Outline

The notions of effectiveness and efficiency are often misunderstood, especially in literature outside of economics. Dr. Modzelewski will walk participants through different types of efficiency definitions, starting with the distinction between pareto efficiency and productive efficiency. Next, the concept of the cost effectiveness will be presented, and its decomposition to the output-mix efficiency, cost-efficiency, input allocative efficiency, scale efficiency, and pure technical efficiency.

These concepts will be explained with empirical examples and practical ways to measure each type of efficiency, including the usage of relevant software. This will be followed by a presentation of other definitions and applications of efficiency that can be particularly useful in designing public policies, such as distributive efficiency, dynamic efficiency and allocative efficiency. Next, Dr. Gajderowicz will present ways to measure and evaluate effectiveness, especially in the context of the public sector and the evaluation of public policies and government regulations. This part of the workshop will offer guide over the experimental (RCT) and quasi-experimental (RDD, DD, PSM, SC) counterfactual methodologies, using empirical examples.

Audience & Prerequisites

This workshop serves as a broad introduction to the analysis of efficiency and effectiveness and does not require any specialized introductory knowledge. The material will be presented in an accessible way to develop participants' intuition for understanding the basic concepts of efficiency and its measurement. The examples will be a good starting point to enhance participants' knowledge and allow a more precise usage of the terms efficiency, effectiveness, and productivity in their future scientific work.