NONPARAMETRIC EFFICIENCY, PROGRESS AND REGRESS MEASURES FOR PANEL-DATA - METHODOLOGICAL ASPECTS

This purely methodological paper deals with the role of time in non-pa rametric efficiency analysis. Using both FDH and DEA technologies, it first shows how each observation in a panel can be characterized in ef ficiency terms vis-a-vis three different kinds of frontiers: (i) 'cont emporaneous', (ii) 'sequential', and (iii) 'intertemporal'. These are then compared with window analysis. Next, frontier shifts 'outward' an d 'inward', interpreted as progress or regress are considered for the two kinds of technologies, and computational methods are described in detail for evaluating such shifts in either case. These are also contr asted with what is measured by the 'Malmquist' productivity index. Fin ally, an alternative way of identifying progress and regress, independ ent of the frontier notion and referring instead to some 'benchmark' n otion, is extended here to panel data.