The Fourier Flexible form provides a global approximation to an unknown data generating process. In terms of limiting function specification error, this form is preferable to functional forms based on second-order Taylor series expansions. The Fourier Flexible form is a truncated Fourier series...

The dominant practice in economics is to choose the mathematical specification of model relations on the basis of convenience, without much theoretical support. This paper discusses how quantitative model specifications can, in some cases, be given a more formal scientific underpinning in the...

Productivity studies that use proxy variable estimators routinely specify single-output production functions despite most firms producing multiple outputs. This is usually accomplished by aggregating the firm's outputs using total revenue. Such a formulation rarely provides an adequate...

The purpose of this paper is two-fold. First, it compares the performance of various panel data models in estimating technical efficiency in production. Second, it applies various stochastic frontier panel data models to estimate the technical efficiency of Iran's cotton production and to...

Most empirical studies seeking to estimate firm-level production technologies via proxy variable estimators focus on single-output production functions despite that, in practice, the majority of firms produce multiple outputs. Arguably, the primary reason for vast popularity of a single-product...

The field of production frontier estimation is divided between the parametric Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) and the deterministic, nonparametric Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). This paper explores an amalgam of DEA and SFA that melds a nonparametric frontier with a stochastic composite...

By integrating Battese and Coelli’s (1995) model and the spatial autoregressive model (SAR), a spatial autoregressive stochastic frontier model for panel data is developed. The main feature of this frontier model is a spatial lag term of explained variables and the joint structure of a...

This paper analyzes the impact of load factor, facility and generator types on the productivity of Korean electric power plants. In order to capture important differences in the effect of load policy on power output, we use a semiparametric smooth coefficient (SPSC) model that allows us to model...

This paper develops a non-linear stochastic frontier (SF) model. The main advantage of this model over standard SF models is that the model does not need an assumption for the distributional form of the inefficiency component. Another advantage of the developed model is that it can be used to...