MEASURING PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH AND EFFICIENCY WITH DATA ENVELOPMENT ANALYSIS. AN APPLICATION OF THE NORWEGIAN ROAD SECTOR

This dissertation deals with the measurement of efficiency and productivity growth in micro units of the Norwegian road sector. The study comprises four studies within the context of nonparametric Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), Malmquist productivity index and a comparison of DEA methodology to a deterministic parametric frontier. In the first study, the productive effciency of the Norwegian Motor Vehicle Inspectorate branches is examined. The second study focuses on the performance of trucks involved in road construction and maintenance, and operated by the regional agencies of the Norwegian Public Roads Administration. In the third study, the productivity growth within the Vehicle Inspectorate of Norway for the period 1989-91 is investigated using a decomposed Malmquist productivity index based on the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) framework. The fourth study examines the productive efficiency of rock blasting in Norwegian road constructions.(A)