We provide an axiomatic foundation for efficiency measurement in the full space, referred to as “graph efficiency” measurement by Färe, Grosskopf, and Lovell [1985]. We posit four types of axioms: indication, monotonicity, independence of units of measurement, and continuity. We analyze six well-known inefficiency indexes from the operations-research and economics literature and discuss several other related indexes. We present two impossibility results demonstrating that no index can satisfy all of the axioms on a general class of (well-behaved) technologies. Specifically, no inefficiency index can satisfy both indication and continuity (in either quantities or technologies), and no inefficiency index can satisfy both monotonicity and unit independence. We present a full evaluation of the trade-offs involved in selecting among the indexes.
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Paper provided by School of Economics, The University of New South Wales in its series Discussion Papers with number
2009-07.
Find related papers by JEL classification: C43 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: Special Topics - - - Index Numbers and Aggregation C61 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods and Programming - - - Optimization Techniques; Programming Models; Dynamic Analysis D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Capital and Total Factor Productivity; Capacity
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