Understanding how and the extent to which contract farming arrangements impact agricultural productivity is important to ensuring that policies are designed to maximize the likelihood of success. Using cross-sectional data from 516 soybean farmers in Northern Ghana, we provide empirical evidence...

Ports form important links in the overall trade chain and act as driving forces for marine economic development. However, the operation of ports also has certain difficulties and challenges that port operators need to overcome. As such, this research aims to measure the performance efficiency of...

Monte Carlo (MC) simulations are one of the dominant approaches to compare statistical methods. To date, there is no standard procedure for MC simulations. Although internally valid, they exhibit a certain degree of arbitrariness through the various choices that researchers make. In this paper,...

In the nonparametric data envelopment analysis literature, scale elasticity is evaluated in two alternative ways: using either the technical efficiency model or the cost efficiency model. This evaluation becomes problematic in several situations, for example (a) when input proportions change in...

The latest regulatory framework, which has been introduced globally in the form of Basel III, and its implementation in the legislation of the member states of the European Union has generated much interest in the impact of regulation on the efficiency and profitability of banks. This study aims...

As we enter the digital era, the digital economy provides an opportunity for China’s manufacturing industry to achieve ‘smart manufacturing’ and provides important support for China to move from a ‘big manufacturing country’ to a ‘strong manufacturing country’. This paper...