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on Efficiency and Productivity |
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Issue of 2018‒12‒10
25 papers chosen by |
| By: | Abro, Z.A.; Debela, B.L. |
| Abstract: | The impact of technical change on land productivity has been subject to rigorous analysis. However, the implication of technical change on synergies or tradeoffs in productivity and efficiency has been rarely quantified. We contribute to the technology adoption literature by studying the joint impact of technical change-changes in crop traits obtained through continuous breeding research-on land productivity and efficiency in rural Ethiopia. We estimate an endogenous switching translog production function using two rounds of panel data. Our results reveal that technical change increases both productivity and efficiency. But the gains in efficiency are quite small indicating that technical change may need to be supported by other complementary policy instruments that improve the efficiency of new improved varieties technologies. We also find that the average farmer is 40% inefficient in inputs use given the production technology. Future research may need to focus on identifying suitable technologies that contribute towards closing the observed inefficiency. Acknowledgement : |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277086&r=eff |
| By: | Garcia Suarez, F.; Quesada, G. Perez; Molina Ricetto, C. |
| Abstract: | Rangeland cattle production is the largest agricultural sector of Uruguay. It has shown a slow improvement in productivity over the last three decades. Ranches produce up to three products (beef, sheep-meat, and wool) usually combined into an equivalent meat index. A comparison between stochastic production frontier (SPF) and multi-output stochastic ray frontier (SRF) to estimate technical efficiency measures of ranches is used. The database comprises 70 ranches over a maximum of 3 years, totalizing 201 individual observations. We find that the average level of technical efficiency is 0.769 for SPF and 0.779 for SRF, which suggests that ranches can expand cattle production using the current level of inputs and production technology available. Moreover, technical efficiency is decreasing among the considered period. Acknowledgement : |
| Keywords: | Livestock Production/Industries |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277178&r=eff |
| By: | Emmanuel Mamatzakis (University of Sussex Business School, University of Sussex, UK; Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis); M. Tsionas (Lancaster University Management School, UK) |
| Abstract: | We propose a flexible functional form for estimating production performance that allows for endogeneity of the underlying inputs and outputs. The proposed model opts for a novel local likelihood estimation method that adequately deals with issues of endogeneity, whilst accounts for non-parametric heteroskedasticity in the covariance matrix of the error term. We argue that bank productivity as provided by our model based on bank micro-foundations is better suited to measure bank performance compared to efficiency. In the empirical section, we show the destructive effect of nonperforming loans on bank-specific TFP growth in advanced, emerging and developing economies. Technology, though, appears to positively contribute to bank TFP growth across the world. Furthermore, we show that bank risk-taking and raising capital by equity are negatively related to TFP growth, while liquidity has a positive impact. |
| Keywords: | banking, productivity growth, local likelihood function, global banking |
| JEL: | D24 G21 G33 |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rim:rimwps:18-41&r=eff |
| By: | Subhash C. Ray (University of Connecticut) |
| Abstract: | This paper offers an overview of Data Envelopment Analysis as a nonparametric method of measuring efficiency in production. Special attention is devoted to alternative returns to scale assumptions about the technology and identifying the local nature of returns to scale at projections of an inefficient unit on to the frontier. Both radial and non-radial measures of technical efficiency are considered. |
| Keywords: | Returns to Scale; Most Productive Scale Size; Radial and Non-Radial Efficiency; Directional Distance Function |
| JEL: | C61 D24 |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uct:uconnp:2018-20&r=eff |
| By: | Le Ngoc, H. |
| Abstract: | Improving farming technical efficiency for smallholders by applying contract farming is an interesting topic nowadays. A cross sectional sample of 250 Vietnamese export-oriented rice households was employed to investigate how contract farming improves farming technical efficiency in the country. The Stochastic Frontier Analysis is applied to estimate the production frontier, the technical inefficiency determinants and Propensity Score Matching is used to control self-selection bias. The results show an average technical efficiency score is of 87.33 percent and suggests convincible opportunities for farmers to increase productivity of export-oriented rice in the country by nearly 13 percent. The expenditures on seed, land, and fertilizer are the key determinants of the technical efficiency level in this region. The results reveal the positive relationship of contract farming participation on technical efficiency improvement. Acknowledgement : The authors acknowledge financial support from the Stiftung Fiat Panis and the Vietnamese Educational and Tranning scholarship. We are also grateful to the Nha Trang University, Vietnam for their support in fieldwork coordination. |
