Fitting Broadband Diffusion by Cable Modem in Portugal

The purpose of this article is to described the evolution of the number of residential subscribers of broadband fixed access by cable modem, in Portugal, on the period from 2000–2009. The pattern of evolution is estimated by fitting several models to the series, namely the following: exponential, Gompertz, Logistic, Bass and Michaelis-Menten. We fit the models to the data by nonlinear least squares, except in the exponential model where the linear version is fitted by ordinary least squares, using the internet freely available program R. This comparative study is in line with many others on the diffusion of technological innovations in the telecommunications sector, where the point is finding out if there is an early or a late take-off phenomenon. The Michaelis-Menten model is introduced for the first time in this approach. It allows to predict the later evolution in the series and reveals a qualitatively different behavior.Broadband, Technological Innovations, Diffusion Growth Models, Nonlinear Least Squares

How far are Portuguese prisons inefficient? A non-parametric approach

In Portugal, as worldwide, especially in the past decades, crime has become an issue of increasing interest both for society and researchers. The global growth of criminality had several repercussions in the prison system. The most direct one was the overcrowding of prisons. This situation required a great amount of investment to increase the capacity of Portuguese prisons. Simultaneously, the value for money associated with the prisons’ budget has turned itself more and more relevant. These circumstances together emphasize the importance of assessing the prisons’ performance. This study measures the efficiency of Portuguese prison facilities by means of the non-parametric benchmarking approach of data envelopment analysis (DEA). However, due to the limitations of this technique, a bootstrap methodology is also applied in order to add more robustness to the results. Furthermore, a recent procedure is computed to evaluate congestion. The results show relevant levels of inefficiency in the Portuguese prison facilities, which represent an excess of several millions of Euros spent inadequately in this sector.Bootstrap; Congestion; DEA; Efficiency; Portugal; Prison facilities

Academic rankings: an approach to a Portuguese ranking

The academic rankings are a controversial subject in higher education. However, despite all the criticism, academic rankings are here to stay and more and more different stakeholders use rankings to obtain information about the institutions’ performance. The two most well-known rankings, The Times and the Shanghai Jiao Tong University rankings have different methodologies. The Times ranking is based on peer review, whereas the Shanghai ranking has only quantitative indicators and is mainly based on research outputs. In Germany, the CHE ranking uses a different methodology from the traditional rankings, allowing the users to choose criteria and weights. The Portuguese higher education institutions are performing below their European peers, and the Government believes that an academic ranking could improve both performance and competitiveness between institutions. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the advantages and problems of academic rankings and provide guidance to a new Portuguese ranking.Academic rankings; CHE; higher education; performance evaluation; Portugal; Shanghai; THES

Contribution to the study of PPP arrangements in airport development, management and operation

Following the liberalization wave in the airline sector, airports have been gradually taken out of the public sphere and open to the private initiative. This phenomenon is generally referred to as privatization, but not all the cases consist of, in fact, a full divestiture of assets. Although infrastructure construction, management and financing are undertaken by the private sector during a pre-defined period, usually 30 years or more, the property remains public or is transferred to the public domain after that period. This is a form of Public-Private Partnership (PPP) where two different models can be found: institutionalized PPP or a typical contractual regime, such as the concession arrangements. PPP options have been a “hot” topic over the last decade, being developed in several sectors, such as energy, water, road and seaports transportation infrastructures, etc, but few studies in the literature can be found on the PPP projects development in airport systems, for example, as far as risk-sharing is concerned. This paper looks at recent developments in airport “privatization” and “deregulation”, distinguishing privatizations from PPP arrangements, through a case study approach, and establishing a comparative analysis of different PPP models used for airport management. Some comments are made about the Portuguese model and the announcement of future privatization.Airport Concessions; Portugal; Public-Private Partnerships; Privatization.

Gaming in a benchmarking environment. A non-parametric analysis of benchmarking in the water sector

This paper discusses the use of benchmarking in general and its application to the drinking water sector. It systematizes the various classifications on performance measurement, discusses some of the pitfalls of benchmark studies and provides some examples of benchmarking in the water sector. After presenting in detail the institutional framework of the water sector of the Belgian region of Flanders (without benchmarking experiences), Wallonia (recently started a public benchmark) and the Netherlands (introduced already in 1997 a public benchmark), we non-parametrically measure the productivity gains by the use of a dynamic Malmquist index. The three regions, each at a different stage of the benchmarking circle, exhibit different performance trends. The ‘carrot’ and the ‘stick’ of benchmarking seem to offer an effective incentive to trigger performance. In addition, the Malmquist decompositions provide some evidence on the ‘gaming’ of the stakeholders by the water utilities.Benchmarking; gaming; Malmquist decomposition; regulation; water sector

