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on Efficiency and Productivity |
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Issue of 2013‒03‒02
ten papers chosen by |
| By: | Laurens Cherchye; Bram De Rock; Barnabé Walheer |
| Keywords: | DEA; allocation efficiency; cost inefficiency; environment; CO2 emissions; electric utilities |
| Date: | 2013–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eca:wpaper:2013/141151&r=eff |
| By: | Joachim Wagner (Leuphana University Lueneburg, Germany) |
| Abstract: | A stylized fact from the emerging literature on the micro-econometrics of international trade and a central implication of the heterogeneous firm models from the new new trade theory is that exporters are more productive than non-exporters. It is argued that this exporter productivity premium is due to extra cost of exporting that can be covered profitably by more productive firms only. Germany is a case in point - exporting firms from manufacturing industries are more productive than non-exporting firms from the same 4-digit industry both on average and over the whole productivity distribution. However, many firms from the lower end of this distribution are exporters. This paper report that these low-productivity exporters are not marginal exporters defined according to the share of exports in total sales, or export participation over time, or the number of goods exported, or the number of countries exported to. |
| Keywords: | Exports, productivity, low-productive exporters |
| JEL: | F14 |
| Date: | 2013–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lue:wpaper:263&r=eff |
| By: | Massimo Filippini (Centre for Energy Policy and Economics (cepe), ETH Zurich and Department of Economics, University of Lugano, Switzerland.); Lester C Hunt (Surrey Energy Economics Centre (SEEC), University of Surrey, UK.); Jelena Zoric (Centre for Energy Policy and Economics (CEPE), ETH Zurich, Switzerland, and Faculty of Economics, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia.) |
| Abstract: | The promotion of energy efficiency is seen as one of the top priorities of EU energy policy (EC, 2010). In order to design and implement effective energy policy instruments, it is necessary to have information on energy demand price and income elasticities in addition to sound indicators of energy efficiency. This research combines the approaches taken in energy demand modelling and frontier analysis in order to econometrically estimate the level of energy efficiency for the residential sector in the EU-27 member states for the period 1996 to 2009. The estimates for the energy efficiency confirm that the EU residential sector indeed holds a relatively high potential for energy savings from reduced inefficiency. Therefore, despite the common objective to decrease ‘wasteful’ energy consumption, considerable variation in energy efficiency between the EU member states is established, implying that not all countries have been successful in achieving such energy savings. Furthermore, an attempt is made to evaluate the impact of energy-efficiency measures undertaken in the EU residential sector by introducing an additional set of variables into the model and the results suggest that financial incentives and energy performance standards play an important role in promoting energy efficiency improvements, whereas informative measures do not have a significant impact. |
| Keywords: | energy efficiency, residential energy demand, stochastic frontier analysis, policy measures. |
| JEL: | C33 C54 Q41 Q48 |
| Date: | 2013–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sur:seedps:139&r=eff |
| By: | Bos, Nikita; Vonyó, Tamás |
| Abstract: | There has been disagreement on the popular notion of Britain’s relative economic decline vis-à-vis West Germany after 1950. While German scholars emphasised the role of the post-war output gap in German super-growth, the recent British literature crystallized around the manufacturing failure hypothesis of Broadberry and Crafts. This paper offers a comprehensive reassessment of the relative productivity performance of British and West German industry both before the outbreak of World War II and in the early post-war period. The war had an enormous impact on the Anglo-German productivity race. Relative to the UK, industrial value added per hour worked in West Germany had declined by a quarter between 1936 and 1951. In the 1950s, German super-growth can be explained entirely by this war-induced productivity gap. Britain’s relative decline in this period cannot be attributed to British manufacturing failure. If at any time during the post-war Golden Age, such failure can be observed in the 1960s. |
| Date: | 2013–02–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ner:lselon:http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/48591/&r=eff |
| By: | Ho Fai Chan; Bruno S. Frey; Jana Gallus; Benno Torgler |
| Abstract: | Despite the social importance of awards, they have been largely disregarded by academic research in economics. This paper investigates whether a specific, yet important, award in economics, the John Bates Clark Medal, raises recipients’ subsequent research activity and status compared to a synthetic control group of nonrecipient scholars with similar previous research performance. We find evidence of positive incentive and status effects that raise both productivity and citation levels. |
| Keywords: | Awards, incentives, research, John Bates Clark Medal, synthetic control method |
| JEL: | A13 C23 M52 |
| Date: | 2013–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zur:econwp:111&r=eff |
| By: | Croppenstedt, Andre; Goldstein, Markus; Rosas, Nina |
| Abstract: | Women make essential contributions to agriculture in developing countries, where they constitute approximately 43 percent of the agricultural labor force. However, female farmers typically have lower output per unit of land and are much less likely to be active in commercial farming than their male counterparts. These gender differences in land productivity and participation between male and female farmers are due to gender differences in access to inputs, resources, and services. In this paper, the authors review the evidence on productivity differences and access to resources. They discuss some of the reasons for these differences, such as differences in property rights, education, control over resources (e.g., land), access to inputs and services (e.g., fertilizer, extension, and credit), and social norms. Although women are less active in commercial farming and are largely excluded from contract farming, they often provide the bulk of wage labor in the nontraditional export sector. In general, gender gaps do not appear to fall systematically with growth, and they appear to rise with GDP per capita and with greater access to resources and inputs. Active policies that support women's access and participation, not just greater overall access, are essential if these gaps are to be closed. The gains in terms of greater productivity of land and overall production are likely to be large. |