| Keywords: | Land Economics/Use |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277409&r=eff |
| By: | Gollin, D.; Udry, C. |
| Abstract: | Standard measures of productivity display enormous dispersion across farms in Africa. Crop yields and input intensities appear to vary greatly, seemingly in conflict with a model of efficient allocation across farms. In this paper, we present a theoretical framework for distinguishing between measurement error, unobserved heterogeneity, and potential misallocation. Using rich panel data from farms in Tanzania and Uganda, we estimate our model using a highly flexible specification in which we allow for several kinds of measurement error and heterogeneity. We find that measurement error and heterogeneity together account for a large fraction perhaps two-thirds to three-quarters -- of the dispersion in measured productivity. We suggest that the potential for efficiency gains through reallocation may be relatively modest. Acknowledgement : We are grateful for comments from Chris Barrett, Stefano Caria, Stefan Dercon, Andrew Foster, Talip Kilic, Karen Macours, and seminar participants at Yale, Oxford CSAE, UCLA, Northwestern, Heidelberg, Exeter, CEMFI Madrid, Manchester, Tufts, Hebrew University, and Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona. |
| Keywords: | Research Methods/ Statistical Methods |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277279&r=eff |
| By: | Maganga, A.; Grebremedhin, G.; Kambewa, P. |
| Abstract: | The study analysed the technical efficiency of small-scale pigeon pea farms in Malawi. 2010/2012 National wide data of 2,137 pigeon pea farmers were analyzed using Maximum Likelihood estimation of a Stochastic frontier. The determinants of technical efficiency were incorporated within single-stage estimation of the frontier. Results revealed that the average output of pigeon pea farms in Malawi could increase by 47% under prevailing technology. The technical efficiency of the sampled pigeon pea farms ranged from 0.22 to 0.84 (0.53 average). Most importantly, the empirical results demonstrate that better extension services and farmer training programs on crop marketing and providing access to credit are key to enhance technical efficiency. Acknowledgement : Special thanks to World Bank and Malawi National Statistical Office for the data which was made available for this study. |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277350&r=eff |
| By: | Bruno Merlevede; Angelos Theodorakopoulos (-) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses whether indirect effects of internationalisation occur through the domestic supply chain. We investigate productivity effects for a given firm resulting from the import or export of intermediate inputs by domestic upstream and downstream industries. Using a rich sample of manufacturing firms in 19 EU countries, we find evidence that domestic access to intermediate inputs that are also destined to foreign countries is associated with higher levels of revenue productivity. Further, our results highlight two common, but important, misspecification biases: ignoring the dynamic nature of productivity and estimating a value-added instead of a gross-output production function. |
| Keywords: | Offshoring, Inshoring, Supply Chain, Total Factor Productivity, Trade, Learning |
| JEL: | D22 D24 D57 D83 F14 L25 |
| Date: | 2018–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rug:rugwps:18/949&r=eff |
| By: | Silva, F.D.F.; Fulginiti, L.; Perrin, R. |
| Abstract: | In recent decades, the northern states of Brazil have experienced high rates of agricultural productivity change and also high rates of deforestation. In this article we examine the impact of the former on the latter. We pose the question whether technical change has been biased toward or against forest preservation decreasing or increasing the amount of agricultural commodities that must be given up to preserve a unit of forest. Here we estimate the rate and biases of technical change for municipalities in the arc of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon Forest, 2003 to 2015. We represent the production possibility frontier between agriculture and deforestation with a directional distance function with deforestation as an undesirable output. Our results differ by municipality, showing an average annual rate of technical change of 4.9%, and an average bias toward agricultural outputs relative to deforestation, thus reflecting increasing opportunity costs for marginal reductions in deforestation. Acknowledgement : |
| Keywords: | Productivity Analysis |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277167&r=eff |
