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on Efficiency and Productivity |
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Issue of 2020‒10‒12
twenty-one papers chosen by |
| By: | Kailash Chandra Pradhan (National Institute of Labour Economic Research and Development (NILERD), Sector A-7, Narela Institutional Area, Narela, Delhi-40); Shrabani Mukherjee (Assistant Professor, Madras School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | The study aims to estimate the technical efficiency of agricultural production in India using production frontier model for both cross section and panel data for the years 1999 and 2007. Given the persistent problem of under utilization of capacity in Indian farm sector still there is a serious need to identify the determining factors for technical efficiency for agricultural production in order to accelerate sustainable productivity and technological improvement. Farmers' age and education level, household size, household‟s management in production, proportion of irrigated area covered by canals, availability of wells, yielding variety of lands, services provided by the government, agricultural expenditure by local government are the factors which significantly contribute to efficiency in resource utilisation. Traditional method of farming or learning by doing is preferred to adoption of new technologies which creates technological lock-in. |
| Keywords: | Production function, agricultural farmers, technical efficiency, India |
| JEL: | C33 D20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mad:wpaper:2016-161&r=all |
| By: | Bruno de Borger (University of Antwerp); Ismir Mulalic (Technical University of Denmark); Jan Rouwendal (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | Most studies of the effects of transport infrastructure on the performance of individual firms have focused on marginal expansions of the rail or highway network over time. In this paper, we study the short-run effects of a large discrete shock in the quality of transport infrastructure, viz. the opening of the Great Belt bridge connecting the Copenhagen area with a neighboring island and the mainland of Denmark. We analyse the effect of the opening of the bridge on the productivity of firms throughout the country using a two-step approach: we estimate firm- and year-specific productivity for a large panel of individual firms, using the approaches developed by Levinsohn and Petrin (2003) and De Loecker (2011). Then, controlling for firm-fixed effects, we relate productivity to a calculated measure of accessibility that captures the effect of the opening of the bridge. We find large productivity effects for firms located in the regions near the bridge, especially for relatively small firms in the construction and retail industry. Estimation results further suggest statistically significant but small positive wage effects throughout the country, even in regions far from the bridge. Finally, there is some evidence that the bridge has stimulated new activities in the Copenhagen region at the expense of firms disappearing on the neighboring island Funen. |
| Keywords: | production functions, productivity, accessibility, agglomeration, transport infrastructure |
| JEL: | R12 H54 O18 |
| Date: | 2019–09–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tin:wpaper:20190065&r=all |
| By: | Santosh Kumar Sahu (Assistant Professor, Madras School of Economics); Sunder Ramaswamy (Visiting Distinguished Professor of Economics, Madras School of Economics); Abishek Choutagunta (Institute of Law and Economics, Universität Hamburg) |
| Abstract: | This study re-examines the relationship between export performance and productivity in manufacturing firms in India for the period 2003-2015, using firm level information. Departing from the earlier studies on India economy, we argue that product innovations boost export performance of the economy. The hypothesis being that, in the post-economic-reforms era competitive export market scenario, productivity alone, without product innovation and participation in R and D cannot drive export performance. We observe that the argument of highly productive firms entering the export market without eallocating resources towards innovation and R and D seems to be invalid in our sample. Nevertheless, we find in our sample, that productivity as a selection criterion coupled with advertising and marketing strategies explains participation in R and D in boosting exports. |
| Keywords: | Export Performance, Innovation, Productivity, Manufacturing firms, India |
| JEL: | D20 D24 L16 L6 L60 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mad:wpaper:2016-159&r=all |
| By: | Calogero Guccio (Università di Catania); Domenico Lisi (Università di Catania e University of York); Marco Ferdinando Martorana (Università di Catania); Giacomo Pignataro (Università di Catania, University of York e Politecnico di Milano) |
| Abstract: | The increasing pressure to cost containment in the public sector and, specifically, in health care provision raises concern on the potential adverse effects on the hospital quality that would imply the existence of an efficiency-effectiveness trade-off. This hypothesis calls for taking into account explicitly the relationship between efficiency and quality when analyzing hospitals’ performance. This paper adopts a non-parametric approach to study the whole performance in the provision of hospital services in Italy. We employ a generalized directional distance function that allows incorporating both desirable outputs and undesirable outcomes (i.e. risk-adjusted mortality rates) in the estimation of efficiency, thus enabling for studying hospital performance thoroughly, and assess the impact of integrating quality in the efficiency assessment. We find that including quality does matter. In addition, considering that patients in the Italian National Health System do not directly pay for treatments and, thus, hospitals presumably compete on quality in a catchment area, we also study whether taking into account quality matters in studying spatial dependence in hospital performance. |
