SLACK AND NET TECHNICAL EFFICIENCY MEASUREMENT: A BOOTSTRAP APPROACH

Statistical properties of DEA methods for efficiency estimation are poorly understood and currently the best way forward must be to use bootstrap techniques. The article seeks to extend bootstrap methods to allow investigation of the properties of estimates of inefficiencies due to the slack in the use of resources as well as technical efficiency. In an empirical application, it is found that inefficiency due to slack is a small component of the overall inefficiency and that the DEA technical efficiency estimates have a small downward bias, with confidence intervals that are wide enough to suggest cautious interpretation.