Estimation of the effect of environmental conditions on technical efficiency: The case of fire services

Isabel María García Sánchez

Revue d'économie régionale et urbaine, 2006, vol. octobre, issue 4, 597-614

Abstract: This study analyzes the influence of the environmental conditions on the levels of technical efficiency of the activity of prevention and extinguishing of fires, for a sample of 29 Spanish municipalities with over 50 000 inhabitants. In order to achieve our objective, first we designed a basic DEA model, formed by resources-intervention-and-prevention variables. Subsequently, a complete DEA model was estimated which incorporated, as non-controllable inputs, those conditions of the environment which, using Tobit analysis, could be considered statistically as variables that explain efficiency. The comparison of the two models reveals that the specific environmental conditions of each town have a strong effect on the performance of the service analysed. Although, individually, the changes that any environmental factor causes in the efficiency index are not statistically significant.

Keywords: Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA); efficiency; fire services; environmental conditions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2006
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