Evaluating the comparative performance of technical and scale efficiencies in knowledge-based economies (KBEs) in ASEAN: a data envelopment analysis (DEA) application

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to measure the technical and scale efficiencies of KBEs in the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). DEA enables one to assess the efficiencies of firms, organizations, countries, and regions in converting inputs to outputs. For each country in each knowledge dimensions, the efficiency rating and a measure of returns to scale: increasing returns to scale (IRS), constant returns to scale (CRS) and decreasing returns to scale (DRS) are calculated. The two years 1995 and 2010 are considered to assess the cross-section performance of KBE dimensions. Data are collected from World Development Indicators (WDI), World Competitiveness Yearbook (WCY) and ASEAN publications. Indonesia in knowledge acquisition; Singapore, South Korea and Thailand in knowledge production; Singapore in knowledge distribution; the Philippines and S. Korea in knowledge utilization are the most productive and 100% efficient countries in either one or both of the years investigated. This is not the first study of its kind, although it is the first for ASEAN countries considering all KBE dimensions.