117 results on '"conditional efficiency"'
Search Results
2. Technical efficiency and complementarity of agroecological innovations in French West Indies banana production.
- Author
-
Minviel, Jean-Joseph, Fares, M'Hand, Blazy, Jean-Marc, and Thomas, Alban
- Subjects
BANANAS ,AGRICULTURAL extension work ,GOVERNMENT policy ,AGRICULTURE ,HUMAN services - Abstract
In context of global challenges facing agriculture, our article addresses the extent to which the synergistic nature of agroecological innovations may reconcile environmental and technical efficiency of farms. We develop an empirical model, namely conditional efficiency framework, which explicitly accounts for context-dependent drivers like synergy and complementarity of innovations. Using a sample of 567 banana farms in the French West Indies, our estimates confirm the complementarity effect since the joint adoption of agroecological innovations increases the technical efficiency scores much more than other drivers and each of the innovations taken in isolation. We also show that advice and extension services as well as human capital variables are key adoption levers for public policy since they reduce the variability of production and thus the risk associated with the joint adoption of the agroecological innovations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2023
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
3. Essays in empirical asset pricing and portfolio construction
- Author
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Ashby, Michael and Linton, Oliver Bruce
- Subjects
asset pricing ,portfolio construction ,consumption-based asset pricing ,short sales ,short sale regulations ,unconditional efficiency ,conditional efficiency ,predictability - Abstract
The key thread running through this thesis is predictability and how it relates to asset pricing and portfolio construction. Chapter 1, co-authored with Oliver Linton, tests for predictability in asset pricing model residuals to check model specification. We estimate three consumption-based asset pricing models and derive ex-ante expected stock market returns from them. For each model, a suite of tests rejects the null that the model residual, the difference between the ex-ante expected market return and the actual return, is a martingale difference sequence. The ability of these models to explain the own-history predictability of the market return is therefore rejected. Further tests show that lagged returns have too much predictive power over current returns to be consistent with the state variables which explain the market return being the same as the state variables which explain the market return in any of the three models. Chapter 2 focusses on a specific type of predictive information. I examine whether regulator-required public disclosures of large net short positions can be profitably used to build portfolios. These disclosures do not form the basis of a profitable trading strategy for UK stocks. Long-short portfolios based on these disclosures typically make a profit, but it is statistically insignificant. While certain long-only unit initial outlay portfolios can reliably significantly outperform the market, this outperformance is economically modest: about one percentage point a year in gross and risk-adjusted terms. Finally, Chapter 3 considers how best to use predictive information. Using predictive information unconditionally optimally produces better portfolios than using the predictive information conditionally optimally. Unconditionally optimal portfolios have higher Sharpe ratios and certainty equivalents, plus lower turnover, leverage, losses and drawdowns than conditionally optimal portfolios. Moreover, the unconditionally optimal portfolios tend to stochastically dominate the conditionally optimal portfolios once transaction costs are accounted for. However, whether unconditionally optimal portfolios are preferred to minimum variance or 1/N portfolios depends on the asset universe.
- Published
- 2020
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
4. Determinants of the innovation efficiency of strategic emerging enterprises: evidence from the robust frontiers.
- Author
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Su, Weihua, Wang, Zhen, Zhang, Chonghui, and Balezentis, Tomas
- Subjects
LIFE cycles (Biology) ,TECHNOLOGICAL innovations ,EMERGING industries ,GOVERNMENT business enterprises ,LINEAR orderings ,INDUSTRIAL clusters - Abstract
Strategic emerging industries facilitate the deep integration of emerging technologies and strategic industries. Exploring the factors of the innovation efficiency of strategic emerging industries are of great significance to effectively implement the strategy of innovation-driven development and enhance national core competitiveness. In order to identify the linear and nonlinear influence of factors on innovation efficiency (separability hypothesis is taken into account), we apply a nonparametric robust frontier for empirical analysis. The empirical analysis relies on the sample of 186 strategic emerging enterprises in China. The results suggest that enterprise characteristics are the dominant factors of the efficiency of enterprise innovation. Among them, high-tech enterprises and enterprise size positively impact enterprise innovation, while the influence of enterprise age on innovation efficiency is nonlinear. According to the influence law of enterprise age, the enterprise life cycle can be divided into several periods, including survival, rapid growth, maturity, recession and metamorphosis. The innovation efficiency of enterprises is significantly different among industries, as the digital economy industry shows significantly lower level than the high-end equipment industry and new materials industry do. Similarly, the tertiary industry efficiency is significantly lower than that of the secondary industry. The innovation efficiency of strategic emerging enterprises has regional heterogeneity. Finally, this study provides policy suggestions for improvement of innovation efficiency of strategic emerging industries from the perspectives of government management and enterprise management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2023
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
5. How does Internationalisation affect the productivity of R&D activities in large innovative firms? A conditional nonparametric investigation.
- Author
-
Laurens, Patricia, Toma, Pierluigi, Schoen, Antoine, Daraio, Cinzia, and Larédo, Philippe
- Subjects
DATA envelopment analysis ,INNOVATIONS in business ,ECONOMIC indicators ,MANUFACTURING processes ,DATABASES - Abstract
This work explores the relationship between multinational R&D and innovation productivity among top corporate knowledge and R&D producers by adopting a twofold concept of internationalisation: (1) the firm's degree of R&D internationalisation, and (2) the firm's geographic diversification. We model the patent production process with an appropriate and robust conditional Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) estimator, using a unique database of firms that matches financial indicators and patent information. Our results reinforce the fundamental role of internationalisation in the knowledge production process when the internationalisation process is properly and strategically managed. We interpret our empirical evidence through the theoretical lens of the learning theory of internationalisation, and we postulate that a high R&D intensity is a key driver to overcoming the challenges of internationalisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2023
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
6. Determinants of bank efficiency: evidence from the Latin American banking industry
- Author
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Jiménez-Hernandez, Ignacio, Palazzo, Gabriel, and Sáez-Fernández, Francisco Javier
- Published
- 2019
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
7. Modelling environmental constraints on the efficiency of management forms for public service delivery.
- Author
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Pérez-López, Gemma, Prior, Diego, and Zafra-Gómez, José L.
- Subjects
- *
MUNICIPAL services , *DELIVERY of goods , *PUBLIC administration , *PANEL analysis , *WASTE management - Abstract
• A new non-parametric methodology with robust frontiers is developed. • The impact of environmental constraints on waste management efficiency is measured by conditional order-m data panel. • Inter-municipal cooperation adapts best to changing environmental conditions. This paper presents a new non-parametric methodology in which robust frontiers are used to measure the impact of environmental constraints on efficiency. In this approach, a data panel structure is applied to determine which management forms for the delivery of municipal services – public or private, in cooperation or individual – are best suited to the environment where the services are provided. The study method proposed is then applied to analyse the waste collection service provided in Spanish municipalities during the period 2002–2014. The results obtained show that of the management forms considered inter-municipal cooperation adapts best to heterogeneous environmental conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2021
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
8. Technical and managerial efficiency assessment of European banks using a conditional nonparametric approach.
- Author
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Minviel, Jean Joseph and Ben Bouheni, Faten
- Subjects
ORGANIZATIONAL effectiveness ,BANKING industry ,CAPITAL requirements ,BANK capital ,FINANCIAL crises - Abstract
This paper investigates the conditional technical and managerial efficiency of European banks through the lending channel using a robust nonparametric frontier approach. We select the largest commercial banks in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, and Greece over the period 2005–2013 for our study. The estimates show significant technical inefficiency in the use of available resources for banks in our sample. The overall measure of managerial efficiency suggests sound managerial performance. However, at a detailed level, we find that, for each country examined, banks exhibit large proportions of poor managerial performance. This may explain why some banks could not resist the 2008 financial crisis. Regarding institutional factors, we find capital requirements and bank size are associated with bank efficiency in a nonlinear manner. These findings provide support for contextual factors in determining bank efficiency and rethinking financial reforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2021
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
9. Modeling the effect of competition on US manufacturing sectors' efficiency: an order-m frontier analysis.
- Author
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Polemis, Michael L., Stengos, Thanasis, and Tzeremes, Nickolaos G.
