Stochastic frontier models are typically estimated by maximum likelihood (MLE) orcorrected ordinary least squares. The consistency of either estimator depends on exogeneity of the explanatory variables (inputs, in the production frontier setting). We will investigate the case that one or more of the inputs is endogenous, in the simultaneous equation sense of endogeneity. That is, we worry that ...

This dissertation applies the Bayesian approach as a method to improve the estimation efficiency of existing econometric tools. The first chapter suggests the Continuous Choice Bayesian (CCB) estimator which combines the Bayesian approach with the Continuous Choice (CC) estimator suggested by Imai and Keane (2004). Using simulation study, I provide two important findings. First, the CC estimato...

This paper uses the concept of Meta-frontier to investigate the relationship between Meta Technology Ratios (MTR) and different varieties in datepalms including; Mazafati, Rabi and Zardan that are produced widely in Sistan and Baluchestan province of Iran. We used a stratified sampling of 300 date farmers of this province in 2010, 2011 and 2012 and estimated a stochastic production frontier usi...

This paper investigates the relationship between the concept of activity (including both professional and nonprofessional) and cognitive functioning among older European individuals. In this research, we used data collected during the first wave of SHARE (Survey on Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe), and a measurement approach known as stochastic frontier analysis, derived from the econom...

Efficiency measurement naturally requires the definition of a frontier as a benchmark indicating efficiency. Usually a measure reflecting the distance of a data point to the frontier indicates the level of efficiency. One of the crucial characteristics to distinguish efficiency measurement tools is the way in which they construct the frontier. The class of deterministic and non parametric tools...

License agreements constitute between 20-33% of all strategic alliances in sectors commonly identified as likely candidates for an endogenous fixed cost (EFC) model; namely biotechnology and chemicals among others. We develop a model of endogenous market structure and fixed (sunk) cost R&D investment based on Sutton (1998; 2007) and include the ability of firms to license their technology to (p...

For a strongly connected Extended-Free-Choice Net (EFC-net) N the algorithm given in this paper either nds a cover of S-components or recognizes that N is not well-formed. Well-formedness denotes the existence of a live and bounded marking for N. The algorithm is also adaptable to compute a cover of T-components. The time complexity is O(jPjjTj). According to the Rank Theorem, nding a cover of ...

The Expansionary Fiscal Contraction (EFC) hypothesis predicts that a major fiscal consolidation leads to an economic expansion under certain circumstances. We test this hypothesis, and the implied non–linear responses of the economy to large and small changes in fiscal policy, using data from the 1983 Danish fiscal reform. We use a structural VAR/event study methodology following Blanchard and ...

In the late nineteenth century Chinese residents of Dihua (Urumqi), the desert capital of China’s Xinjiang Province, referred to the large, fortified gateway which separated the walled Chinese settlement from the walled Muslim settlement as the “gate which divides heaven from earth.” In so distancing themselves from their near neighbors, with whom they were inextricably linked through the econo...