This study presents the results of an extensive Monte Carlo experiment to compare di erent methods of e ciency analysis. In addition to traditional parametric-stochastic and nonparametric-deterministic methods recently developed robust nonparametric-stochastic methods are considered. The experimental design comprises a wide variety of situations with di erent returns-to-scale regimes, substitut...

We develop a methodology to analyze capital misallocation (dispersion in static marginal products) measure the contributions of technological/informational frictions and a rich class of firm-specific factors. An application to Chinese manufacturing firms reveals that adjustment costs and uncertainty, while significant, generate only a modest amount of MPK dispersion, which stems largely from ot...

This article examines learning-by-doing that is specific not just to individual firms but to pairs of firms working together in a contracting relationship. Using data from the oil and gas industry, I find that the productivity of an oil production company and its drilling contractor increases with their joint experience. This learning is relationship-specific: drilling rigs cannot fully appropr...

We review the econometric literature on measuring the returns to R&D. The theoretical frameworks that have been used are outlined, followed by an extensive discussion of measurement and econometric issues that arise when estimating the models. We then provide a series of tables summarizing the major results that have been obtained and conclude with a presentation of R&D spillover returns measur...

We propose a Laplace stochastic frontier model as an alternative to the traditional model with normal errors. An interesting feature of the Laplace model is that the distribution of inefficiency conditional on the composed error is constant for positive values of the composed error, but varies for negative values. Therefore, it may be ideally suited for analyzing industries with many forms on o...

Efforts to raise US health-care productivity have proceeded slowly, potentially due the fragmentation of payment across insurers. Each insurer’s efforts improve care could influence how doctors practice for other insurers, leading unvalued externalities. We study a randomized letter intervention by Medicare curtail overuse antipsychotics. The letters did not mention private insurance but reduce...

We reconsider the CES production functions, focusing on their additive separability properties and the constraints these impose on dual elasticites of gross substitution and complementarity. In particular, we offer some alternative characterizations of the (standard) homogeneous cases that seem to have gone unnoticed, as far as we know. We also start exploring the cases of the (additively separ...

nowadays, in most countries, whether developed or developing, the standing of small and medium economic enterprises has been at the focus of attention by policymakers in these countries. however, opponents and proponents have largely debated the effectiveness of small to medium economic enterprises in iran. with this approach, in mind, the present study was carried out to evaluate the performan...