The answer is in your code....

The first is faster because the code is direct, absolute...

The second requires much more intrepretation, compiling plus use of quotes is creating literals of...

Andy,

Of course one of the best answer would be to add print statements, but in reality no better of an answer than checking your test data or verifying your program...

IF you are wanting to assign a variable,

use SET. It is 3x more efficient even on multiple variable assignment.

SELECT is a SQL command performing other task not necessary...