A flexible time-varying specification of the technical inefficiency effects model

The temporal pattern of technical efficiency in the technical inefficiency effects model, as modeled by Battese and Coelli (Empir Econ 20:325–332, 1995), is rather restrictive. Specifically, it a priori imposes a common pattern upon all firms in the sample, which in addition is monotonic over time. Obviously this is an undesirable implication of the model especially when there is evidence of strong firm heterogeneity and/or a long time span. To overcome this shortcoming, the present paper incorporates the Cornwell et al. (J Econom 46:185–200, 1990) flexible specification of the temporal pattern of technical efficiency into technical inefficiency effects model. The proposed formulation is then applied to the agricultural sector of the EU and US, during the period 1973–1993. The empirical result support the proposed formulation as quite different temporal patterns of technical efficiency have been found for the ten countries included in the analysis. We would like to thank an anonymous referee and an associate editor for valuable suggestions in an earlier version of the paper.     

Valuing environmental factors in cost-benefit analysis using data envelopment analysis

Environmental cost-benefit analysis (ECBA) is used for the social evaluation of investment projects and policies that involve significant environmental impacts. Economic valuation of environmental impacts forms one of the critical steps of ECBA. We develop a new method for this purpose, which does not require price estimation for environmental impacts using stated or revealed preference methods. Our approach is based on data envelopment analysis (DEA), which is modified to ECBA by using absolute shadow prices instead of relative prices. We also discuss how the method can be used for sensitive analysis in ECBA. We illustrate the method by means of a hypothetical numerical example.     

Metafrontier frameworks for the study of firm-level efficiencies and technology ratios

This paper uses the concept of a metafrontier to compare the technical efficiencies of firms that may be classified into different groups. The paper presents the basic analytical framework necessary for the definition of a metafrontier, shows how a metafrontier can be estimated using non-parametric and parametric methods, and presents an empirical application using cross-country agricultural sector data. The paper also explores the issues of technological change, time-varying technical inefficiency, multiple outputs, different efficiency orientations, and firm heterogeneity.     

The impact and economic cost of environmental regulation on energy utilization in China

This article utilizes three data envelopment analysis-based models: a no environmental regulation model, a weak environmental regulation model and a strong environmental regulation model to reveal the impact of environmental regulation on China’s regional total-factor energy efficiency (TFEE) during the period of 2003–2010. To take a further step, these three models are adjusted for calculating the correspondingly macro-economic cost of environmental regulation. The estimation results show that at present, the level of China’s environmental regulation is relatively low, and an enhancing of environmental regulation would lead to a sufficient increase of China’s regional TFEE with an enormous economic cost as its price. That means in China, the nationwide environmental stress is high, and the regulation cost is very huge. Strengthening environmental regulation would inevitably have some negative influences on China’s economy in the short run. Based on our findings, some corresponding policies are also proposed in this article.     

Environmental determinants of banking efficiency in Austria

The great majority of Austrian banks operate on a regional or local basis and only a few banks provide their services on a national or even international scale. Obviously, the market environments regional or local banks face are different from that of nationwide operating banks. Casual evidence suggests that local markets condition is a very important external determinant of banking efficiency. Thus, not controlling for market conditions may substantially bias the measurement of managerial efficiency particularly of locally operating banks. In this paper we assess the internal technical efficiency (or X-efficiency) of the Austrian banking sector with the focus on environmental and non-controllable factors critical to banking markets. Analytically, we apply a multiple-stage approach based on a slacks-based DEA model (SBM) and a censored regression model, respectively. In order to cope with the inherent dependency problem of DEA-based efficiency analysis when incorporated into regression analysis we apply a Bootstrap estimator. In so doing we attempt to overcome the dependency problem which plagues the power of standard regression analysis based on DEA processed data. The empirical analysis is based on an unbalanced panel of data covering more than 800 Austrian banks ranging over 1995–2002.

