This book is an accessible update to the widely-hailed collection by the current editors, The Measurement of Productive Efficiency: Techniques and Applications (OUP, 1993). Over ten years of the most recent research in the changing field of efficiency and productivity analysis have been applied, and the result will guide readers from the basic models to the latest, cutting-edge extensions.
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.
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.