Performance and Congestion Analysis of the Portuguese Hospital Services

The health care services have been characterised by a growing demand by the citizens leading to the need of more and more resources. Population aging, new pathologies and drugs as well as new treatments are some of the major factors for this. However, in hospitals, for example, consumption of a large number of inputs frequently has not corresponded to the production of the same or more proportion of outputs. Sometimes, the outputs even decline with the increase of inputs due to the influence of the congestion effect on efficiency. The heavy burden of the health sector on the state budget brings about the interest of research over its efficiency. This paper aims to assess the performance of the Portuguese hospitals and particularly the contribution of the congestion effect. We use the non-parametric technique of data envelopment analysis (DEA) for this purpose and a double-bootstrap procedure to take into account the influence of operational environment on efficiency. Afterwards, by comparing three different approaches we determine the importance of congestion in efficiency measurement and discuss its computation methodologically. The results suggest significant levels of inefficiency in 68 major Portuguese hospitals for the year 2005 and more than half of them were found to be congested.Hospitals; congestion; efficiency; DEA; Portugal

Capturing the environment, a metafrontier approach to the drinking water sector.

Environmental factors add complexity to the comparison between specific activities or entire entities. Decision making units with an inferior performance are tempted to invoke that their organization is different from the others in the data set. By reinterpreting and extending the metafrontier literature, we propose an all-embracing concept to fully capture the operational environment. We suggest the ‘Group Specific Technical Efficiency’ as a new measure to assess the overall efficiency of a utility while allowing for environmental differences. A real-world example of drinking water utilies out of 5 different countries illustrates the concept. JEL Classification: C14, C61, D24, L95Free Disposal Hull, Efficiency Measurement, Environmental Variables, Metafrontier, Water Industry

Comparing alternative instruments to measure service quality in higher education

The purpose of this work is to examine the performance of five alternative measures of service quality in the high education sector – SERVQUAL (Service Quality), Importance-weighted SERVQUAL, SERVPERF (Service Performance), Importance-weighted SERVPERF and HedPERF (Higher Education Performance). We aim at determining which instrument has the superior measurement capability. Data were collected by means of a structured questionnaire containing perception items enhanced from the SERVPERF and HEdPERF scales and expectation items from the SERVQUAL scale, both modified to fit into the higher education sector. The first draft of the questionnaire was subject to a pilot testing through a focus group and an expert evaluation. Data were gathered from a 360 students’ sample of a Portuguese university in Lisbon. Scales were compared in terms of unidimensionality, reliability, validity and explained variance. Managerial conclusions were also drawn.service quality scales; higher education; reliability

Designing incenttives in local public utilities, an international comparison of the drinking water sector

Direct and indirect standardization procedures aim at comparing differences in health or differences in health care expenditures between subgroups of the population after controlling for observable morbidity differences. There is a close analogy between this problem and the issue of risk adjustment in health insurance. We analyse this analogy within the theoretical framework proposed in the recent social choice literature on responsibility and compensation. Traditional methods of risk adjustment are analogous to indirect standardization. They are equivalent to the so-called conditional egalitarian mechanism in social choice. In general, they do not remove incentives for risk selection, even if the effect of non-morbidity variables is correctly taken into account. A method of risk adjustment based on direct standardization (as proposed for Ireland) does remove the incentives for risk selection, but at the cost of violating a neutrality condition, stating that insurers should receive the same premium subsidy for all members of the same risk group. Direct standardization is equivalent to the egalitarianequivalent (or proportional) mechanism in social choice. The conflict between removing incentives for risk selection and neutrality is unavoidable if the health expenditure function is not additively separable in the morbidity and efficiency variables.

Revisiting the strengths and limitations of regulatory contracts in infrastructure industries

This paper evaluates regulation by contract in public-private partnerships (PPPs) in infrastructure services. Although the benefits of competition for the market and of regulatory contracts are widely acknowledged, the literature indentifies several failures in their design. These ‘flaws’ are present in both developed and developing countries and arise in all types of contracts. This study analyses both short and long term contracts, focusing on purely contractual PPPs and institutionalized PPPs (mixed companies). The evidence suggests that for all kinds of contracts, the major problems tend to arise in the preparation of public tender documents: the ‘best’ bidder is not often the winner. The likely results include redistribution in favor of the private partner, weak incentives for high performance, and renegotiation of contracts. Moreover, risks are not allocated correctly nor is effective monitoring ensured. This review of contract procedures and design allows us to draw several implications for policy-makers and to present suggestions and recommendations for improving regulatory contracts.regulation by contract; bidding documents; contract design; risk; monitoring