The evaluation of the efficiency of investments relies on a system of measures based on actuarial techniques that consider the time value of money. One of the common measures used is the Internal Rate of Return (IRR). Commonly, by applying of the efficiency evaluation criteria, result consistent...

Two important developments in agricultural economics highlight the role of agglomeration externalities in agriculture. First, Fujita (2006; 2007) stresses the role of agglomeration forces in driving rural development. Secondly, the role of microeconomic behavior of rural households in harnessing the...

The paper develops a cost frontier model of gas distribution and estimates it on data for gas distribution companies of Argentina. Efficiency measures are an important tool for regulators, showing how much a firm can rise its output without using more inputs. In Argentina, the Regulatory...

The main goals of this paper are basically two: to compare the relative efficiency of the firms in the electricity distribution sector in South America, and to perform a consistency analysis on the different approaches usually used to measure efficiency. The estimated model considers a single...

In this survey we present, for the first time, a classification scheme for distance functions, considering two broad groups: the multiplicative and the additive distance functions. Guiding empirical work is one of the major objectives of this paper; for this reason we consider only linear...