Differences In Technical Efficiency Research Articles

Financial Performance and Technical Efficiency Differentials for Apicultural Technologies in Nakaseke District, Uganda

Despite apiculture being potentially a large income earner, the financial performance of various apicultural technologies at farm-level is still poor yet very few studies have delved in this sub sector. Using a representative sample of 69 respondents from Nakaseke District, the Ordered Probit analysis revealed that farming experience, apiary plot size, shortness of distance of water source and hive colonization levels were the major positive determinants of apicultural financial performance. A Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) suggested that 62% and 76% of the total variation in honey output in traditional and improved technologies was due to technical inefficiency. The high efficiency levels in traditional technology seemed to suggest that more honey output would only be realized through introduction of improved technologies rather than focusing on technical skills while the low efficiency in improved technology would be improved using technical training. The study recommended policy incentives ranging from specific commodity-targeting extension messages, provision of low interest rate credit products and baiting materials to enhance efficiency.

Eficiência técnica da agropecuária nas microrregiões brasileiras e seus determinantes

Este estudo pretende mensurar os escores de eficiência técnica da atividade agropecuária nas microrregiões brasileiras e verificar seus determinantes. Para atender esses objetivos, empregaram-se os modelos de análise envoltória dos dados (DEA) e de regressão quantílica. Os dados foram obtidos do Censo Agropecuário (2006), publicado pelo Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística. Os resultados do modelo DEA indicaram que a maioria das microrregiões brasileiras apresentou baixa eficiência técnica na produção. Quanto ao modelo de regressões quantílicas, verifica-se que assistência técnica, adubação, crédito concedido e mão de obra familiar constituem fatores relevantes na explicação das diferenças de eficiência técnica das microrregiões brasileiras em todos os quantis estimados.

A preliminary assessment of financial stability, efficiency, health systems and health outcomes using performance-based contracts in Belize

Over the last 10 years, Belize has implemented a National Health Insurance (NHI) program that uses performance-based contracts with both public and private facilities to improve financial sustainability, efficiency and service provision. Data were collected at the facility, district and national levels in order to assess trends in financial sustainability, efficiency payments, year-end bonuses and health system and health outcomes. A difference-in-difference approach was used to assess the difference in technical efficiency between private and public facilities. The results show that per capita spending on services provided by the NHI program has decreased over the period 2006–2009 from BZ$177 to BZ$136. The private sector has achieved higher levels of technical efficiency, but lower percentages of efficiency and year-end bonus payments. Districts with contracts through the NHI program showed greater improvements in facility births, nurse density, reducing maternal mortality, diabetes deaths and morbidity from bronchitis, emphysema and asthma than districts without contracts over the period 2006–2010. This preliminary assessment of Belize's pay-for-performance system provides some positive results, however further research is needed to use the lessons learned from Belize to implement similar reforms in other systems.

Impact of Agricultural Cooperatives on Smallholders’ Technical Efficiency: Evidence from Ethiopia

Using household survey data from Ethiopia, this paper evaluates the impact of agricultural cooperatives on smallholders’ technical efficiency. We utilize propensity score matching to compare the average difference in technical efficiency between cooperative farmers and similar independent farmers. The approach assumes exogenous cooperative formation and similar farm technology across households. The results show that agricultural cooperatives are effective in providing support services that significantly contribute to members’ technical efficiency. These results are found to be insensitive to hidden bias and consistent with the idea that agricultural cooperatives enhance members’ efficiency by easing access to productive inputs and facilitating extension linkages. Based on the findings, increased participation in agricultural cooperatives should further enhance efficiency gains among smallholder farmers.

Differences in farmer production technical efficiency and irrigation water use efficiency from household micro-data analysis in northwest inland arid regions of China

