Efficiency, Productivity and Determinants of Inefficiency at Public Day Care Centers in Sweden.

Efficiency differences among day care centers and productivity change over time are examined on the basis of nonparametric frontiers calculated using the data envelopment analysis methodology. The data consist of approximately 200 public day care centers in Gothenburg, Sweden, for the years 1988 and 1989. The findings indicate a potential output increase of about 10 to 15 percent each year and a productivity decrease of 3 percent between the years. An attempt is also made to explain the differences in inefficiency by applying a Tobit model. Copyright 1992 by The editors of the Scandinavian Journal of Economics.