When benchmarking production units by non-parametric methods like data envelopment analysis (DEA), an assumption has to be made about the returns to scale of the underlying technology. Moreover, it is often also relevant to compare the frontiers across samples of producers. Until now, no exact...

A system of regression equations (SURE) for analyzing panel data with random heterogeneity in intercepts and coefficients, and unbalanced panel data is considered. A Maximum Likelihood (ML) procedure for joint estimation of all parameters is described. Since its implementation for numerical...

From an empirical perspective, this paper critically examines the concepts of returns to scale (RTS) and economies of scale (EOS), and argues that the concept of EOS is more relevant and broader enough to exhibit proper scale economies behavior of firms. Two approaches, i.e., production function...

Permutation techniques, where one recompute the test statistic over permutations of data, have a long history in statistics and have become increasingly useful as the availability of computational power has increased. Until now, no permutation tests for examining returns to scale assumptions,...

The use of proxy variables to control for unobservables when estimating a production function has become increasingly popular in empirical works in recent years. The present paper aims to contribute to this literature in three important ways. First, we provide a structured review of the...

Parametric stochastic frontier models yield firm-level conditional distributions of inefficiency that are truncated normal. Given these distributions, how should one assess and rank firm-level efficiency? This study compares the techniques of estimating a) the conditional mean of inefficiency...

In the economics of joint production one often distinguishes between the two cases: the one in which a firm produces multiple products each produced under separate production process, and the other "true joint production" where a number of outputs are produced from a single production process,...

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...

This paper demonstrates how Goal Programming/Constrained Regression can be used for cross-checking results from standard econometric models as well as a stand alone methodology in empirical production analysis. For illustration, we re-examine Berndt and Wood's (BW) seminal study of the U.S....