This study analyzes the structure of the water industry in Peru. It investigates economies of scale and cost inefficiencies in 43 water providers during the years from 1996 to 2005. Different water sources in different geographical regions directly affect the production technology of the sector,...

Este estudio analiza los determinantes de la productividad total de los factores de los bancos españoles desde el año 2000 hasta el período poscrisis. En particular, analizamos los cambios en la productividad derivados del proceso de reestructuración que ha experimentado el sector bancario...

North American railways were crucial to the integration of national territories from the mid-1850s through the 1920s. In the US, Canada, and Mexico, their development supported population settlement, resource extraction, industrialization, and the expansion of markets to regional and national...

Although Lamartine had tried to have the French railroad system nationalized, the government decided in July 1838 to grant three railroad concessions for the lines: Paris-Le Havre, Paris-Orléans, and Paris-Strasbourg. In 1839, some of the private railroad companies experienced financial...

During the 1990s, governments, managements and unions have been focused uponimproving the cost efficiency of firms. This focus has been strongest for firms in thepublic sector where improved outcomes can be expected to significantly improve theGross Domestic Products of whole economies.This case...

Grain transportation is one of the most important economic issues for grain producers in the Northern Plains. The reliance on export markets and the long distances to port position means that transportation costs have a significant effect on the price received by farmers.In the prairie region of...

This paper extends the existing research on real estate investment trust (REIT) operating efficiencies. We estimate a stochastic-frontier panel-data model specifying a translog cost function, covering 1995 to 2003. The results disagree with previous research in that we find little evidence of...

We model organization as the command-and-communication network of managers erected on top of technology (which is modeled as a collection of plants). In our framework, the role of a manager is to deal with shocks that affect the plants that he oversees directly or indirectly. Organizational form...