This book aims to provide a systematic and comprehensive treatment of recent developments in efficiency analysis in order to overcome these drawbacks. In Part I of the book (Methodology), we introduce a complete set of tools for measuring the efficiency of firms and for explaining the observed efficiency differentials. In Part II of the book (Applications), we propose three empirical illustrations taken from different economic fields: scientific research, mutual funds industry and the insurance sector. This book has been specifically designed for applied economists who have an interest in the advantages of traditional nonparametric methods (DEA/FDH) for efficiency analysis, but are sceptical about adopting them because of the drawbacks they present. They will find a complete and up to date presentation of the advances made in nonparametric frontier analysis able to overcome most of the drawbacks of traditional methods.

We intend to edit a Festschrift for Henk Moed combining a "best of" collection of his papers and new contributions (original research papers) by authors having worked and collaborated with him. The outcome of this original combination aims to provide an overview of the advancement of the field in the intersection of bibliometrics, informetrics, science studies and research assessment.

Providing a systematic and comprehensive treatment of recent developments in efficiency analysis, this book makes available an intuitive yet rigorous presentation of advanced nonparametric and robust methods, with applications for the analysis of economies of scale and scope, trade-offs in production and service activities, and explanations of efficiency differentials.

Although the role of universities in the knowledge society is increasingly significant, there remains a severe lack of systematic quantitative evidence at the micro-level, with virtually all policy discussion based on country level statistics or case studies. This book redresses the balance by examining original data from universities in six European countries - Italy, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and the UK. The authors provide micro-based evidence on the evolution of the strategic profile of universities in terms of scientific research, contract research, education and the third mission. The result is a highly innovative book that combines detailed national case studies and comparative institutional analyses with state-of-the-art quantitative techniques. Applying for the first time new generations of nonparametric efficiency measures on a large scale, Universities and Strategic Knowledge Creation will be of great interest to researchers and postgraduate students in higher education, economics of science and technology, and innovation studies. It will also appeal to policymakers and administrators in governments, ministries and universities.