| Keywords: | Rural Development Knowledge&Information Systems,Gender and Health,Gender and Law,Gender and Development,Anthropology |
| Date: | 2013–02–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6370&r=eff |
| By: | Dirk Schoenmaker (Duisenberg School of Finance); Arjen Siegmann (VU University Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | An anticipated benefit of the prospective European Banking Union is stronger supervision of European banks. Another benefit would be enhanced resolution of banks in distress. While national governments confine themselves to the domestic effects of a banking failure, a European Resolution Authority would follow a supranational approach, under which domestic and cross-border effects within Europe are incorporated. Using a model of recapitalising banks, this paper develops indicators to measure the efficiency improvement of resolution. Next, these efficiency indicators are applied to the hypothetical resolution of the top 25 European banks, which count for the vast majority of cross-border banking in Europe. Our cost-benefit analysis indicates that the UK, Spain, Sweden, and the Netherlands are the main beneficiaries and thus have the largest economic incentives to join Europe’s Banking Union. |
| Keywords: | F33; G01; G28; H41 |
| Date: | 2013–02–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:uvatin:20130026&r=eff |
| By: | J. Carlos Matallín-Sáez (Department of Finance and Accounting, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón, Spain); Amparo Soler-Domínguez (Department of Finance and Accounting, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón, Spain); Emili Tortosa-Ausina (Department of Economics, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón, Spain) |
| Abstract: | While it has been long recognized that active management represents an important issue related to mutual fund performance, little has been agreed about the value added by managers from their abilities point of view. This study attempts to explore both fund and manager characteristics in order to understand their influence on the efficiency achieved for a sample of Spanish mutual funds. We explore these issues in a two-stage approach, considering partial frontier estimators (order-m and order-) to assess performance in the first stage, and regression quantiles for isolating the determinants of efficiency in the second stage. Our findings shed light mainly on investors’ concerns because differences among both funds and managers do actually arise. Our analysis provides some arguments as a guide for selecting both funds as well as some managerial features. In addition, some of the performance differences found among funds are rather intricate because both the magnitude of the estimated regression coefficients and their significance vary depending on the quantile of the distribution of funds’ performance. |
| Keywords: | Procedural mutual funds, performance, quantile regression |
| JEL: | F15 F21 F36 Z13 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jau:wpaper:2013/01&r=eff |
| By: | Martin Wörter (KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich, Switzerland); Tobias Stucki (KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich, Switzerland); Christian Soltmann (Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property, Switzerland) |
| Abstract: | While recent literature has focused on explaining the determinants of green innovations, it is not well understood how such innovations affect performance. To analyse the relationship between green innovation and performance, new industry-level panel data were exploited: these include 12 OECD countries, the whole manufacturing sector and a period of 30 years. The results show that green inventions are U-shape related to performance. However, the turning point is quite high and hence only relevant for a few industries. This indicates that - given the current level of green promotion - market incentives alone are not sufficient to allow the green invention activities of industries to rise considerably. |
| Keywords: | Innovation, R&D, patents, environment, technological change, performance |
| JEL: | O30 O34 Q55 |
| Date: | 2013–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kof:wpskof:13-330&r=eff |
| By: | Jackie Krafft (GREDEG - Groupe de Recherche en Droit, Economie et Gestion - CNRS : UMR7321 - Université Nice Sophia Antipolis (UNS)); Yiping Qu (GREDEG - Groupe de Recherche en Droit, Economie et Gestion - CNRS : UMR7321 - Université Nice Sophia Antipolis (UNS)); Francesco Quatraro (GREDEG - Groupe de Recherche en Droit, Economie et Gestion - CNRS : UMR7321 - Université Nice Sophia Antipolis (UNS)); Jacques-Laurent Ravix (GREDEG - Groupe de Recherche en Droit, Economie et Gestion - CNRS : UMR7321 - Université Nice Sophia Antipolis (UNS)) |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to revisit the link between corporate governance, value, and firm performance by focusing on convergence, understood as the way that non-US firms are adopting US best practice in terms of corporate governance, and the implications of this adoption. We examine theoretical questions related to conventional models (agency theory, transaction cost economics, new property rights theory),which tend to suggest rational adoption of best practice, and contributions that alternatively consider country- and firm-level differences as possible barriers to convergence. We contribute to the empirical literature by using a large international database to show how non-US firms' adoption of US best practice is having an impact on performance. |
| Keywords: | Corporate governance; governance metrics, ratings, rankings and scoring; firm value; firm performance |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-00786763&r=eff |