The paper investigates the impact of subsidies and of para-agriculture on the technical efficiency of organic farms in Switzerland, Austria and Southern Germany. The data-set consists of bookkeeping data with 1,704 observations in the years 2003 to 2005. Technical efficiency is modelled using a...

We propose a two-stage procedure for finding realistic benchmarks for nonparametric efficiency analysis. On the first stage the efficient DMUs are figured out by a free disposal hull approach. These benchmarks are directly targeted by directional distance functions and the extent of inefficiency...

Production analysis matters in agricultural economics because technology shapes developments in agriculture as well as in related sectors, such as the food industry. Pro- ductivity and technical efficiency (TE) are key aspects in this context. In empirical analysis, inefficiency can be...

As the Argentinean grapevine production systems have gained global visibility, the wine industry has been revitalized with a greater focus on enological quality, technology adoption, and export orientation. Although grapevine production has decreased 36% in a decade nationwide, the province of...

The vast majority of the efficiency and productivity measurement literature has been based on the static viewpoint of the firm. Few studies have developed the dynamic analog of static efficiency measurement, introducing the notions of long-run efficiency and inefficiency persistence. However,...