In
this paper we analyze differences in efficiency among Norwegian day care
centers. The data consist of information from a sample of 1111 full time
centers in 1998, from both urban and rural areas. The main issue in the
analysis is to explore whether or not there are systematic differences in
efficiency between privately and publicly operated centers. Both a parametric
cost function analysis and a (non-parametric) data envelopment analysis (DEA)
of a production frontier are carried out. The main conclusion of the study is that
privately operated day care centers are more efficient than publicly operated
ones. This finding is independent of the methodological approach employed. The paper is written in Norwegian.
