Performance evaluation of public services with nonparametric frontiers

This doctoral thesis addresses the topic of performance evaluation of public services. The main research enquiry addressed in this thesis is: "How can we use the results of nonparametric frontier analysis of public services to help policy makers make data-driven decisions?". This question will be addressed by analysing three public services: university research and educational services, waste collection service and electricity and natural gas supply services. To answer this question, innovative state-of-the-art nonparametric frontier techniques will be applied, original databases created by integrating different sources will be used and decision support frameworks will be proposed and used in a policy data-driven perspective.