Technical efficiency under alternative environmental regulatory regimes: The case of Dutch horticulture

We consider the performance of small and medium sized enterprises in Dutch horticulture under different environmental policy regimes across time. We address the question whether technical performance differs under these alternative regulatory regimes to test Porter's hypothesis that stricter environmental regulation reduces technical inefficiency. For this purpose, we use a stochastic production frontier framework allowing for inclusion of policy variables to measure the effect of alternative environmental policy regimes on firms' performance. The main result is that stricter environmental policy regimes have indeed reduced technical inefficiencies in Dutch horticulture. The estimation results indicate amongst others that the 1997 agreement on energy, nutrient and pesticides use enhances technical efficiency. Firms under the strict environmental policy regime are found to be more technically efficient than those under a lax regime, thereby supporting the claims by Porter and Van der Linde (Porter, M., Van der Linde, C., 1995. Green and Competitive: Ending the stalemate. Harvard Business Review 73, pp. 120-137) concerning Dutch horticulture.     

The empirical analysis of the determinants for environmental technological change: A research agenda

Technological change is usually considered a necessary albeit not sufficient condition for a transition to sustainability. However, the empirical analysis of the determinants to environmental technological change has not received too much attention in the environmental/ecological economics literature and many open questions remain in this context. Based on a careful review of the literature, this paper argues that further analysis should address several issues at different levels: i.e., regarding the conceptual framework, the thematic scope of the studies, some methodological issues and other aspects related to the environmental policy variable. First, an integrated conceptual framework which takes into account the interplay between relevant variables influencing environmental technological change (i.e., factors internal and external to the firm and characteristics of the environmental technologies) and all the stages of this process, with a greater emphasis on the invention stage, should be developed. Other aspects should then be tackled, including a focus on several themes (i.e., a greater attention to cross-sectoral technologies, the barriers to different types of environmental technologies, the international dimension of environmental technological change and environmental technological change in small and medium size enterprises), methodological issues (combination of case studies and econometric modelling) and several issues related to the environmental policy variable.     

Impact of the adoption of information and communication technologies on firm efficiency in the Tunisian manufacturing sector

This paper aims at measuring the impact of information and communication technology use on the efficiency of the Tunisian manufacturing sector at the firm level within a simple theoretical framework. We are using a firm-level panel data for the manufacturing sector in Tunisia to investigate whether adoption of ICT influences efficiency in factor use. The analysis is conducted through the use of a parametric method to measure technical efficiency. We estimate a stochastic production frontier and the relationship aims to explain technical efficiency differentials in a single stage as suggested by Battese and Coelli [Battesse, G.E, Coelli, T.J. (1995). A model for technical inefficiency in a stochastic frontier production function for panel data. Empirical Economics, 20, 325–332].The results have confirmed the presence of positive returns to ICT capital. We have found that the impact of ICT on efficiency is strong. Our results also suggest that it is important to carefully control for human capital related characteristics of employment when studying the effect of ICT. The evidence shows that achieving benefits from investment in ICT requires complementary investments and changes in human capital. This means that the combined use of ICT and human capital in a firm would enhance its efficiency beyond the direct effects of these factors taken alone.     

Analysis on regional disparity of economic development in China based on DEA

The economy of China has been developing fast after the beginning of the new century, but the 31 provinces or municipalities （excluding Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macao） develop disparately. So, finding an appropriate way to analyze and compare the economic situations of various regions is of great significance for the balanced development of the east coastal area and the hinterland. With the DEA method, on the basis of regionalism, this paper analyzes various regions of China, and gets the conclusion that the effective proportion of DEA of the coastal developed areas is relatively higher, and the extremely tittle foreign investment makes the relative efficiency of DEA of frontier areas pretty high. In addition, through the analysis parameters of the regions where DEA is relatively ineffective, this paper points out that the surplus labor force is the most influential factor, and the spare foreign investment is the main reason for the lack of efficiency of relatively developed regions.     

