Efficiency in Damage Control Inputs: A Stochastic Production Frontier Approach

The present paper extents the existing literature providing a theoretically consistent framework for measuring input-specific technical efficiency in damage control inputs within a stochastic production frontier model. The theoretical framework for modeling damage control agents is based on Fox and Weersink (1995) model specification that allows for increasing returns on damage control inputs. The empirical model accounts veterinary expenses as the damage control input and it is applied on a panel data set of sheep farms in Greece during the 1989-92 period. The results suggest that sheep farms in Greece are using inefficiently immunization and antibiotics in their flock as their average technical efficiency level was 72.82%. On the other hand, technical efficiency in conventional factors of production was found to be considerably higher on the average, 91.32%. Finally, our results indicate that farms that are technical efficient in the use of conventional inputs are also technical efficient in the use of damage control agents.