| By: | Freitas, C.O.D.; Silva, F.F.; Braga, M.J. |
| Abstract: | The objective of the present research was to identify the effect of rural extension on the productive performance of Brazilian agricultural establishments, using as a measure of performance the technical efficiency of farms. The data used refers to the microdata of the 2006 Agricultural Census, accessed directly from the IBGE secrecy room. For this, an approach that combines the stochastic production frontier structure, taking into account the selection bias in the adoption of the rural extension (Heckman's approach), with the entropy balancing method was used. The results show that the rural extension contributes, in fact, to increase the efficiency in the use of the productive factors, with the producers adopting, more technically efficient than the non-adopters. When considering the differences according to the size of the establishment, an even greater effect was observed for the group of large producers. In addition, in general, public rural extension generated higher technical efficiency scores than those obtained by establishments attended by the private service. Acknowledgement : |
| Keywords: | Farm Management |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277271&r=eff |
| By: | Ather Maqsood Ahmed (School of Social Sciences and Humanities, National University of Sciences and Technology); Shahzad Alvi (School of Social Sciences and Humanities, National University of Sciences and Technology); Faisal Jamil (School of Social Sciences and Humanities, National University of Sciences and Technology) |
| Abstract: | It is evident that higher temperature causes discomfort, fatigue, and cognitive impairment in workers and it also a?ects machines? performance and thus potentially decrease labor and capital productivity. However, little attention has been paid to the effects of climate change on productivity at the macro level. Given the importance of total factor productivity for long-run economic growth, this study examines the impact of climate change on total factor productivity by using the panel data from 1990-2016 of developing countries. In doing so, at first, the present study calculates the total factor productivity by using the Cobb-Douglas production function. In the second step, the study estimates the impact of climate change on total factor productivity along with other covariates such as trade openness, education, and information and communications technology. To get the precise results, this study used panel data econometric techniques such as common, random and fixed effects. Among common, random and fixed effects models; the fixed effect model is chosen as a best candidate model through appropriate model selection criteria. The results indicate that growing temperature decreases the total factor productivity while education, trade openness and information and communications technology increase total factor productivity. This study suggests that there is a need to take adaptations to overcome the problem of climatic changes on total factor productivity in the short run along with mitigation to get the sustainable economic growth in the long run. |
| Keywords: | Climate change; Economic growth; Total factor productivity; Cobb-Douglas production function; Mitigation; Fixed effects |
| JEL: | R11 |
| Date: | 2018–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:iacpro:6709828&r=eff |
| By: | Desjeux, Y.; Latruffe, L.; Dakpo, K.H.; Hanitravelo, G. Justinia |
| Abstract: | With a sample of farms in the European Union (EU) and Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) data completed by additional data, we illustrate how the effect of farm subsidies on technical efficiency changes when environmental (good or bad) outputs are incorporated in the calculation of technical efficiency. Results indicate that the effect of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) operational subsidies on farm technical efficiency changes when environmental outputs (in this study: greenhouse gas emissions, nitrogen balance and ecological focus areas) are taken into account in the efficiency calculation: some effects change significance, and more importantly, some effects change sign. Acknowledgement : Financial support from the FP7 EU project FLINT ( Farm level indicators for new topics in policy evaluation ; grant agreement no: 613800) is acknowledged. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277364&r=eff |
| By: | Tommaso Agasisti (Politecnico di Milano School of Management); Aleksei Egorov (National Research University Higher School of Economics); Daria Zinchenko (National Research University Higher School of Economics); Oleg Leshukov (National Research University Higher School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the link between the efficiency of regional higher education systems and the rates of regional economic development between 2012 and 2015 in Russia. The efficiency scores are calculated at the institutional level using a double-bootstrap data envelopment analysis (DEA) procedure, taking into account the different internal characteristics of universities which may affect their production process, and the scores are then aggregated at the regional level. We formulate a regional economic growth model that considers the efficiency of regional higher education systems as one of the explanatory variables. As an econometric method, we employ a robust GMM estimator. The model also includes spatial interactions between regional economies and between regional higher education systems in neighboring regions. The findings highlight a positive, substantial and statistically significant effect of HEI efficiency on the regional economic growth rate. We also found negative spillover effects indicating that efficient regional higher education systems may extract resources from neighboring regions |
