This paper measures the metafrontier total-factor energy efficiency (TFEE) of 47 regions in Japan for the period 1996-2008, using the stochastic frontier analysis (SFA). The two-step output-oriented SFA approach by Huang et al. (J Prod Anal 42:241-254, 2014) is followed but converted into a...

In the last decades, demographic change coupled with new and expensive medical innovations have put most health care systems in developed countries under financial pressure. Therefore, ensuring efficient service provision is essential for a sustainable health care system. This paper investigates...

This paper measures the metafrontier total-factor energy efficiency (TFEE) of 47 regions in Japan for the period 1996–2008, using the stochastic frontier analysis (SFA). The two-step output-oriented SFA approach by Huang et al. (J Prod Anal 42:241–254, 2014) is followed but converted into a...

In the last decades, demographic change coupled with new and expensive medical innovations have put most health care systems in developed countries under financial pressure. Therefore, ensuring efficient service provision is essential for a sustainable health care system. This paper investigates...

The paper analyses scale efficiency in European pork production. The analysis shows significant differences in the exploitation of economies of scale among EU member states. In particular, old member states exhibit increasing returns to scale whereas most new member states show either constant...

The paper presents the analysis of cereal production in the EU. The analysis provides the comparison of production technologies and technical efficiency among EU countries using the country specific multiple output distance function models in the first step and metafrontier approach in the...

The paper deals with the analysis of productivity and efficiency differences between Czech and Slovak milk producers. The estimate of stochastic metafrontier multiple output distance function revealed that both Czech and Slovak milk producers highly exploit their production possibilities. On the...

We analyse the relative competitiveness between organic and conventional farming under different policy scenarios using a DEA-based non-convex metafrontier model. This model allows us to identify a farm’s ex post optimal technology based on input-output observations. Results for Bavarian dairy...