Data Envelopment Analysis with Reverse Inputs and Outputs

Data envelopment analysis (DEA) assumes that inputs and outputs are measured on scales in which larger numerical values correspond to greater consumption of inputs and greater production of outputs. We present a class of DEA problems in which one or more of the inputs or outputs are naturally measured on scales in which higher numerical values represent lower input consumption or lower output production. We refer to such quantities as reverse inputs and reverse outputs. We propose to incorporate reverse inputs and outputs into a DEA model by returning to the basic principles that lead to the DEA model formulation. We compare our method to reverse scoring, the most commonly used approach, and demonstrate the relative advantages of our proposed technique. We use this concept to analyze all 30 Major League Baseball (MLB) organizations during the 1999 regular season to determine their on-field and front office relative efficiencies. Our on-field DEA model employs one output and two symmetrically defined inputs, one to measure offense and one to measure defense. The defensive measure is such that larger values correspond to worse defensive performance, rather than better, and hence is a reverse input. The front office model uses one input. Its outputs, one of which is a reverse output, are the inputs to the on-field model. We discuss the organizational implications of our results.     

基于两阶段DEA的跨境电商物流系统效率

从系统的角度分析跨境电子商务物流系统的构成和影响其效率的主要因素,构建跨境电子商务物流系统的两阶段DEA模型,将其分为境内物流和境外物流两个阶段,对其指标进行前沿面分析,通过对相应指标进行调整,使其整体达到有效,并且提出了提升跨境电子商务物流系统效率的策略。     

组织绩效评价的DEA模型及应用

本文应用数据包络分析(DEA)模型C2R对几家大型医院的绩效进行了实证研究,一定程度上弥补了平衡记分法只侧重于对单个医院的组织绩效评价的不足之处,完善了对医院的组织绩效的评价体系,也为提高医院的组织绩效提供了参考依据和数据借鉴。     

基于DEA方法的制造企业物流系统效率评价实例分析

针对制造企业的特点,设计了物流系统评价指标体系,运用DEA方法对制造企业物流系统效率评价问题进行研究。通过实例分析,证实DEA方法对制造企业物流系统效率评价有较好的应用价值。     

Advances in physician profiling: the use of DEA

Insurers, health plans, and individual physicians in the United States are facing increasing pressures to reduce costs while maintaining quality. In this study, motivated by our work with a large managed care organization, we use readily available data from its claims database with data envelopment analysis (DEA) to examine physician practices within this organization. Currently the organization evaluates primary care physicians using a profile of 16 disparate ratios involving cost, utilization, and quality. We employed these same factors along with indicators of severity to develop a single, comprehensive measure of physician efficiency through DEA. DEA enabled us to identify a reference set of “best practice” physicians tailored to each inefficient physician. This paper presents a discussion of the selection of model inputs and outputs, the development of the DEA model using a “stepwise” approach, and a sensitivity analysis using superefficiency scores. The stepwise and superefficiency analyses required little extra computation and yielded useful insights into the reasons as to why certain physicians were found to be efficient. This paper demonstrates that DEA has advantages for physician profiling and usefully augments the current ratio-based reports.     

我国主要民营快递企业物流绩效评价研究——基于超效率DEA模型

文中采用了数据包络分析（DEA）法来研究我国主要民营快递企业的物流绩效情况,以我国8个主要民营快递企业为研究样本,通过测度样本企业的总技术效率、纯技术效率、超技术效率总结出我国民营快递企业发展状况。文中研究有助于我国民营快递企业通过效率比较,发现自身薄弱环节,以采取有效措施改善自身投入产出水平,提高物流效率。     

The Range Adjusted Measure (RAM) in DEA: Comment

Journal of Productivity Analysis -     

Using DEA to estimate potential savings at GP units at medical specialty level

The aim of this paper is to identify benchmark cost-efficient General Practitioner (GP) units at delivering health care in the Geriatric and General Medicine (GMG) specialty and estimate potential cost savings. The use of a single medical specialty makes it possible to reflect more accurately the medical condition of the List population of the Practice so as to contextualize its expenditure on care for patients. We use Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to estimate the potential for cost savings at GP units and to decompose these savings into those attributable to the reduction of resource use, to altering the mix of resources used and to those attributable to securing better resource ‘prices’. The results reveal a considerable potential for savings of varying composition across GP units.     