| Keywords: | Regional economic development; efficiency in higher education; knowledge spillovers; economic growth; Russia. |
| JEL: | I25 I21 E02 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:203/ec/2018&r=eff |
| By: | Simplice A. Asongu (Yaoundé/Cameroon); Nicholas M. Odhiambo (University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa) |
| Abstract: | The Quiet Life Hypothesis (QLH) is the pursuit of less efficiency by firms. In this study, we assess if powerful banks in the African banking industry are increasing financial access. The QLH is therefore consistent with the pursuit of financial intermediation inefficiency by large banks. To investigate the hypothesis, we first estimate the Lerner index. Then, using Two Stage Least Squares, we assess the effect of the Lerner index on financial access proxied by loan price and loan quantity. The empirical evidence is based on a panel of 162 banks from 42 African countries for the period 2001-2011. The findings support the QLH, although quiet life is driven by the below-median Lerner index sub-sample. Policy implications are discussed. |
| Keywords: | Financial access; Bank performance; Africa |
| JEL: | D40 G20 G29 L10 O55 |
| Date: | 2018–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:afe:wpaper:18/013&r=eff |
| By: | Silva, J.D.S.; Freitas, C.O.D.; Costa, L.V. |
| Abstract: | This paper examines Brazilian rural establishments that perform agricultural and non-agricultural activities. The combination of these activities, in the same agricultural unit, characterizes and defines pluriactivity. In this way, this research aims to verify the effect of pluriactivity on the efficiency of rural establishments, in technical terms. In order to reach the proposed goal, the Propensity Score Matching (PSM) was used to pair the sample in two groups, treated (pluriative) and untreated (non-pluriative). After the identification of these groups, a Probit model was estimated, followed by estimation of the production stochastic frontier to obtain the technical efficiency scores. The data used refer to a special tabulation based on the micro-data of the 2006 Census of Agriculture. Among the results found, establishments that carry out exclusively agricultural activities make better use of the available resources compared to the pluriactive ones, being technically more efficient. Acknowledgement : |
| Keywords: | Research and Development/ Tech Change/Emerging Technologies |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:276969&r=eff |
| By: | Robert E. Hall |
| Abstract: | Market power arises in the case where a seller is aware that raising output will depress price. In the profit-maximizing equilibrium with market power, price exceeds marginal cost. The Lerner index---the ratio of price less marginal cost to the price---is a widely accepted measure of market power. Measuring marginal cost is a challenge. This paper develops and applies a direct empirical approach---marginal cost is measured as the ratio of the observed change in cost to the observed change in output. Because marginal cost is a partial derivative, both changes need to be adjusted for other sources of change. Thus marginal cost is the ratio of (1) the change in cost not associated with changes in input prices to (2) the change in output not associated with productivity change. I develop data for the 60 KLEMS industries for this measure. I find a typical Lerner index of 0.15. Lerner indexes grew moderately between 1988 and 2015. |
| JEL: | D24 L1 |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25251&r=eff |
| By: | Kaur, Amandeep (National Institute of Public Finance and Policy); Chakraborty, Lekha (National Institute of Public Finance and Policy) |
| Abstract: | The Government of India launched the Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY), in November 2015, with an objective of "Power for All". Under the UDAY scheme, selected States agreed to convert 75 per cent of the DISCOM's (State Power Distribution Companies) power debt into State government non-SLR bonds, priced at not more than 75 basis points above the prevailing cut-off yield rate of govern-ment security of 10-year maturity. At aggregate level, so far, around 86 per cent of UDAY bonds have been issued - Rs. 2.32 lakh crores out of Rs. 2.69 lakh crores - across all UDAY States/UTs. Our estimates reveal that the financial and operational efficiency parameters envisaged in UDAY tripartite MoUs - between DISCOMs, the State Governments and the Ministry of Power, Government of India - have not been met by many States. Using UDAY portal data, we find that the average AT C (Aggre-gate Technical and Commercial) losses that should have been implemented in states -due to political econmy reasons - and the operational parameters in our analysis indicate widening inefficiencies across States in power infrastructure. |
