Title: Measuring the Efficiency of Public Forestry Organizations
Abstract: Abstract The decreasing budgets of public forestry organizations have given rise to the present need to evaluate their efficiency and to find means to improve it. In this paper the efficiency of 19 state-funded, regional Forestry Boards is investigated using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). In addition, the prime determinants of efficiency are examined using Tobit models. The results indicate a substantial variation in efficiency across Forestry Boards with a potential for input saving in the range of 20%. It seems that, of the controllable factors, management style and support are associated with efficiency. It appears also that applying DEA with Tobit models provides a useful two-stage approach to assess and explain efficiency differences among public forestry organizations. For. Sci. 44(2):298-307.