水资源短缺已成为制约内陆干旱区农业生产和经济社会可持续发展的关键因子。然而农户生产技术效率不高、灌溉用水效率低下、水资源浪费严重已成为不争事实。为此, 基于农户这一微观视角, 运用实证调查和定量分析相结合的方法, 在黑河中游选择典型区域的甘肃省民乐县和临泽县进行了调查研究。结果表明, 农户生产技术效率远高于其灌溉用水效率, 民乐县和临泽县总体样本农户的平均生产效率分别为83.82%和83.16%, 而其平均灌溉用水效率分别为24.54%和22.16%。这表明在现有技术条件和生产要素投入不变的情况下, 若消除效率损失, 民乐县小麦的单位产出可能增加16.18%, 临泽县制种玉米的单位产出可能增加16.84%; 同时也表明相对于现有生产条件下可行的最小水投入量, 民乐县被访农户的小麦生产浪费了75.46%的水资源, 临泽县被访农户的制种玉米生产浪费了77.84%的水资源。结果再次显示, 农户生产低效主要是由生产技术非效率因素引起的, 民乐县这一因素占73.45%, 其余26.55%是农户控制不了的因素引起的; 临泽县该因素占76.58%, 农户控制不了的因素占23.42%。而且, 不同经营规模农户生产技术效率和灌溉用水效率差异性明显。农户生产技术效率与经营规模呈现"倒U型", 农户经营规模与其灌溉用水效率呈现同向变动趋势。最后就如何提高农户用水效率提出了几点政策措施。

A Test for Relative Efficiency of Farmers Cultivating Groundnut in Tamil Nadu: A Profit Function Approach

The term 'Efficiency' refers to the ability of the farmers to make optimal decisions with regard to resource use. Economic efficiency comprises of both allocative and technical efficiencies. The relative economic efficiency may arise due to the differences in technical and/or allocative efficiency by comparing two or more farms. In the present paper, an attempt is made to analyze and compare the relative economic efficiency of small and large farmers cultivating groundnut. The model developed by Lau and Yotopoulous has been used to measure and compare relative economic efficiency with its components - technical and allocative efficiency. It may be concluded that the test of relative economic efficiency of farmers cultivating groundnut is in favour of the small farmers. It is also inferred from the analysis that the small farmers attain higher levels of price efficiency, and they also operate at higher technical efficiency.

Analysis of the efficiency of national civil construction firms

The article analyzes the efficiency of national civil construction firms, through the application of Data Envelopment Analysis in multistage, for a pool of construction companies, between the years 2005 and 2008.TheMalmquist index is used to calculate the variation in total factor productivity over the period, decomposing it into variations in technical and scale efficiency and technological progress. The results for our sample, point to significant differences in technical and scale efficiency according to the invoicing level and indicate that, on average, technical efficiency scores decreased between 2005 and 2008, as well as the variation in total productivity of factors. The average technical efficiency score for the period was 0.433 and showed a downward trend since 2006. The total factor productivity in the period from 2005-2008, decreased by 7.2% due, mainly, to the negative variation in the technological progress.

Neighbors’ soil conservation and crop production in Kenya

This study examined efficient farm management in a friendly policy environment and its implications for agricultural production in Nigeria using the cassava industry as a case study. Data were collected from randomly sampled 360 cassava farmers in Benue State. In-depth analysis of data collected was done using the stochastic frontier production function model. The result of the stochastic frontier production model indicated that government policy which favoured increased input use in cassava production in Nigeria resulted to more than proportionate increase in cassava output in Nigeria. The policy packages on cassava resulted to efficient utilization of production resources in cassava production in Nigeria, and hence profit maximization by the farmers. Technical efficiency in cassava production in Nigeria could be increased by 24% through better use of available resources given the current state of technology – via farmer-specific factors, which included access to improved cassava varieties, access to improved cassava processing technology, access to available cassava markets, access to improved extension services and agricultural credits. Moreover, 98% of the variations in input among the farms were due to differences in technical efficiency occasioned by differences in the relative access of cassava farmers to the cassava policy packages.

Is foreign-bank efficiency in financial centers driven by home or host country characteristics?

This paper investigates whether home or host country factors can explain differences in technical efficiency among foreign banks operating in the Luxembourg financial center. We first address heterogeneity across banks by using the group-wise bootstrap to compare DEA measures of bank efficiency between branches and subsidiaries, focused and diversified banks, and euro area and non-euro area banks. We then control for these factors in a second-stage regression indentifying the impact of country-specific regulatory and macroeconomic variables on individual bank efficiency scores. Our regulatory indicators capture the strictness of capital requirements, private monitoring, official disciplinary power and restrictions on bank activities. Our macroeconomic indicators capture GDP per capita in the home country and its position in the business cycle. Our results carry policy implications for bank regulators in both home and host countries and provide insight into banks’ choice between establishing a branch or a subsidiary to develop cross-border activities through international financial centers.

