Revealing the Dual Dynamics: Transient and Persistent Efficiencies of the Indonesian Provincial Economies

Weexamine the decomposition of technical efficiency components into transient and persistent horizons applied to the 33 provincial economies in Indonesia. Focusing on the post-decentralization era in 2002–2022, we employ Stochastic Frontier Analysis to gauge efficiency dynamics for time-variant and time-invariant evolution. We reveal that the persistent inefficiencies outweigh transient ones, implying the persistent inefficient behavior of Indonesian provinces. We also capture that East Nusa Tenggara and several provinces in Eastern Indonesia show the most lagged-behind in terms of persistent inefficiency severity, suggesting necessity of structural changes through more strategic and specific development models beyond mere heterogeneous input reallocation.