Chance-Constrained Efficiency Analysis

Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is extended to the case of stochastic inputs and outputs through the use of chance-constrained programming. The chance-constrained envelope envelops a given set of observations "most of the time." We show that the chance-constrained enveloping process leads to the definition of a conventional (certainty-equivalent) efficiency ratio (a ratio between weighted outputs and weighted inputs). Furthermore, extending the concept of Pareto and Koopmans efficiency to the case of chance-constrained dominance (to be defined), we establish the identity of the following two chance-constrained efficiency concepts: (i) the chance constrained DEA efficiency measure of a particular output-input point is unity, and all chance-constraints are binding; (ii) the point is efficient in the sense Pareto and Koopmans. Finally we discuss the implications of our approach for econometric frontier analysis.IC2 Institut

Profits and Productivity

In this study we consider the linkage between productivity change and profit change. We develop an analytical framework in which profit change between one period and the next is decomposed into three sources: (i) a productivity change effect (which includes a technical change effect and an operating efficiency effect), (ii) an activity effect (which includes a product mix effect, a resource mix effect and a scale effect), and (iii) a price effect. We then show how to quantify the contribution of each effect, using only observed prices and quantities of products and resources in the two periods. We illustrate our analytical decomposition of profit change with an empirical application to Spanish banking during the period 1987 - 1994.Profits, Productivity

The Effects of Deregulation on the Performance of Financial Institutions: The Case of Spanish Savings Banks

This paper examines the impact of regulatory reform on the performance of Spanish savings banks. To this end it uses panel data for the period 1986-1995 and a flexible variable profit function that incorporates time-varying technical efficiency. The focus is whether increased competition brought on by deregulation affected performance of banks over time. Bank performance, measured by the percentage change in profitability, ceteris paribus, is decomposed into technical change and change in technical efficiency both of which are defined in terms of the profit function. We also examine output technical efficiency, which is defined in terms of the production possibility frontier. Several alternative models with different specifications of technical efficiency are used to check robustness of the results. Empirical results show declining levels of output technical efficiency along with a significantly high rate of technical progress. In spite of declining technical efficiency during this period, we find evidence of an increasing trend in productivity growth

Testing the product test

The product test asks the product of a quantity index number and a price index number to equal the corresponding value change. The literature treats the product test as being so important that it is used to identify acceptable index number pairs, and to construct implicit index numbers when an otherwise desirable pair fails the test. We treat the product test as a hypothesis to be tested, and we provide an empirical application

Profits and productivity

In this study we consider the linkage between productivity change and profit change. We develop an analytical framework in which profit change between one period and the next is decomposed into three sources: (i) a productivity change effect (which includes a technical change effect and an operating efficiency effect), (ii) an activity effect (which includes a product mix effect, a resource mix effect and a scale effect), and (iii) a price effect. We then show how to quantify the contribution of each effect, using only observed prices and quantities of products and resources in the two periods. We illustrate our analytical decomposition of profit change with an empirical application to Spanish banking during the period 1987 - 1994

Cost and productivity

We develop an analytical model capable of decomposing both intertemporal and multilateral cost variation. We begin by attributing cost variation to a price effect and a quantity effect. We then decompose the quantity effect into a productivity effect and an activity effect. The productivity effect in turn decomposes into a cost efficiency effect and, in the intertemporal context, a technical change effect. We also show how the intertemporal and multilateral cost decompositions can be implemented, using linear programming techniques. These techniques offer certain advantages over conventional econometric techniques whenever a substantial portion of cost variation is due to variation in cost efficiency. We illustrate the two cost decompositions with a pair of benchmarking exercises based on a panel of 93 US electric power generating companies, in which variation in cost efficiency does play a key role

Productivity at the post : its drivers and its distribution

We study the economic, financial and distributional performance of the United States Postal Service subsequent to its 1971 reorganization. We investigate the economic sources of productivity change, (technical change, change in cost efficiency, and scale economies), and the distribution of the financial benefits of productivity change (consumers of postal services, postal employees and other resource suppliers, and residual claimants). We find improvements in technology to have been the main driver of, and diseconomies of scale to have been the main drag on, productivity change. We find labor to have been the main beneficiary, and the US Treasury and consumers of postal services the main losers, from postal reorganization