What Makes Students (In)Efficient? An Exploratory Econometric Inquiry into the Causes of (In)Efficiency in Academic Performance

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the existence of inefficiency within economics undergraduates and to identify factors that may account for it. Data Envelopment Analysis reveals that both 'pure' technical inefficiency and scale inefficiency exists. Tobit and logit regression show that students who do not live with their family, female students and those that appear more satisfied or motivated are better performers (efficiency-wise). The effect of these variables may be substantial; for example, students living with their parents may 'lose' up to 22 percentage points in the probability of being fully efficient; an only child may have a lower efficiency score of up to 14 percentage points.

Keywords: efficiency, educational economics, Data Envelopement Analysis (DEA), student performance

JEL Classification: I21, A22