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Efficiency and economies of scale and scope in European universities. A directional distance approach

Author

Listed:
  • Andrea Bonaccorsi

    (Department of Energy and Systems Engineering, University of Pisa, Italy)

  • Cinzia Daraio

    (Department of Computer, Control and Management Engineering, Universita' degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza")

  • Leopold Simar

    (Institute of Statistics, Biostatistics et Actuarial Sciences, Universite' Catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium)

Abstract

In this paper we investigate economies of scale and scope of European universities.The proposed approach builds on the notion that university production is a multi-input multi-output process different than standard production activity. The analyses are based on an interesting database which integrates the main European universities data on inputs and outputs with bibliometric data on publications, impact and collaborations. We pursue a cross-country perspective; we include subject mix and introduce a robust modeling of production trade-offs. Finally, we test the statistical significance of scale and scope and find that size and specialization have a statistical significant impact both jointly and separately, showing an inverted u-shape effect on efficiency.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrea Bonaccorsi & Cinzia Daraio & Leopold Simar, 2014. "Efficiency and economies of scale and scope in European universities. A directional distance approach," DIAG Technical Reports 2014-08, Department of Computer, Control and Management Engineering, Universita' degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza".
    • Handle: RePEc:aeg:report:2014-08
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Daraio, Cinzia & Bonaccorsi, Andrea & Simar, Léopold, 2015. "Rankings and university performance: A conditional multidimensional approach," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 244(3), pages 918-930.
    2. Mehdi Rhaiem & Nabil Amara, 2020. "Determinants of research efficiency in Canadian business schools: evidence from scholar-level data," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 125(1), pages 53-99, October.
    3. Anatoliy G. Goncharuk, 2016. "Evaluating the Efficiency of Higher Education," Journal of Applied Management and Investments, Department of Business Administration and Corporate Security, International Humanitarian University, vol. 5(2), pages 82-91, May.
    4. Andrea Bonaccorsi & Cinzia Daraio, 2014. "Beyond university rankings ? Generating new indicators on European universities by linking data in open platforms," DIAG Technical Reports 2014-12, Department of Computer, Control and Management Engineering, Universita' degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza".

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    Keywords

    efficiency; national academic systems; disciplinary specialization; research performance; teaching and research; nonparametric and robust frontier estimation; bootstrap;
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