A problem with the use of flexible functional forms is that the estimated functions frequently violate the regularity conditions (eg, monotonicity, concavity) implied by economic theory. Sampling theory methods exist for imposing curvature conditions at all non-negative prices, but such methods...

Economic theory often provides information on the variables to be included in economic relationships (e.g., demands are functions of prices) and sometimes provides information on the signs and magnitudes of first- and second-order derivatives (e.g., homogeneity and concavity information)....

Recent empirical studies have found significant evidence of departures from competition in the input side of the bread, breakfast cereal and margarine end-product markets. In this study we specify a general duality model of profit maximisation that allows for imperfect competition in the input...

Recent empirical studies have found significant evidence of departures from competition in the input side of the bread,breakfast cereal and margarine end-product markets. In this study we specify a general duality model of profitmaximisation that allows for imperfect competition in the input and...

Profitability change can be decomposed into the product of a total factor productivity (TFP) index and an index measuring changes in relative prices. Many TFP indexes can be further decomposed into measures of technical change, technical efficiency change, scale efficiency change and mix...

Agriculture is in the business of using ecosystem services to produce food. Examining how agro-ecosystems function provides useful insights into the economics of agriculture. Of special interest are the presence and nature of scale effects, complementarity effects and convexity effects in...

This paper develops a theoretical model to examine the relationship between the input elasticity of (technical) substitution and both farm total factor productivity and size. In the presence of ongoing technical change and its factor bias, the ‘income effect’ arising from farms’ cost...