Resource Configuration Efficiency and Influencing Factors of Elderly Care Services Based on a Data-Driven DEA-Tobit Approach

Abstract

Efficient resource configuration is critical to providing sustainable aged care services. Empirical studies are conducted with a two-stage data-driven method of DEA-Tobit. First, the BCC model of data envelopment analysis is employed, to determine whether the values obtained from the three efficiency aspects (namely technical, pure technical, and scale) are situated in the frontiers of production, whether DEA is effective, and whether the problems of uneconomical scale or low technical level are available. Next, the causes of these problems are analyzed. Then, the regression analysis is performed using Tobit with the influencing factors including GDP, the number of institutions engaged in elderly care, the number of day service centers in the communities, the number of medical service institutions for the elderly, and the density of the elderly population. Known as a city with a severely aging population, Shanghai will be selected for a case study to propose countermeasures from the three dimensions of the elderly group, the elderly care industry, and the market environment.