A modified DEA model to estimate the importance of objectives with an application to agricultural economics

This paper demonstrates a connection between data envelopment analysis (DEA) and a non-interactive elicitation method to estimate the weights of objectives for decision-makers in a multiple attribute approach. This connection gives rise to a modified DEA model that allows us to estimate not only efficiency measures but also preference weights by radially projecting each unit onto a linear combination of the elements of the payoff matrix (which is obtained by standard multicriteria methods). For users of multiple attribute decision analysis the basic contribution of this paper is a new interpretation in terms of efficiency of the non-interactive methodology employed to estimate weights in a multicriteria approach. We also propose a modified procedure to calculate an efficient payoff matrix and a procedure to estimate weights through a radial projection rather than a distance minimization. For DEA users, we provide a modified DEA procedure to calculate preference weights and efficiency measures that does not depend on any observations in the dataset. This methodology has been applied to an agricultural case study in Spain.

Utiliza����o de intelig��ncia competitiva, da gest��o de riscos e da computa����o aplicada para ganhos de competitividade em institui����o organizadora de concursos

Disserta����o (mestrado)���Universidade de Bras��lia, Instituto de Ci��ncias Exatas, Departamento de Ci��ncia da Computa����o, 2015.

Assessing public spending efficiency in 20 OECD countries

Mestrado em Economia Monet��ria e Financeira

Assessing public spending efficiency in 20 OECD countries

This study follows the framework of Afonso, Schuknecht, and Tanzi (2005), aiming to look at the public expenditure of 20 OECD countries for the period 2009-2013, from the per- spective of efficiency and assess if these developed countries are performing efficiently compared to each other. Public Sector Performance (PSP) and Public Sector Efficiency (PSE) indicators were constructed and Data Envelopment Analysis was conducted. The results show that the only country that performed on the efficiency frontier is Switzerland. The average input-oriented efficiency score is equal to 0.732. That is, on average countries could have reduced the level of public expenditure by 26.8% and still achieved the same level of public performance. The average output-oriented efficiency score is 0.769 denoting that on average the sample countries could have increased their performance by 23.1% by employing the same level of public expenditure.

Reformas na gest��o hospitalar:an��lise dos efeitos da empresarializa����o

Tese de Doutoramento em Ci��ncias Sociais na Especialidade de Administra����o da Sa��de

Avalia����o do desempenho das entidades gestoras dos servi��os de res��duos urbanos em Portugal

Disserta����o de Mestrado, Gest��o Empresarial, Faculdade de Economia, Universidade do Algarve, 2016

Economic efficiency of members of protected designations of origin: sharing reputation indicators in the experience goods of wine and cheese

The aim of this paper is to analyse the economic efficiency of members of protected designations of origin (PDO). For the first time we analyse the value of PDO labels from the point of view of economic efficiency. The central hypothesis is that a PDO has a positive impact on the economic efficiency of its member companies and that this is because a PDO label is a collective reputation indicator that foments efficient investment in quality in terms of member returns. The methodology applied to test this hypothesis is based on data envelopment analysis to estimate economic efficiency, and econometric models to explain company efficiency through both the PDO label, as an indicator of collective reputation, and the characteristics of the company. The results obtained in the experience goods of wine and cheese in Spain show that PDO labels have a positive impact on economic efficiency. Additionally, the age and size of the company have a positive effect while the wage level of the company has a different influence on efficiency depending on the sector considered. Overall, the results reveal the importance of PDOs in industries in which the signal of reputation is not only reliant on the individual brands.

An��lise de qualidade do ensino nas escolas p��blicas do Distrito Federal utilizando prova Brasil : uma aplica����o de an��lise por envolt��ria de dados

Disserta����o (mestrado)���Universidade de Bras��lia, Instituto de Ci��ncias Exatas, Departamento de Matem��tica, Programa de Mestrado Profissional em Matem��tica em Rede Nacional, 2016.

Impacto de fus��es e aquisi����es na efici��ncia e produtividade de operadoras de infraestruturas do mercado financeiro e sistemas de negocia����o

Disserta����o (mestrado)���Universidade de Bras��lia, Departamento de Administra����o, Programa de P��s-gradua����o em Administra����o, 2016.

