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on Efficiency and Productivity |
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Issue of 2012‒05‒22
thirteen papers chosen by |
| By: | Boon L Lee (QUT) |
| Abstract: | This paper seeks to explain the lagging productivity in Singapore's manufacturing noted in the statements of the Economic Strategies Committee Report 2010. Two methods are employed: the Malmquist productivity to measure total factor productivity change and Simar and Wilson's (J Econ, 136:31–64, 2007) bootstrapped truncated regression approach. In the first stage, the nonparametric data envelopment analysis is used to measure technical efficiency. To quantify the economic drivers underlying inefficiencies, the second stage employs a bootstrapped truncated regression whereby bias-corrected efficiency estimates are regressed against explanatory variables. The findings reveal that growth in total factor productivity was attributed to efficiency change with no technical progress. Most industries were technically inefficient throughout the period except for 'Pharmaceutical Products'. Sources of efficiency were attributed to quality of worker and flexible work arrangements while incessant use of foreign workers lowered efficiency. |
| Keywords: | Bootstrap truncated regression; technical efficiency; data envelopment analysis; total-factor productivity; efficiency change; technical change; Malmquist productivity index; Singapore manufacturing |
| JEL: | C14 D24 L60 O14 O33 |
| Date: | 2012–05–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qut:dpaper:283&r=eff |
| By: | Ball, V. Eldon; San Juan, Carlos; Ulloa, Camilo |
| Keywords: | Agriculture, convergence, total factor productivity, Production Economics, Productivity Analysis, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea12:123334&r=eff |
| By: | Rogge, Nicky (Hogeschool-Universiteit Brussel (HUB), KULeuven); de Jaeger, Simon (Hogeschool-Universiteit Brussel (HUB), KULeuven) |
| Abstract: | This paper proposed an adjusted “shared-input” version of the popular efficiency measurement technique Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) that enables evaluating municipality waste collection and processing performances in settings in which one input (waste costs) is shared among treatment efforts of multiple municipal solid waste fractions. The main advantage of this version of DEA is that it not only provides an estimate of the municipalities overall efficiency but also estimates of the municipalities’ efficiency in the treatment of the different fractions of municipal solid waste (MSW). To illustrate the practical usefulness of the shared input DEA-model, we apply the model to data on 293 municipalities in Flanders, Belgium, for the year 2008. |
| Keywords: | Municipal solid waste, Cost efficiency, Data Envelopment Analysis |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hub:wpecon:201222&r=eff |
| By: | Carlos P. Barros; Qi B. Liang; Nicolas Peypoch |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes technical efficiency in Angolan banks from 2005 to 2010 with an innovative Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) model, the B-Convexity model. The intermediate approach is adopted and the results reveal that efficiency varies among the banks analyzed. Policy implications are derived. |
| Keywords: | Angola, banks, B-convexity, effciency |
| JEL: | G21 D24 |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cav:cavwpp:wp101&r=eff |
| By: | Carlos P. Barros; Ade Ibiwoye |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes unobserved managerial ability as factors affecting the performance of a representative sample of Nigerian airports by means of frontier models. The Alvarez, Arias and Greene (2004) frontier model is used. These airports are ranked according to their technical efficiency during the period 2003-2010 and homogenous and heterogeneous variables are disentangled in the cost function, which leads us to advise the implementation of common policies as well as policies by segments. Economic implications arising from the study are also considered. |
| Keywords: | Nigeria; airports; stochastic frontier models and unobserved managerial ability |
| JEL: | L50 L33 L33 C23 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cav:cavwpp:wp106&r=eff |
| By: | Boon L Lee (QUT); Andrew Worthington (GU) |
| Abstract: | This note examines the productive efficiency of 62 starting guards during the 2011/12 National Basketball Association (NBA) season. This period coincides with the phenomenal and largely unanticipated performance of New York Knicks’ starting point guard Jeremy Lin and the attendant public and media hype known as Linsanity. We employ a data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach that includes allowance for an undesirable output, here turnovers per game, with the desirable outputs of points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks per game and an input of minutes per game. The results indicate that depending upon the specification, between 29 and 42 percent of NBA guards are fully efficient, including Jeremy Lin, with a mean inefficiency of 3.7 and 19.2 percent. However, while Jeremy Lin is technically efficient, he seldom serves as a benchmark for inefficient players, at least when compared with established players such as Chris Paul and Dwayne Wade. This suggests the uniqueness of Jeremy Lin's productive solution and may explain why his unique style of play, encompassing individual brilliance, unselfish play, and team leadership, is of such broad public appeal. |
| Keywords: | Data envelopment analysis, technical efficiency, basketball players |
| JEL: | D19 C61 M59 |
| Date: | 2012–05–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qut:dpaper:282&r=eff |
| By: | Bronwyn H. Hall; Francesca Lotti; Jacques Mairesse |
| Abstract: | Both Research and Development (R&D) and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) investment have been identified as sources of relative innovation underperformance in Europe vis-à-vis the United States. In this paper we investigate R&D and ICT investment at the firm level in an effort to assess their relative importance and to what extent they are complements or substitutes. We use data on a large unbalanced panel data sample of Italian manufacturing firms constructed from four consecutive waves of a survey of manufacturing firms, together with a version of the CDM model (Crepon et al., 1998) that has been modified to include ICT investment and R&D as the two main inputs into innovation and productivity. We find that R&D and ICT are both strongly associated with innovation and productivity, with R&D being more important for innovation, and ICT investment being more important for productivity. For the median firm, rates of return to both investments are so high that they suggest considerably underinvestment in both these activities. |
| JEL: | L60 O31 O33 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18053&r=eff |
| By: | Horácio C. Faustino; Joana C. Lima; Pedro Verga Matos |
