What is the difference between efficacy and efficiency?

Well, efficacy is whether it works or not... whether it has that capacity. Efficiency is not whether it works, but how well it works... how quickly, how many people have to be involved, etc. If you cut down the amount of time it takes or the amount of workers it takes, then you are improving efficiency.

Here are the links for the words on dictionary.com if you would like to investigate further:

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/efficacy

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/efficiency

First answer by Zanbabe. Last edit by Lmsdv. Contributor trust: 17 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 15 [recommend question]

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