This study aims to measure the impact of liberalization on the efficiency of electricity production in Japan using Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA). In addition, this study also aims to examine whether or not econom...This study aims to measure the impact of liberalization on the efficiency of electricity production in Japan using Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA). In addition, this study also aims to examine whether or not economies of scale exist in the electricity generation sector and the transmission sector, and whether or not economies of scope exist between electricity generation and transmission. Since 1995, liberalization of the electricity market in Japan has been phased in and regulations on entry have been relaxed three times. One motivation for these regularity changes has been to improve the efficiency of electricity production by introducing competition. Using a panel data set on the nine main power companies in Japan over the period 1970-2010, estimates of fixed-effects and stochastic frontier models of the cost function are obtained and compared. Estimates of the cost function show that liberalization has improved cost efficiency when both frontier models and non-frontier models are estimated. Estimates of the fixed-effects model are used to calculate economies of scale and economies scope because the data support the fixed-effects model. Economies of scope are found to exist for all nine power companies, while overall economies of scope declined in the 1970s and have improved little by little since the 1980s.展开更多
This study investigated the effect of credit constraints and credit unconstraints on the technical efficiency of hybrid maize growers in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province(KPK) of Pakistan. The primary data were collecte...This study investigated the effect of credit constraints and credit unconstraints on the technical efficiency of hybrid maize growers in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province(KPK) of Pakistan. The primary data were collected by a direct elicitation method from 510 maize growers of KPK Province. Stochastic frontier model techniques were used for technical efficiency analyses. The results revealed that the mean technical efficiency difference between the two groups was 10.2%. The results of technical inefficiency effect modeling demonstrated that education of the household head, family size, number of married family members, off-farm income, farming experience, tractor drill, water irrigation through a lined course, certified seed, extension services, household saving variables, and a credit size variable had positive effects on technical efficiency for both credit constrained farmers(CCFs) and credit unconstrained farmers(UCCFs). In addition, age of household head and fragmented land values had negative effects on technical efficiency for both groups. However, the interest rate had positive and negative impacts on the technical efficiency of CCFs and UCCFs, respectively. Our results have significant implications for policies related to land use, interest rate, and banking sector expansion in the rural areas of Pakistan.展开更多
Recently, there have been more debates on the methods of measuring efficiency. The main objective of this paper is to make a sensitivity analysis for different frontier models and compare the results obtained from the...Recently, there have been more debates on the methods of measuring efficiency. The main objective of this paper is to make a sensitivity analysis for different frontier models and compare the results obtained from the different methods of estimating multi-output frontier for a specific application. The methods include stochastic distance function frontier, stochastic ray frontier, and data envelopment analysis. The stochastic frontier regressions with and without the inefficiency effects model are also com-pared and tested. The results indicate that there are significant correlations between the results obtained from the alternative estimation methods.展开更多
This paper builds a stochastic frontier educational production function model, estimating the primary educational productivity with annual data of 31 provinces from 2007 to 2011. The conclusions are as follows： （1）...This paper builds a stochastic frontier educational production function model, estimating the primary educational productivity with annual data of 31 provinces from 2007 to 2011. The conclusions are as follows： （1） in educational production function, output elasticity of public educational expenditure exceeds private educational expenditure＇s. The degrees of contribution of public and private educational expenditure reflect that China should increase public educational expenditure. （2） regional educational technical efficiency is affected by both structure of educational expenditure and levels of regional economic growth. Primary educational technical efficiency of east, middle and west regions all tended to fall down during 2007 to 2011.展开更多
Demand forecasting is often difficult due to the unobservability of the applicable historical demand series. In this study, the authors propose a demand forecasting method based on stochastic frontier analysis(SFA) mo...Demand forecasting is often difficult due to the unobservability of the applicable historical demand series. In this study, the authors propose a demand forecasting method based on stochastic frontier analysis(SFA) models and a model average technique. First, considering model uncertainty,a set of alternative SFA models with various combinations of explanatory variables and distribution assumptions are constructed to estimate demands. Second, an average estimate from the estimated demand values is obtained using a model average technique. Finally, future demand forecasts are achieved, with the average estimates used as historical observations. An empirical application of air travel demand forecasting is implemented. The results of a forecasting performance comparison show that in addition to its ability to estimate demand, the proposed method outperforms other common methods in terms of forecasting passenger traffic.展开更多