| Keywords: | Power infrastructure ; Power Debt ; Bonds ; Financial efficiency |
| JEL: | H00 I3 J16 |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:npf:wpaper:18/244&r=eff |
| By: | Belyaeva, Maria |
| Abstract: | The aim of this study is to conduct a comprehensive analysis of Russian grain production, to determine country’s production potential and its possibility to remain one of the major grain producers on the world market. On the one hand we estimate the technical efficiency during the period of transition to the market economy. By applying a novel approach to the estimation of production efficiency on a regional level, we assess the grain production potential and determine factors that influence productivity beyond the control of the farmers. On the other hand we conduct a detailed analysis of the climate change impact on grain production. We base our study on panel fixed-effect regressions of grain yields on a set of crop specific weather indicators. Furthermore, we use climate change projections for the medium and long terms to estimate the effect of global warming on grain productivity in different regions of the country. Empirical results of the production efficiency model are based on a balanced panel of Russian regions which were involved in grain production during the period 1995-2011. We rely on a production function that accounts for the effect of labour, land, capital, and variable inputs. In addition, we construct specific variables to control for factors that remain outside of the farmers’ control, i.e. the level of human and infrastructure development and climate and soil conditions. In the climate change model we use yields of three the most popular grain types – winter wheat, spring wheat, and spring barley – on a regional level to determine their relation to indicators that account for climate conditions during the vegetation period, specific for each grain type. Specifically, we approximate the distribution of daily temperatures using a trigonometric sine curve to construct measures of growing and heat degree days. The data covers the period from 1955 to 2012. In order to estimate the effect of future climate change we rely on the latest available projections, provided by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC 2014) for the medium and long terms. The analysis of technical efficiency demonstrates that an average farm in a Russian region is functioning at its full production capacity, and further development and productivity increases depend on factors that are not directly related to technical aspects of production and that remain beyond the control of farmers, namely the level of human and institutional development, access to infrastructure and climate conditions. We indicate that further exploitation of natural production possibilities has a positive impact on the process of agricultural improvement. We then conduct an examination of the climate effect to analyse the historical dependence of grain production on temperatures and precipitation levels, and project this dependence to estimate the productivity of studied grain types in the medium and long terms, given four different greenhouse gas concentration pathways. We find that altering temperatures have an equivocal effect on agriculture. The most productive zones of the southern black soil belt is projected to face considerable declines in yields, due to insufficient precipitation levels and high probability of heat waves during the summer vegetation period. The northern part, on the contrary, can experience increases in productivity as a result of milder and drier winters and warmer springs. Obtained empirical results allowed us to determine that climate plays a major role in grain production in Russia. Although northern regions will experience considerable increases in yields in the medium and long terms, projected falls in productivities in the southern part of the country cannot be compensated by production increases in the North: insufficiently developed infrastructure, low productivity of soil and lack of investments to safely reintroduce the abandoned lands into the agricultural process prevent substantial agricultural growth. Accordingly, in order to maintain sufficient production levels more efforts should be concentrated on adaptation measures to breed more drought-resistant grain varieties and to adopt soil moisture accumulating and preserving technologies. |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries, Productivity Analysis |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iamost:280713&r=eff |
| By: | Mao, R. |
