| This dissertation consists of three essays on production efficiency analysis using non-parametric techniques. Each essay addresses a different theoretical or empirical issue on production frontiers, productive efficiency and how these concepts relate to the measurement of productivity. The first two essays pertain to the measurement of productivity change at the firm level and focus on the technical aspect of how to decompose the measured changes into technical progress and change in efficiency. The third essay shifts the focus from firm level to the industry as a whole and talks about efficiency change in resource utilization and optimal number of firms given current resource and output levels. All three essays utilize the non-parametric technique, which is also known as Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), as the common approach, which integrates the three essays into a dissertation. |