我国区域金融效率测度及效率差异研究

运用数据包络分析法（DEA）测度了1995--2009年我国区域金融效率,并用基尼系数和泰尔指数分别从省际和区际层面衡量了我国区域金融效率差异。结果显示,我国金融效率整体水平较低,金融效率区域差异不大。金融效率及效率差异都呈现出了明显的两阶段特征,其中2002年是转折点。2002年后,各地区金融效率都有了一定程度的提高,与此同时,金融效率区域差异开始收敛。区域金融效率差异的分解结果显示,区域内金融效率差异是区域金融效率总差异的主要原因,平均贡献率超过了75％。     

Supply and demand factors of Cleaner technologies: Some empirical evidence

This article identifies and analyzes factors that affect the willingness of firms and consumers to develop and adopt cleaner technologies. Cleaner technologies is used as a general term for pollution abatement technologies, re-use systems, and environmentally sound consumer products and materials. The article also contains the findings of three case studies on cleaner technologies (CFC substitutes, low-solvent paints and coatings, and membrane technology), in which the importance of the identified factors is investigated. From the case studies some general conclusions are drawn about these factors, and the way in which policy instruments can be used to stimulate innovation in and diffusion of cleaner technologies. No single policy instrument is considered to be optimal. Instead a policy mix is needed, involving a much wider use of economic instruments.This paper is based on a research project for the Ministries of Economic Affairs and the Environment in the Netherlands, and is a revision of an earlier paper Policy Instruments to Stimulate Cleaner Technologies, which was prepared for the EAERE conference in Stockholm, June 11–14th, 1991. The authors thank the referee for helpful comments.     

Estimation of nonparametric inefficiency effects stochastic frontier models with an application to British manufacturing

The purpose of this paper is to propose a simple stochastic frontier model with a non-parametric specification for covariates affecting the mean of technical inefficiency. We derive a simple two-step semiparametric estimation procedure to estimate the frontier parameters as well as the mean of the technical inefficiency. The consistency of the estimator and its asymptotic normality are shown. The proposed method is illustrated using a large panel data set of British manufacturing firms.     

Economic and environmental performance of wastewater treatment plants: Potential reductions in greenhouse gases emissions

Sanitation and wastewater treatment are essential for protecting human health and environmental sustainability. Treatment processes are not free of environmental impacts; consequently assessment of the environmental performance of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) has gained interest in recent years. Unlike other methods, a direct approach is followed to estimate environmental performance indicators (EPIs) using data envelopment analysis (DEA), i.e. an index of overall performance is directly obtained. The present study represents pioneering work to integrate environmental impacts in the assessment of the efficiency of WWTP estimating pure (PEPI) and mixed (MEPI) environmental performance indices for a sample of 60 Spanish WWTPs. Both direct and indirect greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions were considered as undesirable outputs. The best functioning WWTPs to be used as references were identified, and the potential for GHG reductions was quantified. A second-stage analysis was conducted to isolate factors affecting WWTP environmental performance. The results of this study are valuable for WWTP operators and policy makers, since the benchmark procedure allows support for environmental and managerial decision-making.     

Scale and efficiency measurement using a semiparametric stochastic frontier model: evidence from the U.S. commercial banks

In this paper, we use the local maximum likelihood (LML) method proposed by Kumbhakar et al. (J Econom, 2007) to estimate stochastic cost frontier models for a sample of 3,691 U.S. commercial banks. This method relaxes several deficiencies in the econometric estimation of frontier functions. In particular, we relax the assumption that all banks share the same production technology and provide bank-specific measures of returns to scale and cost inefficiency. The LML method is applied to estimate the cost frontiers in which a truncated normal distribution is used to model technical inefficiency. This formulation allows the cost frontier, inefficiency effects and heteroskedasticity in both noise and inefficiency components to be quite flexible.      

