In this study, we address a major problem in the measurement of firm performance and the regulation of natural monopolies, namely the intertemporal character of long-term investment decisions. In specific, we focus on the impact of adjustment costs of investments on estimates of firms’...

In the course of railway reforms in the end of the last century, national European governments, as well the EU Commission, decided to open markets and to separate railway networks from train operations. Vertically integrated railway companies companies owning a network and providing transport...

In this paper, we conduct a pan-European efficiency analysis to investigate the performance of European railways with a particular focus on economies of vertical integration. We test the hypothesis that integrated railways realize economies of scope and, thus, produce railway services with a...

Energy efficiency provides a substantial opportunity to tackle increasing greenhouse gas emissions. However, in traditionally regulated energy markets, energy providers maximize their profits by selling electricity or heat as long as their marginal revenue exceeds their marginal costs of...

This paper empirically analyzes the existence of market power in the global iron ore market during the period 1993-2012 using an innovative Stochastic Frontier Analysis approach introduced by Kumbhakar et al. (2012). In contrast to traditional econometric procedures, this approach allows for the...

In this paper, we use a comprehensive and unique data set of financial, technical and structural characteristics of German distribution network operators from 2011 to 2017 to estimate both the transient and persistent cost efficiency of German distribution network operators. In addition, we...

This paper empirically analyzes the existence of market power in the global iron ore market during the period 1993-2012 using an innovative Stochastic Frontier Analysis approach introduced by Kumbhakar et al. (2012). In contrast to traditional econometric procedures, this approach allows for the...

The objective of this paper is to analyze the impact of regulatory and environmental conditions on technical efficiency of European railways. Using a panel data set of 31 railway firms from 22 European countries from 1994 to 2005, a multioutput distance function model, including regulatory and...

Since the late 1990s, the European higher education system has had to face deep structural changes. With the public authorities seeking to create an environment of quasi-markets in the higher education sector, the increased competition induced by recent reforms has pushed all publicly financed...

This paper analyzes the performance of the European railway sector in the period of deregulation (1990-2005). Using a stochastic frontier panel data model that controls for unobserved heterogeneity a multiple-output multipleinput distance function model is estimated in order to evaluate the...