Data envelopment analysis: a non mathematical introduction

Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is a Linear Programming based technique for the analysis of efficiency of organisations with multiple inputs and outputs. DEA may not achieve its full potential due to the mathematical language in which most papers and books have been written. This paper attempts to explain in a non-mathematical way the principles on which DEA is based. Concepts, definitions and methodological issues are explored by means of a hypothetical example involving prison establishment