Nikias Sarafoglou

On the Origins of Data Envelopment Analysis

The concept “Data Envelopment Analysis” (DEA) was introduced in the journal literature by the highly influential 1978 paper of Charnes, Cooper, and Rhodes. In the subsequent literature the development of research leading up to this paper tended to be forgotten. However, studying this diffusion of ideas may give valuable insights into research issues still unexplored and insight in the research process itself. A natural starting point is Farrells seminal 1957 paper on concepts of efficiency and their computation. The richness of ideas presented in Farrell is demonstrated by the fact that the developments in the following two decades were based on aspects and ideas there. The origins of the main developments are identified, and the connections to Charnes, Cooper, and Rhodes are explored.

University productivity in Sweden: a demonstration and explanatory analysis for economics and business programs

This explanatory study was stimulated by an initiative of the Swedish National Board of Universities and Colleges (SNBUC) which had a twofold purpose. The first was to demonstrate a formalised assessment methodology with quantitative and qualitative measures for research. The second was to utilise standardised data integrating online input-output education/research information for periodic updating use by SNBUC in the future. Although this analysis demonstrates the methodology, the data set is small and narrow in scope and the conclusions are, therefore, tentative particularly with respect to regional issues.

The Most Influential DEA Publications: A Comment on Seiford

In a recent paper in Journal of Productivity Analysis, Seiford (1996) assessed some DEA publications as being the most influential by interviewing a sample of researchers “in an attempt to establish a consensus.” In this note I compare Seifords ranking with an alternative bibliometric ranking based on the Social Science Citation Index. The alternative quantitative ranking is very different from Seifords qualitative ranking.

Regional efficiencies of building sector research in Sweden : an introduction

Abstract This study examines the efficiency of institutions of higher education performing research in the building sector in Sweden. Institutions are aggregated to regions and inputs of expenditures and labor are compared to outputs in the form of publications. This preliminary and exploratory analysis suggests that institutions of the urban coastal and the newer northern regions are relatively more efficient than traditional institutions typical of interior regions. These highly preliminary findings, although quite speculative, are illustrative of the potential usefulness of DEA findings for measurement of the difficult but centrally important research productivity area.