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Super-Efficiency of Education Institutions: An Application to Economics Departments

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  • Matthias Gnewuch
  • Klaus Wohlrabe

Abstract

This paper investigates the efficiency of 188 economics departments around the world using data from RePEc. We go beyond the heavily used data envelopment analysis and utilize partial frontier analysis - specifically order-α and order-m - which addresses some of the drawbacks of the standard efficiency frontier analysis and allows for so-called super-efficient departments. We examine the particularities of these approaches and find that the super-efficient departments are not only the “usual suspects”. Furthermore, standard output rankings are not well correlated with our estimated efficiency rankings, which themselves are rather similar.

Suggested Citation

  • Matthias Gnewuch & Klaus Wohlrabe, 2018. "Super-Efficiency of Education Institutions: An Application to Economics Departments," CESifo Working Paper Series 7013, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_7013
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Fabiola Saavedra-Caballero, 2024. "Recent Graduates in the Labor Market: The Efficiency Frontier of Higher Education Institutions," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 65(4), pages 755-774, June.
    2. Baumann, Alexendra & Wohlrabe, Klaus, 2019. "Publikationen von Wirtschaftsforschungsinstituten im deutschsprachigen Raum - Eine bibliometrische Analyse [Publications of Economic Research Insitutes in the German Speaking Area - A bibliometric ," MPRA Paper 92240, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Bornmann, Lutz & Gralka, Sabine & Anegón, Félix de Moya & Wohlrabe, Klaus, 2023. "Efficiency of universities and research-focused institutions worldwide: The introduction of a new input indicator reflecting institutional staff numbers," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 17(2).
    4. Püttmann, Vitus & Thomsen, Stephan L. & Trunzer, Johannes, 2020. "Zur Relevanz von Ausstattungsunterschieden für Forschungsleistungsvergleiche: Ein Diskussionsbeitrag für die Wirtschaftswissenschaften in Deutschland," Hannover Economic Papers (HEP) dp-679, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät, revised Mar 2021.
    5. Klaus Wohlrabe & Sabine Gralka & Lutz Bornmann, 2019. "Zur Effizienz deutscher Universitäten und deren Entwicklung zwischen 2004 und 2015," ifo Schnelldienst, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 72(21), pages 15-21, November.
    6. Simona Ferraro & Tommaso Agasisti & Francesco Porcelli & Mara Soncin, 2021. "Local governments’ efficiency and educational results: empirical evidence from Italian primary schools," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(35), pages 4017-4039, July.
    7. Matthias Gnewuch & Klaus Wohlrabe, 2018. "Die (Super-)Effizienz von volkswirtschaftlichen Fakultäten," ifo Schnelldienst, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 71(15), pages 30-34, August.
    8. Köppl-Turyna, Monika & Bittó, Virág & Graf, Nikolaus, 2022. "Effizienzpotenziale in der Kinderbetreuung in Österreich," Policy Notes 50, EcoAustria – Institute for Economic Research.
    9. Klaus Wohlrabe & Sabine Gralka, 2020. "Using archetypoid analysis to classify institutions and faculties of economics," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 123(1), pages 159-179, April.
    10. Klaus Wohlrabe & Félix de Moya Anegon & Lutz Bornmann, 2019. "How Efficiently Do Elite US Universities Produce Highly Cited Papers?," Publications, MDPI, vol. 7(1), pages 1-15, January.
    11. Cantner, Uwe & Grashof, Nils & Grebel, Thomas & Zhang, Xijie, 2023. "When Excellence is not Excellent: The Impact of the Excellence Initiative on the Relative Productivity of German Universities," MPRA Paper 118139, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    super-efficiency; economics departments; data envelopment analysis; order-α; order-m; free disposal hull; RePEc;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • D61 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Allocative Efficiency; Cost-Benefit Analysis

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