- Subjects
STOCHASTIC frontier analysis ,NONPARAMETRIC estimation ,MANUFACTURING processes - Abstract
The study applies the probabilistic framework of nonparametric frontier estimation to model the effect of competitive conditions on sectors' production efficiency levels. We utilize conditional order-m robust frontiers to model the dynamic effects of competition on a sample of U.S. manufacturing sectors over the period 1958–2009. Contrary to the existing studies, we apply for the first time in the Industrial Organization literature the latest advances of robust nonparametric frontier analysis to disentagle the dynamic effects alongside the effects of competition on sectors' productive efficiency levels. The results derived from the time-dependent robust conditional estimators unveil a non-linear relationship between product market competition and productive efficiency. Our findings suggest that for higher competition levels the effect is positive up to a certain threshold after which the effect becomes negative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2020
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
10. Technological Change and Catching-Up in the Indian Banking Sector: A Time-Dependent Nonparametric Frontier Approach.
- Author
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Mallick, Sushanta, Rughoo, Aarti, Tzeremes, Nickolaos G., and Xu, Wei
- Subjects
GOVERNMENT ownership of banks ,TECHNOLOGICAL innovations ,COOPERATIVE banking industry ,FOREIGN banking industry ,BANKING industry - Abstract
This paper investigates whether there has been any improvement in efficiency convergence of banks in India during the post-reform period considering bank ownership structures, using a balanced panel for 73 banks over the time period 1996–2014. Utilizing nonparametric frontier estimators, we compute time-dependent bank efficiency scores, which allow us to examine the dynamics of technological frontier and catch-up levels of Indian banks, and to explore the convergence patterns in the estimated efficiency levels. Our results signify that the state-owned banks, which dominate the banking activity in India, establish themselves as the best performers, ahead of the private, foreign and cooperative banks during post-2005. Even during the recent global financial crisis period, we find that bank efficiency levels increased, except for foreign banks which have had the greatest adverse impact. The convergence results show that heterogeneity is present in bank efficiency convergence, which points to the presence of club formation suggesting that Indian banks' efficiency convergence is partly driven by the ownership structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2020
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
11. Fast and efficient computation of directional distance estimators.
- Author
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Daraio, Cinzia, Simar, Léopold, and Wilson, Paul W.
- Subjects
- *
DISTANCES , *GEOGRAPHIC boundaries , *ESTIMATES - Abstract
Directional distances provide useful, flexible measures of technical efficiency of production units relative to the efficient frontier of the attainable set in input-output space. In addition, the additive nature of directional distances permits negative input or outputs quantities. The choice of the direction allows analysis of different strategies for the units attempting to reach the efficient frontier. Simar et al. (Eur J Oper Res 220:853–864, 2012) and Simar and Vanhems (J Econom 166:342–354, 2012) develop asymptotic properties of full-envelopment, FDH and DEA estimators of directional distances as well as robust order-m and order- α directional distance estimators. Extensions of these estimators to measures conditioned on environmental variables Z are also available (e.g., see Daraio and Simar in Eur J Oper Res 237:358–369, 2014). The resulting estimators have been shown to share the properties of their corresponding radial measures. However, to date the algorithms proposed for computing the directional distance estimates suffer from various numerical drawbacks (Daraio and Simar in Eur J Oper Res 237:358–369, 2014). In particular, for the order-m versions (conditional and unconditional) only approximations, based on Monte-Carlo methods, have been suggested, involving additional computational burden. In this paper we propose a new fast and efficient method to compute exact values of the directional distance estimates for all the cases (full and partial frontier cases, unconditional or conditional to external factors), that overcome all previous difficulties. This new method is illustrated on simulated and real data sets. Matlab code for computation is provided in an "Appendix". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2020
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
12. Managerial efficiency and efficiency differentials in adult education: a conditional and bias-corrected efficiency analysis.
- Author
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Schiltz, Fritz, De Witte, Kristof, and Mazrekaj, Deni
- Subjects
- *
ORGANIZATIONAL effectiveness , *ADULT education , *PSYCHOLOGY of teachers - Abstract
In efficiency studies, inputs and outputs are often noisy measures, especially when education data is used. This article complements the conditional efficiency model by correcting for bias within conditional draws, using the m out of n bootstrap procedure. With a unique panel dataset, we estimate managerial efficiency, which accounts for nondiscretionary variables, and explain efficiency differentials of adult education programs in Flanders. Our results suggest that the characteristics of learners in a program matter for managerial efficiency, and that teacher characteristics are strongly correlated with efficiency differentials, as more homogeneity in the teacher workforce appears to result in higher program efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2020
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
13. Technological change, technological catch-up and export orientation: evidence from Latin American Countries.
- Author
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Tzeremes, Nickolaos G.
- Subjects
TECHNOLOGICAL innovations ,LATIN Americans ,EXPORTS ,COUNTRIES ,REGRESSION analysis - Abstract
The paper examines in a nonparametric frontier framework the effect of exports on Latin American countries' technological change and technological catch-up levels over the period 1950–2014. Based on the probabilistic approach of nonparametric production efficiency measurement, we apply time-dependent conditional full and partial efficiency estimators to evaluate countries' export orientation policies over the examined period. The results reveal that the effect of countries' export activity on their technological change and technological catch-up levels is nonlinear. Overall our findings suggest that up to a certain point, lower export shares enhance countries' technological catch-up levels. The results also reveal that higher export shares affect positively their technological change levels. Finally, in a second stage analysis we apply a location-scale regression model in order to estimate the idiosyncratic part of the estimated production efficiencies. This measure is a proxy of Solow's residual accounting for aggregate effects of other factors not included in our estimation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2019
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
14. Technical efficiency and complementarity of agroecological innovations in French West Indies banana production
- Author
-
Jean-Joseph Minviel, M’Hand Fares, Jean-Marc Blazy, Alban Thomas, Unité Mixte de Recherche sur les Herbivores - UMR 1213 (UMRH), VetAgro Sup - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur et de recherche en alimentation, santé animale, sciences agronomiques et de l'environnement (VAS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE), Université Clermont Auvergne (UCA), Systèmes d'élevage méditerranéens et tropicaux (UMR SELMET), Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-Institut Agro Montpellier, Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement (Institut Agro)-Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement (Institut Agro), Agrosystèmes tropicaux (ASTRO), Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE), Paris-Saclay Applied Economics (UMR PSAE), AgroParisTech-Université Paris-Saclay-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE), Observatoire des Programmes Communautaires de Développement Rural (US ODR), Département de Sénologie, Centre Régional de Lutte contre le Cancer Oscar Lambret [Lille] (UNICANCER/Lille), Université de Lille-UNICANCER-Université de Lille-UNICANCER, and Systèmes d'Elevage Méditerranéens et Tropicaux - Laboratoire de Recherche sur le Développement de l'Elevage (SELMET-LRDE)
- Subjects
Economics and Econometrics ,farm performance ,agroecological innovations ,[QFIN]Quantitative Finance [q-fin] ,[SDV]Life Sciences [q-bio] ,[SDE]Environmental Sciences ,Conditional efficiency ,complementarity ,[SHS]Humanities and Social Sciences - Abstract
International audience; In context of global challenges facing agriculture, our article addresses the extent to which the synergistic nature of agroecological innovations may reconcile environmental and technical efficiency of farms. We develop an empirical model, namely conditional efficiency framework, which explicitly accounts for context-dependent drivers like synergy and complementarity of innovations. Using a sample of 567 banana farms in the French West Indies, our estimates confirm the complementarity effect since the joint adoption of agroecological innovations increases the technical efficiency scores much more than other drivers and each of the innovations taken in isolation. We also show that advice and extension services as well as human capital variables are key adoption levers for public policy since they reduce the variability of production and thus the risk associated with the joint adoption of the agroecological innovations.
