We discuss how to properly decompose economic efficiency when the underlying technology is non-homothetic using alternative allocative and technical efficiency criteria. We first show that only under the production of one output and assuming the particular case of constant returns to scale...

The directional distance function has been introduced in the efficiency literature with the intention of relaxing the fixed orientations represented by its classical input and output counterparts. However, the criteria underlying the choice of its associated directional vector are numerous. When...

Apart from the well-known weaknesses of the standard Malmquist productivity index related to infeasibility and not accounting for slacks, already addressed in the literature, we identify a new and significant drawback of the Malmquist-Luenberger index decomposition that questions its validity as...

In two widely cited but unpublished working papers, Simar and Wilson (1998) and Zofío and Lovell (1998) proposed an alternative decomposition of the Malmquist Productivity Index, which retained what seemed to be the strongholds of previous proposals with regard to the contribution of...

We use a flexible parametric hyperbolic distance function to estimate environmental efficiency when some outputs are undesirable. Cuesta and Zofio (J. Prod. Analysis (2005), 31-48) introduced this distance function specification in conventional input-output space to estimate technical efficiency...

We discuss the effects that the emergence of the new post-industrial form of flexible capitalist organization has on the Spanish labor market and, by extension, on the working life of two representative groups of employees characterized by their casual and stable working conditions. This brings...

Las Entidades Locales desarrollan su gestión presupuestaria en un entorno complejo establecido por la normativa estatal, autonómica y local, y condicionada por la presión de los ciudadanos por mejores servicios públicos y los requerimientos de mayor eficiencia en el gasto provenientes de...

We rely on efficiency analysis to evaluate the Spanish R&D public policy based on financial incentives, and investigate to what extent this instrument has been able to promote a multidimensional research output mix, contributing to the articulation of a successful Spanish Food Innovation System....

Exploring the duality between a return to dollar definition of profit and the generalized distance function we establish the relationship between the Laspeyres, Paasche and Fisher productivity indexes and their alternative Malmquist indexes counterparts. By proceeding this way, we propose a...

Recent research has determined the existence of a border effect on trade flows within a country associated to agglomeration economies, the size of the spatial unit of reference, as well as to alternative measures of transport costs. Using a micro-database on road freight shipments within Spain...