Measuring regional public health provision

This paper using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) evaluates the performance of public health services of the Greek prefectures. The efficiency levels of the Greek prefectures are compared and analyzed in a regional context. With the use of bootstrap techniques and conditional full frontier applications the paper shows that higher levels of GDP per capita and population density increase the prefectures’ performance of public health provision. In addition population density affects more the prefectures’ performance compared to the levels of GDP per capita. Finally, it appears that Greek prefectures with GDP per capita levels of 25000 to 30000 € and those with population density levels between 150 and 200 residents per square kilometre have significantly higher efficiency levels of public health provision.