文摘This study aims to measure the impact of liberalization on the efficiency of electricity production in Japan using Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA). In addition, this study also aims to examine whether or not economies of scale exist in the electricity generation sector and the transmission sector, and whether or not economies of scope exist between electricity generation and transmission. Since 1995, liberalization of the electricity market in Japan has been phased in and regulations on entry have been relaxed three times. One motivation for these regularity changes has been to improve the efficiency of electricity production by introducing competition. Using a panel data set on the nine main power companies in Japan over the period 1970-2010, estimates of fixed-effects and stochastic frontier models of the cost function are obtained and compared. Estimates of the cost function show that liberalization has improved cost efficiency when both frontier models and non-frontier models are estimated. Estimates of the fixed-effects model are used to calculate economies of scale and economies scope because the data support the fixed-effects model. Economies of scope are found to exist for all nine power companies, while overall economies of scope declined in the 1970s and have improved little by little since the 1980s.
基金sponsored by the National Natural Social Science Foundation of China (71573211)
文摘This study investigated the effect of credit constraints and credit unconstraints on the technical efficiency of hybrid maize growers in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province(KPK) of Pakistan. The primary data were collected by a direct elicitation method from 510 maize growers of KPK Province. Stochastic frontier model techniques were used for technical efficiency analyses. The results revealed that the mean technical efficiency difference between the two groups was 10.2%. The results of technical inefficiency effect modeling demonstrated that education of the household head, family size, number of married family members, off-farm income, farming experience, tractor drill, water irrigation through a lined course, certified seed, extension services, household saving variables, and a credit size variable had positive effects on technical efficiency for both credit constrained farmers(CCFs) and credit unconstrained farmers(UCCFs). In addition, age of household head and fragmented land values had negative effects on technical efficiency for both groups. However, the interest rate had positive and negative impacts on the technical efficiency of CCFs and UCCFs, respectively. Our results have significant implications for policies related to land use, interest rate, and banking sector expansion in the rural areas of Pakistan.
文摘Recently, there have been more debates on the methods of measuring efficiency. The main objective of this paper is to make a sensitivity analysis for different frontier models and compare the results obtained from the different methods of estimating multi-output frontier for a specific application. The methods include stochastic distance function frontier, stochastic ray frontier, and data envelopment analysis. The stochastic frontier regressions with and without the inefficiency effects model are also com-pared and tested. The results indicate that there are significant correlations between the results obtained from the alternative estimation methods.
文摘This paper builds a stochastic frontier educational production function model, estimating the primary educational productivity with annual data of 31 provinces from 2007 to 2011. The conclusions are as follows： （1） in educational production function, output elasticity of public educational expenditure exceeds private educational expenditure＇s. The degrees of contribution of public and private educational expenditure reflect that China should increase public educational expenditure. （2） regional educational technical efficiency is affected by both structure of educational expenditure and levels of regional economic growth. Primary educational technical efficiency of east, middle and west regions all tended to fall down during 2007 to 2011.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos.71522004,11471324 and 71631008a Grant from the Ministry of Education of China under Grant No.17YJC910011
文摘Demand forecasting is often difficult due to the unobservability of the applicable historical demand series. In this study, the authors propose a demand forecasting method based on stochastic frontier analysis(SFA) models and a model average technique. First, considering model uncertainty,a set of alternative SFA models with various combinations of explanatory variables and distribution assumptions are constructed to estimate demands. Second, an average estimate from the estimated demand values is obtained using a model average technique. Finally, future demand forecasts are achieved, with the average estimates used as historical observations. An empirical application of air travel demand forecasting is implemented. The results of a forecasting performance comparison show that in addition to its ability to estimate demand, the proposed method outperforms other common methods in terms of forecasting passenger traffic.
