Estimating the multi-period efficiency of high-tech research institutes of the Chinese Academy of Sciences: A dynamic slacks-based measure

Abstract

Although a large amount of past research has studied the measurement of institutional research and development (R&D) efficiency, there has been limited dynamic empirical investigation of this topic. This study differs from previous studies in its consideration of R&D capital stock, which is defined as a carry-over activity between two consecutive periods. To further test high-tech institutes’ R&D performance in the pre-reform and post-reform periods, we evaluate a panel of 29 high-tech institutes of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) for 2011–2017 with a dynamic slacks-based measure. (a) The empirical value of the average overall efficiency is 0.5559, and the clustering analysis shows that institutes operating above the average overall efficiency level follow an increasing and then decreasing trend, while those operating below the average overall efficiency level follow a decreasing and then increasing trend. (b) The efficiency of low-performing institutes has increased from 0.2259 in the pre-reform period to 0.2727 in the post-reform period, which does not reflect the efficiency improvements of high-performing institutes. (c) High-tech institutes selected as pilot institutes have an average efficiency level of 0.6524, which is higher than that of non-pilot institutes (0.4765), indicating the benchmarking effect of pilots. (d) The types of pilot institutes can be ordered as follows: feature institutes > centres of excellence > innovative academies. (e) The total-factor input efficiency level has decreased in the post-reform period. Only the total-factor efficiency of high-quality papers has increased in the post-reform period (by 0.0094).