Influencia de la regulación regional en la eficiencia en el sector minorista (1999-2012)

The main objective of this study is the identification of the explanatory factors on the differences in efficiency in the retail sector enterprises (CNAE-09 4711) in Spain, paying particular attention to the regulation in order to clarify the way in which this regulation has influenced the performance of the companies because of the legislative changes occurred in the 1999 - 2012 period. Moreover, a preliminary analysis is carried out to study levels and evolution of efficiency and productivity. The results show that the average technical efficiency for this retail sector in the period under study is estimated at 65,9%. Therefore, enterprises operating in this sector could have obtained the same level of output saving a potential 34% of the inputs. The scale at which the company operates is far from being optimal and turns into the main cause of the technical inefficiency. Regarding total productivity, it experienced an average growth during the entire period of 0,3%. Concerning determining factors for efficiency, regulation and size show a statistical significant, positive relation. In addition, location also in uences the efficiency, while age can be rejected as one of its determining factors.