Due to large and deepening development disparities among countries, comparisons across them have gained utmost importance, both in theoretical and empirical sense. At the same time, overuse of natural resources and climate change are among the most difficult issues today’s world is facing. Consequently, there is a growing research interest in investigating the performance of countries, especially in terms of environmental and energy efficiency. This paper brings a literature overview on the application of data envelopment analysis (DEA) to studies that empirically explore socio-economic efficiency of OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) member countries. The listed papers are categorised with regard to the relevance given to economic, environmental or energy indicators. Their basic content is summarised, along with the major findings. In this way, both measurement of countries’ performance and the non-parametric approach of DEA have been given deserved attention.

Growing socioeconomic inequalities and deepening polarization among and within nations indicate a major risk of political, social and economic instability. Policymakers need to deepen their awareness and understanding of the circumstances and find useful guidance and examples to inspire their effective qualitative and quantitative policies. This paper empirically investigates the relative dynamic socio-economic efficiency of thirty OECD countries using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) methodology. As an extension to the basic output-oriented DEA models with variable returns-to-scale, window analysis is employed. The appropriate design of window length is also proposed in the study. In the first step, the relative efficiency of the countries was measured by four economic indicators. In the second step, four new indicators were added, covering social, institutional and environmental dimensions. It is found that performance rankings change, in some cases, very significantly and that the overall relative performance of the OECD countries increases when the set of economic indicators is extended.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ee.28.4.18502

Achieve high rates of economic growth is the government’s task of any country because the future world order depends on the own ability to improve the living standards of its citizens. In Croatia, observed at the regional level, is present uneven economic growth according to the GDP per capita, while in line with the nominal growth rate economic development shows uniform movements. In recent years, Croatia has obtained a relatively high growth rates, but they were still below the average rate of other developing countries. Croatia did not follow the global development trends, and the reason for this lies primarily in the uneven economic growth by counties. Using data envelopment analysis, in this paper we determine efficient and inefficient counties, and which resources should be efficiently used to enhance regional production, and then also the total national production.

Economic activities’ efficiency represents the level of performance that uses the lowest quantity of inputs to achieve the highest possible amount of output. This paper presents the process of calculating the relative efficiency of separate non-financial activities in an economy using the DEA methodology. The purpose of this paper was to create the DEA model for monitoring the relative efficiency of individual non-financial activities of the economy. The purpose was achieved through the realization of two objectives. The first one included the determination of the relative efficiency of the above-mentioned activities in the period from 2002 to 2020 using the data from non-financial entities in the Republic of Croatia. The second objective consisted of ranking the economic activities according to their relative efficiency. An output variable that measures the efficiency was presented using the return on assets, while the total debt to EBITDA, EBITDA per employee, assets turnover and human capital efficiency were used as input variables. Research results indicate that the DEA methodology could be used as an economic activity’s relative efficiency measurement tool, giving the possibility to rank it according to its relative efficiency using the accounting ratios. Research results show that service sectors’ economic activities were the most efficient ones according to the lower assets engagement and the respective sources of financing that dominate. The highest average relative efficiency in 19 years was scored using wholesale, retail and repair activities as well as information, communication and education. The lowest average relative efficiency was achieved in construction, water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities as well as accommodation and food service activities, which is the consequence of their low level of activity and profitability and high indebtedness in the analyzed period. The relative efficiency scores calculated using the DEA methodology could be used as a benchmark for companies on a micro level, while on the macro level decision-makers can obtain a deeper insight into the relative efficiency of the nonfinancial activities.

Public health services, as a preventive aspect of health care, are essential for the sustainability of the entire health care system. However, the context of public health services, which focus is primarily on prevention, is not a common setting when measuring the efficiency within nonparametric evidence-based approach. The aim of this study is to measure the efficiency of the financial performance of organizational units of the public health institute in Croatia, the Health Ecology Department in particular, during the period 2016–2018 using data envelopment analysis. Among the many reasons behind choosing this nonparametric method is the fact that it identifies the sources of inefficiency and specifies the directions and magnitudes of improvements required. Two input-oriented models – CCR under constant and BCC under variable returns-to-scale assumption – are employed for evaluating three types of efficiency – technical, pure technical and scale efficiency. Two hypotheses are examined and empirically confirmed: first, that there is significant between-unit variability in financial performance, and second, that investments are the major source of inefficiency among the observed indicators. The results have additionally revealed that the mentioned differences are less pronounced in the case of pure technical efficiency, implying that the overall inefficiency of the Health Ecology Department units can be generally attributed to scale efficiency. Besides, only three out of twelve department units are considered efficient. The implications of the research results are aimed at further research and testing the efficiency of the entire network of public health institutes, as well as to provide policy makers with new insights when considering different modes of organizing and delivering public health services.

The aim of this paper is to use the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method to measure and analyze different relative efficiencies of five Croatian shipyards. The indicators are chosen to capture different aspects of shipbuilding...