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A response to M. Stone: ‘How not to measure the efficiency of public services (and how one might)’

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  • W. W. Cooper
  • Subhash C. Ray

Abstract

Summary. This is a response to Stone's criticisms of the Spottiswoode report to the UK Treasury which was responding to the Treasury's request for improved methods to evaluate the efficiency and productivity of the 43 police districts in England and Wales. The Spottiswoode report recommended uses of data envelopment analysis (DEA) and stochastic frontier analysis (SFA), which Stone critiqued en route to proposing an alternative approach. Here we note some of the most serious errors in his criticism and inaccurate portrayals of DEA and SFA. Most of our attention is devoted to DEA, and to Stone's recommended alternative approach without much attention to SFA, partly because of his abbreviated discussion of the latter. In our response we attempt to be constructive as well as critical by showing how Stone's proposed approach can be joined to DEA to expand his proposal beyond limitations in his formulations.

Suggested Citation

  • W. W. Cooper & Subhash C. Ray, 2008. "A response to M. Stone: ‘How not to measure the efficiency of public services (and how one might)’," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 171(2), pages 433-448, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jorssa:v:171:y:2008:i:2:p:433-448
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-985X.2007.00512.x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Ray,Subhash C., 2012. "Data Envelopment Analysis," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107405264.
    2. Hughes, Andrew & Yaisawarng, Suthathip, 2004. "Sensitivity and dimensionality tests of DEA efficiency scores," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 154(2), pages 410-422, April.
    3. Charnes, A. & Cooper, W. W. & Rhodes, E., 1978. "Measuring the efficiency of decision making units," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 2(6), pages 429-444, November.
    4. Yoram Wind & Thomas L. Saaty, 1980. "Marketing Applications of the Analytic Hierarchy Process," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 26(7), pages 641-658, July.
    5. Mervyn Stone, 2005. "Accumulating Evidence of Malfunctioning Contractual Government Machinery," Public Money & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(2), pages 82-86, April.
    6. William W. Cooper & Kyung Sam Park & Gang Yu, 2001. "An Illustrative Application of Idea (Imprecise Data Envelopment Analysis) to a Korean Mobile Telecommunication Company," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 49(6), pages 807-820, December.
    7. Thanassoulis, Emmanuel, 1995. "Assessing police forces in England and Wales using data envelopment analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 87(3), pages 641-657, December.
    8. Takamura, Yoshiharu & Tone, Kaoru, 2003. "A comparative site evaluation study for relocating Japanese government agencies out of Tokyo," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 85-102, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. Vincenzo Patrizii & Giuliano Resce, 2015. "Public Sector Contribution To Competitiveness," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 1(3), pages 401-443, November.
    2. Bok Baik & Joon Chae & Sunhwa Choi & David B. Farber, 2013. "Changes in Operational Efficiency and Firm Performance: A Frontier Analysis Approach," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(3), pages 996-1026, September.

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