The Results In The Provision Of Public Education Under Different Decentralized Contexts: The Colombian Case

An analysis of the results in the provision of public education under different institutional contexts is carried out for Colombia where, during the decentralization process, different degrees of autonomy to manage education public expenditures have coexisted. The analysis is undertaken by using frontier analysis techniques, which allow us to estimate cost and production functions, in order to determine differences in costs and technical efficiency in the provision of education across regions. The results show that the strength of decentralization had a more positive impact on increasing enrollment than on the improvement of the quality of education. It was also found, that high levels of cost and production inefficiency are present in different regions of the country, implying that savings in public expenditure and better educational results could be achieved if all local authorities could operate at the most efficient level.

Ownership and technical efficiency of microfinance institutions: Empirical evidence from Latin America

By using stochastic frontier analysis, this article examines the technical efficiency of different types of microfinance institutions in Latin America. In particular, it tests whether differences in technical efficiency, both intra- and interfirm, can be explained by differences in ownership. With a focus on non-governmental organizations, cooperatives and credit unions, non-bank financial intermediaries, and banks, the data set contains 1681 observations from a panel of 315 institutions operating in 18 Latin American countries. The results show that non-governmental organizations and cooperatives have much lower interfirm and intrafirm technical efficiencies than non-bank financial intermediaries and banks, which indicates the importance of ownership type for technical efficiency.

Assessment of Technical and Scale Efficiencies of Indian Cement Industry Using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA)

Indian cement industry has grown in terms of capacity over the last two decades after liberalization. Due to the recent emphasis on infrastructural development by the Government of India, the cement industry is growing further in terms of scale and scope of operation. Some cement companies in India are claiming to be the cost leaders, but there are relative differences in technical efficiency and scale efficiency of companies. This paper attempts to examine the technical efficiency as well as the scale efficiency of 32 cement producers in India using data envelopment analysis (DEA) over a panel period of three years (2006–2008). The multiple outputs considered for the model are revenue generation from sales of cement and other variations of cement generic products. The inputs included in the model are raw material, manpower, energy and capital. This analysis brings out a distinct classification of cement producers in terms of relative efficiencies. This paper demonstrates, there are some cement producers whose technical and scale efficiencies are continuously increasing and strategically positioned in the capital market.

Firm Efficiency Differences and Distribution in the Kenyan Manufacturing Sector

Abstract: This article provides empirical evidence on technical efficiency differences and efficiency distribution for three Kenyan manufacturing subsectors, namely food, metal and textile, using an unbalanced panel data covering two periods. Econometric production frontiers are estimated for each subsector in each period. The confidence predictions for these efficiencies were, however, found to be quite wide. The results indicate variation of technical efficiency estimates of the sampled firms in each period. The technical efficiency distribution for each subsector changed not only in relation to itself, but also in relation to the other subsectors across the two periods of analysis. The efficiency distribution of the firms for both food and textile (metal) subsectors improved (declined) during the study period but with the food subsector firms remaining relatively inefficient. The improvement of the technical efficiency distribution for both the textile and food subsectors is an indication of intra‐plant improvement during the period of analysis. The decline of the technical efficiency distribution for the metal subsector suggests that the market orientation during the structural reform period did not promote firm efficiencies or the firms were slow in responding to the reforms.

Efficiency, productivity and technology comparison for farms in Central and Western Europe: The case of field crop and dairy farming in Hungary and France

This paper investigates the differences in technical efficiency and productivity change, and the technology gaps, between French and Hungarian farms in the dairy and cereal, oilseed and protein crops (COP) sectors during the period 2001–2007. The analyses were performed with national Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) data and the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach under each country's respective frontier and under a metafrontier.Results reveal that French COP farms were on average more efficient under their own technology than Hungarian farms under theirs, but there was no difference between the two countries for dairy farms. However, metatechnology ratios calculated with the construction of the metafrontier indicate that Hungarian technology was the more productive in both the dairy and the COP sectors, but more noticeably in COP production.