| Abstract: | This study examines the evolution of Portuguese exports to Spain and its determinants in the period 2004-2008, based on a sample of the 97 largest exporters to Spain. The econometric study, using panel data and a static and dynamic analysis, considers as theoretically relevant explanatory variables productivity, equity capital, remuneration and innovation measured by the expenditure on research and development (R&D). The static results of the estimated models confirm the positive influence of productivity and equity capital on the variation of exports, and the negative effect of the labour costs. The variable R&D is statistically significant, with a positive effect on Portuguese exports in the dynamic model. The dynamic estimations also suggest that the exports in the previous period have a positive effect on contemporaneous exports. |
| Keywords: | Exports. Innovation. Panel data. Productivity. Portugal. Spain JEL Classification: C33. F14. L25 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ise:isegwp:wp132012&r=eff |
| By: | Cappellari, Lorenzo (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore); Dell'Aringa, Carlo (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore); Leonardi, Marco (University of Milan) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the effects of two reforms of temporary employment using panel data on Italian firms. We exploit variation in their implementation across regions and sectors for identification. Our results show that the reform of apprenticeship contracts increased job turnover and induced the substitution of external staff with firms' apprentices, with an overall productivity-enhancing effect. The reform of fixed-term contracts instead did not produce the intended results: it induced a substitution of temporary employees in favour of external staff and reduced capital intensity, generating productivity losses. We estimate substitution elasticities across various types of temporary contracts that are consistent with this interpretation. |
| Keywords: | employment contracts, productivity, institutional changes |
| JEL: | J24 J41 |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6526&r=eff |
| By: | Czarnitzki, Dirk; Thorwarth, Susanne |
| Abstract: | R&D encompasses plenty of activities which are usually summarized under the terms of basic research, applied research and development. Although basic research is often associated with low appropriability it provides the fundamental basis for subsequent applied research and development. Especially in the high-tech sector basic research capabilities are an essential component for a firm's success. We use firm-level panel data stemming from Belgian R&D surveys and apply a production function approach which shows that basic research exhibits a premium on a firm's output when compared to applied research and development. When we split the sample into high-tech and low-tech companies, we find a large premium of basic research for firms in high-tech industries, but no premium in low-tech sectors. -- |
| Keywords: | Basic Research,R&D,Production Function Estimation |
| JEL: | L23 O30 O33 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:12027&r=eff |
| By: | Carlos P. Barros; Guglielmo M. Caporale |
| Abstract: | This study examines the Nigerian banking consolidation process using a dynamic panel for the period 2000-2010. The Arellano and Bond (1991) dynamic GMM approach is adopted to estimate a cost function taking into account the possible endogeneity of the covariates. The main finding is that the Nigerian banking sector has benefited from the consolidation process, and specifically that foreign ownership, mergers and acquisitions and bank size decrease costs. Directions for future research are also discussed. |
| Keywords: | Nigeria, banking consolidation, dynamic panels |
| JEL: | G21 C23 O55 |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cav:cavwpp:wp99&r=eff |
| By: | Dal Borgo, Mariela (University of Warwick); Goodridge, Peter (Imperial College Business School); Pesole, Annarosa (Imperial College Business School) |
| Abstract: | This paper tries to calculate some facts for the “knowledge economy”. Building on the work of Corrado, Hulten and Sichel (CHS, 2005,9), using new data sets and a new micro survey, we (1) document UK intangible investment and (2) see how it contributes to economic growth. Regarding investment in knowledge/intangibles, we find (a) this is now greater than tangible investment at, in 2008, £141bn and £104bn respectively; (b) that R&D is about 11% of total intangible investment, software 15%, design 17%, and training and organizational capital 22%; (d) the most intangible-intensive industry is manufacturing (intangible investment is 20% of value added) and (e) treating intangible expenditure as investment raises market sector value added growth in the 1990s due to the ICT investment boom, but slightly reduces it in the 2000s. Regarding the contribution to growth, for 2000-08, (a) intangible capital deepening accounts for 23% of labour productivity growth, against computer hardware (12%) and TFP (40%); (b) adding intangibles to growth accounting lowers TFP growth by about 15% (c) capitalising R&D adds 0.03% to input growth and reduces lnTFP by 0.03% and (d) manufacturing accounts for just over 40% of intangible capital deepening plus TFP |
| Keywords: | : innovation, productivity growth |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cge:warwcg:87&r=eff |
| By: | Davutyan, Nurhan; Bilsel, Murat; Tarcan, Menderes |
| Abstract: | Abstract: We analyze the operational performance of 330 Turkish provincial general hospitals. To help improve performance on both input and output space, we adopt a directional distance approach. We treat a mortality based variable as “bad output”. Congested hospitals are those for whom the switch from strong to weak disposability of mortality is costly. Thus we are able to address the “quality or adequacy of care” issue. We identify congested hospitals using 3 different direction vectors and derive the associated congestion inefficiency scores. For each case, we show these scores are negatively related to patient satisfaction. We separate congested hospitals into two groups: (i) those requiring uniform sacrifice of good outputs and/or extra inputs in order to reduce mortality, and (ii) those that do not. The latter ones free up some inputs in addition to requiring extra amounts of other inputs and/or produce more of some outputs but less of others as the price of reducing mortality. The first group can be said to operate at “capacity” whereas the latter can be said to display “negative marginal productivity”. Patient dissatisfaction is demonstrably higher in the latter group of hospitals, whereas mortality reduction is positively related to patient satisfaction in “capacity constrained” hospitals. The first group is more likely to be located in emigrating whereas the second one in immigrating regions. |
| Keywords: | Directional distance; bad outputs; hospital quality |
| JEL: | D21 I11 |
| Date: | 2012–03–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:37437&r=eff |