EFFICIENCY IN EDUCATION: AN ANALYSIS BY SCHOOL IN RIO GRANDE DO SUL USING DEA METHOD IN TWO STAGES

Abstract

Education is considered a key variable to explain the economic growth of countries and regions. Given its relevance to society, governments have distributed significant portions of public resources to this function. However, public resources are limited and must cover other areas, such as health and security. It is therefore essential to assess the efficiency of these expenditures in terms of expected results. The aim of this study is to evaluate the relative technical efficiency of public primary schools in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. To do so, the two-stage DEA method proposed by Simar and Wilson (2007) is applied. In the first stage the efficiency scores are defined in a non-parametric way and in the second one the efficiency determinants are identified through a truncated regression model. The results show that there is a relatively small number of efficient schools and that the city's income inequality is a negative determinant of school efficiency.