- Published
- 2022
15. An Indirect Deterministic Causal Sales Forecasting Model: Accuracy, Information, Conditional Efficiency, and Effectiveness
- Author
-
Hebein, Fred and Crittenden, Victoria L., editor
- Published
- 2015
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
16. How does Internationalisation affect the productivity of R&D activities in large innovative firms? A conditional nonparametric investigation
- Author
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Laurens, P., Toma, P., Schoen, A., Daraio, C., Laredo, P., Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire Sciences, Innovations, Sociétés (LISIS), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée (UPEM)-ESIEE Paris-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Laurens, Patricia, Toma, Pierluigi, Schoen, Antoine, Daraio, Cinzia, Larédo, Philippe, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-Université Gustave Eiffel, University of Salento [Lecce], Department of Informatics and System Sciences (Sapienza University of Rome), Università degli Studi di Roma 'La Sapienza' = Sapienza University [Rome] (UNIROMA), University of Manchester [Manchester], The research has received funding from RISIS projects funded by the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme FP7/RISIS project, 313082) and the European Union's H2020/RISIS2 project, 821491)., European Project: 313082,EC:FP7:INFRA,FP7-INFRASTRUCTURES-2012-1,RISIS(2014), and European Project: 8911552(1989)
- Subjects
Statistics and Probability ,multinationality ,L25 ,JEL: F - International Economics/F.F2 - International Factor Movements and International Business/F.F2.F23 - Multinational Firms • International Business ,patents ,Conditional efficiency ,JEL: O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth/O.O3 - Innovation • Research and Development • Technological Change • Intellectual Property Rights/O.O3.O32 - Management of Technological Innovation and R&D ,General Social Sciences ,DEA modelling JEL classification O32 ,JEL: C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods/C.C4 - Econometric and Statistical Methods: Special Topics/C.C4.C44 - Operations Research • Statistical Decision Theory ,JEL: L - Industrial Organization/L.L2 - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior/L.L2.L25 - Firm Performance: Size, Diversification, and Scope ,DEA modelling ,Multinationality ,Patents ,R&D productivity ,[SHS.GESTION]Humanities and Social Sciences/Business administration ,F23 ,C44 - Abstract
This work explores the relationship between multinational R&D and innovation productivity among top corporate knowledge and R&D producers by adopting a twofold concept of internationalisation: (1) the firm’s degree of R&D internationalisation, and (2) the firm’s geographic diversification. We model the patent production process with an appropriate and robust conditional Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) estimator, using a unique database of firms that matches financial indicators and patent information. Our results reinforce the fundamental role of internationalisation in the knowledge production process when the internationalisation process is properly and strategically managed. We interpret our empirical evidence through the theoretical lens of the learning theory of internationalisation, and we postulate that a high R&D intensity is a key driver to overcoming the challenges of internationalisation.
- Published
- 2022
17. Conditional Order-m Efficiency of Wastewater Treatment Plants: The Role of Environmental Factors
- Author
-
Ramón Fuentes, Teresa Torregrosa, and Enrique Ballenilla
- Subjects
conditional efficiency ,exogenous variables ,free disposal hull (FDH) ,order-m ,robust estimation ,wastewater ,Hydraulic engineering ,TC1-978 ,Water supply for domestic and industrial purposes ,TD201-500 - Abstract
The growing economic and environmental importance of managing water resources at a global level also entails greater efforts and interest in improving the functioning and efficiency of the increasingly more numerous wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). In this context, this study analyzes the efficiency of a uniform sample of plants of this type located in the region of Valencia (Spain). The type of efficiency measure used for this (conditional order-m efficiency) allows continuous and discrete contextual variables to be directly involved in the analysis and enables the assessment of their statistical significance and effect (positive or negative). The main findings of the study showed that the quality of the influent water and also the size and age of the plants had a significant influence on their efficiency levels. In particular, as regards the effect of such variables, the findings pointed to the existence of an inverse relationship between the quality of the influent water and the efficiency of the WWTPs. Also, a lower annual volume of treated water and more modern installations showed a positive influence. Additionally, the average efficiency levels observed turned out to be higher than those reported in previous studies.
- Published
- 2015
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
18. Estimating Nonparametric Conditional Frontiers and Efficiencies: A New Approach
- Abstract
In production theory, conditional frontiers and conditional efficiency measures are a flexible and appealing approach to consider the role of environmental variables on the production process. Direct approaches estimate non-parametrically conditional distribution functions requiring smoothing techniques and the use of selected bandwidths. The statistical literature produces way to derive bandwidths of optimal order, by using e.g. least-squares-cross-validation techniques. However, it has been shown that the resulting order may not be optimal when estimating the boundary of the distribution function. As a consequence the direct approaches may suffer from some statistical instability. In this paper we suggest a full nonparametric approach which avoids the problem of estimating these bandwidths, by eliminating in a first step the influence of the environmental factors on the inputs and the outputs. By doing this we produce “pure” inputs and outputs which allow to estimate a “pure” measure of efficiency, more reliable for ranking the firms, since the influence of the external factors have been eliminated. This can be viewed as an extension of the use of location-scale models (implying some semi-parametric structure) to full nonparametric models, based on nonseparable, nonparametric models. We are also able to recover the frontier and efficiencies in original units. We describe the method, its statistical properties and we show in some Monte-Carlo simulations, how our new method dominates the traditional direct approach.
- Published
- 2022
19. Central limit theorems for conditional efficiency measures and tests of the ‘separability’ condition in non‐parametric, two‐stage models of production.
- Author
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Daraio, Cinzia, Simar, Léopold, and Wilson, Paul W.
- Subjects
CENTRAL limit theorem ,NONPARAMETRIC statistics ,INFERENTIAL statistics ,REGRESSION analysis ,MATHEMATICAL variables - Abstract
Summary: In this paper, we demonstrate that standard central limit theorem (CLT) results do not hold for means of non‐parametric, conditional efficiency estimators, and we provide new CLTs that permit applied researchers to make valid inference about mean conditional efficiency or to compare mean efficiency across groups of producers. The new CLTs are used to develop a test of the restrictive ‘separability’ condition that is necessary for second‐stage regressions of efficiency estimates on environmental variables. We show that if this condition is violated, not only are second‐stage regressions difficult to interpret and perhaps meaningless, but also first‐stage, unconditional efficiency estimates are misleading. As such, the test developed here is of fundamental importance to applied researchers using non‐parametric methods for efficiency estimation. The test is shown to be consistent and its local power is examined. Our simulation results indicate that our tests perform well both in terms of size and power. We provide a real‐world empirical example by re‐examining the paper by Aly et al. (1990, Review of Economics and Statistics 72, 211–18) and rejecting the separability assumption implicitly assumed by Aly et al., calling into question results that appear in hundreds of papers that have been published in recent years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2018
