L. and Beverly B. Yunich Chair of Business Ethics.

C.A. Knox Lovell is Emeritus Professor of Economics at University of Georgia and Honorary Professor, School of Economics at University of Queensland.

Review:

"This is an excellent collection of book-length essays on the three main approaches to productivity and efficiency measurement: the econometric, the nonparametric, and the index number approach. The authors, who are experts in the various domains, succeed in providing highly readable surveys of the rich flow of literature that started in the late 1970s, and in giving introductions that are primarily aimed at newcomers but also interesting for experienced researchers. The many applications that are spread through the chapters give the reader a good idea of how to carry out performance assessment in practice. This book has a lot to offer a variety of readers."--Bert M. Balk, Statistics Netherlands and RSM Erasmus University

"Efficiency and productivity involve the 'best' use of scarce resources, which is the foundation of economic performance. The top specialists who have contributed to this volume unravel a fundamental but unresolved issue of economic performance--that extensive real-world variability in firms' economic performance belies the homogeneity implied by economic theory. They evaluate the pieces of the puzzle--inefficiencies involving technical, cost and revenue optimization--that cause firms to deviate from best-practice operation, and explain how such deviations can be measured and explained to further business performance and competitiveness. This is an excellent and comprehensive reference for any researcher interested in the analysis of economic performance, and the recent advances made and challenges still ahead in this field."--Catherine J. Morrison Paul, Professor, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of California, Davis and member of the Giannini Foundation

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