Carla Alexandra Filipe Amado

Type of the article: Research ArticleAbstract Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are increasingly popular transactions in financial markets, often seen as a faster and safer way to achieve growth and create value. However, research focusing exclusively on the insurance industry remains limited. This research article aims to synthesize the characteristics of existing studies, describe the methods and variables used, present the results regarding the impact on the value and performance of the companies involved, identify the main determinants of this impact, and finally, highlight the main gaps and directions for future research. Studies published up to 2025 were collected from the Web of Science and Scopus databases, resulting in a final sample of 28 articles. The analysis shows that the Journal of Banking & Finance, Journal of Risk and Insurance, and Journal of Risk Finance are the leading publication outlets, with J. David Cummins emerging as the most influential author. Publication peaks occurred in 2008 and 2011, although no sustained upward trend was observed. Most studies focus on non-life insurers and use U.S. data. Methodologically, event studies and DEA models dominate the literature, focusing respectively on shareholder value creation and firm efficiency. Findings remain mixed, since M&A transactions are theoretically expected to create value, yet empirical evidence shows considerable variation across contexts. Identified determinants of M&A performance include company size, prior M&A experience, geographic or sectoral diversification, payment method, ownership and business type, governance, and human resources.

Life expectancy is typically shorter in areas with higher deprivation, highlighting the need for policymakers and health care managers to focus on reducing health inequalities through efficient and effective care. This study aims to assess the impact of deprivation on primary health care performance using data from the National Health Service (NHS) in England. Two methods are applied: Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to evaluate the performance of 188 Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), whose duties were recently taken on by the new Integrated Care Systems (ICSs), and the Malmquist Index (MI) to assess deprivation’s effect on performance. The DEA results reveal significant variation among CCGs in equity, efficiency, and effectiveness, indicating substantial room for improvement. The MI results show that while CCGs in more deprived areas had more resources per capita and higher efficiency, they were generally less effective than those in less deprived areas. This emphasizes the need to enhance health and social policies to address persistent health inequalities due to deprivation, a critical challenge for the new ICSs. This study illustrates how DEA and the MI can support policymakers and managers in this effort.

This study explores the use of data envelopment analysis (DEA) for the formative evaluation of senior high schools (SHS) in Ghana and investigates how the DEA results can help improve their performance. By assessing the relative performance of 215 public SHS across five regions (Greater Accra Region, Ashanti Region, Central Region, Upper West Region, and Upper East Region), the study contributes to the broader discourse on knowledge-based economies by demonstrating how data-driven insights can optimize resource allocation and improve human capital development. The schools are classified into groups A, B, and C based on students’ entrance examination scores, and a hierarchical categorization DEA procedure is applied to assess them across three dimensions: resource efficiency, resource effectiveness, and effectiveness. This study highlights the crucial role of knowledge creation, diffusion, and application in education management by fostering deep engagement with decision-makers, ensuring the acceptance of DEA results, and promoting continuous improvement in institutional performance. The findings reveal significant disparities in school efficiency and effectiveness, underscoring the need for structured knowledge-sharing mechanisms. To support sustained performance improvement and better resource utilization, we propose the establishment of an educational performance observatory. This initiative would function as a platform for knowledge diffusion, enabling underperforming schools to benchmark against high-performing institutions, thus reinforcing the foundational role of knowledge exchange in strengthening educational systems and, by extension, the knowledge economy.

Organ transplant is one of the best options for many medical conditions, and in many cases, it may be the only treatment option. Recent evidence suggests, however, that the COVID-19 pandemic might have detrimentally affected the provision of this type of healthcare services. The main purpose of this article is to use Data Envelopment Analysis and the Malmquist Index to assess the impact that the pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 had on the provision of solid organ transplant services. To this purpose, we use three complementary models, each focusing on specific aspects of the organ donation and transplantation process, and data from Brazil, which has one of the most extensive public organ transplant programs in the world. Using data from 17 States plus the Federal District, the results of our analysis show a significant drop in the performance of the services in terms of the organ donation and transplantation process from 2018 to 2020, but the results also indicate that not all aspects of the process and States were equally affected. Furthermore, by using different models, this research also allows us to gain a more comprehensive and informative assessment of the performance of the States in delivering this type of service and identify opportunities for reciprocal learning, expanding our knowledge on this important issue and offering opportunities for further research.

Primary Health Care (PHC) is intended to provide a comprehensive response to the patients’ health needs. Considering the increasing demand to optimise the use of the available resources while keeping a high-quality standard, it is essential to investigate the health services’ performance. We propose a methodology based on the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) technique, examining the volume of activities performed and considering the impact of these activities by using a quality indicator directly related to care outcomes. To perform a longitudinal analysis and observe the changes in quality separately, a Quality-Adjusted Malmquist Productivity Index is implemented. The methodology is illustrated by analysing the performance and the evolution in productivity and quality of the primary care services delivered by the municipalities of the Brazilian state of Santa Catarina from 2008 to 2014. Our findings reinforce the view that adequate planning and structuring of PHC services must consider not only the volume of activity but also the impact of the services delivered.