A selection of relevant issues in applied stochastic frontier analysis

This paper provides a concise review of a broad set of concepts, models and estimation issues in the field of stochastic frontier analysis. The goal is to provide practitioners with a quick guide to some key ideas. The review is restricted to single-output models estimated by econometric methods. Among the conceptual issues are the interpretation and the paths to reduce inefficiency. The modelling and estimation parts deal with topics such as explaining inefficiency, time-varying inefficiency and firm heterogeneity.