Managerial and Policy Efficiency Evaluation of Public-Funded Performing Arts: The Case of Opera Houses

Abstract Exploring sources of inefficiency is an important issue for opera houses that are publicly regulated and run chiefly via public funding. Using data from German and Italian opera houses, in this article we use an approach based on data envelopment analysis (DEA) methodology to evaluate internal managerial efficiency and efficiency ascribable to the environment in which opera houses work. Further, we investigate productivity growth by building a convenient decomposition of the Malmquist index. The approach adopted could support managers of cultural organizations and cultural policy makers in discerning sources of inefficiency.