Is there a prison size dilemma?: an empirical analysis of output-specific economies of scale

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Hennebel, Veerle, Simper, Richard and Verschelde, Marijn (2017) Is there a prison size dilemma?: an empirical analysis of output-specific economies of scale. European Journal of Operational Research, 262 (1). pp. 306-321. ISSN 0377-2217

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Abstract

We advocate a nonparametric multi-output framework to estimate output specific economies of scale and we apply this model to male prisons in England and Wales over the sample period 2009-2012. To estimate output-specific returns to scale in prisons, we consider not only the cost-per-place, but also qualitative outputs such as purposeful out-of-cell activity and successful reintegration. Furthermore, we introduce environmental heterogeneity using the characteristics of the prison(ers). England and Wales offers a unique example to study economies of scale in prisons as the UK has started to build new super-size prisons in order to replace the most outdated prisons.

Item Type: Article
Keywords: Data envelopment analysis, Economies of scale, Multi-output production, UK penology
Schools/Departments: University of Nottingham, UK > Faculty of Social Sciences > Nottingham University Business School
Identification Number: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2017.03.055
Depositing User: Howis, Jennifer
Date Deposited: 22 Mar 2017 11:32
Last Modified: 27 Mar 2019 04:30
URI: https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/id/eprint/41423

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