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on Efficiency and Productivity |
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Issue of 2007‒09‒16
nine papers chosen by |
| By: | Yang, H.; Pollitt, M. |
| Abstract: | In this article we examine the effects of undesirable outputs on the Malmquist TFP indices. Our empirical work uses an unbalanced panel which covers 796 utility and non-utility coal-fired power plants in China during 1996-2002. In order to meet the requirement of a balanced panel for calculating the Malmquist indices, an innovative fake unit approach has been introduced. Our final results show that (1) the growth of the Chinese electricity heavily depends upon an increase of resource input; and (2) huge potential remains with regards to the efficiency improvement and emissions control in Chinese coal-fired power plants. Key words: Malmquist indicies, total factor productivity, Chinese electricity, power plant efficiency. |
| JEL: | D24 L94 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cam:camdae:0740&r=eff |
| By: | Helmut Fryges (Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW)); Joachim Wagner (University of Lueneburg and Max Planck Institute of Economics) |
| Abstract: | A recent survey of 54 micro-econometric studies reveals that exporting firms are more productive than non-exporters. On the other hand, previous empirical studies show that exporting does not necessarily improve productivity. One possible reason for this result is that most previous studies are restricted to analysing the relationship between a firm's export status and the growth of its labour productivity, using the firms' export status as a binary treatment variable and comparing the performance of exporting and non-exporting firms. In this paper, we apply the newly developed generalised propensity score (GPS) methodology that allows for continuous treatment, that is, different levels of the firms' export activities. Using the GPS method and a large panel data set for German manufacturing firms, we estimate the relationship between a firm's export-sales ratio and its labour productivity growth rate. We find that there is a causal effect of firms' export activities on labour productivity growth. However, exporting improves labour productivity growth only within a sub-interval of the range of firms' export-sales ratios. |
| Keywords: | Export-sales ratio, labour productivity, continuous treatment, dose-response function |
| JEL: | F14 F23 L60 |
| Date: | 2007–09–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2007-063&r=eff |
| By: | Joachim Wagner (University of Lueneburg and Max Planck Institute of Economics) |
| Abstract: | Using panel data from Spain Farinas and Ruano (IJIO 2005) test three hypotheses from a model by Hopenhayn (Econometrica 1992): (H1) Firms that exit in year t were in t-1 less productive than firms that continue to produce in t. (H2) Firms that enter in year t are less productive than incumbent firms in year t. (H3) Surviving firms from an entry cohort were more productive than non-surviving firms from this cohort in the start year. Results for Spain support all three hypotheses. This paper replicates the study using a unique newly available panel data sets for all manufacturing plants from Germany (1995 - 2002). Again, all three hypotheses are supported empirically. |
| Keywords: | entry, exit, productivity |
| JEL: | L11 L60 |
| Date: | 2007–09–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2007-064&r=eff |
| By: | Joachim Wagner (University of Lueneburg; Max Planck Institute of Economics) |
| Abstract: | This paper contributes to the flourishing literature on exports and productivity by using a unique newly available panel of exporting establishments from the manufacturing sector of Germany from 1995 to 2004 to test three hypotheses derived from a theoretical model by Hopenhayn (Econometrica 1992): (H1) Firms that stop exporting in year t were in t-1 less productive than firms that continue to export in t. (H2) Firms that start to export in year t are less productive than firms that export both in year t-1 and in year t. (H3) Firms from a cohort of export starters that still export in the last year of the panel were more productive in the start year than firms from the same cohort that stopped to export in between. While results for West Germany support all three hypotheses, this is only the case for (H1) and (H2) in East Germany. |
| Keywords: | export entry, export exit, productivity |
| JEL: | F14 L60 |
| Date: | 2007–09–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2007-062&r=eff |
