Analyzing the solutions of DEA through information visualization and data mining techniques: SmartDEA framework

Data envelopment analysis (DEA) has proven to be a useful tool for assessing efficiency or productivity of organizations, which is of vital practical importance in managerial decision making. DEA provides a significant amount of information from which analysts and managers derive insights and guidelines to promote their existing performances. Regarding to this fact, effective and methodologic analysis and interpretation of DEA solutions are very critical. The main objective of this study is then to develop a general decision support system (DSS) framework to analyze the solutions of basic DEA models. The paper formally shows how the solutions of DEA models should be structured so that these solutions can be examined and interpreted by analysts through information visualization and data mining techniques effectively. An innovative and convenient DEA solver, SmartDEA, is designed and developed in accordance with the proposed analysis framework. The developed software provides a DEA solution which is consistent with the framework and is ready-to-analyze with data mining tools, through a table-based structure. The developed framework is tested and applied in a real world project for benchmarking the vendors of a leading Turkish automotive company. The results show the effectiveness and the efficacy of the proposed framework

Ranking the ‘Diamond Core’ economic journals: A note

By estimating the production frontier with the application of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) we rank the ‘Diamond Core’ economic journals as has been presented by Diamond (1989). By using one composite input and one composite output the paper ranks 27 core economics journals. For the first time a study attempts to rank the 27 journals by using data from SCOPUS database for the time period of 1996-2010. In addition for the first time three different quality ranking reports are incorporated in the DEA modelling problem in order to classify the journals into four categories (‘A’ to ‘D’). The results reveal that from the 27 ‘core’ economics journals the five journals with the highest rankings are Journal of Political Economy, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Journal of Economic Literature, Review of Economic Studies and American Economic Review. In addition it appears that the journals’ impact factor derived from SSCI database reflects their ranking position.Rankings; Economics Journals; Diamond’s core Journals; Data Envelopment Analysis

Ranking accounting, banking and finance journals: A note

This paper by applying Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) ranks Economics journals in the field of Accounting, Banking and Finance. By using one composite input and one composite output the paper ranks 57 journals. In addition for the first time three different quality ranking reports have been incorporated to the DEA modelling problem in order to classify the journals into four categories (‘A’ to ‘D’). The results reveal that the journals with the highest rankings in the field are Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, Accounting Review, Journal of Accounting and Economics, Journal of Accounting Research and Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis.Rankings; Economics Journals; Accounting Journals; Banking Journals; Finance Journals; Data Envelopment Analysis

Applying conditional DEA to measure football clubs’ performance: Evidence from the top 25 European clubs

This paper applies a probabilistic approach to investigate how the top European football clubs’ current value and debt levels influence their performance. Specifically, a bootstrapped conditional data envelopment analysis (DEA) is used in order to measure the effect of football clubs’ current value and debt levels on their obtained efficiency performances. The results indicate that football clubs’ current value levels have a positive influence up to a certain point. But as the current value increases the effect is neutral to football clubs’ performance. At the same time, the empirical evidence suggests that there is no influence on football clubs’ efficiencies associated with lower and medium football clubs’ debt levels while higher debt levels appear to have a direct negative effect.European football clubs; Data Envelopment Analysis; Nonparametric regression; Bootstrapping; Probabilistic approach

Relative efficiency within a tax administration: The effects of result improvement

Neste trabalho, aborda-se a análise da administração tributária espanhola mediante a avaliação da eficiência relativa de cada um dos escritórios territoriais que a integram, empregando, para isso, a análise envolvente de dados de forma bietápica, com uma orientação output. Neste estudo, analisaram-se 47 escritórios territoriais considerando três inputs: 1) os gastos correntes em bens e serviços; 2) o número de declarações gerenciadas pelos dois principais impostos diretos e 3) o número de efetivos que presta seus serviços. Como output, os Ingressos por Atos de Liquidação. A análise demonstra que uma atuação eficiente dos escritórios territoriais poderia ter aumentado em 21,6% os resultados da gestão dessa Administração.This paper analyses the Spanish tax administration, evaluating the relative efficiency of each of the regional offices that are its constituent parts via output-oriented two-stage data envelopment analysis. In the study, a total of 47 regional offices were analysed, considering three inputs: 1) current expenditure in goods and services; 2) number of tax returns processed in terms of the two main direct taxes; and, 3) personnel numbers. Revenue resulting from tax assessments was considered as output. The analysis shows that the efficient action of regional offices might have increased by 21.6% the results of the management of this administration.A través de este trabajo se ha abordado el análisis de la administración tributaria española mediante la evaluación de la eficiencia relativa de cada una de las oficinas territoriales que la integran, empleando para ello el análisis envolvente de datos de forma bietápica, con una orientación output. En el estudio se han analizado 47 oficinas territoriales, considerando tres inputs: 1) los gastos corrientes en bienes y servicios; 2) el número de declaraciones gestionadas por los dos principales impuestos directos; y 3) el número de efectivos que presta sus servicios. Como output los Ingresos por Actos de Liquidación. El análisis pone de manifiesto que una actuación eficiente de las oficinas territoriales podría haber incrementado un 21.6% los resultados de la gestión de esta Administración

