IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/
MyIDEAS: Log in (now much improved!) to save this paper

Efficiency of Finnish Upper Secondary Schools: An Application of Stochastic Frontier Analysis with Panel Data

Author Info

  • Tanja Kirjavainen

Abstract

In this study the efficiency of Finnish upper secondary schools is evaluated with stochastic frontier analysis. Different stochastic frontier models for panel data are used to estimate education production functions. The results in matriculation examination are explained with comprehensive school grade point average, parents? socioeconomic background, resources, length of studies and decentralization of test taking on matriculation examination. Controls for schools with specialized curriculum are also included. The heterogeneity across schools is allowed by estimating both true random and true fixed effects models. The results show that the effect of teaching resources on examination results is even negative when the heterogeneity across schools is taken into account. Length of studies and decentralization of test taking affected negatively on student achievement. The inefficiency and the rankings of schools based on inefficiency score varied quite considerably depending on the type of stochastic frontier model. The lowest estimates for inefficiency were obtained with true random and true fixed effects models that separate time constant random or fixed effects from inefficiency.

Download Info

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.

File URL: http://www.vatt.fi/file/vatt_publication_pdf/k428.pdf
Download Restriction: no
File URL: http://www.vatt.fi/publications/latestPublications/publication/Publication_1345_id/757
Download Restriction: no

Paper provided by Government Institute for Economic Research Finland (VATT) in its series Discussion Papers with number 428.

as
in new window

Length:
Date of creation: 08 Nov 2007
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:fer:dpaper:428
Contact details of provider: Postal:
Arkadiankatu 7, P.O. Box 1279, FI-00101 Helsinki

Phone: +358 295 519 400
Fax: +358 295 519 599
Web page: http://www.vatt.fi/
Email:


More information through EDIRC

Order Information: Email:


Keywords: Efficiency; stochastic frontier analysis; secondary schools;

This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:

as in new window
  1. Caroline M. Hoxby, 1998. "The Effects of Class Size and Composition on Student Achievement: New Evidence from Natural Population Variation," NBER Working Papers 6869, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  2. Pitt, Mark M. & Lee, Lung-Fei, 1981. "The measurement and sources of technical inefficiency in the Indonesian weaving industry," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 43-64, August.
  3. Andrew Worthington, 2001. "An Empirical Survey of Frontier Efficiency Measurement Techniques in Education," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(3), pages 245-268.
  4. Eric A. Hanushek, 2002. "The Failure of Input-based Schooling Policies," NBER Working Papers 9040, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  5. Kumbhakar, Subal C., 1990. "Production frontiers, panel data, and time-varying technical inefficiency," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 46(1-2), pages 201-211.
  6. Cornwell, Christopher & Schmidt, Peter & Sickles, Robin C., 1989. "Production Frontiers With Cross-Sectinal And Time-Series Variation In Efficiency Levels," Working Papers 89-18, C.V. Starr Center for Applied Economics, New York University.
  7. Dan D. Goldhaber & Dominic J. Brewer, 1997. "Why Don't Schools and Teachers Seem to Matter? Assessing the Impact of Unobservables on Educational Productivity," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 32(3), pages 505-523.
  8. Johnes, Geraint & Johnes, Jill, 2009. "Higher education institutions' costs and efficiency: Taking the decomposition a further step," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 107-113, February.
  9. Battese, G E & Coelli, T J, 1995. "A Model for Technical Inefficiency Effects in a Stochastic Frontier Production Function for Panel Data," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 325-32.
  10. Alejandra Mizala & Pilar Romaguera & Dario Farren, 2002. "The technical efficiency of schools in Chile," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(12), pages 1533-1552.
  11. Barrow, Michael M., 1991. "Measuring local education authority performance: A frontier approach," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 19-27, March.
  12. Greene, William, 2005. "Reconsidering heterogeneity in panel data estimators of the stochastic frontier model," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 126(2), pages 269-303, June.
  13. 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 435-44, June.
  14. Alan B. Krueger, 2002. "Economic Considerations and Class Size," NBER Working Papers 8875, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  15. Cooper, Samuel T. & Cohn, Elchanan, 1997. "Estimation of a frontier production function for the South Carolina educational process," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 313-327, June.
  16. Sengupta, Jati K. & Sfeir, Raymond E., 1986. "Production frontier estimates of scale in public schools in California," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 5(3), pages 297-307, June.
  17. Akerhielm, Karen, 1995. "Does class size matter?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 229-241, September.
  18. Frédéric Gonand & Isabelle Joumard & Robert W. R. Price, 2007. "Public Spending Efficiency: Institutional Indicators in Primary and Secondary Education," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 543, OECD Publishing.
  19. Aigner, Dennis & Lovell, C. A. Knox & Schmidt, Peter, 1977. "Formulation and estimation of stochastic frontier production function models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 6(1), pages 21-37, July.
  20. Deller, Steven C. & Rudnicki, Edward, 1993. "Production efficiency in elementary education: The case of Maine public schools," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 45-57, March.
  21. Joshua D. Angrist & Victor Lavy, 1999. "Using Maimonides' Rule to Estimate the Effect of Class Size on Scholastic Achievement," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 114(2), pages 533-575.
Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

The CitEc project has not yet found citations to this item.

This item is not listed on Wikipedia, on a reading list or among the top items on IDEAS.

Access and download statistics

When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:fer:dpaper:428. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Anita Niskanen)

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 references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.

If the full references list an item that is present in RePEc, but the system did not link 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 profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

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

This information is provided to you by IDEAS at the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis using RePEc data.