This paper demonstrates that the bootstrap procedure suggested by Ferrier and Hirschberg (1997) gives inconsistent estimates. A very simple example is given to illustrate the statistical issues underlying nonparametric efficiency measurement and the problems with the Ferrier/Hirschberg approach,...

When faced with multiple inputs X ∈ Rp + and outputs Y ∈ Rq +, traditional quantile regression of Y conditional on X = x for measuring economic efficiency in the output (input) direction is thwarted by the absence of a natural ordering of Euclidean space for dimensions q (p) greater than...

Efficiency scores of production units are generally measured relative to an estimated production frontier. Nonparametric estimators (DEA, FDH, ... ) are based on a finite sample of observed production units. The bootstrap is one easy way to analyze the sensitivity of efficiency scores relative...

This paper develops a consistent bootstrap estimation procedure for obtaining confidence intervals for Malmquist indices of productivity and their decompositions. Although the exposition is in terms of input-oriented indices, the techniques can he trivially extended to the output orientation....

Since 1985, the share of U.S. depository institution assets held by credit unions has nearly doubled, and the average (inflation-adjusted) size of credit unions has increased over 600 percent. We use a non-parametric local-linear estimator to estimate a cost relationship for credit unions and...