PROFILE 

The Economic Efficiency & Productivity Analysis research cluster was set up in 2016. The group publishes and disseminates applied research in the measurement, analysis, and drivers of economic efficiency and productivity in several areas of economics. These include the cultural, health, and long-term care sectors and firm- and country-level productivity. The cluster has grown to contain three KBS faculty members with another 6 external collaborators based in international universities. In addition, this group includes one postdoctoral researcher and two PhD students. Our research cluster has already forged strong international links. It is also well-positioned to collaborate in generating high-quality publications in top-ranked international journals such as Small Business Economics, Tourism Economics, Journal of Policy Modeling, Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, and Health Care Management Science. Thus far in 2024, the group has been very active on the international conference circuit, presenting collaborative research findings at various invited events. Additionally, the year has seen significant published outputs, while some other papers progressed to the publication submission stage and are currently available in a working paper format.

MEMBERS OF THE GROUP

KBS Faculty

PhD Students

Postdoctoral Researchers

  • Dr. Siobhan Ni Luasa

PUBLICATIONS

Recent publications in peer-reviewed journals

  • Castiglione, C., Infante, D., Zieba M. (2024). Contextual factors and efficiency gains in Italian tourist destinations, Tourism Economics (online first, available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/13548166241262834)
  • Devitt, N., Zieba, M., Dineen, D. (2024). Technical efficiency in Irish public hospitals: a multi-output distance function SFA approach, International Journal of Computational Economics and Econometrics, 14 (2), pp. 122-150 (available at: https://dx.doi.org/10.1504/IJCEE.2024.137891) 
  • Castiglione, C., Infante, D., Zieba M. (2024). Is it worth subsidising the cultural sector? Evidence from Italian theatrical firms, Journal of Policy Modeling, 46 (1), pp. 20-38 (available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpolmod.2023.11.006)
  • Castiglione, C., Infante, D., Zieba M. (2023). Public support for performing arts. Efficiency and productivity gains in eleven European countries, Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Volume 85 (February): 1-15 (available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seps.2022.101444)
  • Ni Luasa, S; Dineen, D; Zieba, M. (2018). Technical and scale efficiency in public and private Irish nursing homes - a bootstrap DEA approach. Health Care Management Science, 21: 326-347 (available at: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10729-016-9389-8)
  • Castiglione, C., Infante, D., Zieba, M. (2018). Technical efficiency in the Italian performing arts companies. Small Business Economics, 51 (3): 609-638 (available at: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11187-017-9931-1)
  • Ipinnaiye, O., Dineen, D., Lenihan, H. (2017). Drivers of SME performance: a holistic and multivariate Approach, Small Business Economics, 48: 883–911 (available at: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11187-016-9819-5)
  • Ipinnaiye, O., Dineen, D. and H. Lenihan (2016). Analysing the Drivers of Services Firm Performance: Evidence for Ireland, Economic and Social Review, 47 (2): 213-245 (available at: https://www.esr.ie/article/view/569 )
  • Zieba, M., Newman, C. (2013). Organisational Structure and Managerial Efficiency: A quasi-experimental analysis of German public theatres, Homo Oeconomicus, Volume 29 (4): 497-534. Link
  • Zieba, M. (2011). An Analysis of Technical Efficiency and Efficiency Factors for Austrian and Swiss Non-Profit Theatres, Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics, Volume 147 (2): 233-274 (available at: https://sjes.springeropen.com/articles/10.1007/BF03399346)

Chapters in books

  • Castiglione, C., Infante, D., Zieba, M. (2024). 'Efficiency and Productivity of Italian Theatrical Firms. A Non-parametric Approach'. In: Emrouznejad, A., et al. (eds) Advances in the Theory and Applications of Performance Measurement and Management. DEA45 2023. Lecture Notes in Operations Research. Springer, Cham, pp. 33-45 (available at: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-61597-9_4)
  • Zieba, M. (2019). Global trade in cultural tourism services, in Cameron, S. (Ed.): A Research Agenda for Cultural Economics, Edward Elgar Publishing. link
  • Zieba, M. (2016). German public theatres – A summary of an empirical data analysis carried out for the period 1965-2005., in. A. Galas (Ed.): Structure of theatre versus structure of performance. Polish Theatre Institute, Warsaw, ISBN: 978-83-63276-70-6.
  • Buckley, R. (2010). MNE subsidiaries, productivity spillovers and SMEs. In Lenihan H., Andreosso-O’Callaghan, B., Hart M. (Eds.), SMEs in a globalised world. Survival and Growth Strategies on Europe's Geographical Periphery, 135-161, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

