Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0 Series: Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers Creation-Date: 2013-08-01 Number: 13-104/VIII Author-Name: Karima Kourtit Author-Workplace-Name: VU University Amsterdam Author-Name: Peter Nijkamp Author-Workplace-Name: VU University Amsterdam Author-Name: Soushi Suzuki Author-Workplace-Name: Hokkai-Gakuen University, Sapporo, Japan Title: The Rat Race between World Cities: In Search of Exceptional Places by Means of Super-Efficient Data Development Analysis Abstract: See the article in Computers Environment and Urban Systems (2013). Volume 38, pages 67-77.

This paper aims to provide a new methodological and empirical contribution to the rising literature on the relative performance and benchmarking of large cities in a competitive world. On the basis of a recent detailed database on many achievement criteria of 35 major cities in the world, it seeks to arrive at a relative performance ranking of these cities by using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). A novel element is the use of a new type of ‘Super-Efficiency DEA’ to identify unambiguously the high performers ('exceptional places’) in the group of world cities investigated. This new productivity-based approach is complemented with two new directions in DEA research, viz. a Distance Friction Method and a Context-Dependent method. Classification-JEL: C8, O1 Keywords: world cities; city performance; Data Envelopment Analysis File-Url: https://papers.tinbergen.nl/13104.pdf File-Format: application/pdf File-Size: 519900 bytes Handle: RePEc:tin:wpaper:20130104