An Input-Oriented Radial Measure for Returns to Scale Aggregation

In production theory, it is necessary to be capable of predicting the production function’s long-run behaviors. Hereof, returns to scale is a helpful concept. Returns to scale describes the reaction of a production function to the proportionally scaling all its input variables. In this regard, Data envelopment analysis (DEA) provides a com- prehensive framework for returns to scale evaluation. A sequence of attempts has been made on the subject of returns to scale in DEA literature which cause DEA to be expanded to widespread applications. Centralization of carried out studies in firm level, on one hand, and the importance of economical interoperation in performance analysis in industry level, on the other hand, were the main motivation to start a new range of studies around identifying the return to scale in industry level. This paper collaborates interesting relations between firms and industry technology with performance analysis techniques to extract a relation between returns to scale status of firms and system-wide unit based on the reference set method.