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
20. European regional efficiency and geographical externalities: a spatial nonparametric frontier analysis.
- Author
-
Ramajo, Julián, Cordero, José, and Márquez, Miguel
- Subjects
- *
TECHNOLOGY , *EXTERNALITIES , *NONPARAMETRIC estimation , *PROBABILITY theory , *ECONOMIES of agglomeration - Abstract
This paper analyses region-level technical efficiency in nine European countries over the 1995-2007 period. We propose the application of a nonparametric conditional frontier approach to account for the presence of heterogeneous conditions in the form of geographical externalities. Such environmental factors are beyond the control of regional authorities, but may affect the production function. Therefore, they need to be considered in the frontier estimation. Specifically, a spatial autoregressive term is included as an external conditioning factor in a robust order- m model. Thus we can test the hypothesis of non-separability (the external factor impacts both the input-output space and the distribution of efficiencies), demonstrating the existence of significant global interregional spillovers into the production process. Our findings show that geographical externalities affect both the frontier level and the probability of being more or less efficient. Specifically, the results support the fact that the spatial lag variable has an inverted U-shaped non-linear impact on the performance of regions. This finding can be interpreted as a differential effect of interregional spillovers depending on the size of the neighboring economies: positive externalities for small values, possibly related to agglomeration economies, and negative externalities for high values, indicating the possibility of production congestion. Additionally, evidence of the existence of a strong geographic pattern of European regional efficiency is reported and the levels of technical efficiency are acknowledged to have converged during the period under analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2017
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
21. Technical efficiency of Greek olive growing farms: a robust approach with panel data
- Author
-
S. Kourtesi, P. Fousekis, and A. Polymeros
- Subjects
nonparametric estimation ,conditional efficiency ,environmental variables ,agriculture ,Agriculture - Abstract
The assessment of technical efficiency in the agricultural sector and the influence of exogenous (environmental) variables on the production process has been a major topic of economic research especially for managers and policy makers. The methological innovation of the present study involves the impact of environmental variables on efficiency and the utilization of panel data for the empirical analysis. This has been pursued using full nonparametric robust frontier techniques (the alpha-quantile estimator) and a panel data set of olive growing farms in Greece from the Farm Accountancy Data Network of the EU. According to the empirical results, the ratio of owned to total land, the ratio of family to total labor, the degree of specialization, and a farm’s location have a statistically significant impact on performance, which is not constant but varies over the 2006 to 2009 period considered.
- Published
- 2013
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
22. Estimating Nonparametric Conditional Frontiers and Efficiencies: A New Approach
- Author
-
Mastromarco, Camilla, Simar, Léopold, Van Keilegom, Ingrid, and UCL - SSH/LIDAM/ISBA - Institut de Statistique, Biostatistique et Sciences Actuarielles
- Subjects
Environmental factors ,Conditional efficiency ,Robust estimation of frontiers ,Nonparametric frontier models - Abstract
In production theory, conditional frontiers and conditional efficiency measures are a flexible and appealing approach to consider the role of environmental variables on the production process. Direct approaches estimate non-parametrically conditional distribution functions requiring smoothing techniques and the use of selected bandwidths. The statistical literature produces way to derive bandwidths of optimal order, by using e.g. least-squares-cross-validation techniques. However, it has been shown that the resulting order may not be optimal when estimating the boundary of the distribution function. As a consequence the direct approaches may suffer from some statistical instability. In this paper we suggest a full nonparametric approach which avoids the problem of estimating these bandwidths, by eliminating in a first step the influence of the environmental factors on the inputs and the outputs. By doing this we produce “pure” inputs and outputs which allow to estimate a “pure” measure of efficiency, more reliable for ranking the firms, since the influence of the external factors have been eliminated. This can be viewed as an extension of the use of location-scale models (implying some semi-parametric structure) to full nonparametric models, based on nonseparable, nonparametric models. We are also able to recover the frontier and efficiencies in original units. We describe the method, its statistical properties and we show in some Monte-Carlo simulations, how our new method dominates the traditional direct approach.
- Published
- 2022
23. Assessing European primary school performance through a conditional nonparametric model.
- Author
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Cordero, José Manuel, Simancas, Rosa, and Santín, Daniel
- Subjects
EDUCATION ,PRIMARY schools ,EDUCATION research ,NONPARAMETRIC estimation ,PRIMARY education - Abstract
This paper uses a fully nonparametric framework to assess the efficiency of primary schools using data about schools in 16 European countries participating in PIRLS 2011. This study represents an original enterprise since most of the empirical research in the field is restricted to evaluations at regional or national level and focused on secondary education. For our purpose, we adapt the metafrontier framework to compare and decompose the technical efficiency of primary schools operating in heterogeneous contexts, which in our case is represented by different educational systems or countries. Similarly, we use an extension of the conditional nonparametric robust approach to test the potential influence of a mixed set of environmental school factors and variables representing cultural values of each country. Our results indicate that the intergenerational transmission of non-cognitive skills such as responsibility or perseverance are significantly related to school efficiency, whereas most school factors do not seem to have a significant influence on school performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2017
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
24. The interaction between dropout, graduation rates and quality ratings in universities.
- Author
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De Witte, Kristof and Sneyers, Eline
- Subjects
DROPOUT rates (Education) ,GRADUATION rate ,NONPARAMETRIC estimation ,EDUCATIONAL accountability ,ACADEMIC achievement - Abstract
This paper investigates in a non-parametric framework whether academic programmes maximize their student graduation rates and programme quality ratings given the first-year student dropout rates. In addition, it explores what institutional and programme characteristics explain this interaction. The results show a large variation in how academic programmes are able to deal with the selective nature of first-year dropout. Nevertheless, we can accurately explain the variation among programmes by programme and institutional characteristics. It seems that universities can maximize the relation between first-year dropout, graduation rates and quality ratings in several ways: (1) by improving student programme satisfaction, (2) by better preparing certain groups of students for higher education, (3) by supporting male students, (4) by supporting ethnic minority students, (5) by attracting older staff, and (6) by strengthening the selective nature of the first year (ie, increasing the academic dismissal policy threshold). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2017
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
25. Assessing efficiency drivers in municipal solid waste collection services through a non-parametric method.
- Author
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Guerrini, Andrea, Carvalho, Pedro, Romano, Giulia, Cunha Marques, Rui, and Leardini, Chiara
- Subjects
- *
SOLID waste management , *MUNICIPAL services , *ENVIRONMENTAL impact analysis , *PUBLIC health , *PERFORMANCE evaluation - Abstract
Municipal solid waste collection is a public service with impact on the environment, public health, and the appearance of a municipal area. The standard of efficiency achieved in providing this service has a direct impact on household expenditure, since the costs of collection are recovered through citizens’ taxes. The failure to consider relevant performance drivers recently led some Italian waste utilities into bankruptcy and financial collapse. Following prior research to identify the environmental and operational variables affecting the efficiency and quality of waste collection services, this study applies a more suitable and robust non-parametric method based on conditional order-m efficiency to identify the performance drivers of the waste collection services in 40 municipalities in Verona province, Italy. The exogenous variables studied could be clustered as 1) customer features (size of population served, population density, tourist flows, and percentage of non-residential customers; 2) household features, measured by number of inhabitants per house; and 3) operational features, represented by tons of waste collected for each load, method adopted (curbside or street bin), and maturity achieved with a given method. The study demonstrates that all variables affect the cost efficiency of waste collection with different intensity and direction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2017
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
26. Universities' efficiency and the socioeconomic characteristics of their environment — Evidence from an empirical analysis.