| Abstract: | Matching firm- and country-level data with a panel dataset of China s agricultural exports at the firm-product-country-level, a measure of firm-level exposure to exchange rate undervaluation has been proposed based on estimates of the bilateral undervaluation of yuan versus other currencies. Empirical models find that a firm s agricultural exports significantly and positively increase with its exposure to undervaluation. The result remains robust to alternative sample selections, measurement choices, and model specifications. The elasticity, however, differs across firms for their productivity, financial constraint, ownership, trade mode, and subsidy status. With the mediation role of increased exports, the undervaluation exposure further accelerates the firm-level growth in both productivity and scale according to the path analysis. This mediation effect takes almost a half of the acceleration effect of undervaluation on labor productivity and employment growth. It takes even the entire effect as to the growth of total factor productivity, sales, value added, and capital stock. Acknowledgement : |
| Keywords: | Financial Economics |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:276987&r=eff |
| By: | Faz?l GÖKGÖZ (Ankara University); Engin YALÇIN (Ankara University) |
| Abstract: | It is crucial to analyze football teams since football has increasingly become a significant industry within the economy. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) has been applied to many branches and especially to football. This paper investigates the technical efficiency levels of national teams participating in World Cup 2014 to shed light on the sport performance. Input oriented CCR/BCC model and super efficiency analyses have been used to investigate the football efficiencies. In this study, passes completed, attempts on target and possession are used as input while the only output is goal scored. The results have illustrated that World Cup winner Germany is found as efficient on both CCR and BCC model. On the other hand, only four teams are technically efficient within 32 teams while nine teams have demonstrated pure efficiency. Colombia is the most efficient team for both CCR and BCC super efficiency model. In this regard, we may conclude that efficiency would be a viable instrument in analyzing the football teams. |
| Keywords: | DEA, World Cup, Football Efficiency. |
| JEL: | C60 C61 L83 |
| Date: | 2018–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:iacpro:7010135&r=eff |
| By: | Ludwig List (CEPN - Centre d'Economie de l'Université Paris Nord - UP13 - Université Paris 13 - USPC - Université Sorbonne Paris Cité - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | The goal of this paper is to conduct a meta-regression analysis (MRA hereafter) regarding the effects of the Kaldor-Verdoorn effect-the relation between output/demand and productivity. The Kaldor-Verdoorn effect has been subject to many econometric studies and while the overwhelming majority of them finds a positive overall effect, there is no consensus on its size-the results vary quite a bit, especially according to the chosen econometric specification. This MRA estimates a 'true value' of the Kaldor-Verdoorn effect without interference from potential publication selection bias via the use of multivariate MRA. A series of moderator variables is used to check for their effect of excess variation, including amongst others the year of publication, the sectors and the countries studied. This MRA study uses available data from 22 published studies with 303 estimations of the Kaldor-Verdoorn effect. When examining the primary literature as a whole, there seems to be publication bias. While there seems to exist a genuine Kaldor-Verdoorn effect, its size varies considerably depending on the specification chosen. |
| Keywords: | Kaldor-Verdoorn effect,Productivity,Meta-regression analysis,Effective demand,Learning by doing |
| Date: | 2018–11–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cepnwp:hal-01922249&r=eff |
| By: | Maican, Florin (Department of Economics); Orth, Matilda (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the factors underlying the heterogeneity in inventory behavior and performance across retail stores. We use a dynamic model of multi-product retailers and local competition to estimate store productivity and consumers’ perceived quality of the shopping experience, and we analyze their relationship with inventory behavior and product variety. Using novel and detailed data on Swedish stores and their products, we find that stores learn from demand to improve future productivity. Store productivity is the main primitive that increases inventory turnover and product variety, and this increase is larger for stores with already high inventory turnover. Stores in small markets with intense competition from rivals have higher inventory turnover. Consumers in large markets and markets with large investments in technology benefit from a broader product variety. Counterfactual experiments show that the increase in inventory turnover due to innovations in productivity is three times greater when uncertainty in demand is reduced by 30 percent. Our analysis highlights important trade-offs between productivity and demand that allow retailers to reach high levels of inventory turnover and offer a broad product variety to consumers. |
