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on Efficiency and Productivity |
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Issue of 2015‒09‒26
eleven papers chosen by |
| By: | Agasisti, Tommaso; Wolszczak-Derlacz, Joana |
| Abstract: | This study employs data envelopment analysis (DEA) to evaluate relative efficiency of a sample of 54 Italian and 30 Polish public universities for the period between 2001 and 2011. The examination is conducted in two steps: first unbiased DEA efficiency scores are estimated and then are regressed on external variables to quantitatively asses the direction and magnitude of the impact of potential determinants. The analysis shows the strong heterogeneity in the efficiency scores within each country, more pronounced than the difference in average efficiency scores between countries. There is evidence that efficiency is determined by revenues’ and academic staff’s structure: competitive versus non-competitive resources, and the number of professors among academic staff. The study also explores the variation of efficiency and productivity over time, and reveals that while pure efficiency change was similar between the two countries, the efficiency frontier improved more in Italy than in Poland. |
| Keywords: | Social and Behavioral Sciences, efficiency, productivity, two-stage DEA, higher education institutions |
| Date: | 2014–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:indrel:qt14m8g45v&r=all |
| By: | Wolszczak, Joanna |
| Abstract: | This study uses data envelopment analysis (DEA) to evaluate the relative efficiency of 500 higher education institutions (HEIs) in ten European countries and the U.S. for the period between 2000 and 2010. Efficiency scores are determined using different input - output sets (inputs: total revenue, academic staff, administration staff, total number of students; outputs: total number of publications, number of scientific articles, graduates) and considering different frontiers: global frontiers (all HEIs pooled together) and a regional frontier (Europe and the U.S. having their own frontiers). Changes in total factor productivity are assessed by means of the Malmquist index and are decomposed into pure efficiency change s and frontier shifts. Also investigate d are the external factors affecting the degree of HEI inefficiency, e.g. institutional setting s (size and department composition), location, funding structure (using two - stage DEA analysis following the bootstrap procedure proposed by Simar and Wilson, 2007). Specifically, it is found that the role of the university funding structure in HEI technical efficiency is different in Europe and in the U.S. Increased government funding is associated with an increase in inefficiency only in the case of European units, while the share of funds from tuition fees decreases the efficiency of American public institutions but relates to efficiency improvements in European universities. |
| Keywords: | Social and Behavioral Sciences, higher education institutions, efficiency, two-stage DEA |
| Date: | 2014–08–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:indrel:qt7c87d4hk&r=all |
| By: | Gopinath, Gita; Kalemli-Ozcan, Sebnem; Karabarbounis, Loukas; Villegas-Sanchez, Carolina |
| Abstract: | Following the introduction of the euro in 1999, countries in the South experienced large capital inflows and low productivity. We use data for manufacturing firms in Spain to document a significant increase in the dispersion of the return to capital across firms, a stable dispersion of the return to labor across firms, and a significant increase in productivity losses from misallocation over time. We develop a model of heterogeneous firms facing financial frictions and investment adjustment costs. The model generates cross-sectional and time-series patterns in size, productivity, capital returns, investment, and debt consistent with those observed in production and balance sheet data. We illustrate how the decline in the real interest rate, often attributed to the euro convergence process, leads to a decline in sectoral total factor productivity as capital inflows are misallocated toward firms that have higher net worth but are not necessarily more productive. We conclude by showing that similar trends in dispersion and productivity losses are observed in Italy and Portugal but not in Germany, France, and Norway. |
| Keywords: | Capital Flows; Dispersion; Europe; Misallocation; Productivity |
| JEL: | D24 E22 F41 O16 O47 |
| Date: | 2015–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:10826&r=all |
| By: | KASEM KUNASRI (Chiang Mai Rajabhat University); SOMBAT SINGKHARAT (Chiang Mai Rajabhat University) |