Finding Closest Targets in Non-Oriented DEA Models: The Case of Convex and Non-Convex Technologies

This paper draws attention for the fact that traditional Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) models do not provide the closest possible targets (or peers) to inefficient units, and presents a procedure to obtain such targets.It focuses on non-oriented efficiency measures (which assume that production units are able to control, and thus change, inputs and outputs simultaneously) both measured in relation to a Free Disposal Hull (FDH) technology and in relation to a convex technology. The approaches developed for finding close targets are applied to a sample of Portuguese bank branches.     

New evidence on the efficiency of Italian airports: A bootstrapped DEA analysis

A bootstrapped DEA procedure is used to estimate technical efficiency of 18 Italian airports during the period 2000-2004. Departing from previous studies, we separate the efficiency related to ability to manage airside activities (operational) from that related to the management of all business activities (financial). In general, Italian airports operate at poor levels of efficiency, with slightly better performance in terms of their financial activities. In the current study, selected intrinsic and environmental characteristics are considered as possible drivers of Italian airport performance. In particular, we found that: (i) the airport dimension does not allows for operational efficiency advantages, (ii) on the other hand, the airport dimension allows for financial efficiency advantages for the case of hubs and disadvantages for the case of the smallest airports (iii) the type(s) of concession agreement(s) might be considered as important source of technical efficiency differentials for those airports running marginal commercial activities; (iv) the introduction of a dual-till price cap regulation might create incentives which lead to the increase of financial efficiency at the detriment of the operational performance. Lastly, the development of a second hub (Milano Malpensa), has negatively affected the performance of the country’s national hub (Roma Fiumicino).     

Sequential Malmquist Indices of Productivity Growth: An Application to OECD Industrial Activities

The paper applies both the standard DEA methodology with contemporaneous frontiers and DEA with sequential frontiers to study changes in productivity and efficiency in manufacturing for a sample of eleven OECD countries over a twenty-year period. It uses a decomposition of the industrial Malmquist productivity indices to locate the sources of productivity growth: 'technical progress' and 'catching up.' The alternative indices are interrelated in a unifying framework that provides an interpretation to their difference. We argue that for manufacturing industries, in which technological regress is unlikely to occur, DEA with sequential frontiers provides a more adequate measure for the contribution of technical changes than standard DEA.     

The economic meaning of Data Envelopment Analysis: A ‘behavioral’ perspective

We reconsider the motivation of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), the non-parametric technique that is widely employed for analyzing productive efficiency in academia, the private sector and the public sector. We first argue that the conventional engineering motivation of DEA can be problematic since it often builds on unverifiable production axioms. We then provide a dual viewpoint and highlight the ‘behavioral’ interpretation of DEA models. We start from a specification of the production objectives while imposing minimal structure on the production possibilities, and construct tools to meaningfully quantify deviations of observed producer behavior from optimizing behavior. This brings to light the economic meaning of DEA, provides guidelines for selecting the appropriate model in practical research settings, and prepares the ground for instituting new DEA models. We also provide an empirical application that demonstrates the practical relevance of our arguments. We hope that our insights will contribute to the further dissemination of DEA, and stimulate public sector applications of DEA that build on its behavioral interpretation.     

Measures in DEA with an Application to the Malmquist Index

This paper shows the importance of goal vectors G in measuring and dealing with DEA inefficiencies. It emphasizes the advantages of the family of additive relative to the traditional oriented DEA models and shifts the primary emphasis to measuring inefficiency rather than efficiency. This new (raw) inefficiency measure RIN incorporates both the traditional DEA efficiency and the DEA slacks and provides the background for a new approach to the Malmquist Index. The final section points out some deficiencies in existing computational procedures for selecting G and calls for continued research on the selection process, as well as showing a role for G in returns to scale studies.     

