SOCIAL PROTECTION EFFICIENCY IN THE EUROPEAN COUNTRIES: NON-PARAMETRIC APPROACH BY USING DEA METHODOLOGY

The main aim of the study is to evaluate an efficiency of social protection in terms of pensions and social exclusion/housing in the period 2010 - 2017 for a selected sample of 28 European countries. Data Envelopment Analysis is used to analyse social protection efficiency and its subsequent evaluation of changes in the efficiency development of social protection in terms of pensions and social exclusion/housing for the two periods 2010 - 2013 and 2014 - 2017. The social protection efficiency results for the period 2010 - 2017 show more considerable differences in efficiency in terms of pensions as opposed to social exclusion/housing. In a majority of the European countries, there prevails a growth of a total efficiency of social protection in both evaluated areas. The efficiency growth in pensions, in the period 2010 - 2013, was influenced by a technical efficiency growth, and also by pension system changes, while in the period 2014 - 2017, it was especially influenced by the technical efficiency growth. On the other hand, the efficiency growth in the area of social exclusion/housing in the first period was affected by the technical efficiency growth. In the second period, it was mostly affected by the changes in the social assistance system.