| Abstract: | Many types of state initiated micro-credit institution have been established in Thailand with the primary principle of extending low cost loans to low income individuals so as to eventually help improve their quality of life. However, these micro-credit institutions still have varying degree of operational drawbacks from the absence of supportive structure to ensure organizational sustainability and the lack of efficient and effective credit management systems as they have to function under the framework of specific act by which they are institutionalized. The present endeavor employed meta-frontier concept for determining technology gap ratio and lending efficiency of microcredit institutions operating under different organizational rules and regulations as well as credit management methods with the focus on agricultural cooperatives (AC), village funds (VF), and production-oriented savings groups (PSG). The needed data were collected from 600 samples of such micro-credit organizations. Meta-frontier efficiency scores were found to be different at 0.01 statistically significant level. The group having the highest average score of efficiency is agricultural cooperative (0.6116), followed by village fund (0.4370) and production-oriented savings group (0.4119), respectively. In terms of technology gap ratio, there are differences at 0.01 statistically significant level. The agricultural cooperative group has the highest score at 94.71% whereas the village fund group has the lowest score, 60.93%. The technology gap is a function of optimal group size and different lending systems, i.e., the agricultural cooperatives give on loans under the amount of share capital constraint but the village funds allocate credit for each borrower equally. The findings of this study have led to a recommendation concerning the increase in optimal group size, especially to sub-district level, because size and operational environment can contribute to efficiency enhancement. Moreover, government agencies should change their roles from providing funds to promoting community self-reliance. |
| Keywords: | Meta-frontier; technology gap ratio; micro-credit institutions |
| JEL: | G21 G29 A10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:iacpro:2704694&r=all |
| By: | Giovanni Marin (IRCrES-CNR, Milano (Italy)); Alessandro Palma (IEFE-Bocconi, Milano (Italy)) |
| Abstract: | Traditional large appliances absorb a large share of residential electricity consumption and represent important targets of energy policy strategies aimed at achieving energy security. Despite being characterized by rather mature technologies, this group of appliances still offers large potential in terms of efficiency gains due to their pervasive diffusion. In this paper we analyse the electricity consumption of a set of four traditional ‘white goods’ in a panel of ten EU countries observed over 21 years (1990-2010), with the aim of disentangling the amount of technical efficiency from the overall energy saving. The technical efficiency trend is modelled through a set of technology components representing both the invention and adoption process by the means of specific patents weighted by production and bilateral import flows, which allows to overcome the rigid Stochastic Frontier framework in modelling the effect of technical change. Our results show that the derived energy demand and inefficiency trends are both related to changes in the amount of available technology embodied in energy efficient appliances. The effect is significant both in its domestic and international components and suggests an active role of innovation and trade policies for achieving efficiency targets which directly impact the amount of electricity consumed by households. |
| Keywords: | energy efficiency, technological diffusion, electrical appliances, stochastic frontier analysis, residential sector |
| JEL: | O33 Q55 Q41 |
| Date: | 2015–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:srt:wpaper:1415&r=all |
| By: | Giovanni Marin; Alessandro Palma |
| Abstract: | Traditional large appliances absorb a large share of residential electricity consumption and represent important targets of energy policy strategies aimed at achieving energy security. Despite being characterized by rather mature technologies, this group of appliances still offers large potential in terms of efficiency gains due to their pervasive diffusion. In this paper we analyse the electricity consumption of a set of four traditional ‘white goods’ in a panel of ten EU countries observed over 21 years (1990-2010), with the aim of disentangling the amount of technical efficiency from the overall energy saving. The technical efficiency trend is modelled through a set of technology components representing both the invention and adoption process by the means of specific patents weighted by production and bilateral import flows, which allows to overcome the rigid Stochastic Frontier framework in modelling the effect of technical change. Our results show that the derived energy demand and inefficiency trends are both related to changes in the amount of available technology embodied in energy efficient appliances. The effect is significant both in its domestic and international components and suggests an active role of innovation and trade policies for achieving efficiency targets which directly impact the amount of electricity consumed by households. |
| Keywords: | Energy efficiency, technological diffusion, electrical appliances, stochastic frontier analysis, residential sector |
| JEL: | O33 Q55 Q41 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bcu:iefewp:iefewp81&r=all |