- Author
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Agasisti, Tommaso, Egorov, Aleksei, and Serebrennikov, Pavel
- Subjects
- *
RESOURCE dependence theory , *HIGHER education , *UNIVERSITIES & colleges , *INSTITUTIONAL isomorphism , *ORGANIZATIONAL effectiveness - Abstract
This paper investigates how the efficiency of universities is affected by the characteristics of the territory in which they operate. The theoretical framework combines two perspectives: (1) the resource dependence theory, suggesting that the location of university can determine the amount of resources available to it; (2) institutional isomorphism, according to which the characteristics of other higher education institutions located in the same area may shape the university production function and the efficiency of its operations. In order to test this framework we use data on Russian universities and a non-parametric conditional order-m efficiency estimator with two categories of contextual variables. The first group includes the social, economic and cultural characteristics of the region where the university is located, while the second deal with the characteristics of other higher education institutions located in the same region. The main contribution of this paper is that it applies efficiency models that incorporate exogenous factors associated with a geographical area in context of higher education. Our findings highlight that the managerial efficiency of universities is strongly associated with the contextual factors of the environment in which they are embedded. Important policy implication of this result is that different public policies in higher education should treat particular universities differently depending on characteristics of context in which they operate. • We analyze how characteristics of the territory where a university is exert in influence its efficiency. • Efficiency of universities is strongly associated with the contextual factors of the environment. • The strongest predictors of universities efficiency are variables reflecting competitive environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2023
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
27. Technical and managerial efficiency assessment of European banks using a conditional nonparametric approach
- Author
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Faten Ben Bouheni, Jean Joseph Minviel, Unité Mixte de Recherche sur les Herbivores - UMR 1213 (UMRH), VetAgro Sup - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur et de recherche en alimentation, santé animale, sciences agronomiques et de l'environnement (VAS)-AgroSup Dijon - Institut National Supérieur des Sciences Agronomiques, de l'Alimentation et de l'Environnement-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE), and Institut Supérieur du Commerce de Paris (ISC Paris)
- Subjects
021103 operations research ,lending ,Strategy and Management ,managerial efficiency ,[INFO.INFO-CE]Computer Science [cs]/Computational Engineering, Finance, and Science [cs.CE] ,05 social sciences ,0211 other engineering and technologies ,Nonparametric statistics ,02 engineering and technology ,Management Science and Operations Research ,banks ,conditional efficiency ,Computer Science Applications ,Management of Technology and Innovation ,0502 economics and business ,Econometrics ,Economics ,050207 economics ,Business and International Management ,nonparametric order-m frontier - Abstract
International audience; This paper investigates the conditional technical and managerial efficiency of European banks through the lending channel using a robust nonparametric frontier approach. We select the largest commercial banks in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, and Greece over the period 2005–2013 for our study. The estimates show significant technical inefficiency in the use of available resources for banks in our sample. The overall measure of managerial efficiency suggests sound managerial performance. However, at a detailed level, we find that, for each country examined, banks exhibit large proportions of poor managerial performance. This may explain why some banks could not resist the 2008 financial crisis. Regarding institutional factors, we find capital requirements and bank size are associated with bank efficiency in a nonlinear manner. These findings provide support for contextual factors in determining bank efficiency and rethinking financial reforms.
- Published
- 2020
28. CONDITIONAL EFFICIENCY ESTIMATION WITH ENVIRONMENTAL VARIABLES: EVIDENCE FROM GREEK CEREAL FARMS
- Author
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Apostolos POLYMEROS, Panos FOUSEKIS, and Sofia KOURTESI
- Subjects
Nonparametric estimation ,conditional efficiency ,cereal farms ,Economic theory. Demography ,HB1-3840 - Abstract
The objective of this paper is to assess technical efficiency of cereal production in Greece in a nonparametric framework while accounting for a set of exogenous variables. To this end, we implement robust partial frontier techniques on a sample of cereal-producing farms included in the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN). Moreover, we assess the partial impacts of the environmental variables using non parametric regression tools.
- Published
- 2012
29. Quality as a Latent Heterogeneity Factor in the Efficiency of Universities
- Abstract
In this paper we show the usefulness of recent advanced nonparametric efficiency techniques to model the performance of universities in the presence of observed and unobserved heterogeneity. Using directional distances for benchmarking purposes, we identify a latent heterogeneity factor related to the human capital of the universities and their management, that is independent from their size, and interpret the identified latent factor as a “quality” factor of the universities. After testing the significance of this latent factor, we investigate its impact on the boundary of the production set (efficient frontier) and on the distances of the units from the efficient frontier. The frontier and the efficiency distribution of our European Universities sample appear influenced by our estimated latent quality factor. We investigate these impacts from various points of view, including the trade-off between our quality factor and efficiency as well as the roles of size and specialization.
- Published
- 2021
30. Conditional Order-m Efficiency of Wastewater Treatment Plants: The Role of Environmental Factors.
- Author
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Fuentes, Ramón, Torregrosa, Teresa, and Ballenilla, Enrique
- Subjects
SEWAGE disposal plants ,WATER supply management ,WATER quality ,WATER analysis ,STATISTICS - Abstract
The growing economic and environmental importance of managing water resources at a global level also entails greater efforts and interest in improving the functioning and efficiency of the increasingly more numerous wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). In this context, this study analyzes the efficiency of a uniform sample of plants of this type located in the region of Valencia (Spain). The type of efficiency measure used for this (conditional order-m efficiency) allows continuous and discrete contextual variables to be directly involved in the analysis and enables the assessment of their statistical significance and effect (positive or negative). The main findings of the study showed that the quality of the influent water and also the size and age of the plants had a significant influence on their efficiency levels. In particular, as regards the effect of such variables, the findings pointed to the existence of an inverse relationship between the quality of the influent water and the efficiency of the WWTPs. Also, a lower annual volume of treated water and more modern installations showed a positive influence. Additionally, the average efficiency levels observed turned out to be higher than those reported in previous studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2015
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
31. Essays in empirical asset pricing and portfolio construction
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Ashby, Michael William
- Subjects
portfolio construction ,consumption-based asset pricing ,short sale regulations ,unconditional efficiency ,short sales ,predictability ,asset pricing ,conditional efficiency - Abstract
The key thread running through this thesis is predictability and how it relates to asset pricing and portfolio construction. Chapter 1, co-authored with Oliver Linton, tests for predictability in asset pricing model residuals to check model specification. We estimate three consumption-based asset pricing models and derive ex-ante expected stock market returns from them. For each model, a suite of tests rejects the null that the model residual, the difference between the ex-ante expected market return and the actual return, is a martingale difference sequence. The ability of these models to explain the own-history predictability of the market return is therefore rejected. Further tests show that lagged returns have too much predictive power over current returns to be consistent with the state variables which explain the market return being the same as the state variables which explain the market return in any of the three models. Chapter 2 focusses on a specific type of predictive information. I examine whether regulator-required public disclosures of large net short positions can be profitably used to build portfolios. These disclosures do not form the basis of a profitable trading strategy for UK stocks. Long-short portfolios based on these disclosures typically make a profit, but it is statistically insignificant. While certain long-only unit initial outlay portfolios can reliably significantly outperform the market, this outperformance is economically modest: about one percentage point a year in gross and risk-adjusted terms. Finally, Chapter 3 considers how best to use predictive information. Using predictive information unconditionally optimally produces better portfolios than using the predictive information conditionally optimally. Unconditionally optimal portfolios have higher Sharpe ratios and certainty equivalents, plus lower turnover, leverage, losses and drawdowns than conditionally optimal portfolios. Moreover, the unconditionally optimal portfolios tend to stochastically dominate the conditionally optimal portfolios once transaction costs are accounted for. However, whether unconditionally optimal portfolios are preferred to minimum variance or 1/N portfolios depends on the asset universe.
