Parametric Decomposition of Output Growth Using a Stochastic Input Distance Function

This article proposes a tractable approach for analyzing the sources of TFP changes (i.e., technical change, changes in technical and allocative inefficiency, and the scale effect) in a multi-output setting, while retaining the single-equation nature of the econometric procedure used to estimate the parameters of the underlying technology. The proposed approach relies on Bauer's cost function-based decomposition of TFP changes and the duality between input distance and cost functions. The empirical results are based on a sample of 121 UK livestock farms observed over the period 1983-92 and a translog input distance function