IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bap/journl/120102.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Efficiency of Education in Generating Literacy: A Stochastic Frontier Approach

Author

Listed:
  • Kristof De Witte

    (University of Maastricht and University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Leuven, Belgium)

  • Wim Groot

    (University of Maastricht and University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands)

  • Henri?tte Maassen van den Brink

    (University of Maastricht and University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands)

Abstract

The growing importance attached to education as a key factor to improve economic performance coupled with the persistent scarcity of resources for education makes it important that skills and literacy are produced efficiently. This paper provides an international comparison of the efficiency of literacy production. We find substantial differences between countries in levels of literacy, differences in literacy between education levels and differences in the efficiency of literacy production. The findings suggest that in almost all countries the scope for efficiency improvements in education is large. So even without major increases in (public) funding, improvements in educational outcomes are achievable. We can get better value for the money we spend on education.

Suggested Citation

  • Kristof De Witte & Wim Groot & Henri?tte Maassen van den Brink, 2012. "The Efficiency of Education in Generating Literacy: A Stochastic Frontier Approach," Review of Economics & Finance, Better Advances Press, Canada, vol. 2, pages 25-37, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:bap:journl:120102
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.bapress.ca/Journal-6/The%20Efficiency%20of%20Education%20in%20Generating%20Literacy--%20A%20Stochastic%20Frontier%20Approach.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Izadi, Hooshang & Johnes, Geraint & Oskrochi, Reza & Crouchley, Robert, 2002. "Stochastic frontier estimation of a CES cost function: the case of higher education in Britain," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 63-71, February.
    2. Eric A. Hanushek, 1979. "Conceptual and Empirical Issues in the Estimation of Educational Production Functions," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 14(3), pages 351-388.
    3. Jondrow, James & Knox Lovell, C. A. & Materov, Ivan S. & Schmidt, Peter, 1982. "On the estimation of technical inefficiency in the stochastic frontier production function model," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 19(2-3), pages 233-238, August.
    4. Francine D. Blau & Lawrence M. Kahn, 2005. "Do Cognitive Test Scores Explain Higher U.S. Wage Inequality?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 87(1), pages 184-193, February.
    5. Kristof De Witte & Rui Marques, 2010. "Designing performance incentives, an international benchmark study in the water sector," Central European Journal of Operations Research, Springer;Slovak Society for Operations Research;Hungarian Operational Research Society;Czech Society for Operations Research;Österr. Gesellschaft für Operations Research (ÖGOR);Slovenian Society Informatika - Section for Operational Research;Croatian Operational Research Society, vol. 18(2), pages 189-220, June.
    6. Yun Zhang & Robert Bartels, 1998. "The Effect of Sample Size on the Mean Efficiency in DEA with an Application to Electricity Distribution in Australia, Sweden and New Zealand," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 9(3), pages 187-204, March.
    7. Christopher O’Donnell & D. Rao & George Battese, 2008. "Metafrontier frameworks for the study of firm-level efficiencies and technology ratios," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 34(2), pages 231-255, March.
    8. Meeusen, Wim & van den Broeck, Julien, 1977. "Efficiency Estimation from Cobb-Douglas Production Functions with Composed Error," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 18(2), pages 435-444, June.
    9. Hanushek, Eric A, 1986. "The Economics of Schooling: Production and Efficiency in Public Schools," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 24(3), pages 1141-1177, September.
    10. Kristof De Witte & Rui C. Marques, 2008. "Capturing the environment, a metafrontier approach to the drinking water sector," Working Papers of Department of Economics, Leuven ces0804, KU Leuven, Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB), Department of Economics, Leuven.
    11. Hanushek, Eric A. & Luque, Javier A., 2003. "Efficiency and equity in schools around the world," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(5), pages 481-502, October.
    12. George Battese & D. Rao & Christopher O'Donnell, 2004. "A Metafrontier Production Function for Estimation of Technical Efficiencies and Technology Gaps for Firms Operating Under Different Technologies," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 91-103, January.
    13. George E. Battese & D. S. Prasada Rao, 2002. "Technology Gap, Efficiency, and a Stochastic Metafrontier Function," International Journal of Business and Economics, School of Management Development, Feng Chia University, Taichung, Taiwan, vol. 1(2), pages 87-93, August.
    14. Kevin Denny & Harmon, Harmon & Sandra Redmond, 2000. "Functional literacy, educational attainment and earnings - evidence from the international adult literacy survey," IFS Working Papers W00/09, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    15. John Ruggiero & Donald F. Vitaliano, 1999. "Assessing The Efficiency Of Public Schools Using Data Envelopment Analysis And Frontier Regression," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 17(3), pages 321-331, July.
    16. Newhouse, Joseph P., 1994. "Frontier estimation: How useful a tool for health economics?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(3), pages 317-322, October.
    17. Kumbhakar,Subal C. & Lovell,C. A. Knox, 2003. "Stochastic Frontier Analysis," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521666633.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Guillermo Jopen Sánchez, 2016. "Measuring Technical Efficiency in Primary Education: Evidences for Peruvian Case," Working Papers 77, Peruvian Economic Association.
