The format of this monograph is three essays, which we arrived at after spending a year writing over one hundred pages of what we even tually realized was a tedious reworking of old material. So we started over determined to write something new. At first we thought this approach might not work as a coherent mono graph, which is why we chose the essay format rather than chapters. As it turns out, there is a common thread namely the directional distance function, which also gave us our title. As you shall see, the directional distance function includes traditional distance functions and...

Our intention with this book is to extend the efficiency literature to the case of intertemporal models. We do this in steps. First, we introduce static network models which will serve as building blocks for our intertemporal budgeting models and our dynamic models. Next, we devote two chapters to productivity measurements, which we think of as comparative static models. Intertemporal budgeting models and dynamic models are taken up after that. Each chapter, except Chapter One, contains an empirical applica tion. These applications are coauthored with colleagues and stu dents; thanks are due...