基于DEA方法的烟叶种植规模效率实证研究——以福建省为例

研究适度规模种植问题对于发展现代烟草农业具有重要意义。文章从烟农的微观层面入手,通过科学的方法大量调查样本烟农的种植情况,应用数据包络分析法对不同规模范围烟农的种植规模效率进行测度与评价,揭示烟农种植规模与效率的关系。主要的结论及建议是:应积极引导烟农以有效率的规模进行适度规模种植;尊重烟农规模意愿,指导烟农科学种植,提高种植规模效率;不同地区要定期测评效率规模作为当地适度规模标准。     

多途径构建“以学生为中心”的英语国家概况教学

英国国家概况是英语专业学生的必修课。传统的教学模式在该课程的教授中存在一定的局限性。以学生为中心的教学模式可以调动学生学习的自主性和创造性,激发学生学习的热情,有效提高教学效果。     

Measuring the impact of restructuring and country-specific factors on the efficiency of post-crisis East Asian banking systems: Integrating DEA with SFA

This paper investigates the relationship between post-crisis bank restructuring, country-specific conditions and bank efficiency in Asian countries from 1997 to 2001 using an approach that integrates data envelopment analysis and stochastic frontier analysis. We focus on restructuring measures related to bank ownership. The results indicate that although domestic mergers produce more efficient banks, overall, restructuring does not lead to more efficient banking systems. Banking system inefficiencies are mostly attributed to country-specific conditions, particularly, high interest rates, concentrated markets and economic development.     

Efficiency evaluation of the regional high-tech industry in China: A new framework based on meta-frontier dynamic DEA analysis

This paper proposes a new framework based on the combination of the dynamic DEA, meta-frontier analysis theory, and truncated regression model, and then focuses on the efficiency evaluation of regional high-tech industries in China. For all of the overall technical efficiency, technical efficiency, and scale efficiency scores, the east area is always in the lead, with the central and west areas obviously lagging behind. The eastern area has the highest technology level, whereas the west and central areas fall behind in turn. However, the meta-technology ratio of the west area has rapidly increased and presents a trend of catching up with the east. The variables of GRP per capital, total exports and imports, highway mileage per capita, and ratio of tertiary industry to GRP have positive relationships with technical efficiency, and the time trend exhibits a negative coefficient.     

The Application of Mathematical Programming Approaches to Estimating Container Port Production Efficiency

Container terminal production is both an important and complicated element in the contemporary global economy. This paper aims to evaluate the efficiency of the world’s most important container ports and terminals using the two alternative techniques of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and the Free Disposal Hull (FDH) model. The results give an insight into the current efficiency ranking of the world’s major container ports and terminals. They also confirm expectations that the available mathematical programming methodologies lead to different results and that appropriate variable definition of input and output factors is a crucial element in meaningful applications of DEA and FDH. It is also concluded that the availability of panel data, rather than cross-sectional data would greatly improve the validity of the efficiency estimates derived from all the mathematical programming techniques applied.JEL Classification:C61, D24, E23, L23, L25, L92     

基于DEA和模糊聚类的城市群物流效率研究-北部湾和双三角城市群的实证研究

应用DEA模型对北部湾、长三角和珠三角三大城市群的物流发展进行分析评价,发现三大城市群的省会城市均处于规模收益递减和DEA无效状态,并且北部湾城市群物流发展效果相对最高。利用超效率模型对31个城市进行排序比较,北部湾城市中南宁排最前,崇左其次。利用模糊聚类分析发现,将31个城市划分为六组比较合适,并且对北部湾整体发展而言,可以借鉴珠三角的区域物流发展模式;对北部湾单个城市而言,将长三角城市作为模仿对象发展物流较为合适。     

Hyperbolic Efficiency and Parametric Distance Functions: With Application to Spanish Savings Banks

Distance functions are gaining relevance as alternative representations of production technologies, with growing numbers of empirical applications being made in the productivity and efficiency field. Distance functions were initially defined on the input or output production possibility sets by Shephard (1953, 1970) and extended to a graph representation of the technology by Färe, Grosskopf and Lovell (1985) through their graph hyperbolic distance function. Since then, different techniques such as non parametric-DEA and parametric-SFA have been used to calculate these distance functions. However, in the latter case we know of no study in which the restriction to input or output orientation has been relaxed. What we propose is to overcome such restrictiveness on dimensionality by defining and estimating a parametric hyperbolic distance function which simultaneously allows for the maximum equiproportionate expansion of outputs and reduction of inputs. In particular, we introduce a translog hyperbolic specification that complies with the conventional properties that the hyperbolic distance function satisfies. Finally, to illustrate its applicability in efficiency analysis we implement it using a data set of Spanish savings banks.