| Keywords: | hospital efficiency, directional distance function, undesirable outputs, tradeoff effectiveness-efficiency, spatial dependence |
| JEL: | I12 I18 H75 D22 |
| Date: | 2020–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipu:wpaper:96&r=all |
| By: | Bloom, Nick; Lemos, Renato; Sadun, Raffaella; Van Reenen, John |
| Abstract: | We investigate the link between hospital performance and managerial education by collecting a large database of management practices and skills in hospitals across nine countries. We find that hospitals closer to universities offering both medical education and business education have lower mortality rates from acute myocardial infarction (heart attacks), better management practices, and more MBA-trained managers. This is true compared to the distance to universities that offer only business or medical education (or neither). We argue that supplying bundled medical and business education may be a channel through which universities improve management practices in hospitals and raise clinical performance. |
| JEL: | J50 |
| Date: | 2019–06–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:105014&r=all |
| By: | Ekong, Olabisi |
| Keywords: | Productivity Analysis, Production Economics, Agricultural and Food Policy |
| Date: | 2020–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea20:304541&r=all |
| By: | Dhoubhadel, Sunil P. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural Finance, Production Economics, Productivity Analysis |
| Date: | 2020–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea20:304229&r=all |
| By: | Shang, Linmei; Heckelei, Thomas; Börner, Jan; Rasch, Sebastian |
| Keywords: | Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Productivity Analysis |
| Date: | 2020–09–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:gewi18:305586&r=all |
| By: | Hazarika, Gautam (The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley); Paul, Sourabh Bikas (Indian Institute of Technology Delhi) |
| Abstract: | Between the early 1970s and very nearly the present, Indians' per capita calorie consumption declined. This decline, perplexing in the face of rising per capita income when malnutrition is rampant, has been termed India's Calorie Consumption Puzzle. It has been partially attributed to a squeeze in the household food budget. This study employs Stochastic Cost Frontier Analysis to evaluate this explanation, upon the logic that such a squeeze shall likely result in the rising cost-efficiency of calorie purchases, that is, the more economical purchase of calories. Analysis of household expenditure data from India's National Sample Survey reveals that Indian households' purchase of calories did become more cost-efficient at every level of income, suggesting that there was indeed a squeeze in the household food budget, making this a viable explanation of the Calorie Consumption Puzzle. Besides thus investigating India's Calorie Consumption Puzzle, this study demonstrates a novel application of Stochastic Cost Frontier Analysis, to consumption instead of the more common production, in that the method has not previously been applied to the consumption of multiple items treated as inputs yielding an output. Stochastic Cost Frontier Analysis applied to calorie acquisition may be a new way of gauging changes over time in food security, with a rise in cost-efficiency indicating a squeeze in the food budget or declining food security. |
| Keywords: | calorie consumption puzzle, Stochastic Cost Frontier Analysis |
| JEL: | I32 O1 |
| Date: | 2020–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13722&r=all |
| By: | Diarra, Lacina |
| Keywords: | Productivity Analysis, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Labor and Human Capital |
| Date: | 2020–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea20:304600&r=all |
| By: | Massimiliano Mazzanti (University of Ferrara; SEEDS, Italy); Antonio Musolesi (University of Ferrara; SEEDS, Italy) |
| Abstract: | Innovation is a primary engine of sustainable growth. This paper provides a new semiparametric econometric policy evaluation framework and estimates a green knowledge production function for a large, 30-year panel dataset of high-income countries. Because of the high degree of uncertainty surrounding the data-generating process and the likely presence of nonlinearities and latent common factors, the paper considers semiparametric panel specifications that extend interactive fixed effects fully parametric models such as the multifactor error model and the random trend model. It also adopts a recently proposed information criterion for smooth model selection to compare these semiparametric models and their parametric counterparts. The results indicate that (1) the semiparametric additive specification with individual time trends is the preferred model, (2) threshold effects and nonlinearities are relevant features of the data that are obscured in parametric specifications, and (3) the effect of environmental policy is significant and clearly heterogeneous when modeled as a nonparametric function of certain knowledge inputs. The evidence shows a relevant nonlinear policy inducement effect occurring through R&D investments. |
| Keywords: | green knowledge generation, environmental policy, heterogeneous policy effect, large panels, interactive fixed effects, spline functions, model selection. |
| JEL: | C14 C23 C52 O3 |
| Date: | 2020–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:srt:wpaper:1420&r=all |