Ranking mainstream economics journals: A note

This paper by applying Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) ranks Economics journals. In contrast with many other studies this paper ranks journals which are characterized as mainstream economic journals rather than interciplinary economic journals. By using one composite input and one composite output the paper ranks 180 journals. In addition for the first time three different quality ranking reports have been incorporated to the DEA modelling problem in order to classify the journals into four categories (‘A’ to ‘D’). The results reveal that the journals with the highest rankings in mainstream economics are Journal of Political Economy, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Journal of Economic Literature, Review of Economic Studies, American Economic Review, Econometrica, Review of Economics and Statistics, Journal of Economic Theory, Journal of Econometrics, Economic Journal, Journal of Monetary Economics, Journal of International Economics, Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, International Economic Review, Journal of Development Economics, Journal of Economic Perspectives, Journal of Risk and Uncertainty and Journal of Public Economics.Rankings; Economics Journals; Data Envelopment Analysis

Systematized and Path-independent Measurement of Biased Technical Change

The sample-specificity and path-dependence of the data envelopment analysis (DEA) based technical change index as a component of Malmquist indexes prevent us from obtaining overall and systematic information on technical change. This paper develops a pathindependent method to estimate technical change using a systematized set of controlled input- output vectors and visualization of the DEA frontiers. The application to the panel datasets of agricultural production in the Brazil Amazon in 1975-1995 indicates non-Hicks-neutral technical change, with crossings of frontiers in both the 1975-1985 and the 1985-1995 periods. The alternative measure of overall technical change shows that moderate technological progress may have occurred on the whole in 1975-1995. The results also show heterogeneous trends across products. The mean of the sample-specific technical change scores are found to be quite different from the overall technical change measure.Data envelopment analysis, Path dependence, Agricultural intensification

A nonparametric analysis of the Greek renewable energy sector

This paper applies a bootstrapped Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) formulation aiming to evaluate the financial performance of the firms operating in the Greek renewable energy sector. With the use of financial ratios in a DEA setting, efficiency ratios are constructed in order to analyse firms’ financial performance. The results reveal that firms’ performances are positively influenced by the high levels of return on assets and equity and by lower levels of debt to equity. In addition it appears that there are not significant differences of firms’ efficiency levels indicating high competitiveness between firms. Finally, firms producing wind energy appear to perform better than firms producing hydropower energy. It emerges that the majority of firms are operating in the wind and hydropower energy production making the Greek market of solar energy production being an emerging segment of the Greek renewable energy sector.Renewable energy market; Data Envelopment Analysis; Financial ratios; Greece

A conditional full frontier modelling for analyzing environmental efficiency and economic growth

By applying conditional and unconditional data envelopment analysis (DEA) models along side with statistical inference using bootstrap techniques; this paper investigates the link between China’s carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) environmental efficiency and its economic growth (measured in GNI per capita) for the time period of 1965 to 2009. The results reveal that China’s changing consumption patterns has caused emissions levels to increase dramatically the last two decades providing clear evidence of a negative effect of China’s GNI per capita increase on its environmental efficiency.Environmental efficiency; Economic growth; Carbon dioxide emissions; China; Data envelopment analysis; Conditional efficiency; Bootstrap procedures

Blaming the exogenous environment? Conditional efficiency estimation with continuous and discrete environmental variables.

This paper proposes a fully nonparametric framework to estimate relative efficiency of entities while accounting for a mixed set of continuous and discrete (both ordered and unordered) exogenous variables. Using robust partial frontier techniques, the probabilistic and conditional characterization of the production process, as well as insights from the recent developments in nonparametric econometrics, we present a generalized approach for conditional efficiency measurement. To do so, we utilize a tailored mixed kernel function with a data-driven bandwidth selection. So far only descriptive analysis for studying the effect of heterogeneity in conditional efficiency estimation has been suggested. We show how to use and interpret nonparametric bootstrap-based significance tests in a generalized conditional efficiency framework. This allows us to study statistical significance of continuous and discrete environmental variables. The proposed approach is illustrated by a sample of British pupils from the OECD Pisa data set. The results show that several exogenous discrete factors have a significant effect on the educational process.