This paper analyzes the labor productivity of Swiss university departments between 1995 and 2007. Using a parametric input distance function we estimate and decompose the Malmquist productivity indexes in line with Fuentes et al. (2001) and Atkinson et al. (2003). By contrast to those studies,...

This paper explores the hospital quality measures based on routine administrative data such as patient discharge records. Most of the measures used in the literature are based on in-hospital mortality risks rather than post-discharge events. The in-hospital outcomes are sensitive to the...

This paper applies a number of stochastic cost frontier models to a panel data set and compares their ability to distinguish unobserved heterogeneity from inefficiency variation among firms. The main focus is on Greene's 2005 panel data model that incorporates firm-specific effects in a...

The authors examine changes in the wages, employment, and effort of nurses in California hospitals following takeovers by large chains in the 1990s. The market for nurses has been described as a classic monopsony, so that one might expect increases in firm market power to be associated with...

This paper studies the cost structure of Swiss gas distribution utilities. Several econometric models are applied to a panel of 26 companies over 1996–2000. Our main objective is to estimate the optimal size and scale economies of the industry and to study their possible variation with respect...

Voluntary carbon offsets allow individuals to neutralise the CO<inline-formula><inline-graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="teep_a_842938_ilm0001.gif"/></inline-formula> emissions from their consumption. In a choice experiment among more than a thousand Swiss consumers, we analyse how the propensity to offset varies with consumption contexts and offset project attributes. The adopted latent class...

As an essential component for economic growth, energy has a significant impact on the global economy. The need to meet growing energy demand has prompted cutting-edge innovation in clean technology in an attempt to realise environmental and cost objectives, whilst ensuring the security of energy...