The culture of corruption: A nonparametric analysis

By using a sample of 77 countries the analysis applies several nonparametric techniques in order to reveal the link between national culture and corruption. Based on Hofstede΄s cultural dimensions and the corruption perception index, the results reveal that countries with higher levels of corruption tend to have higher power distance and collectivism values in their society.Nonparametric methods,Corruption perception index, National culture

Measuring Economic Journals' Citation Efficiency: A Data Envelopment Analysis Approach

This paper by using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and statistical inference evaluates the citation performance of 229 economic journals. The paper categorizes the journals into four main categories (A to D) based on their efficiency levels. The results are then compared to the 27 “core economic journals” as introduced by Dimond (1989). The results reveal that after more than twenty years Diamonds’ list of “core economic journals” is still valid. Finally, for the first time the paper uses data from four well-known databases (SSCI, Scopus, RePEc, Econlit) and two quality ranking reports (Kiel Institute internals ranking and ABS quality ranking report) in a DEA setting and in order to derive the ranking of 229 economic journals. The ten economic journals with the highest citation performance are Journal of Political Economy, Econometrica, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Journal of Financial Economics, Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Review, Review of Economic Studies, Journal of Econometrics, Journal of Finance, Brookings Papers on Economic Activity.Ranking journals; Data Envelopment Analysis; Indexing techniques; Nonparametric analysis.

An application of statistical interference in DEA models: An analysis of public owned university departments' efficiency

This paper uses Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) model formulations in order to determine the performance levels of 16 departments of the University of Thessaly. Particularly, the constant returns to scale (CRS) and variable returns to scale (VRS) models have been applied alongside with bootstrap techniques in order to determine accurate performance measurements of the 16 departments. The study illustrates how the recent developments in efficiency analysis and statistical inference can be applied when evaluating institutional performance issues. The paper provides the efficient departments and the target values which need to be adopted from the inefficient departments in order to operate in the most productive scale size (MPSS). Moreover it provides bias corrected estimates alongside with their confidence intervals. The analysis indicates that there are strong inefficiencies among the departments, emphasizing the misallocation of resources or/and inefficient application of departments policy developments.University efficiency; DEA; Bootstrap techniques; Kernel density estimation, Economic research; Europe; University rankings.

ARDL:An R package for the analysis of level relationships

Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) and Error Correction Models (ECM) (Pesaran &Shin, 1999) are widely used in various economic, environmental, political science applications etc. These are very flexible because of the autoregressive (AR) and the distributed lag (DL, essentially AR terms of the independent variables) terms in the ARDL model. Also, they are used in the context of cointegration analysis as a platform to test and analyze the levels (long-run) relationship between variables. One of the most popular such tests is the bounds test proposed by Pesaran et al. (2001) which allows testing for cointegration while at the same time estimates the level relationship. ARDL (Natsiopoulos & Tzeremes, 2021; Natsiopoulos & Tzeremes, 2022) is an R package that aims to help users in the modeling process of ARDL and ECM and it also provides the tools towards the bounds test for cointegration

CEO compensation and bank efficiency: An application of conditional nonparametric frontiers

The paper investigates in a dynamic context the effect of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) bonus and salary payments on banks’ technical efficiency levels. Our methodological framework incorporates the latest developments on the probabilistic approach of efficiency measurement as introduced by B?din et al. (2012). We apply time-dependent conditional efficiency estimates to analyse a sample of 37 US banks for the period from 2003 to 2012. The empirical evidence reveals a non-linear relationship between CEO bonus and salary payments and banks’ efficiency levels. More specifically it is reported that salary and bonus payments affect differently banks’ technological change and technological catch-up levels. Finally, the empirical evidence suggests that higher salary and bonus payments are not always aligned with higher technical efficiency levels

Financial development and productive inefficiency: A robust conditional directional distance function approach

This paper examines whether the level of financial development helps lower countries’ inefficiency using time-dependent robust conditional directional distance functions in a sample of 91 countries over 1970–2011. The overall results reveal that the effect of financial development on countries’ productive inefficiency is highly nonlinear, and depends on countries’ income levels, suggesting that higher levels of financial development are enhancing more countries’ catching-up ability rather than their technological change

High performance management: An illustrative example of sales departments’ productivity measurement

This paper describes a conceptual approach to measure and compare productivity of resource utilization at the firm level, adapting a set of techniques known as Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). Within this approach, the paper addresses the issues of multiple inputs and multiple outputs of the sales departments of a firm. In particular, we focus on the resource management of sales departments. The proposed measurement methodology will allow assessment of the impact of different management policies on firm performance. It is hoped that this novel approach to productivity measurement will help sales managers identify efficient practices and superior management policies, and will promote the adoption of these policies

Financial Centres’ Competitiveness and Economic Convergence: Evidence from the EU Regions

This study analyses the gaps in financial centres’ competitiveness and their impact on regional economic convergence in 23 EU Member States during the period of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC). In particular, we explore the economic convergence and divergence patterns among regions from two different perspectives across the selected EU Member States and within each country. From a methodological viewpoint, we apply a fully non-parametric framework to the club convergence model and address the endogeneity problem between financial centres’ competitiveness and regional economic convergence. Our results show that the large and internationally-oriented financial centres experienced a diverging trend in terms of the competitiveness of financial centres’ business environment during the peak of the crisis. We also find evidence that the convergence of financial centres reduces regional economic inequalities between the regions where financial centres are located. In contrast, the increase in the competitiveness of financial centres only serves to widen existing inequalities at the national level. Finally, we examine and discuss the impact of competitiveness drivers of financial centres on the convergence pattern of EU regions

The interconnections of academic research and universities’ “third mission”: Evidence from the UK

A considerable body of work acknowledges the importance and benefits of the university-industry relationship for the economy and society, but also for increasing the revenue of universities themselves (known also as universities' "third mission"). However, questions have also been raised about the consequences of the university-industry relationship and its impact on their traditional role. This paper contributes to this debate by exploring whether and how being efficient in generating income from engagement activities impacts on universities' research performance. By using a sample of 119 UK higher educational institutions for period 2007-2014, and controlling for endogeneity issue, the results show that efficiency in terms of university-industry income and research performance exhibits a nonlinear relationship for both universities established before ("old universities"), and after ("new universities"), the Higher Education Act 1992 (HEA). However, for high level of efficiency, "old universities" do not appear able to improve their research performance further. Finally, positive synergies between the third mission and research mission decline in a more teaching-oriented environment. We conclude that policy makers should account for organisational heterogeneity and teaching orientation to promote research excellence effectively by stimulating engagement