Large economies with differential information but without free disposal

We consider exchange economies with a continuum of agents and differential information about finitely many states of nature. It was proved in Einy, Moreno and Shitovitz (2001) that if we allow for free disposal in the market clearing (feasibility) constraints then an irreducible economy has a competitive (or Walrasian expectations) equilibrium, and moreover, the set of competitive equilibrium allocations coincides with the private core. However when feasibility is defined with free disposal, competitive equilibrium allocations may not be incentive compatible and contracts may not be enforceable (see e.g. Glycopantis, Muir and Yannelis (2002)). This is the main motivation for considering equilibrium solutions with exact feasibility. We first prove that the results in Einy et al. (2001) are still valid without freedisposal. Then we define an incentive compatibility property motivated by the issue of contracts’ execution and we prove that every Pareto optimal exact feasible allocation is incentive compatible, implying that contracts of competitive or core allocations are enforceable.

Environmental efficiency of energy, materials, and emissions

This study estimates the environmental efficiency of international listed firms in 10 worldwide sectors from 2007 to 2013 by applying an order-m method, a non-parametric approach based on free disposal hull with subsampling bootstrapping. Using a conventional output of gross profit and two conventional inputs of labor and capital, this study examines the order-m environmental efficiency accounting for the presence of each of 10 undesirable inputs/outputs and measures the shadow prices of each undesirable input and output. The results show that there is greater potential for the reduction of undesirable inputs rather than bad outputs. On average, total energy, electricity, or water usage has the potential to be reduced by 50%. The median shadow prices of undesirable inputs, however, are much higher than the surveyed representative market prices. Approximately 10% of the firms in the sample appear to be potential sellers or production reducers in terms of undesirable inputs/outputs, which implies that the price of each item at the current level has little impact on most of the firms. Moreover, this study shows that the environmental, social, and governance activities of a firm do not considerably affect environmental efficiency.

Eficiência técnica dos produtores familiares no Projeto de Irrigação do Baixo Açu/RN

SILVA, Jorge Luiz Mariano da. Eficiência técnica dos produtores familiares no projeto de irrigação do Baixo Açu/RN.In: CONGRESSO SA SOCIEDADE BRASILEIRA DE ECONOMIA E SOCIOLOGIA RURAL,42., 2004, Cuiabá - MT. Dinâmcias Setorias e Desevolvimento Regional, 2004.

Eficiência, gestão e meio ambiente na carcinicultura do Rio Grande do Norte

SILVA, J. L. M. da; SAMPAIO, L. M. . Eficiência, Gestão e Meio Ambiente na Carcinicultura do Rio Grande do Norte. In: Congresso da Sociendade Brasileira de Economia, Administração e Sociologia Rural - SOBER, 40., 2007, Londrina. Conhecimentos para a Agricultura do Futuro, 2007.

Conditional Order-m Efficiency of Wastewater Treatment Plants: The Role of Environmental Factors

The growing economic and environmental importance of managing water resources at a global level also entails greater efforts and interest in improving the functioning and efficiency of the increasingly more numerous wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). In this context, this study analyzes the efficiency of a uniform sample of plants of this type located in the region of Valencia (Spain). The type of efficiency measure used for this (conditional order-m efficiency) allows continuous and discrete contextual variables to be directly involved in the analysis and enables the assessment of their statistical significance and effect (positive or negative). The main findings of the study showed that the quality of the influent water and also the size and age of the plants had a significant influence on their efficiency levels. In particular, as regards the effect of such variables, the findings pointed to the existence of an inverse relationship between the quality of the influent water and the efficiency of the WWTPs. Also, a lower annual volume of treated water and more modern installations showed a positive influence. Additionally, the average efficiency levels observed turned out to be higher than those reported in previous studies.

Public capital and total factor productivity:new evidence from the Italian regions, 1970-98

This paper analyses the relationship between industrial total factor productivity and public capital across the 20 Italian administrative regions. It adds upon the existing literature in a number of ways: it analyses a longer period (1970-98); it allows for the role of human capital accumulation; it tests for the existence of a long-run relationship between total factor productivity and public capital (through previously suggested panel techniques) and for weak exogeneity of public capital; and it assesses the significance of public capital within a non-parametric set-up based on the Free Disposal Hull. The results confirm that public capital has a significant impact on the evolution of total factor productivity, particularly in the Southern regions. This impact is mainly ascribed to the core infrastructures (road and airports, harbours, railroads, water and electricity, telecommunications). Also, core infrastructures are weakly exogenous. © 2005 Regional Studies Association.

