Analysing the efficiency of the Greek life insurance industry

Abstract

This paper uses the DEA-CCR and the DEA-BCC models to evaluate the performance of Greek life insurance companies in the period 1994 to 2003, combining operational and financial variables. These models identify adequately the inefficient companies, but are weak in discriminating among those found to be efficient. To improve the results, we employ the Cross-Efficiency and the Super- Efficiency models. We estimate an inefficiency gap of about 27%. Furthermore, by using the Mann-Whitney Z-Test, we find that large and quoted life insurance companies, as well as those involved in mergers and acquisitions, exhibit higher efficiency. A major finding is that the local market is in great need of further consolidation.peer-reviewe