A efici��ncia t��cnica dos portos e terminais p��blicos e privados brasileiros mar��timos no per��odo de 2010 a 2014

Disserta����o (mestrado)���Universidade de Bras��lia, Faculdade de Tecnologia, Departamento de Engenharia Civil e Ambiental, 2016.

A DEA-based incentives system for centrally managed multi-unit organisations

In multi-unit organisations such as a bank and its branches or a national body delivering publicly funded health or education services through local operating units, the need arises to incentivize the units to operate efficiently. In such instances, it is generally accepted that units found to be inefficient can be encouraged to make efficiency savings. However, units which are found to be efficient need to be incentivized in a different manner. It has been suggested that efficient units could be incentivized by some reward compatible with the level to which their attainment exceeds that of the best of the rest, normally referred to as ���super-efficiency���. A recent approach to this issue (Varmaz et. al. 2013) has used Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) models to measure the super-efficiency of the whole system of operating units with and without the involvement of each unit in turn in order to provide incentives. We identify shortcomings in this approach and use it as a starting point to develop a new DEA-based system for incentivizing operating units to operate efficiently for the benefit of the aggregate system of units. Data from a small German retail bank is used to illustrate our method.

Percurso profissional. Destaque para a an��lise da produ����o de res��duos urbanos no Alentejo Central - portugal e utiliza����o do modelo DEA na defini����o da meta da recolha seletiva

Neste trabalho de Projeto efetua-se o desenvolvimento do tema da produ����o de Res��duos Urbanos (RU) no Alentejo Central, utilizando-se o modelo DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis) para a an��lise das metas da recolha seletiva estabelecidas para 2020. Genericamente, quanto maior �� o grau de desenvolvimento econ��mico de um territ��rio, maior �� a taxa de urbaniza����o e maior �� tamb��m a quantidade de res��duos urbanos produzidos por habitante. O rendimento e a urbaniza����o s��o vari��veis altamente correlacionadas, quando aumenta o rendimento dispon��vel e os padr��es de vida, aumenta tamb��m o consumo de bens e servi��os de modo correspondente, o que leva ao aumento da quantidade de res��duos gerados. Assim, tendo em conta os impactos locais que os RU abandonados trazem, e com o objetivo de quebrar o elo entre crescimento econ��mico e os impactos ambientais associados �� produ����o de res��duos, s��o implementadas, nos pa��ses com elevados n��veis de desenvolvimento, pol��ticas baseadas em modelos integrados de gest��o de RU que permitem a recupera����o, reciclagem e valoriza����o dos materiais, reservando-se a elimina����o (deposi����o em aterro) para fra����es n��o valoriz��veis, o que gera empregos e riqueza. Em Portugal vigora o Plano Estrat��gico para os Res��duos Urbanos (PERSU 2020) que define objetivos e metas nacionais, nomeadamente a meta da recolha seletiva, estabelecendo para 2020 um quantitativo nacional m��nimo a recuperar de 47 kg por habitante por ano. Deste modo, importa caracterizar, para o per��odo de 2002 a 2012, como evoluiu a produ����o de RU em compara����o com a evolu����o do PIB em Portugal. A an��lise foca-se ent��o na produ����o de RU na regi��o do Alentejo em particular no Alentejo Central que evidencia um elevado n��vel per capita em compara����o com o resto do pa��s, situando-se mesmo acima das regi��es do grande Porto e Lisboa. S��o apresentadas poss��veis raz��es para o registo destes elevados n��veis de produ����o de RU n��o se conseguindo, no entanto, avan��ar com evid��ncias. Como o modelo DEA �� utilizado no PERSU 2020 para fundamentar a proje����o das metas da recolha seletiva por sistema de gest��o de res��duos urbanos, fez-se a sua reprodu����o, o que permitiu uma an��lise mais detalhada dos dados e o ensaio de novos resultados considerando, para al��m do n��vel de produ����o de RU, o numero de equipamentos de deposi����o de recolha seletiva como input do modelo; Abstract: Title of the report: Professional career. Emphasis on the analysis of urban waste production in Alentejo Central - Portugal and the use of the DEA in defining the separate collection target This professional report presents the theme of the Urban Waste (UW) production in Central Alentejo, using the DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis) to analyse the target set for selective collection in 2020. Generally, the higher the degree of economic development of a region, the greater the rate of urbanization and the greater also the amount of municipal waste produced per capita. The variables income and urbanization are highly correlated, if you have an increase in the disposable income and living standards, the consumption of goods and services will increase accordingly, which leads to the increase of the amount of produced waste. Thus, taking into account the local impact that the abandoned UW brings, and in order to break the link between economic growth and the environmental impacts associated with the production of waste, countries with high levels of development implement policies based on integrated UW management models that allow the recovery, recycling and valorisation of materials, restricting the disposal (landfill) to non-recoverable fractions, which creates jobs and wealth. Portugal established a national strategic plan for Urban Waste (PERSU 2020) which defines the goals and national targets, including the selective collection target stating for 2020 a minimum recover of 47 kg per capita per year. Then it is relevant to characterize and compare the evolution of UW production and GDP in Portugal for the period 2002 to 2012. The analysis then focuses on the production of UW in Alentejo, particularly in Central Alentejo region, which shows a high per capita level compared to the rest of the country, placed just above the Greater Porto and Lisbon region. Then we explore several possible reasons for this high level of UW production in this region, but none is successful in producing strong evidence. As the DEA is used in PERSU 2020 to support the projection of the selective collection targets for the municipal waste management systems, in this report we develop the model, which allowed access to the data and a more detailed analyse. Then we introduce and test a new input, the number of separate collection deposition equipment, which gives new results that are compared with the original ones.