The determinants of investment in information and communication technologies

In this paper, we assess the determinants of information and communication technology (ICT) investment at the macro-level, for a panel of 10 advanced countries, in the period 1992–2005. We investigate the idea that, since ICTs are general purpose technologies, the decision to invest in these technologies is strongly affected by the general business environment in which the investment takes place. The empirical results are consistent with this idea: facilitating factors such as changes in market regulation, amount of human capital, expenditure on R&D, and the share of the dynamic services sector in the economy, positively influence investment in ICT.     

Impact of information and communication technologies on fertilizer and pesticide use efficiency of China's grain production

Based on a panel data from National Rural Fixed Point Survey (NRFP), this study explored the effects of information and communication technologies (ICTs) on the fertilizer and pesticide use efficiency of China's grain production and the mechanisms using stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) and two-way fixed-effects model with two-stage least square (2SLS) estimation. The results show that the average fertilizer use efficiency (FE), pesticide use efficiency (PE) and comprehensive fertilizer and pesticide use efficiency (CFPE) of grain production were 0.286, 0.404, and 0.364 respectively during 2003–2011. It should be noted that the CFPE decreased by 48.39% during 2003–2011 and showed a descending trend in all regions. ICTs had significant positive effects on FE, PE, and CPFE which could be explained by providing farmers more sustainable knowledge and hence shifting farming practices from overusing fertilizer towards using farmyard manure as a substitute. ICTs' positive effects were more pronounced for farmers with higher-level education and in central region. Additionally, ICTs had significant spillover effects, extending from users to nonusers within the villages. These results suggest that ICTs could be considered as an effective way to increase the fertilizer and pesticide use efficiency and promote the sustainable development of agriculture in China.     

The use of data envelopment analysis for the detection of price above the competitive level

Economic theory can predict the impact of exogenous influences on the equilibrium prices in a market. However, it is difficult to measure the magnitude of such effects because the appropriate data are usually not available. In this paper a new approach to comparing prices is explored using individual firm data which are typically available. If the firms in different markets can be assumed to use the same technology, price differentials can be inferred from the estimates can be assumed to use the same technology, price differentials can be inferred from the estimates of best practice frontiers. The new approach is applied to data on the Swiss construction industry in different cantons. In some cantons the market can be said to be competitive, in others non-competitive procurement rules are expected to raise equilibrium prices. The data envelopment analysis estimates the price differential to be approximately equal to 7.5%.Helpful criticism from participants of a seminar at the Business Institute of the University of Vienna are gratefully acknowledged.     

测度政府技术效率的模型与方法比较研究

技术效率是在产出规模不变,市场价格不变的条件下,按照既定的要素投入比例所能达到的最小生产成本占实际生产成本的百分比。政府技术效率是广义的政府绩效或效率的一个部分,它是政府提供公共服务过程中能够测度的政府投入与政府产出之间的比例关系。测度政府技术效率主要的模型与方法有非参数前沿法和参数前沿法。非参数前沿法主要包括数据包络法分析（DEA）和自由处置包（FDH）,而参数前沿法主要包括随机前沿法（SFA）、模糊边界法（TFA）和确定性前沿法（DFA）。通过建立模型科学对政府技术效率进行评估与测度可提高政府各个方面的科学性和有效性,从而促进政府技术效率的提高。     

海洋新区政策对沿海地区经济效率的影响研究——以舟山海洋新区为例

经济发展的质量可以通过经济效率进行评价。为探讨舟山群岛新区的设立对该地区经济发展质量的影响,将数据包络分析与反事实分析相结合,首先通过收集1995-2015年江浙皖 21个地级城市的投入产出经济数据,利用数据包络分析方法测算这些城市在上述 21年间的经济效率;然后根据测算结果,以 “反事实”分析方法量化研究舟山群岛新区的设立对舟山经济效率的影响。研究表明,舟山群岛新区设立在一定时期内提高了该地区的经济效率,但作用时间有限,今后还需要对舟山现有经济增长方式及时加以改进。