Technical efficiency and human capital in the retail sector

The performance of the British retail sectors in terms of productivity growth is not brilliant. This paper focuses on a specific component of productivity growth (technical efficiency) and tests the extent to which its variance across the sector can be explained by the differences in the educational attainment of the pool of workers to which retail firms have access. The empirical analysis is carried out on a sample of 1061 retail firms from the Annual Respondents Database, 1997–2005. The results confirm that the county-level differences of the stock of human capital can explain the technical efficiency differentials across the sector.

Price floors and technical inefficiency in India's sugar processing industry

In India, cane is processed into sugar by cooperatives, public enterprises, and private (for-profit) firms. The Indian government sets a unique floor price for each processor that is increasing in the firm's effectiveness in converting cane into sugar. The floor price binds for public and private firms but not for cooperatives, which rebate profits to members. We argue that this price floor policy creates a disincentive for private and public firms to be technically efficient in converting cane to sugar. In support of this hypothesis an analysis of 593 Indian sugar factories from 1992 to 2007 reveals statistically significant differences in technical efficiency, with cooperatives being the most efficient and public firms least efficient. We estimate welfare losses due to the technical inefficiency attributable to the price-floor policy and argue that it can be eliminated by enacting policy to base price floors upon quality of the cane input received by a factory.

Analysis on the Contribution of Technical Progress to the Output Growth of Intelligent Materials Industry in China

By the panel data method, this paper gave an analysis on the capital, labor and output of 28 listed intelligent materials enterprises with C-D function from the year of 2004 to 2008. The research results showed that the elasticity sum of labour and capital output in China is 1.12009, which explained the intelligent material industry was in scale increasing remuneration stage; in recent years, intelligent technical efficiency has brought the enlargement of labor and capital production, and the expanded capacity has been increasing year by year. The technical efficiency difference of listed company was also great, and the contribution of technological progress on output growth also had a significant gap.

Technical efficiency and viability of organic dairy sheep farming systems in a traditional area for sheep production in Spain

The technical efficiency and viability of organic dairy sheep farming systems were investigated in Castilla-La Mancha, a Spanish region with a tradition of sheep rearing. The thirty one farms sampled, had an average of 359ha, 508 sheep and 1.9 work units (WU); the reproductive rate was 1.5 lambs per ewe and year and the human productivity reached 303 sheep/WU. There was however a high degree of variation among farms. Although the average level of technical efficiency was 66%, 74% of farms sampled operated at medium or low rates of technical efficiency. Differences in technical efficiency were largely due to the consumption of feeding supplements and productivity. A total of 45% of the farms was classified as non-viable. It was concluded that strategies for improving competitiveness and the use of resources are specific to each level of efficiency. The most efficient farms must increase their size; moderately efficient farms need to focus their efforts on improving the management of resources to enhance results. Improving competitiveness of the less efficient farms requires an increase of productivity; a better balance between the use of feeding supplements and the sheep productive capacity.

An analysis on technical efficiency in post-reform China

This paper employs a fully nonparametric stochastic frontier model with time and individual effects to study technical efficiency in China's post-reform economy. The panel data cover China's thirty provinces for the period of 1985–2008. The empirical results show that the average output elasticity of labor is larger than the other two inputs of capital and human capital. Based on the specified inefficiency Tobit model, the factor analysis on technical efficiency shows that the time effects of technical efficiency in China's post-reform economy are significantly contingent on the factors. There exists significant regional differences in technical efficiency in China's economic development, and a number of policy implications can be drawn.

Participation in Organizations, Technical Efficiency and Territorial Differences: A Study of Small Wheat Farmers in Chile

The lack of efficient individual solutions for small farmers either in the market or through the State has resulted in a search for collective spaces to strengthen their productive capacities, where participation in organizations emerges as a relevant factor to obtain higher efficiency levels. The aims of this study were to analyze the determinants of technical efficiency of wheat small farmers in Bio Bio Region (Chile) and to evaluate its relation to a variety of variables, including farmer participation in organizations, for several territories with different agro-climatic conditions. Using information from the VII Agricultural and Forestry Survey, a stochastic frontier production function was estimated. The results show that age, education, farm size, degree of specialization and dependence of activity explain individual technical efficiency levels. Participation in cooperatives and gremial associations is also related to higher technical efficiency levels, especially in territories characterized for a lower wheat productive vocation.