- Published
- 2021
- Full Text
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32. A bootstrap approach for bandwidth selection in estimating conditional efficiency measures
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Cinzia Daraio, Luiza Badin, Léopold Simar, and UCL - SSH/LIDAM/ISBA - Institut de Statistique, Biostatistique et Sciences Actuarielles
- Subjects
Information Systems and Management ,General Computer Science ,Computer science ,Monte Carlo method ,0211 other engineering and technologies ,02 engineering and technology ,Management Science and Operations Research ,Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering ,Cross-validation ,Bandwidth ,Modelling and Simulation ,0502 economics and business ,Statistics ,Monte Carlo ,050210 logistics & transportation ,021103 operations research ,Nonparametric estimator ,05 social sciences ,Bandwidth (signal processing) ,Conditional efficiency ,Conditional probability distribution ,Bootstrap ,Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA)/Free Disposal Hull (FDH) ,Modeling and Simulation ,Smoothing - Abstract
Conditional efficiency measures are needed when the production process does not depend only on the inputs and outputs, but may be influenced by external factors and/or environmental variables (Z). They are estimated by means of a nonparametric estimator of the conditional distribution function of the inputs and outputs, conditionally on values of Z. For doing this, smoothing procedures and smoothing parameters, the bandwidths, are involved. So far, Least Squares Cross Validation (LSCV) methods have been used, which have been proven to provide bandwidths with optimal rates for estimating conditional distributions. In efficiency analysis, the main interest is in the estimation of the conditional efficiency score, which typically depends on the boundary of the support of the distribution and not on the full conditional distribution. In this paper, we show indeed that the rate for the bandwidths which is optimal for estimating conditional distributions, may not be optimal for the estimation of the efficiency scores. We propose hence a new approach based on the bootstrap which overcomes these difficulties. We analyze and compare, through Monte Carlo simulations, the performances of LSCV techniques with our bootstrap approach in finite samples. As expected, our bootstrap approach shows generally better performances and is more robust to the various Monte Carlo scenarios analyzed. We also illustrate our methodology through an empirical example using an US Aggressive-Growth Mutual Funds data set.
- Published
- 2019
33. Direct democracy and local government efficiency.
- Author
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Asatryan, Zareh and De Witte, Kristof
- Subjects
- *
DEMOCRACY , *LOCAL government , *PUBLIC sector , *ECONOMIC efficiency , *COST effectiveness - Abstract
This paper studies the role of direct democracy in ensuring efficient and cost-effective provision of goods and services in the public sector. The sample consists of the population of municipalities in the German State of Bavaria, where in the mid-1990s considerable direct democratic reforms granted citizens wide opportunities to directly participate in local affairs through binding initiatives. Using information on the municipal resources and the municipal provision of public goods, and applying a fully non-parametric approach to estimate local government overall efficiency, the analysis shows that more direct democratic activity is associated with higher government efficiency. This result suggests that more inclusive governance through direct decision-making mechanisms may induce more accountable and less inefficient governments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2015
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
34. Competition and efficiency in the Italian airport system: new insights from a conditional nonparametric frontier analysis.
- Author
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D’Alfonso, Tiziana, Daraio, Cinzia, and Nastasi, Alberto
- Subjects
- *
AIRPORTS , *NONPARAMETRIC estimation , *STOCHASTIC frontier analysis , *DATA envelopment analysis , *AIRLINE industry - Abstract
We analyse the effect of competition on technical efficiency of Italian airports by applying a novel conditional nonparametric frontier analysis for the first time to the airport industry. We find that competition affects mostly the frontier of best performers, whilst airports that are lagging behind are less influenced. A novel two stage approach shows that, on average, competition has a negative impact on technical efficiency. We estimate a measure of pure efficiency , whitened from the main effect of the competition, whose distribution has a bi-modal shape, indicating the existence of two differently managed groups of airports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2015
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
35. Consolidating the water industry: an analysis of the potential gains from horizontal integration in a conditional efficiency framework.
- Author
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Zschille, Michael
- Subjects
WATER supply ,WATER utilities ,DRINKING water ,DATA envelopment analysis ,MERGERS & acquisitions - Abstract
The German potable water supply industry is regarded highly fragmented, thus preventing efficiency improvements that could happen through consolidation. Focusing on a hypothetical restructuring of the industry, we use a cross-section sample of 364 German water utilities in 2006, applying Data Envelopment Analysis, to analyze the potential efficiency gains from hypothetical mergers between water utilities at the county level. A conditional efficiency framework is applied to account for the water utilities' operating environments. A conditional order- m approach is applied for the detection of potential outlying observations. Merger gains are decomposed into a technical efficiency effect, a harmony effect and a scale effect. The greatest efficiency improvement potentials turn out to result from reducing individual inefficiencies while pure merger gains are found to be low. The results suggest improving incentives for efficient operations in water supply and a consolidation of the smallest water utilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2015
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
36. Nonparametric measures of returns to scale: an application to German water supply.
- Author
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Zschille, Michael
- Subjects
WATER supply ,INDUSTRIAL organization (Economic theory) ,BUSINESS size ,WATER utilities ,DATA envelopment analysis ,ELASTICITY - Abstract
The evaluation of market structures and the quantification of returns to scale in network industries usually are of high interest for researchers and policy makers. Regarding the debate on optimal market structures in German potable water supply, we use a cross-sectional sample of 364 German water utilities observed in 2006 to derive a nonparametric measure of scale elasticity for the water industry. The data sample is validated by applying a super-efficiency approach and a statistical testing procedure for outlier detection. Besides using a standard data envelopment analysis approach, a conditional efficiency approach is applied to account for the water utilities' operating environments. The results indicate non-decreasing returns to scale for the majority of water utilities and constant or non-increasing returns for larger utilities. Optimal firm size is found to be generally larger than the current sample median firm size. Efficiency improvements could be realized by increases in firm sizes and through a consolidation of the industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2014
