Public Sector Efficiency Measurement: Applications of Data Envelopment Analysis

The core problem tackled in this book is the measurement of public-sector efficiency with Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). The book is intended to inject new ideas into the diverse academic literature which up till now has lacked a critical book-length exploration of DEA. The text is readable and intuitive making it suitable for a broad audience, including policy-makers and civil servants working on the control of public expenditure, privatisation etc. Graduates and advanced undergraduates should also find this book a valuable introduction to the nature and implemenation of DEA. These will include students on economics, management science and accounting degrees. The book provides a realistic approach to DEA, acknowledging its problems such as the fundamental output measurement and variable selection problems which are rarely recognised in applied studies.

... it is to the authors' credit that many economists will take DEA more seriously after reading their work. -- The Economic Journal

... will doubtless be widely and profitably used by researchers as a distinctive source of reference in a rapidly expanding field. -- Education Economics

It serves as a good introductory link between the increasingly abstruse DEA theoretical work and practical model building in the public sector -- Journal of the Operational Research Society

This is a timely and useful book. ...provides a good overview of the quantitative techniques, provides two applications ... and offers some directions where further improvements are needed. -- Public Money and Management