Airport efficiency in the dawn of privatization: The case of Greece

Until recently, all airports in Greece were owned and managed by the state; however, the recent economic crisis led the Greek government to privatize 14 regional airports. This paper evaluates the performance of the 38 Greek airports open to civil aviation just before the privatization was concluded. It also aims to highlight that the majority of airports with high efficiency were selected to be privatized. The analysis was performed applying Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Malmquist Productivity Index (MPI) using 2011 and 2015 operational and financial data. Results showed that, despite the economic crisis, overall efficiency improved between 2011 and 2015, mainly due to the spectacular increase in incoming international passenger traffic. Changes in efficiency can be attributed by and large to exogenous factors such as operations of low-cost carriers and charter operators along with the seasonal operations of established carriers at individual airports. Findings confirm that the majority of high efficiency airports were offered to private investors.     

Productivity changes in pre-crisis Western European banks: Does scale effect really matter?

Insofar as the completion of the Single Market for Financial Services, it has presented new challenges for European Banking industries. In this study, we use a recently developed generalized metafrontier Malmquist productivity index (gMMPI) to provide insights on productivity growth. We extend the gMMPI to broaden the index's capacity by decomposing various sources of productivity change in the metafrontier context. The sample contains commercial banks from 12 Western European countries prior to the recent financial crisis. A key advantage of our extension is that it introduces the role of scale effects. The empirical results show that an average bank's productivity growth arises mainly from technical changes and scale effects. Moreover, smaller and larger banks grow faster than medium ones. In addition, conservative banks tend to grow faster. These findings suggest that a more competitive and integrated financial market induced by financial deregulation is indeed able to improve banks’ productivity.     

知识视角下区域创新绩效研究——基于PCA-DEA模型和Malmquist指数的实证分析

本文综合关于区域创新绩效的研究文献，构建了知识视角下的区域创新绩效指标评价体系。在此基础上，首次运用PCA-DEA模型和Malmquist指数分析方法对我国30个省域创新绩效进行了动态实证分析。研究发现我国区域创新绩效整体呈上升趋势，但是近年遇到瓶颈，区域创新效率的主要限制因素是PECH（纯技术效率）值较低。东部区域创新绩效高于西部地区，而中部区域创新绩效最低。西部地区创新技术效率已经赶超东部，呈持续领先态势。北京、内蒙、福建、河南、贵州、云南、宁夏、新疆等8个省市是创新活动生产可能性前沿外移的主要推动者。基于实证分析的结果，为提高我国区域创新绩效提供相应思路。     

Comparing efficiency of holding business model and individual management model of airports

This research compares the efficiency of holding business model to individual management model of airports, employing some robust non-parametric partial frontier-based methods to compare the statistical distributions of efficiency, under different scenarios, to find out which group of airports yields better global performance. The comparison between groups will follow a Malmquist index decomposition, which seems to be the most appropriate tool for within- and inter-group performance comparison. For this purpose, a sample of 145 airports from three continents is utilized. The results provide evidence that European airports are the most productive ones, and within this cluster, the individual management model presented a significant frontier shift with respect the holding cluster frontier, meaning that the former is much more productive than the latter.     

Efficiency and productivity changes in Greek airports during the crisis years 2010–2014

The aim of this study is to evaluate the operating efficiency and productivity changes of the Greek airports, during the first years of the severe economic crisis in Greece (2010–2014), by using two methods: Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Malmquist Productivity index (MPI). Findings have shown that, despite the dramatic effects of the economic crisis on the socio-economic life of the country, overall airport efficiency and productivity improved, mainly due to exogenous factors such as international tourism growth. The MPI reveals that over the period of the study, airports have experienced an annual average increase in total factor productivity (TFP) of 0.9% (an increase of 3.6% over the examined period). On examining the components of this productivity change, it becomes evident that this is due to the combination of both positive (a slight progress) annual average technology change (0.5%) and technical efficiency change (0.4%). The results also indicate that 65.8% of airports have an increase in average TFP during the period 2010–2014, ranging between 0.4% and 20%. However, as Greek airports operate at poor levels of efficiency, there is still considerable space for improvements in most of the airports.     

湖南服务业全要素生产率变动的实证研究

本文使用基于DEA的非参数Malmquist指数方法研究了1996-2005年湖南服务业中的9个行业的全要素生产率的变动状况,并将其分解为技术效率和技术进步.结果表明,在这期间,湖南服务业全要素生产率的平均增长率为5.8%,其增长的主要动力是技术效率的提高;服务业大部分行业的全要素生产率水平都有一定程度的提高,但是增长、降低交替,而非持续增长;10年间除了1998年几乎所有各行业的生产率水平都在下降,而其他年份则各有改善.     

Do Transition Economies and Developing Countries Have Similar Destinies?

This paper evaluates the potential of transition economies for achieving sustainable improvements in living standards vis-à-vis developing countries based on their productivity performance. The comparison is made using a bootstrapped Malmquist productivity index and its technological and efficiency change components. The results of estimation indicate that transition economies enjoy significantly higher increases in technical efficiency than developing countries with comparable rates of real GDP growth. Therefore, these results suggest that the former group of countries may have better growth prospects than the latter group, giving empirical support to Stern and Fries’ (Foreign Policy 111:164–165, 1998) optimism that transition economies are the “tiger” economies of tomorrow.

低碳经济下中国区域全要素生产率的收敛性研究

发展低碳经济是中国应对日益严峻的能源紧张和气候变化的必然选择。考虑各区域在能源约束和碳排放下的全要素生产率显得日益重要。根据低碳经济的要求和特征应用Malmquist生产率指数法对我国29个省份及东中西三大地区低碳全要素生产率变动情况进行了实证分析。研究表明,考虑低碳因素后中国的全要素生产率增长率得到增加;低碳全要素生产率的变动由技术进步率的变化主导,低碳技术效率变化对低碳全要素生产率的影响有限;西部地区不存在绝对收敛,东部地区和中部地区存在较明显的“俱乐部收敛”,我国总体及东中西三大地区都存在明显的条件收敛趋势。     

资本市场促进技术创新的效率研究——以西部地区为例

在运用Malmquist指数的基础上,笔者测量了我国西部地区12个省市资本市场促进技术创新的全要素生产率(TPF)、技术效率变化指数(TECH)以及技术进步率指数(TPCH),比较和分析了西部地区各省市资本市场促进技术创新的效率水平。运用12个省市的专利和资本市场融资面板数据建立回归方程进行验证,发现各省市资本市场在促进当地创新效率方面还不均衡;资本市场发展较好以及技术创新潜力较大、需求较高的地区,资本市场融资投入对技术创新的全要素生产率也较高。     

中国旅游上市公司全要素生产率动态测度——基于Malmquist指数方法

旅游上市公司是旅游业内的龙头企业,其经营效率的提升是促进旅游业进一步发展的关键,这也正是本文关注的重点。本文选择2004~2008年国内19家旅游上市公司的面板数据,运用Malmquist指数方法进行计算分析,得出在样本期内平均全要素生产率是上升的,且全要素生产率的增长源于效率提升和技术进步的结论,并根据技术效率变动和技术进步变动的水平将19家公司分为5个类别,相应提出针对性的效率提升方向。