| By: | Tyack, Nicholas |
| Keywords: | Productivity Analysis, International Development, Resource/Energy Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2020–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea20:304277&r=all |
| By: | Lukas Mergele; Moritz Hennicke; Moritz Lubczyk |
| Abstract: | The end of communism in the 1990s probably is the most fundamental restructuring of institutions witnessed in recent history. At its core was the large-scale redistribution of previously state-owned companies. We construct a unique firm-level dataset to study this redistribution in East Germany where the entire state-owned economy was either privatized or liquidated within less than five years. We examine whether the privatization authority followed its mandate to privatize competitive firms using initial labor productivity to indicate firms’ competitiveness. Our results highlight that firms with higher baseline productivity are more likely to be privatized, yield higher sales prices, are more often acquired by West German investors, and are more likely to remain in business even 20 years after leaving public ownership. The privatization agency plausibly contributed to these outcomes by rating and prioritizing productive firms. |
| Keywords: | privatization, labor productivity, German reunification |
| JEL: | D24 G38 H11 L33 P31 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_8566&r=all |
| By: | Hyejin Ku (Department of Economics and CReAM, University College London) |
| Abstract: | We examine worker effort as a potential margin of adjustment to a minimum wage hike using unique data on piece rate workers who perform a homogenous task and whose individual output is rigorously recorded. By employing a difference-in-differences strategy that exploits the increase in Florida’s minimum wage from $6.79 to $7.21 on January 1, 2009, and worker location on the pre-2009 productivity distribution, we provide evidence consistent with incumbent workers’ positive effort responses. |
| Keywords: | minimum wage, incentive, effort, labor productivity |
| JEL: | J20 J38 M50 |
| Date: | 2020–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:2013&r=all |
| By: | Heinrichs, Julia; Kuhn, Till; Pahmeyer, Christoph; Britz, Wolfgang |
| Keywords: | Farm Management, Productivity Analysis |
| Date: | 2020–09–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:gewi18:305628&r=all |
| By: | Gong, Binlei |
| Keywords: | Production Economics, International Development, Productivity Analysis |
| Date: | 2020–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea20:304347&r=all |
| By: | Hernant, Mikael (Högskolan i Skövde (HIS), Institutionen för Handel och Företagande); Julander, Claes-Robert (Center for Retailing) |
| Abstract: | Much of what we know about the effects of competition on store performance emanate from SCP studies of grocery retail stores located in different geographical markets. These studies have provided empirical support for the notion that low competition endows firms with market power, enabling them to set higher prices compared to firms located in more competitive markets. However, to what extent the effect of competition on prices translates into higher gross margins and higher profits and profitability on the store level appears to be an unanswered question. One reason being that valid and reliable data on the profitability of individual stores never or very seldom are disclosed for research by retail companies. This study takes previous empirical research on the effects of local competition in retailing one step further, by investigating the relationships between competition and various aspects of economic performance of 168 supermarkets, all owned and managed by individual retailers affiliated to the voluntary ICA chain in Sweden. A unique database has been created by pooling data from income statements and balance sheets with details on local competition. Local competition is depicted in three dimensions: concentration, horizontal vs. intertype competition, and spatial monopoly. The main contribution of this study is that it establishes an empirical relationship between competition and bottom-line economic performance. The results show that competition has a significant effect on conduct and financial performance. In more competitive markets, supermarkets price lower, conduct “more” on non-price attributes, and achieve lower profitability compared to stores facing little competition. This study thus validates the SCP-paradigm and it explicitly shows that market power opportunities on the local market level is translated into higher profitability performance of stores. As such, the study has important implications for competition authorities’ actions as well as for retail management decisions. |
| Keywords: | Retailing; Competition; store profitability |
| Date: | 2020–09–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhb:hastma:2020_004&r=all |
| By: | Gong, Binlei |
| Keywords: | International Development, Productivity Analysis, Production Economics |
| Date: | 2020–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea20:304348&r=all |
| By: | Uehleke, Reinhard; Seifert, Stefan; Hüttel, Silke |
| Keywords: | Livestock Production/Industries, Agricultural and Food Policy |
| Date: | 2020–09–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:gewi18:305600&r=all |
| By: | Lee, Yunkyung |
| Keywords: | Productivity Analysis, Production Economics, Agricultural and Food Policy |
| Date: | 2020–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea20:304241&r=all |
| By: | Chennak, Ahmed |
| Keywords: | International Development, Production Economics, Productivity Analysis |
| Date: | 2020–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea20:304493&r=all |