EVALUATION OF THE EFFICIENCY OF NATIONAL INSURANCE MARKETS USING A TWO-STAGE MODEL OF DATA ENVELOPMENT ANALYSIS

This paper compares the efficiency of national insurance markets. Efficiency is assessed on the basis of the efficiency score, expressed in two-stage models of data envelopment analysis, which belong among the simple serial network DEA models. Application of the method allows to assess the efficiency of partial processes that make up the whole process. The first partial process within the insurance activities is intended to maximize the income from insurance premiums while trying to minimize costs of insurance claims and operating expenses. The second partial process aims to invest available funds in order to generate the highest possible return on investment. The paper also examines the differences in the efficiency of national insurance markets in the post-communist countries, with particular emphasis on efficiency in the Czech Republic. For comparisons employs statistical methods for testing hypotheses. The group of countries that joined the EU after 2000 have a greater arithmetic average of the efficiency score than the other analyzed national insurance markets