Other publications

  • Zieba, M., Thi-Kieu-Trang, D., Mbugua, R. (2022). Factors Affecting Economic Growth: Empirical Evidence from Developing Countries. OSF Preprints. February 13. DOI
  • Dineen, D., Ni Luasa, S., Zieba, M. (2018). Determinants of Efficiency in the Irish Nursing Homes – A Double Bootstrap DEA, National Institute of Health Sciences, NIHS Research Bulletin, Vol. 8, Issue 1. 
  • Castiglione, C., Infante, D., Zieba M. (2018). Technical efficiency in the Italian performing arts companies, Kemmy Business School Research Bulletin, Issue 51. DOI
  • Ni Luasa, S., Dineen, D., and Zieba, M. (2016). An Evaluation of Technical Efficiency in the Nursing Home Sector in Ireland, National Institute of Health Sciences, NIHS Research Bulletin, Vol. 7, Issue 3, p.95-96, 2016.
  • Zieba, M. (2013). Evaluación de la eficiencia de las artes escénicas en Alemania, Austria y Suiza mediente métodos paramétricos, in Herrero, L. (Eds.): Simposio Internacional "Evaluación de la Eficiencia de Instituciones Culturales”, p. 81-114, ISBN: 978-84-938328-3-4., DOI
  • Zieba, M. (2013). Is theatre efficiency affected by the legal form type? A case study of German public theatres, Tafter Journal, Number 65 (November).
  • Zieba, M., Newman, C. (2007). Understanding the Production in the Performing Arts: A Production Function for German Public Theatres, TEP Working Paper, No. 07/07, June 2007. DOI

Sponsored Research

  • Zieba, M. (2019) “The ESG scores as determinants of firm technical efficiency: a cross-sectoral panel data analysis.” SEED Funding
  • Zieba, M. (2016) “The determinants of Technical Efficiency in the Performing Arts Sector. A panel approach on the Italian companies over the period 2005-2012.” SEED Funding

Internal Cluster Events: 

  • 2022   Devitt, N., Zieba, M., Dineen, D. Cost and Allocative Efficiency of Irish Acute Public Hospitals, KBS Spring Seminar, 26th April 2022. Link
  • 2021    Devitt, N., Zieba, M., Dineen, D. “Technical efficiency in Irish public hospitals: a multi-output distance function SFA approach”, KBS Spring Seminar Series, KBS, UL.
  • 2019    Devitt, N., Zieba, M., Dineen, D. “Estimation of technical efficiency of Irish public hospitals using monthly panel data”, Spring Seminar Series, KBS, UL.
  • 2018    Zieba, M., Dineen, D., Ni Luasa, S. “A Comparison of Semi-Parametric Methods in Determining Nursing Home Technical Efficiency”, Spring Seminar Series, KBS, UL.
  • 2017    Dineen, D., Ni Luasa, S., Zieba, M. “Determinants of Efficiency in the Irish Nursing Homes – A Double Bootstrap DEA”, Spring Seminar Series, KBS, UL.

