The availability of efficiency estimation software freely distributed via the internet and relatively easy to use recently inflated the number of corresponding applications. The resulting efficiency estimates are often used without a critical assessment with respect to the literature on...

Existing studies of agricultural production largely neglect technology heterogeneity. However, the assumption of homogeneous production may result in inadequate policy implications. There is a growing literature on this issue. In this paper we contribute to this literature by modelling the...

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...

Agri-environmental schemes are the main policy instrument currently available in the European Union to promote environmentally friendly farming practices. Nevertheless, the adoption rate of these measures is still limited. This paper develops a profit maximizer theoretical framework to explain...

This paper is concerned with empirical measurement of patterns of productivity growth by means of competing panel data models of technical change. We argue that short term analysis must rely on models of technical change which are more flexible than the standard time trend model, because...

This paper proposes a stochastic frontier panel data model which includes time-invariant unobserved heterogeneity along with the efficiency effects. Following Paul and Shankar (2018), the efficiency effects are specified by a standard normal cumulative distribution function of exogenous...

This paper proposes an alternative specification for technical efficiency effects in a stochastic production frontier model. The proposed specification is distribution free and thus eschews one-sided error term present in almost all the existing inefficiency effects models. The efficiency...

The availability of efficiency estimation software - freely distributed via the internet and relatively easy to use - recently inflated the number of corresponding applications. The resulting efficiency estimates are used without a critical assessment with respect to the literature on...

The paper argues that Cobb-Douglas (CD) production function merits use for analysing the production process, not because it should be looked upon as a simple tool which can be handled easily or as a crude remedy for estimation, but because of the advantages it possesses. These advantages are due...

The dominant practice in economics is to choose the mathematical specification of model relations on the basis of convenience, without much theoretical support. This paper discusses how quantitative model specifications can, in some cases, be given a more formal scientific underpinning in the...