Finding closest targets in non-oriented DEA models:the case of convex and non-convex technologies

This paper draws attention for the fact that traditional Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) models do not provide the closest possible targets (or peers) to inefficient units, and presents a procedure to obtain such targets. It focuses on non-oriented efficiency measures (which assume that production units are able to control, and thus change, inputs and outputs simultaneously) both measured in relation to a Free Disposal Hull (FDH) technology and in relation to a convex technology. The approaches developed for finding close targets are applied to a sample of Portuguese bank branches.

Assessing pupil and school performance by non-parametric and parametric techniques

This paper discusses the use of the non-parametric free disposal hull (FDH) and the parametric multi-level model (MLM) as alternative methods for measuring pupil and school attainment where hierarchical structured data are available. Using robust FDH estimates, we show how to decompose the overall inefficiency of a unit (a pupil) into a unit specific and a higher level (a school) component. By a sample of entry and exit attainments of 3017 girls in British ordinary single sex schools, we test the robustness of the non-parametric and parametric estimates. Finally, the paper uses the traditional MLM model in a best practice framework so that pupil and school efficiencies can be computed.

Assessing pupil and school performance by non-parametric and parametric techniques

Often observations are nested within other units. This is particularly the case in the educational sector where school performance in terms of value added is the result of school contribution as well as pupil academic ability and other features relating to the pupil. Traditionally, the literature uses parametric (i.e. it assumes a priori a particular function on the production process) Multi-Level Models to estimate the performance of nested entities. This paper discusses the use of the non-parametric (i.e. without a priori assumptions on the production process) Free Disposal Hull model as an alternative approach. While taking into account contextual characteristics as well as atypical observations, we show how to decompose non-parametrically the overall inefficiency of a pupil into a unit specific and a higher level (i.e. a school) component. By a sample of entry and exit attainments of 3017 girls in British ordinary single sex schools, we test the robustness of the non-parametric and parametric estimates. We find that the two methods agree in the relative measures of the scope for potential attainment improvement. Further, the two methods agree on the variation in pupil attainment and the proportion attributable to pupil and school level.

Evaluating productive efficiency:comparative study of commercial banks in Gulf countries

Financial institutes are an integral part of any modern economy. In the 1970s and 1980s, Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries made significant progress in financial deepening and in building a modern financial infrastructure. This study aims to evaluate the performance (efficiency) of financial institutes (banking sector) in GCC countries. Since, the selected variables include negative data for some banks and positive for others, and the available evaluation methods are not helpful in this case, so we developed a Semi Oriented Radial Model to perform this evaluation. Furthermore, since the SORM evaluation result provides a limited information for any decision maker (bankers, investors, etc...), we proposed a second stage analysis using classification and regression (C&R) method to get further results combining SORM results with other environmental data (Financial, economical and political) to set rules for the efficient banks, hence, the results will be useful for bankers in order to improve their bank performance and to the investors, maximize their returns. Mainly there are two approaches to evaluate the performance of Decision Making Units (DMUs), under each of them there are different methods with different assumptions. Parametric approach is based on the econometric regression theory and nonparametric approach is based on a mathematical linear programming theory. Under the nonparametric approaches, there are two methods: Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Free Disposal Hull (FDH). While there are three methods under the parametric approach: Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA); Thick Frontier Analysis (TFA) and Distribution-Free Analysis (DFA). The result shows that DEA and SFA are the most applicable methods in banking sector, but DEA is seem to be most popular between researchers. However DEA as SFA still facing many challenges, one of these challenges is how to deal with negative data, since it requires the assumption that all the input and output values are non-negative, while in many applications negative outputs could appear e.g. losses in contrast with profit. Although there are few developed Models under DEA to deal with negative data but we believe that each of them has it is own limitations, therefore we developed a Semi-Oriented-Radial-Model (SORM) that could handle the negativity issue in DEA. The application result using SORM shows that the overall performance of GCC banking is relatively high (85.6%). Although, the efficiency score is fluctuated over the study period (1998-2007) due to the second Gulf War and to the international financial crisis, but still higher than the efficiency score of their counterpart in other countries. Banks operating in Saudi Arabia seem to be the highest efficient banks followed by UAE, Omani and Bahraini banks, while banks operating in Qatar and Kuwait seem to be the lowest efficient banks; this is because these two countries are the most affected country in the second Gulf War. Also, the result shows that there is no statistical relationship between the operating style (Islamic or Conventional) and bank efficiency. Even though there is no statistical differences due to the operational style, but Islamic bank seem to be more efficient than the Conventional bank, since on average their efficiency score is 86.33% compare to 85.38% for Conventional banks. Furthermore, the Islamic banks seem to be more affected by the political crisis (second Gulf War), whereas Conventional banks seem to be more affected by the financial crisis.

