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Cost structure, productivity and efficiency of the Italian public higher education industry 2001--2011

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  • Tommaso Agasisti

Abstract

In this paper, I analyze the cost structure of the Italian higher education system for the decade between 2001 and 2011, by means of a stochastic translog cost function. I suggest that the judgment about the optimal configuration of the sector is strongly dependent upon the policy priorities set by decision makers. When assuming that the universities’ output is the number of students, scale economies are exhausted, and marginal costs are relatively low; when considering graduates as outputs instead, there is opportunity for increasing the scale of operations. Inefficiency affects production in a sensible manner, especially when assuming that the target output is the number of graduates. Moreover, efficiency contributes to explaining a relevant portion of the productivity increases in the period. No significant scope economies between teaching and research emerge, suggesting that a higher degree of universities’ specialization can be a direction for improving the sector’s efficiency and productivity.

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  • Tommaso Agasisti, 2016. "Cost structure, productivity and efficiency of the Italian public higher education industry 2001--2011," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(1), pages 48-68, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:irapec:v:30:y:2016:i:1:p:48-68
    DOI: 10.1080/02692171.2015.1070130
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    Cited by:

    1. Gralka, Sabine, 2018. "Stochastic frontier analysis in higher education: A systematic review," CEPIE Working Papers 05/18, Technische Universität Dresden, Center of Public and International Economics (CEPIE).
    2. Fu, Tsu-Tan & Sung, An-De & See, Kok Fong & Chou, Kuo-Wei, 2019. "Do optimal scale and efficiency matter in Taiwan's higher education reform? A stochastic cost frontier approach," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 111-119.
    3. Tommaso Agasisti & Sabine Gralka, 2019. "The transient and persistent efficiency of Italian and German universities: a stochastic frontier analysis," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(46), pages 5012-5030, October.
    4. Shukhrat Kholmuminov & Robert E Wright, 2017. "Cost efficiency analysis of public higher education institutions in Uzbekistan," Working Papers 1704, University of Strathclyde Business School, Department of Economics.
    5. Lutz Bornmann & Klaus Wohlrabe & Sabine Gralka, 2019. "The graduation shift of German universities of applied sciences," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(1), pages 1-19, January.
    6. Liang-Cheng Zhang & Andrew C. Worthington, 2018. "Explaining Estimated Economies of Scale and Scope in Higher Education: A Meta-Regression Analysis," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 59(2), pages 156-173, March.
    7. Tommaso Agasisti & Alice Bertoletti & Giacomo Pignataro, 2021. "Economies of scale and scope of universities – towards bigger size and specialization?," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 41(2), pages 405-416.

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