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
37. Explaining inefficiency in nonparametric production models: the state of the art.
- Author
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Bădin, Luiza, Daraio, Cinzia, and Simar, Léopold
- Subjects
- *
NONPARAMETRIC estimation , *PRODUCTION (Economic theory) , *GROUP decision making , *STATISTICAL bootstrapping , *MUTUAL funds - Abstract
The performance of economic producers is often affected by external or environmental factors that, unlike the inputs and the outputs, are not under the control of the Decision Making Units (DMUs). These factors can be included in the model as exogenous variables and can help to explain the efficiency differentials, as well as improve the managerial policy of the evaluated units. A fully nonparametric methodology, which includes external variables in the frontier model and defines conditional DEA and FDH efficiency scores, is now available for investigating the impact of external-environmental factors on the performance. In this paper, we offer a state-of-the-art review of the literature, which has been proposed to include environmental variables in nonparametric and robust (to outliers) frontier models and to analyse and interpret the conditional efficiency scores, capturing their impact on the attainable set and/or on the distribution of the inefficiency scores. This paper develops and complements the approach of Bădin et al. () by suggesting a procedure that allows us to make local inference and provide confidence intervals for the impact of the external factors on the process. We advocate for the nonparametric conditional methodology, which avoids the restrictive 'separability' assumption required by the two-stage approaches in order to provide meaningful results. An illustration with real data on mutual funds shows the usefulness of the proposed approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2014
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
38. Managerial efficiency and efficiency differentials in adult education: a conditional and bias-corrected efficiency analysis
- Author
-
Deni Mazrekaj, Kristof De Witte, Fritz Schiltz, Maastricht Graduate School of Governance, RS: GSBE MGSoG, Faculty of Science and Engineering, TIER TA, and RS: FSE MGSoG
- Subjects
MODELS ,0211 other engineering and technologies ,DATA ENVELOPMENT ANALYSIS ,ROBUST ,General Decision Sciences ,02 engineering and technology ,Management Science and Operations Research ,Adult education ,Econometrics ,Bias correction ,Analysis of Education ,Mathematics ,021103 operations research ,Program Efficiency ,Homogeneity (statistics) ,Conditional efficiency ,Bias-correction ,SCHOOL DISTRICTS ,PERFORMANCE ,Bootstrapping (electronics) ,Workforce ,Bootstrapping ,METHODOLOGY ,i21 - Analysis of Education ,NONPARAMETRIC FRONTIER ESTIMATION - Abstract
In efficiency studies, inputs and outputs are often noisy measures, especially when education data is used. This article complements the conditional efficiency model by correcting for bias within conditional draws, using the m out of n bootstrap procedure. With a unique panel dataset, we estimate managerial efficiency, which accounts for nondiscretionary variables, and explain efficiency differentials of adult education programs in Flanders. Our results suggest that the characteristics of learners in a program matter for managerial efficiency, and that teacher characteristics are strongly correlated with efficiency differentials, as more homogeneity in the teacher workforce appears to result in higher program efficiency. ispartof: ANNALS OF OPERATIONS RESEARCH vol:288 issue:2 pages:529-546 ispartof: location:ENGLAND, Aston Univ, Birmingham status: published
- Published
- 2020
39. Spatial directional robust Benefit of the Doubt approach in presence of undesirable output: An application to Italian waste sector
- Author
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Francesco Vidoli, Nicky Rogge, and Elisa Fusco
- Subjects
Information Systems and Management ,Municipal solid waste ,Computer science ,Benefit of the Doubt ,Strategy and Management ,05 social sciences ,Composite indicators ,Conditional efficiency ,010501 environmental sciences ,Management Science and Operations Research ,Composite indicator ,01 natural sciences ,Spatial heterogeneity ,Directional distance function ,0502 economics and business ,Econometrics ,Cluster (physics) ,Benefit of the Doubt, Composite indicators, Conditional efficiency, Spatial heterogeneity, Directional distance function, Undesirable outputs, Municipal solid waste ,050207 economics ,Spatial dependence ,Undesirable outputs ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences - Abstract
© 2019 This paper introduces a new composite indicator method integrating the spatial dependence into the robust directional model in the case of undesirable outputs. The proposed approach is advantageous compared to the traditional and conditional robust Benefit-of-the-Doubt (BoD) models in that it allows to compare the performance of individual units with local cluster of peers. The methodology has been tested on a very detailed database of Italian municipalities for the year 2015 in the municipal solid waste collection and processing sector and confirms the existence of strong local constraints linked to the disposal facilities planned by higher level Authorities. ispartof: Omega (United Kingdom) vol:94 pages:1-15 status: Published online
- Published
- 2020
40. Modelling the effect of national culture on countries’ innovation performances: A conditional full frontier approach.
- Author
-
Halkos, George E. and Tzeremes, Nickolaos G.
- Subjects
ECONOMIC models ,CULTURE ,INNOVATIONS in business ,FINANCIAL performance ,EMPIRICAL research ,DATA analysis - Abstract
This paper provides empirical evidence of the link between countries’ cultural factors and innovation performance. By defining innovation process in a knowledge production framework it uses conditional and unconditional Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) models together with data from the European Innovation Scoreboard for the year 2007 and Hofstede’s cultural indexes. In this way it models and measures the effect of cultural values on 25 European countries’ innovation efficiency levels. The empirical results reveal that national culture can impact countries’ innovation performance. Specifically, we find significant negative effects on countries’ innovation efficiency levels for countries with higher power distance and uncertainty avoidance values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2013
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
41. What about excellence in teaching? A benevolent ranking of universities.
- Author
-
Witte, Kristof and Hudrlikova, Lenka
- Abstract
Existing university rankings apply fixed and exogenous weights based on a theoretical framework, stakeholder or expert opinions. Fixed weights cannot embrace all requirements of a 'good ranking' according to the Berlin Principles. As the strengths of universities differ, the weights on the ranking should differ as well. This paper proposes a fully nonparametric methodology to rank universities. The methodology is in line with the Berlin Principles. It assigns to each university the weights that maximize (minimize) the impact of the criteria where university performs relatively well (poor). The method accounts for background characteristics among universities and evaluates which characteristics have an impact on the ranking. In particular, it accounts for the level of tuition fees, an English speaking environment, size, research or teaching orientation. In general, medium sized universities in English speaking countries benefit from the benevolent ranking. On the contrary, we observe that rankings with fixed weighting schemes reward large and research oriented universities. Especially Swiss and German universities significantly improve their position in a more benevolent ranking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2013
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
42. Accounting for exogenous influences in performance evaluations of teachers
- Author
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De Witte, Kristof and Rogge, Nicky
- Subjects
- *
PERFORMANCE evaluation , *STUDENT evaluation of teachers , *TEACHER effectiveness , *DATA envelopment analysis , *CURRICULUM , *COLLEGE students , *TEACHING methods , *EDUCATION research - Abstract
Abstract: Students’ evaluations of teacher performance (SETs) are increasingly used by universities. However, SETs are controversial mainly due to two issues: (1) teachers value various aspects of excellent teaching differently, and (2) SETs should not be determined on exogenous influences. Therefore, this paper constructs SETs using a tailored version of the non-parametric Data Envelopment Analysis approach. In particular, we account for different values and interpretations that teachers attach to ‘good teaching’. Moreover, we reduce the impact of measurement errors and a-typical observations, and account explicitly for heterogeneous background characteristics arising from teacher, student and course characteristics. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]
- Published
- 2011
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
43. To publish or not to publish? On the aggregation and drivers of research performance.
- Author
-
Witte, Kristof and Rogge, Nicky
- Abstract
This paper presents a methodology to aggregate multidimensional research output. Using a tailored version of the non-parametric Data Envelopment Analysis model, we account for the large heterogeneity in research output and the individual researcher preferences by endogenously weighting the various output dimensions. The approach offers three important advantages compared to the traditional approaches: (1) flexibility in the aggregation of different research outputs into an overall evaluation score; (2) a reduction of the impact of measurement errors and a-typical observations; and (3) a correction for the influences of a wide variety of factors outside the evaluated researcher's control. As a result, research evaluations are more effective representations of actual research performance. The methodology is illustrated on a data set of all faculty members at a large polytechnic university in Belgium. The sample includes questionnaire items on the motivation and perception of the researcher. This allows us to explore whether motivation and background characteristics (such as age, gender, retention, etc.,) of the researchers explain variations in measured research performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2010
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
44. Performance of Finnish dairy farms and its determinants: A comparison of parametric, semiparametric, and nonparametric methods.
