The aim of this paper is twofold. On the one hand, it provides a contribution to the debate on judicial efficiency by conducting an applied research on the Italian tax judiciary thanks to a database covering the activities of the Italian tax courts over a 3-year period (2009–2011). On the...

This paper proposes an efficiency analysis of the major European incumbent firms in the fixed telecommunications sector. The non-parametric approach, that has been adopted here, expresses the efficiency according to a directional distance measure, allowing to consider the different nature of...

This paper present a non-parametric estimate of efficiency levels and productivity trends of small and medium multinational firms operating in the Turin area in respect to domestic firms active in the same sectors. MNEs appear more technically efficient in combining inputs to obtain output,...

The present study considers the Italian healthcare system, investigating the aspects that might affect the efficiency of Italian hospitals. The authors analyze what influences a specific definition of efficiency, which is calculated maximizing healthcare production but minimizing potential...

The European Union has a common rural development policy, motivated by the fact that more than 90% of the entire European territory can be classified as rural and 56% of European citizens live in rural areas. Each Member State sets out a Rural Development Programme (RDP) focused on three main...

This paper analyses the environmental efficiency of a sample of chemical firms located in Italy and Germany, which are included in the European Pollution Emission and Transfer Register (E-PRTR). The adoption of a common set of standards can open important way to compare economical and ecological...

Considering the Italian healthcare system, the present study analyzes the aspects that might affect the efficiency of Italian hospitals. In this work, the authors analyze what influences a specific definition of efficiency, which is calculated maximizing healthcare production but minimizing...

In the light of the recent European environmental regulation, in Italy, waste collection management has been involved in some important changes both from environmental and management point of view. From the one hand, firms want to maximize the quantity of collected Municipal Solid Waste (MSW)...

Because nowadays more than 200 kind of diseases are to some extent connected to atmospheric pollution, with a very significant impact on the social cost of a community, it can be important to study the effect that plans for using technologies able to treat urban areas atmosphere as a whole (in...

This article presents an application of the Directional Output Distance Function (DODF) model to measure the internal performances of the Italian National Research Council (CNR). Research institutes are seen as Decision Making Units (DMUs), which produce two different kinds of scientific outputs...