A large literature exists on measuring the allocative and technical efficiency of a set of firms. A segment of this literature uses data envelopment analysis (DEA), creating relative efficiency rankings that are nonstochastic and thus cannot be evaluated according to the precision of the...

Econometric models to estimate allocative and technical inefficiency include stochastic shadow distance frontiers, shadow cost frontiers, and shadow profit frontiers. In these models, the cost savings from eliminating both sources of inefficiency is often reported in total and then decomposed...

The estimation of allocative and technical inefficiency has grown to an enormous body of literature, both theoretical and empirical. Ideally, one would estimate time-varying firm and input-specific parameters describing allocative inefficiency in order to minimize aggregation bias. However, this...

Econometric models to estimate allocative and technical inefficiency include stochastic shadow distance frontiers, shadow cost frontiers, and shadow profit frontiers. In these models, the cost savings from eliminating both sources of inefficiency is often reported in total and then decomposed...

We estimate a directional distance function to assess the impacts of multiple time-varying parent and child inputs on a cluster of jointly produced child outcomes for children aged 7 to 13 years. The directional distance function specification avoids several well-known empirical problems...

We analyze the link between large and destructive floods and armed conflict in 117 countries between 1985 and 2009 employing flood-induced migration as a potential transmission channel. We use rainfall as an instrument for flood-induced migration and employ a two step procedure (Rivers and Vuong...

After a lifetime of working and saving, retirement is a time that an individual can participate in aspirations and activities that were difficult to explore under the constraints of family rearing and full time employment. This newfound freedom allows one to act on her true preferences and alter...

Cottonseed crushers face substantial risk in terms of input and output price variability and they are limited in their planning by the lack of viable futures markets for cottonseed or cottonseed products. This study examines the feasibility of cross-hedging cottonseed products using soybean...

Three theories of spatial competition are tested on retail price data for the agricultural chemical industry. The empirical tests find only weak evidence of any spatial competition using primary data from sixty-five retailers and twelve different chemicals. Demand and supply-side variables have...

Should econometricians always incorporate economic theory in their models or only when unrestricted estimators are found to violate an inviolable theory? Using Monte Carlo experiments, we find that econometricians should use economic theory to the fullest extent possible. To paraphrase Leamer's...