Most econometric analyses of patent data rely on regression methods using a parametric form of the predictor for modeling the dependence of the response in focus on given covariates. These methods often lack the capability of identifying non-linear relationships between dependent and independent...

We employ a wide range of parametric and non-parametric cost frontiers' efficiency estimation methods to estimate economic efficiency and economies of scale, using the same panel data of 22 Taiwanese commercial banks over the period 1982-97. According to our empirical implementation, the two...