ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the degree of technical efficiency of informal production units and its determining factors in the case of the agglomeration of Antananarivo in Madagascar. This method, which is part of the recent progress in techniques for measuring efficiency, attempts to work around the problems which arise when using more habitual methods such as the Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) and the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). The chapter highlights the importance of the contribution made by the quantile regression method in the estimation of the degree of efficiency of a production unit, and the different types of analysis have been carried out. By mobilizing the same resources it would be possible to reach a production level three times superior to the one currently attained. In the 'manufacturing' branch, strategies must especially focus on the improvement of human capital such as professional training about production techniques.
