Cost efficiency of banks in 20 former socialist emerging economies is analyzed using a novel methodology - a latent class stochastic efficiency frontier model - that explicitly accounts for unobserved differences in technological regimes due to the heterogeneity of economic environments in which...

This paper examines the impact of regulatory reform on the performance of Spanish savings banks. To this end it uses panel data for the period 1986-1995 and a flexible variable profit function that incorporates time-varying technical efficiency. The focus is whether increased competition brought...

Estimation of economic relationships often requires imposition of constraints such as positivity or monotonicity on each observation. Methods to impose such constraints, however, vary depending upon the estimation technique employed. We describe a general methodology to impose...

This monograph reviews the econometric literature on the estimation of stochastic frontiers and technical efficiency. Special attention is devoted to current research.

A simple graphical approach to presenting results from nonlinear regression models is described. In the face of multiple covariates, `partial mean' plots may be unattractive. The approach here is portable to a variety of settings and can be tailored to the specific application at hand. A simple...

This paper considers Bayesian estimation strategies for first-price auctions within the independent private value paradigm. We develop an ‘optimization’ error approach that allows for estimation of values assuming that observed bids differ from optimal bids. We further augment this approach...

Rosen's (1974) theory of hedonic prices is implemented econometrically using recently developed nonparametric techniques to examine the influence of qualitative factors on the price of a house. Our ability to smooth categorical variables leads to greater generalization in the valuation process...

A simple graphical approach to presenting results from nonlinear regression models is described. In the face of multiple covariates, ‘partial mean’ plots may be unattractive. The approach here is portable to a variety of settings and can be tailored to the specific application at hand. A...