| By: | Massimo Anna Alberini (University of Maryland,USA); Massimo Filippini (ETH Zurich, Switzerland) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we measure the energy efficiency in residential energy consumption using a panel dataset comprised of 40,246 observations from US households observed over 1997-2009. We fit a stochastic frontier model of the minimum input of energy needed to meet the level of energy services demanded by the household. This benchmarking exercise produces a transient and a persistent efficiency index for each household and each time period. We estimate that the US residential sector could save approximately 10% of its total energy consumption if it reduced persistent inefficiencies and 17% if it was able to eliminate transient inefficiencies. These figures are in line with the assessment by McKinsey (2008, 2009, 2013) and greater than those indicated by the Electric Power Research Institute (2009). They suggest that savings in energy use and associated emissions of greenhouse gases (and other pollutants) may benefit from both policy measures that attain short-run behavioral changes (e.g., nudges, social norms, display of real-time information about usage, and real-time pricing) as well measures aimed at the long run, such as energy-efficiency regulations, incentives on the purchase of high-efficiency equipment and incentives towards a change of habits in the use of the equipment. |
| Keywords: | US residential energy demand; efficiency and frontier analysis; Household data; CO2 emissions reductions |
| JEL: | D D2 Q Q4 Q5 |
| Date: | 2015–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eth:wpswif:15-220&r=all |
| By: | Katia Alejandra Covarrubias |
| Abstract: | The linkages between gender, crop choice and agricultural output must be explored if food security is to be ensured under changing climates. Using a rich nationally representative household panel dataset from Uganda, this paper addresses the topic empirically, bringing new evidence to a literature that has not yet fully examined the role of gender in responding to environmental shocks that increase agricultural production variability. A longitudinal analysis that endogenizes production portfolios and agricultural decision-maker gender in ascertaining productivity outcomes indicates parcel manager gender and crop diversity are distinguishing factors in the household food security function. Heterogeneity is explored in the context of diverse agro-ecological zones and differential access to factors of production. |
| JEL: | Q12 |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fsc:fspubl:32&r=all |
| By: | Beverelli, Cosimo; Fiorini, Matteo; Hoekman, Bernard |
| Abstract: | We study the effect of services trade restrictiveness on manufacturing productivity for a broad cross-section of countries at different stages of economic development. Decreasing services trade restrictiveness has a positive indirect impact on the manufacturing sectors that use services as intermediate inputs in production. We identify a critical role of local institutions in shaping this effect: countries with high institutional capacity benefit the most from services trade policy reforms in terms of increased productivity in downstream industries. We argue that this reflects the characteristics of many services and services trade and provide a theoretical framework to formalize our suggested mechanisms. |
| Keywords: | institutions; productivity; services; trade policy |
| JEL: | F14 F15 |
| Date: | 2015–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:10834&r=all |
| By: | Steffen Müller; Jens Stegmaier |
| Abstract: | We estimate dynamic effects of works councils on labor productivity using newly available information from West German establishment panel data. Conditioning on plant fixed effects and control variables, we find negative productivity effects during the first five years after council introduction, but a steady and substantial increase in the councils’ productivity effect thereafter. Given the frequently reported positive correlation between council existence and plant productivity, this finding supports causal interpretations. |
| Keywords: | non-union worker representation, works council, labor productivity, dynamic effects |
| JEL: | D24 J53 |
| Date: | 2015–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iwh:dispap:14-15&r=all |
| By: | Crespo, Aranzazu; Segura-Cayuela, Ruben |
| Abstract: | Using firm level data, we analyse the factors that drive the evolution of the aggregate Unit Labor Costs – the main European competitiveness indicator – in France, Germany, Italy and Spain. The evolution of the aggregate Unit Labor Cost is not driven by the evolution of the firm level Unit Labor Costs, but rather by an important factor for the competitiveness of a country: the reallocation of resources among the firms of the economy. Using the methodology of Hsieh and Klenow (2009), we show the importance of an efficient allocation of resources for productivity gains. |
| Keywords: | Unit labour costs, Competitiveness, Misallocation, European Union |
| JEL: | F02 F15 J30 O47 O57 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eui:euiwps:mwp2014/20&r=all |