Chris Doucouliagos

The efficiency of Australian universities: a data envelopment analysis

With participation in higher education amongst young people rising, governments around the world have been faced with increasing pressure on their finances, giving rise to the need to operate universities with a higher degree of efficiency. In this paper, non-parametric techniques are used to estimate technical and scale efficiency of individual Australian universities. Various measures of output and inputs are used. The results show that regardless of the output–input mix, Australian universities as a whole recorded high levels of efficiency relative to each other.

Are All Economic Facts Greatly Exaggerated? Theory Competition and Selectivity

is growing concern and mounting evidence of selectivity in empirical economics. Most empirical economic literatures have a truncated distribution of results. The aim of this paper is to explore the link between publication selectivity and theory contests. This link is confirmed through the analysis of 87 distinct empirical economics literatures, involving more than three and a half thousand separate empirical studies, using objective measures of both selectivity and contests. Our meta–meta‐analysis shows that publication selection is widespread, but not universal. It distorts scientific inference with potentially adverse effects on policy making, but competition and debate between rival theories reduces this selectivity and thereby improves economic inference.

Competition and Efficiency: Overseas Students and Technical Efficiency in Australian and New Zealand Universities

Economic theory suggests that competitive pressures will impact on organisational efficiency. In recent years, universities in Australia and New Zealand have faced increased competition for students. The aim of this paper is to explore the efficiency of Australian and New Zealand public universities and to investigate the impact of competition for students from overseas on efficiency. Output distance functions are estimated using panel data for the period 1995–2002 for Australia and 1997–2003 for New Zealand. The results show that competition for overseas students has led to increased efficiency in Australian universities. However, competition for overseas students appears to have had no effect on efficiency in New Zealand.

Are estimates of the value of a statistical life exaggerated

The magnitude of the value of a statistical life (VSL) is critical to the evaluation of many health and safety initiatives. To date, the large and rigorous VSL research literature has not explicitly accommodated publication selectivity bias (i.e., the reduced probability that insignificant or negative VSL values are reported). This study demonstrates that doing so is essential. For studies that employ hedonic wage equations to estimate VSL, correction for selection bias reduces the average value of a statistical life by 70-80%. Our meta-regression analysis also identifies several sources for the wide heterogeneity found among reported VSL estimates.

WHAT'S TO KNOW ABOUT THE CREDIBILITY OF EMPIRICAL ECONOMICS?

The scientific credibility of economics is itself a scientific question that can be addressed with both theoretical speculations and empirical data. In this review, we examine the major parameters that are expected to affect the credibility of empirical economics: sample size, magnitude of pursued effects, number and pre‐selection of tested relationships, flexibility and lack of standardization in designs, definitions, outcomes and analyses, financial and other interests and prejudices, and the multiplicity and fragmentation of efforts. We summarize and discuss the empirical evidence on the lack of a robust reproducibility culture in economics and business research, the prevalence of potential publication and other selective reporting biases, and other failures and biases in the market of scientific information. Overall, the credibility of the economics literature is likely to be modest or even low.

Technical and scale efficiency of vocational education and training institutions: the case of the New Zealand polytechnics

In recent years vocational education and training has been recognised as having a crucial impact on worker productivity, enterprise performance and the overall performance of the New Zealand economy. The importance of vocational education and training gives rise to the issue of the efficient operation of educational institutions. In this paper Data Envelopment Analysis is used to derive estimates of technical and scale efficiency. Comparisons are also made with Victorian TAFE institutes. The results indicate that there is scope to improve efficiency and to take advantage of economies of size in the sector.

Human capital formation and US economic growth: A causality analysis

In this paper, Granger causality tests are applied to a new data set on human capital formation and US private sector GDP. The study is the first to test for causality between human capital formation and economic growth. It employs an error correction mechanism and is estimated through canonical cointegration regression. The results show strong evidence of casuality from human capital formation to private sector GDP and vice versa.

Constraints to Park Visitation: A Meta-Analysis of North American Studies

The constraints that curb visitation to parks have received considerable research attention and remain an important issue. Constraints to outdoor leisure in parks include structural barriers, such as cost of entry, interpersonal barriers, for example, lack of a partner to visit with, or intrapersonal barriers, including lack of interest. Using a meta-analysis approach, this article integrates the findings of 22 North American studies with 541 estimates, conducted over a 30-year period, to determine the key constraints to park visitation based on various socio-demographic factors. The findings highlight the varying roles that constraints play in limiting the visitation of people according to race, age, gender, education and income. Gaps in the literature are identified, with implications for encouraging visitation for more constrained groups discussed. An agenda for future research is presented.

A Data Envelopment Analysis of the Efficiency of Victorian TAFE Institutes

In recent years the provision of vocational education and training has been recognised as having a vital role to play in improving Australias economic performance and in alleviating the hardship of the long term unemployed. The importance of education and training gives rise to the issue of operating educational institutions with a high level of efficiency. In this article, Data Envelopment Analysis is used to derive estimates of the technical and scale efficiency of Victorian Technical and Further Education Institutes in 1995. The results reveal substantial dispersion in technical and scale efficiencies. Regression analysis is used to identify variables which are associated with technical inefficiency.

Unions and productivity growth: A meta-analytic review

The impact of unions on productivity growth has received extensive attention from researchers in industrial relations and economics. Despite a voluminous literature, controversy continues regarding the effect of unions on productivity growth. In this paper, meta-analysis and meta-regression analysis is used to quantify the association between unions and productivity growth and to accomplish a quantitative assessment of the empirical literature. The results indicate that the overall association between unions and productivity growth is negative, especially for the U.S. The search for moderator variables revealed that most of the variation in the published results is artificial and can be attributed to specification differences.