Restricting the flexibility in DEA models

DEA models have been applied as the benchmarking tool in operations management to empirically account operational and productive efficiency. The wide flexibility in assigning the weights in DEA approach can result on indicators of efficiency who do not take account the relative importance of some inputs. In order to overcome this limitation, in this research we apply the DEA model under restricted weight specification. This model is applied to Spanish hotel companies in order to measure operational efficiency. The restricted weight specification enables us to decrease the influence of assigning unrealistic weights in some units and improve the efficiency estimation and to increase the discriminating potential of the conventional DEA model.

Does partial privatisation improve performance? Evidence from a chain of hotels in Portugal

This article contributes to the literature by testing six research hypotheses regarding the impact of partial privatisation on firms' performance. We measure performance using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), the Malmquist Index and ratios related to labour productivity, profitability and capacity utilisation. We use the Wilcoxon Signed Rank test to compare the performance after privatisation with that before privatisation. The hypotheses are tested with data from a chain of Portuguese heritage hotels, partially privatised in 2003. We conclude that productivity growth after privatisation is superior to productivity growth before privatisation due to technological progress. However, due to a frontier regress observed in the privatisation year, total factor productivity and profitability deteriorated after privatisation. This suggests that both efficiency changes and frontier shifts should be taken into account in order to accurately assess the impact of privatisation.

An EM-based Semi-Parametric Mixture Model Approach to the Regression Analysis of Competing-Risks Data

We consider a mixture model approach to the regression analysis of competing-risks data. Attention is focused on inference concerning the effects of factors on both the probability of occurrence and the hazard rate conditional on each of the failure types. These two quantities are specified in the mixture model using the logistic model and the proportional hazards model, respectively. We propose a semi-parametric mixture method to estimate the logistic and regression coefficients jointly, whereby the component-baseline hazard functions are completely unspecified. Estimation is based on maximum likelihood on the basis of the full likelihood, implemented via an expectation-conditional maximization (ECM) algorithm. Simulation studies are performed to compare the performance of the proposed semi-parametric method with a fully parametric mixture approach. The results show that when the component-baseline hazard is monotonic increasing, the semi-parametric and fully parametric mixture approaches are comparable for mildly and moderately censored samples. When the component-baseline hazard is not monotonic increasing, the semi-parametric method consistently provides less biased estimates than a fully parametric approach and is comparable in efficiency in the estimation of the parameters for all levels of censoring. The methods are illustrated using a real data set of prostate cancer patients treated with different dosages of the drug diethylstilbestrol. Copyright (C) 2003 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.