- Author
-
SIPILÄINEN, TIMO, KORTELAINEN, MIKA, OVASKA, SAMI, and RYHÄNEN, MATTI
- Subjects
- *
DAIRY farms , *DECISION making , *AGRICULTURE , *STATISTICS , *STATISTICAL correlation - Abstract
The aim of this article is to assess the efficiency improvement potential of Finnish dairy farms and to explain performance differences between farms using alternative production frontier methods. In our empirical analysis, we employ parametric, semiparametric, and fully nonparametric production frontier techniques to investigate differences between methodologies and to guarantee that the empirical results are not sensitive to the specific method used. Although we find marked differences in average efficiency with respect to alternative frontier techniques, the correlation of efficiency scores between methods is high, indicating that the order is fairly consistent. With regard to the determinants of performance differences, all the methods used provide fairly similar results concerning the influential factors. The results suggest that farms located in the north were significantly less efficient compared to farms in southern Finland. As the milk yield per cow is increased, efficiency scores increase on average, but stagnate or start to fall again at the highest levels of average milk yields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2009
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
45. The interaction between dropout, graduation rates and quality ratings in universities
- Author
-
Sneyers, Eline and De Witte, Kristof
- Published
- 2017
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
46. The interaction between dropout, graduation rates and quality ratings in universities
- Author
-
Eline Sneyers, Kristof De Witte, RS: FSE TA-TIER, TIER TA, and RS: FSE MGSoG
- Subjects
Higher education ,Strategy and Management ,media_common.quotation_subject ,student graduation ,Ethnic group ,Management Science and Operations Research ,conditional efficiency ,Management Information Systems ,Dismissal ,0502 economics and business ,Mathematics education ,Quality (business) ,050207 economics ,Dropout (neural networks) ,media_common ,Marketing ,business.industry ,05 social sciences ,050301 education ,nonparametric estimation ,student dropout ,Psychology ,business ,0503 education ,Student dropout ,Graduation ,universities - Abstract
This paper investigates in a non-parametric framework whether academic programmes maximize their student graduation rates and programme quality ratings given the first-year student dropout rates. In addition, it explores what institutional and programme characteristics explain this interaction. The results show a large variation in how academic programmes are able to deal with the selective nature of first-year dropout. Nevertheless, we can accurately explain the variation among programmes by programme and institutional characteristics. It seems that universities can maximize the relation between first-year dropout, graduation rates and quality ratings in several ways: (1) by improving student programme satisfaction, (2) by better preparing certain groups of students for higher education, (3) by supporting male students, (4) by supporting ethnic minority students, (5) by attracting older staff, and (6) by strengthening the selective nature of the first year (ie, increasing the academic dismissal policy threshold).
- Published
- 2017
47. Fast and efficient computation of directional distance estimators
- Author
-
Léopold Simar, Paul W. Wilson, and Cinzia Daraio
- Subjects
021103 operations research ,Computer science ,Computation ,0211 other engineering and technologies ,Conditional efficiency ,General Decision Sciences ,Efficient frontier ,Estimator ,02 engineering and technology ,Management Science and Operations Research ,Space (mathematics) ,Simar ,Data set ,Set (abstract data type) ,Alpha (programming language) ,Frontier ,Directional distances ,Environmental factors ,Nonparametric methods ,Applied mathematics ,Robust frontiers - Abstract
Directional distances provide useful, flexible measures of technical efficiency of production units relative to the efficient frontier of the attainable set in input-output space. In addition, the additive nature of directional distances permits negative input or outputs quantities. The choice of the direction allows analysis of different strategies for the units attempting to reach the efficient frontier. Simar et al. (Eur J Oper Res 220:853–864, 2012) and Simar and Vanhems (J Econom 166:342–354, 2012) develop asymptotic properties of full-envelopment, FDH and DEA estimators of directional distances as well as robust order-m and order-$$\alpha $$ directional distance estimators. Extensions of these estimators to measures conditioned on environmental variables Z are also available (e.g., see Daraio and Simar in Eur J Oper Res 237:358–369, 2014). The resulting estimators have been shown to share the properties of their corresponding radial measures. However, to date the algorithms proposed for computing the directional distance estimates suffer from various numerical drawbacks (Daraio and Simar in Eur J Oper Res 237:358–369, 2014). In particular, for the order-m versions (conditional and unconditional) only approximations, based on Monte-Carlo methods, have been suggested, involving additional computational burden. In this paper we propose a new fast and efficient method to compute exact values of the directional distance estimates for all the cases (full and partial frontier cases, unconditional or conditional to external factors), that overcome all previous difficulties. This new method is illustrated on simulated and real data sets. Matlab code for computation is provided in an “Appendix”.
- Published
- 2019
48. Quality and its impact on efficiency
- Author
-
Daraio, Cinzia, Simar, Léopold, Wilson, Paul W., and UCL - SSH/LIDAM/ISBA - Institut de Statistique, Biostatistique et Sciences Actuarielles
- Subjects
C1 ,directional distances ,quality ,ddc:330 ,C13 ,observed and unobserved heterogeneity ,C14 ,performance assessment ,benchmarking ,separability condition ,European universities ,Nonparametric efficiency ,conditional efficiency - Abstract
The issue of quality and its relationship with efficiency and performance is a crucial operational issue in many fields of study including production economics, operations research, engineering and business management. In this paper we provide a methodology for identifying latent quality factors, estimate their statistical significance and analyze their impact on the performance of the production process. This methodology is based on up-to-date computational methods and statistical tests for directional distances. We illustrate the approach using real data to evaluate the performance of European Universities.
- Published
- 2019
49. Unobserved heterogeneity and endogeneity in nonparametric frontier estimation
- Author
-
Léopold Simar, Anne Vanhems, and Ingrid Van Keilegom
- Subjects
Economics and Econometrics ,Production theory ,Endogeneity ,Applied Mathematics ,05 social sciences ,Instrumental variable ,Conditional efficiency ,Nonparametric statistics ,Estimator ,Asymptotic distribution ,Production–possibility frontier ,01 natural sciences ,010104 statistics & probability ,Unobserved heterogeneity ,Nonparametric frontiers ,0502 economics and business ,Statistics ,Robust estimation of frontiers ,Econometrics ,Data envelopment analysis ,0101 mathematics ,B- ECONOMIE ET FINANCE ,050205 econometrics ,Mathematics - Abstract
In production theory and efficiency analysis, firm efficiencies are measured by their distances to a production frontier, which is the geometrical locus of optimal combinations of inputs and outputs. It is today recognized that in the presence of heterogenous conditions (like environmental factors) that are not under the control of the producer but that may influence the shape and the position of the frontier, traditional measures of efficiency obtained in the space of inputs/outputs are much more difficult to interpret, since they mix managerial inefficiency and shift of the frontier. Using a nonparametric approach, this can be corrected by using the conditional frontiers and conditional efficiency scores developed in the literature. In this paper we extend these concepts in the case where the heterogeneity is not observed. We propose and analyze a model where the heterogeneity variable is linked to a particular input (or output). It is defined as the part of the input (or the output), independent from some instrumental variable through a nonseparable nonparametric model. We discuss endogeneity issues involved in this model. Under certain regularity assumptions, we show that the model is identified, we propose nonparametric estimators of the conditional frontier and the conditional efficiency score, and analyze their asymptotic properties. When using FDH estimators we prove the asymptotic convergence to a Weibull distribution, whereas when using the robust order-m estimators we obtain the asymptotic normality of the estimators. The method is illustrated with some simulated and real data examples. A Monte-Carlo experiment shows how the procedure works for finite samples. publisher: Elsevier articletitle: Unobserved heterogeneity and endogeneity in nonparametric frontier estimation journaltitle: Journal of Econometrics articlelink: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jeconom.2015.06.015 content_type: article copyright: Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. ispartof: Journal of Econometrics vol:190 issue:2 pages:360-373 status: published
- Published
- 2016
50. The effect of natural and man-made disasters on countries’ production efficiency
- Author
-
Halkos, George, Managi, Shunsuke, and Tzeremes, Nickolaos G.
- Published
- 2015
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
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