Monte-Carlo simulation of nonparametric efficiency shows that even when the number of firms is large, defining ten or more inputs results in most firms being measured as efficient. Comparison of the simulated results with any empirical results may suggest that the dimension of the problem,...

Short-run and long-run technical and allocative efficiencies were computed for 395 New York dairy farms using data envelopment or nonparametric procedures on 1990 Dairy Farm Business Summary data. The farms were, on average, more allocatively efficient in the short run than in the long run, but...

The Dixit entry/exit real option model was applied to the entry/exit decisions of New York dairy farmers. For the cost structure of a 500-cow farm, the entry milk price is $17.52 per hundredweight (cwt) and the exit milk price is $10.84. For the 50-cow farm cost structure, the entry price is...

Productivity of U.S. farmers by age is measured by non-parametric programming using 1992 Census data, decomposed into efficiency and technology Malmquist index components. Productivity increases slightly with age and then decreases. In most states productivity variations are from technology use...

Agricultural production estimates have often differentiated and estimated different technologies within a sample of farms. The common approach is to use observable farm characteristics to split the sample into groups and subsequently estimate different functions for each group. Alternatively,...

This paper explores the role of managerial ability in determining efficiency in New York dairy farms. Using an unbalanced panel of farm data from 1993 through 2004, we estimate output-oriented technical efficiencies using stochastic distance frontier functions. We find that both lagged net farm...