    2. Haelermans, Carla & Ruggiero, John, 2013. "Estimating technical and allocative efficiency in the public sector: A nonparametric analysis of Dutch schools," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 227(1), pages 174-181.
    3. Guillermo Jopen Sánchez, 2017. "Factores discrecionales y no discrecionales de la eficiencia educativa: evidencias para el caso peruano," Documentos de Trabajo / Working Papers 2017-437, Departamento de Economía - Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Paola Azar & Gabriela Sicilia, 2021. "An assessment of pupil and school performance in public primary education in Uruguay," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 21-22, Instituto de Economía - IECON.
    2. Kristof De Witte & Laura López-Torres, 2017. "Efficiency in education: a review of literature and a way forward," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 68(4), pages 339-363, April.
    3. José Manuel Cordero & Daniel Santín & Rosa Simancas, 2017. "Assessing European primary school performance through a conditional nonparametric model," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 68(4), pages 364-376, April.
    4. Roengchai Tansuchat, 2023. "A Copula-Based Meta-Stochastic Frontier Analysis for Comparing Traditional and HDPE Geomembranes Technology in Sea Salt Farming among Farmers in Phetchaburi, Thailand," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-23, March.
    5. Azar, Paola & Sicilia, Gabriela, 2023. "Assessing potential improvement in education: Unravelling pupils' and schools’ inefficiencies using a multi-level metafrontier approach," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    6. Junaedi, Mohammad & Daryanto, Heny Kuswanti Suwarsinah & Sinaga, Bonar Marulitua & Hartoyo, Sri, 2016. "Technical Efficiency And The Technology Gap In Wetland Rice Farming In Indonesia: A Metafrontier Analysis," International Journal of Food and Agricultural Economics (IJFAEC), Alanya Alaaddin Keykubat University, Department of Economics and Finance, vol. 4(2), pages 1-12, April.
    7. Mustafa U. Karakaplan & Levent Kutlu, 2019. "School district consolidation policies: endogenous cost inefficiency and saving reversals," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 56(5), pages 1729-1768, May.
    8. Camanho, Ana S. & Stumbriene, Dovile & Barbosa, Flávia & Jakaitiene, Audrone, 2023. "The assessment of performance trends and convergence in education and training systems of European countries," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 305(1), pages 356-372.
    9. Saeid Hajihassaniasl & Recep Kök, 2016. "Scale effect in Turkish manufacturing industry: stochastic metafrontier analysis," Journal of Economic Structures, Springer;Pan-Pacific Association of Input-Output Studies (PAPAIOS), vol. 5(1), pages 1-17, December.
    10. Bravo-Ureta, Boris E. & Higgins, Daniel & Arslan, Aslihan, 2020. "Irrigation infrastructure and farm productivity in the Philippines: A stochastic Meta-Frontier analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    11. Conroy, Stephen J. & Arguea, Nestor M., 2008. "An estimation of technical efficiency for Florida public elementary schools," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(6), pages 655-663, December.
    12. Horrace, William C. & Rothbart, Michah W. & Yang, Yi, 2022. "Technical efficiency of public middle schools in New York City," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    13. Mercedes Beltrán-Esteve & José Gómez-Limón & Andrés Picazo-Tadeo & Ernest Reig-Martínez, 2014. "A metafrontier directional distance function approach to assessing eco-efficiency," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 41(1), pages 69-83, February.
    14. Gralka, Sabine, 2018. "Stochastic frontier analysis in higher education: A systematic review," CEPIE Working Papers 05/18, Technische Universität Dresden, Center of Public and International Economics (CEPIE).
    15. Tanko, Mohammed & Ismaila, Salifu, 2021. "How culture and religion influence the agriculture technology gap in Northern Ghana," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 22(C).
    16. Fabiana Rocha & Plinio Portela de Oliveira & Janete Duarte & Sérgio Ricardo de Brito Gadelha & Luis Felipe Vital Nunes Pereira, 2017. "Can Education Targets be Met Without Increasing Public Spending? An Analysis for Brazilian Municipalities," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 37(1), pages 391-401.
    17. Marijn Verschelde & Michel Dumont & Glenn Rayp & Bruno Merlevede, 2016. "Semiparametric stochastic metafrontier efficiency of European manufacturing firms," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 45(1), pages 53-69, February.
    18. J. David Cummins & María Rubio-Misas, 2022. "Integration and convergence in efficiency and technology gap of European life insurance markets," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 315(1), pages 93-119, August.
    19. Hossein Mehrabi Boshrabadi & Renato Villano & Euan Fleming, 2008. "Technical efficiency and environmental‐technological gaps in wheat production in Kerman province of Iran," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 38(1), pages 67-76, January.
    20. Economou, Polychronis & Malefaki, Sonia & Kounetas, Konstantinos, 2019. "Productive Performance and Technology Gaps using a Bayesian Metafrontier Production Function: A cross-country comparison," MPRA Paper 94462, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Literacy; Education; Stochastic frontier analysis; Meta-frontier;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I22 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Educational Finance; Financial Aid
    • C14 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Semiparametric and Nonparametric Methods: General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bap:journl:120102. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Carlson (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.bapress.ca .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.