This paper develops a slack-based decomposition of profit efficiency based on a direc- tional distance function. It complements Cooper, Pastor, Aparicio and Borras (2011).

Diversified and focused business models may affect foreign bank efficiency differently. We investigate whether there is an optimal business model along three business dimensions—assets, funding and income—and which business model is optimal for foreign banks in a financial center....

We consider productivity measurement based on radial DEA models with multiple constant inputs. We show that in this case the Malmquist and the Hicks- Moorsteen productivity indices coincide and are multiplicatively complete, the choice of orientation for the measurement of productivity change...

In this paper we introduce a scale elasticity measure based on directional distance function for multi-output-multi-input technologies and explore its fundamental properties. Specifically, we derive necessary and sufficient condition for equivalence of the scale elasticity measure based on the...

In a seminal paper, Racine and Li, (Journal of Econometrics, 2004) introduce a tool which admits discrete and categorical variables as regressors in nonparametric regres- sions. The method is similar to the smoothing techniques for continuous regressors but uses discrete kernels. In the...

The meta-frontier framework has been used extensively for evaluating the technical efficiency of heterogeneous production units that can be classified into different groups. This paper shows how the framework can also be used to make total factor productivity (TFP) comparisons within and across...

The Bureau of Labor Statistics measures productivity change using an index formula that fails a transitivity test. This means the Bureau is likely to report productivity changes even when outputs and inputs in different (non-adjacent) periods are identical. I use alternative formulas that i)...