Productivity and Efficiency Analysis (ECON7341)
Information valid for Semester 1, 2021
Course level
Postgraduate Coursework
Faculty
School
Economics School
Units
2
Duration
One Semester
Delivery mode
Flexible Delivery
Class hours
2 Lecture hours
2 Tutorial hours
Incompatible
ECON3340
Prerequisite
ECON2300 or ECON7310
Recommended prerequisite
(ECON2050 + ECON2320) or (ECON7250 + ECON7322)
Assessment methods
Midsemester examination, project, final examination
Course enquiries
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.