The dual cost function is partially super-additive when an output quantity bundle of a given quality can be produced at a lower cost by breaking up the output into a number of smaller bundles of the same quality to be produced by several firms instead of the entire bundle being produced by a...

This chapter offers an overview of Data Envelopment Analysis as a nonparametric method of measuring efficiency in production. Special attention is devoted to alternative returns to scale assumptions about the technology and identifying the local nature of returns to scale at projections of an...

We propose a non-parametric model for global cost minimization as a framework for optimal allocation of a firm's output target across multiple locations, taking account of differences in input prices and technologies across locations. This should be useful for firms planning production sites...