Efficiency in government health spending: a super slacks-based model

This article evaluates the performance of health expenditure and demonstrates how productivity has changed over time for 46 selected countries in Europe and Central Asia by applying three nonparametric data envelopment analysis models that assume variable returns-to-scale, slacks-based measures (SBM), and Super SBM, respectively. Our results show that countries could have increased output by 1.2 % based on existing levels of inputs. The finding of decreased productivity growth is related to technical change, and super efficiency is found to provide a good framework for ranking efficient units. Based on the Super SBM model, we obtain proper scores and find the most efficient country.