| By: | Georg Erber; Reinhard Madlener |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the productivity impact of heterogeneous capital inputs of selected EU-15 member countries and of the U.S. at the macroeconomic level. The stochastic possibility frontiers approach of Battese and Coelli (1992) applied here is used to identify neutralities or non-neutralities between different heterogeneous capital and labor inputs. Owing to the introduction and estimation of two-stage nested translog possibility production frontiers, the otherwise huge parameter space for the seven input factors included in the model is reduced significantly. This gives more robust estimates of the remaining parameters. Due to the detailed data, specific types of biased technological change in heterogeneous capital inputs can be tested. Furthermore, time-varying inefficiency trajectories for each country are obtainable. Annual data from 1980 to 2004, calculated and published by the Groningen Growth and Development Centre, are used in the empirical analysis. The results obtained shed new light on how fast technological progress in a global economy can shift comparative advantages between countries. In particular the different factor specific impacts of ICT and non-ICT capital stocks give a more detailed picture of the structural dynamics between factor inputs than do most other empirical studies using more aggregate factor input data. |
| Keywords: | nested production possibility frontiers, (in-)efficiency benchmarking, technology adoption, convergence |
| JEL: | C23 C51 D24 E23 O33 O47 O57 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp720&r=eff |
| By: | Ricardo Lopez (Indiana University Bloomington); Jens Suedekum (University of Konstanz) |
| Abstract: | We use disaggregated data on Chilean plants, and the Chilean input-output table to examine the impact of agglomeration spillovers on total factor productivity (TFP). In common with previous studies, we find evidence of intra-industry spillovers, but no evidence of cross-industry spillovers in general. This picture changes, however, when we take vertical industry relations into account. We find important productivity spillover effects from plants in upstream industries. Interestingly, a similar effect cannot be found from plants in downstream industries. The number of plants in these sectors has no effect on firm level TFP, just as the number of plants in other industries that are neither important upstream suppliers nor downstream customers also has no effect. Agglomeration effects are stronger for small than for large plants. |
| Keywords: | Vertical linkages, agglomeration, productivity, Chile |
| JEL: | R11 R15 O18 O54 |
| Date: | 2007–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:inu:caeprp:2007016&r=eff |
| By: | Yang, H.; Pollitt, M. |
| Abstract: | Different from traditional efficiency research and previous studies considering undesirable outputs, this paper proposes models which distinguish weak and strong disposability features among various undesirable outputs based on the technical nature of the undesirable outputs. The paper illustrates the approach using a research sample covering 582 base-load Chinese coal-fired power plants in 2002. Our final results show that (1) imposing the technically correct disposability features on undesirable outputs makes a significant difference to the final efficiency evaluation. This suggests the necessity of properly distinguishing disposability features among undesirable outputs in efficiency models; (2) compared to their US and European counterparts, Chinese power plants relatively waste more resources. This suggests a great urgency for the Chinese electricity industry to improve its efficiency in coal-fired electricity generation sector. Key words: Economics: input-output analysis; Environment; Government: energy policies; Industries: electric; Statistics: nonparametric. |
| JEL: | D24 L94 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cam:camdae:0741&r=eff |
| By: | Kaoru Hosono; Koji Sakai; Kotaro Tsuru |
| Abstract: | We investigate the motives and consequences of the consolidation of banks in Japan during the period of fiscal year 1990-2004 using a comprehensive dataset. Our analysis suggests that the government's too-big-to-fail policy played an important role in the mergers and acquisitions (M&As), though its attempt does not seem to have been successful. The efficiency-improving motive also seems to have driven the M&As conducted by major banks and regional banks in the post-crisis period, while the market-power motive seems to have driven the M&As conducted by regional banks and corporative (shinkin) banks. We obtain no evidence that supports managerial motives for empire building. |
| JEL: | G21 G34 |
| Date: | 2007–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:13399&r=eff |
| By: | Hasan, Iftekhar (BOFIT); Marton, Katherin (BOFIT) |
| Abstract: | The paper analyzes the experiences and developments of Hungarian banking sector during the transitional process from a centralized economy to a market-oriented system. The paper identifies that early reorganization initiatives, flexible approaches to privatization, and liberal policies towards foreign banks’ involvement with the domestic institutions helped to build a relatively strong and increasingly efficient banking system. Banks with higher foreign bank ownership involvement were associated with lower inefficiency. |
| Keywords: | banking; transition; efficiency; privatisation; Hungary |
| Date: | 2007–09–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:bofitp:2000_007&r=eff |