| Keywords: | Productivity; Inventory performance; Supply chain management; Product variety |
| JEL: | L11 L13 L25 L81 M21 |
| Date: | 2018–11–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:1247&r=eff |
| By: | David Baqaee; Emmanuel Farhi |
| Abstract: | Aggregate production functions are reduced-form relationships that emerge endogenously from input-output interactions between heterogeneous producers and factors in general equilibrium. We provide a general methodology for analyzing such aggregate production functions by deriving their first- and second-order properties. Our aggregation formulas provide non-parameteric characterizations of the macro elasticities of substitution between factors and of the macro bias of technical change in terms of micro sufficient statistics. They allow us to generalize existing aggregation theorems and to derive new ones. We relate our results to the famous Cambridge-Cambridge controversy. |
| JEL: | E0 E1 E25 |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25293&r=eff |
| By: | Ashley Ward (OECD); María Belén Zinni (OECD); Pascal Marianna (OECD) |
| Abstract: | Cross-country differences in the measurement of labour input contribute to observed productivity gaps across countries. In most countries, labour force surveys (LFS) form a primary source of information for employment related statistics, such as persons employed, employees and hours worked. However, because the coverage of LFS does not fully align with the coverage of activities used to estimate GDP, additional adjustments relying on complementary sources, such as administrative or business statistics, are often applied to bridge conceptual differences, and in many countries, the use of these sources is often preferred to LFS data. Evidence from the 2018 OECD/Eurostat national accounts labour input survey shows that the adjustments made to align measures of labour input with the corresponding measures of production according to the domestic concept, vary considerably across countries, with many countries making no adjustments, in particular, for the measurement of hours worked. This paper demonstrates that countries making no adjustments to average hours worked measures extracted from the original source, such as self-reported hours actually worked in the LFS, appear to systematically over-estimate labour input and, so, under-estimate labour productivity levels. To illustrate the size of this bias, for this group of countries, the paper adopts a simplified component method that introduces a series of explicit adjustments on working time using information available in LFS and complementary sources. The results point to a reduction in relative productivity gaps of around 10 percentage points in many countries compared to current estimates. Although future releases of OECD productivity (levels) statistics will incorporate these changes, it is important to stress that these estimates will only be used as a stop-gap while countries making no, or minimal adjustments, work to leverage all available data sources to produce average hours worked estimates that align with the national accounts domestic concept and that address self-reporting bias; which is the paper’s principal recommendation for those countries that currently make no or only partial adjustments. Indeed, many EU member states, coordinated by Eurostat, are already moving in this direction, with ESA 2010 derogations set to expire by 2020. |
| Keywords: | employment, hours worked, labour input, labour productivity, mismeasurement |
| JEL: | E1 E24 E26 |
| Date: | 2018–12–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:stdaaa:2018/12-en&r=eff |
| By: | Diana Filipa Cruz Costa (Faculdade de Economia do Porto); Samuel Cruz Alves Pereira (Faculdade de Economia do Porto); Elísio Fernando Moreira Brandão (Faculdade de Economia do Porto) |
| Abstract: | Costs are an important component for businesses as they affect the results and hence the firm position. Therefore, to understand how they vary with changes in output and what factors influence them is fundamental, not only for managers, but for all agents related to organizations. The traditional theory predicts the existence of two types of costs, the variables and the fixed ones. However, an alternative hypothesis has emerged that accounts for an empirical phenomenon, the "cost stickiness", and later the "anti-stickiness", in which the behaviour of costs is based on discretionary management decisions, under different circumstances. In this paper, we show that the operating costs of Euro Area companies are sticky, since in the face of a positive change in sales costs increase more than decrease when sales fall by the same amount. In addition, we have documented that this phenomenon is reinforced in countries where labour law is more rigid and those whose intervention by the Troika has been necessary, because these two aspects increase the adjustment costs. |
| Keywords: | cost behaviour, stickiness, anti-stickiness, deliberate resource commitment, adjustment costs |
| JEL: | J30 |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:por:fepwps:609&r=eff |