​Conference papers (since 2022):

  • Wojniak, M. (2024). Technical efficiency and productivity gains in 38 OECD countries 1995 2019. A stochastic production frontier analysis, with Zieba, M. The 18th European Workshop on Efficiency and Productivity Analysis, University of Algarve, Faro, Portugal, 18-21 June.
  • Zieba, M. (2023). Technical efficiency of Italian theatrical firms. A bootstrap and conditional DEA approach, with Castiglione, C. and Infante, D. The 45th International Conference on Data Envelopment Analysis, Centre for Business Analytics in Practice, Surrey Business School, Guildford, UK, 4-6 September.
  • Dineen, D. (2023) Cost and allocative efficiency of acute public hospitals in Ireland - a double-bootstrap DEA analysis, with Zieba, M., Devitt, N. The 8th Annual Conference of the Society for Economic Measurement (SEM), Milan, June 29 – July 1.
  • Zieba, M. (2023). Cultural attractions and technical efficiency of province destinations in Italy, with Castiglione, C. and Infante, D. The 22nd International Conference on Cultural Economics, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA, 27 - 30 June.
  • Dineen, D. (2022). Determinants of technical efficiency in long-term care provision - a holistic and multivariate double bootstrap DEA approach, with Zieba, M. and Ni Luasa, S. XVII European Workshop on Efficiency and Productivity Analysis (EWEPA), Catolica Porto Business School, June 27-29.
  • Devitt, N. (2022). Cost efficiency functions and determinants of costs in Irish public hospitals - A panel data approach, with Zieba, M., Dineen, D. XVII European Workshop on Efficiency and Productivity Analysis (EWEPA), Catolica Porto Business School, June 27-29.
  • Zieba, M. (2022). Subsidies, efficiency and productivity of Italian theatrical firms. A Semi-parametric DB DEA approach, with Castiglione, C. and Infante, D., XVII European Workshop on Efficiency and Productivity Analysis (EWEPA), Catolica Porto Business School, June 27-29.
  • Zieba, M. (2022). Subsidies and efficiency of Italian theatrical firms. A bootstrap and conditional DEA approach, with Castiglione, C., Infante, D., 10th European Workshop on Applied Cultural Economics (EWACE), University of Turin, September 8-10.

Completed PhDs:

Ni Luasa, S. 2020. An evaluation of technical efficiency in Irish nursing homes. Supervisors: Dr Marta Zieba and Declan Dineen, Internal examiner: Prof. Helena Lenihan, University of Limerick, External examiner: Prof. Tommaso Agasisti, Politecnico di Milano, School of Management. 

New Projects and International Links:

In June 2024, Mateusz Wojniak joined the EEPA research cluster as a PhD student at the University of Limerick. Mateusz will investigate the country-level efficiency and productivity of the Polish economy from an international perspective. His PhD thesis working title is ‘An evaluation of efficiency and productivity of the Polish economy 1995-2022. A panel data analysis within the OECD and CEEC countries framework, and across 16 NUTS-2 regions in Poland’.

In the academic year 2024/25, Dr Marta Zieba is visiting Prof. Christopher Parmeter at the Department of Economics, Miami Herbert Business School, University of Miami (UM), Coral Gables, FL, USA, to develop further research in efficiency and productivity analysis and establish important collaboration links for the EEPA cluster.

Other External Links:

Dr Concetta Castiglione, Department of Economics and Statistics and Finance, University of Calabria, Italy.

Professor Davide Infante, Department of Economics and Statistics and Finance, University of Calabria, Italy.

Professor William Addessi, Department of Economics and Business, University of Cagliari, Italy.

Professor Luis César Herrero-Prieto, University of Valladolid, Spain.

Professor Elzbieta Szymanska, SGGW, Warsaw University of Life Science.

Completed PhDs:

  • Ni Luasa, S. 2020. An evaluation of technical efficiency in Irish nursing homes. External examiner: Prof. Tommaso Agasisti, Politecnico di Milano, School of Management.

RELATED PROJECTS

International or other external links

  • Professor Elzbieta Szymanska, SGGW, Warsaw University of Life Science
  • Professor William Addessi, Department of Economics and Business, University of Cagliari, Italy.
  • Dr Concetta Castiglione, Department of Economics and Statistics and Finance, University of Calabria, Italy.
  • Professor Davide Infante, Department of Economics and Statistics and Finance, University of Calabria, Italy.
  • Professor Ana Rodriguez-Alvarez, Departamento de Economia. Oviedo University, Spain.
  • Professor Luis César Herrero-Prieto, University of Valladolid, Spain. 
  • Lael Buckham, Teagasc, Agriculture and Food Development Policy.