On the comparative performance of socially responsible and Islamic mutual funds

This is the first study to provide comprehensive analyses of the relative performance of both socially responsible investment (SRI) and Islamic mutual funds. The analysis proceeds in two stages. In the first, the performance of the two categories of funds is measured using partial frontier methods. In the second stage, we use quantile regression techniques.By combining two variants of the Free Disposal Hull (FDH) methods (order-m and order-?) in the first stage of analysis and quantile regression in the second stage, we provide detailed analyses of the impact of different covariates across methods and across different quantiles. In spite of the differences in the screening criteria and portfolio management of both types of funds, variation in the performance is only found for some of the quantiles of the conditional distribution of mutual fund performance. We established that for the most inefficient funds the superior performance of SRI funds is significant. In contrast, for the best mutual funds this evidence vanished and even Islamic funds perform better than SRI.These results show the benefits of performing the analysis using quantile regression.

On the comparative performance of socially responsible and Islamic mutual funds

This is the first study to provide comprehensive analyses of the relative performance of both socially responsible investment (SRI) and Islamic mutual funds. The analysis proceeds in two stages. In the first, the performance of the two categories of funds is measured using partial frontier methods. In the second stage, we use quantile regression techniques. By combining two variants of the Free Disposal Hull (FDH) methods (order- m and order- α) in the first stage of analysis and quantile regression in the second stage, we provide detailed analyses of the impact of different covariates across methods and across different quantiles. In spite of the differences in the screening criteria and portfolio management of both types of funds, variation in the performance is only found for some of the quantiles of the conditional distribution of mutual fund performance. We established that for the most inefficient funds the superior performance of SRI funds is significant. In contrast, for the best mutual funds this evidence vanished and even Islamic funds perform better than SRI. These results show the benefits of performing the analysis using quantile regression. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.

Eficiência técnica dos produtores familiares no Projeto de Irrigação do Baixo Açu/RN

SILVA, Jorge Luiz Mariano da. Eficiência técnica dos produtores familiares no projeto de irrigação do Baixo Açu/RN.In: CONGRESSO SA SOCIEDADE BRASILEIRA DE ECONOMIA E SOCIOLOGIA RURAL,42., 2004, Cuiabá - MT. Dinâmcias Setorias e Desevolvimento Regional, 2004.

Eficiência, gestão e meio ambiente na carcinicultura do Rio Grande do Norte

SILVA, J. L. M. da; SAMPAIO, L. M. . Eficiência, Gestão e Meio Ambiente na Carcinicultura do Rio Grande do Norte. In: Congresso da Sociendade Brasileira de Economia, Administração e Sociologia Rural - SOBER, 40., 2007, Londrina. Conhecimentos para a Agricultura do Futuro, 2007.

Eficiência técnica dos produtores familiares no Projeto de Irrigação do Baixo Açu/RN

SILVA, Jorge Luiz Mariano da. Eficiência técnica dos produtores familiares no projeto de irrigação do Baixo Açu/RN.In: CONGRESSO SA SOCIEDADE BRASILEIRA DE ECONOMIA E SOCIOLOGIA RURAL,42., 2004, Cuiabá - MT. Dinâmcias Setorias e Desevolvimento Regional, 2004.