FEAR:  Frontier Efficiency Analysis with R

Paul W. Wilson

The John E. Walker Department of Economics
222 Sirrine Hall
Clemson University
Clemson, South Carolina  29634  USA

FEAR consists of a software library that can be linked to the general-purpose statistical package R.  The routines included in FEAR allow the user to compute DEA estimates of technical, allocative, and overall efficiency while assuming either variable, non-increasing, or constant returns to scale.  The routines are highly flexible, allowing measurement of efficiency of one group of observations relative to a technology defined by a second, reference group of observations.  Consequently, the routines can be used to compute estimates of Malmquist indices, scale efficiency measures, super-efficiency scores, and other measures that might be of interest.

Before using FEAR, one must download and install R.  The R installation program and documentation for R can be found at the R website.  R is distributed under the GNU General Public License Version 2, June 1991.

 FEAR is distributed under the license that appears in the file named "COPYING" that is part of the FEAR package; click here to see the license before downloading the software or documentation.  Downloading the FEAR software or documentation constitutes acceptance of the terms and conditions in the license.

The current version of FEAR is 1.12  (24 February 2009). Click on the links below to download:

• the FEAR 1.12 package (FEAR.zip)

• FEAR 1.12 User's Guide (pdf)

• FEAR 1.12 Command Reference (pdf)

Click on the links below to download:

• a short paper introducing FEAR (pdf | ps)

Many thanks to all who have suggested changes, etc.!

The change log gives a list of changes made from one version to the next.

Older versions (version 0913 and earlier are incompatible with R version 2.4.0 and later):

• Version 1.11

  • the FEAR 1.11 package (FEAR.zip)

  • FEAR 1.11 User's Guide (pdf | ps)

  • FEAR 1.11 Command Reference (pdf | ps)

• Version 1.1

  • the FEAR 1.1 package (FEAR.zip)

  • FEAR 1.1 User's Guide (pdf | ps)

  • FEAR 1.1 Command Reference (pdf | ps)

• Version 1.0

  • the FEAR 1.0 package (FEAR.zip)

  • FEAR 1.0 User's Guide (pdf | ps)

  • FEAR 1.0 Command Reference (pdf | ps)

• Version 0.913

  • the FEAR 0.913 package (FEAR.zip)

  • FEAR 0.913 User's Guide (pdf | ps)

  • FEAR 0.913 Command Reference (pdf | ps)

• Version 0.912

  • the FEAR 0.912 package (FEAR.zip)

  • FEAR 0.912 User's Guide (pdf | ps)

  • FEAR 0.912 Command Reference (pdf | ps)

• Version 0.911

  • the FEAR 0.911 package (FEAR.zip)

  • FEAR 0.911 User's Guide (pdf | ps)

  • FEAR 0.911 Command Reference (pdf | ps)

• Version 0.91

  • the FEAR 0.91 package (FEAR.zip)

  • FEAR 0.91 User's Guide (pdf | ps)

  • FEAR 0.91 Command Reference (pdf | ps)

• Version 0.9

  • the FEAR 0.9 package (FEAR.zip)

  • FEAR 0.9 User's Guide (pdf | ps)

  • FEAR 0.9 Command Reference (pdf | ps)