Assessment of the European Union’s Educational Efficiency

Marius Sorin Dincă, Gheorghiţa Dincă, Maria Andronic and Anna Maria Pasztori
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Marius Sorin Dincă: Department of Finance and Accounting, Transilvania University of Braşov, 500036 Braşov, Romania
Gheorghiţa Dincă: Department of Finance and Accounting, Transilvania University of Braşov, 500036 Braşov, Romania
Anna Maria Pasztori: Department of Finance and Accounting, Transilvania University of Braşov, 500036 Braşov, Romania

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 6, 1-29

Abstract: This paper assesses education sector’s efficiency by comparing 28 European Union states at different levels of education using the mathematic approach of data envelopment analysis. We conducted the study from both the allocative and technical perspectives by considering all education levels separately and then as a whole, every three years, starting with 2006. The input and output variables were adapted to each particular level of education. In this way, we offered a complete image of the education system, creating a ranking for the countries, based on efficiency scores. Efficiency appears to be achieved when education results, such as the Programme for International Student Assessment scores, attainment level or other value-added outcomes, are reached with rather low levels of financial resources. The performance in education lacks sustainability in many countries, mostly belonging to Mediterranean and south-eastern European groups, with old member states recording efficiency scores closer to 1 compared to the new ones. Inefficiency derived from different causes and interactions between these causes (the mixture between public and private resources, the different population composition, gross domestic product per capita or levels of education attainment) and most often imply particular solutions from country to country.

Keywords: education expenditures; allocative efficiency; technical efficiency; data envelopment analysis; European Union; programme for international student assessment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:6:p:3116-:d:515600

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