This paper models the firm's production process as a system of simultaneous technologies for desirable and undesirable outputs. Desirable outputs are produced by transforming inputs via the conventional transformation function, whereas (consistent with the material balance condition) undesirable...

In this paper we consider a novel stochastic frontier model with multi-output multi-input production technology that accommodates non-radial inefficiency in both inputs and outputs. These measures are also observation-specific. To identify them, we use (i) a system model consisting of the...

This paper primarily reviews the panel stochastic frontier (SF) model in which the composite error term εit has four components, i.e. εit=τi−ηi+vit−uit, where ηi and uit are the persistent and transient inefficiency components, τi is the random firm effect and vit is the random noise....

This paper models the firm's production process as a system of simultaneous technologies for desirable and undesirable outputs. Desirable outputs are produced by transforming inputs via the conventional transformation function, whereas (consistent with the material balance condition) undesirable...

Productivity and efficiency analyses have been indispensable tools for evaluating firms’ performance in the banking sector. In this context, the use of Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) has been recently proposed in order to obtain a globally flexible functional form which is capable of...

When benchmarking production units by non-parametric methods like data envelopment analysis (DEA), an assumption has to be made about the returns to scale of the underlying technology. Moreover, it is often also relevant to compare the frontiers across samples of producers. Until now, no exact...

This article is an empirical study about flexible and conventional functional forms of coffee production, minflex Laurent Translog function econometrically has been established in Colombia coffee zone for the farm size (smallholders, medium and large farms, general sector), using a stochastic...

This paper applies a new variant of data envelopment analysis model to examine the performance of Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India. The findings show a significant heterogeneity visible in the cost efficiency scores within 19 years. The decline in performance after 1994-95 can be taken...

This paper critically re-examines the concept of returns to scale vis-à-vis economies of scale since the writings of Adam Smith by relating the former to the concept of production unit and the latter to the concept of firm. Though to date some valuable progress has been made exploring the...