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How not to measure the efficiency of public services (and how one might)
Author(s) -
Stone M.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
journal of the royal statistical society: series a (statistics in society)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.103
H-Index - 84
eISSN - 1467-985X
pISSN - 0964-1998
DOI - 10.1111/1467-985x.02461
Subject(s) - data envelopment analysis , stochastic frontier analysis , measure (data warehouse) , frontier , linear programming , econometrics , value (mathematics) , mathematical economics , envelopment , computer science , economics , mathematics , operations research , mathematical optimization , statistics , microeconomics , data mining , political science , production (economics) , law
Summary. The single‐input case of the ‘technical efficiency’ theory of M. J. Farrell is reformulated geometrically and algebraically. Its linear programming developments as ‘data envelopment analysis’ are critically reviewed, as are the related techniques of ‘stochastic frontier analysis’. The sense and realism of using data envelopment analysis or stochastic frontier analysis techniques, rather than some value‐based method, for the assessment of police force efficiency are questioned with reference to the Spottiswoode report and related studies.