This paper analyses the cost structure of a sample of Italian Local Public Transport (LPT) companies operating in large urban centers and metropolitan areas, with the aim to extend the evidence of some recent studies focused only on small and medium-sized operators. Technological characteristics...

In the paper we study the cost structure of a sample of Italian utility providing in combination gas, water and electricity. The estimates from a Composite cost function model (Pulley e Braunstein, 1992) highlight that costs are lower when multi-utility operate in high-density areas and when...

This paper presents an empirical analysis on the residential demand for electricity by time-of-day. This analysis has been performed using aggregate data at the city level for 22 Swiss cities for the period 2000â2006. For this purpose, we estimated two log-log demand equations for peak and...

A number of static and dynamic specifications of a log linear demand function for public transport are estimated using aggregate panel data for 22 Indian states over the period 1990 to 2001. Demand has been defined as total passenger kilometers to capture actual market transactions, while the...

We analyze the technical efficiency of German and Swiss urban public transport companies by means of SFA. In transport networks we might face different network structures or complexities, not observed, but influencing the production process. The unobserved factors are typically modeled as...

Since the mid nineties the Italian Local Public Transport (Lpt) sector has been involved in a structural reform process, with the aim of increasing both productive efficiency and service effectiveness. To meet this purpose, the new regulatory framework shifts the financial responsibility from...

The diffusion of Integrated Tariff Systems (ITS) in Local Public Transport (LPT), that started up in Europe in the mid 1960s, may be due to three main factors: a) the development of the cities and the increasing need of mobility from the collectivity; b) the inconvenience the users face due to...

This study discusses the main problems in assessing overall spending efficiency of local governments and presents an application of non-parametric techniques (DEA) to the activities carried out by Italian municipalities. The analysis relies on a sample of 262 municipalities in the Province of...

In this paper we estimate cost efficiency and technological characteristics of public hospitals in Piedmont over the period from 2000 to 2004. During the Nineties, different regulatory reforms aiming at controlling health expenditure affected the Italian National Health Service, ranging from the...