Productivity and Efficiency Analysis (ECON7341)
Information valid for Semester 1, 2025
Course level
Postgraduate Coursework
Faculty
School
Economics School
Units
2
Duration
One Semester
Attendance mode
In Person
Class hours
Lecture 2 Hours/ Week
Tutorial 2 Hours/ Week
Incompatible
ECON3340
Prerequisite
ECON2300 or 7310
Recommended prerequisite
(ECON2050 + 2320) or (ECON7250 + 7322)
Course enquiries
Professor Christopher O'Donnell (Semester 1, Regular, St Lucia, In person)
Current course offerings
| Course offerings | Location | Mode | Course Profile |
| Semester 1, 2025 (24/02/2025 - 21/06/2025) | St Lucia | In Person | Course Profile |
Please Note: Course profiles marked as not available may still be in development.
Course description
This course provides a comprehensive coverage of modern methods for analysing the productivity and efficiency of different types of decision-making units (e.g., individuals, firms, industries, regions, economies). Students learn how different assumptions concerning technologies, markets and firm behaviour can be used to guide the construction of proper productivity indexes. They then learn how these indexes can be exhaustively decomposed into measures of technical change, environmental change, and various types of efficiency change. Students learn how to estimate these components using data envelopment analysis (DEA), deterministic frontier analysis (DFA) and stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) methods. Students gain an understanding of why the estimation of these components is critically important for public policy-making. The course has a strong applied focus.
