Evaluating the performance of Tunisian higher Institutes of Technological Studies (ISETs) using a stochastic frontier analysis.

Benefiting from low repetition and dropout rates, as well as their excellent employability rate of their students, the Higher Institutes of Technological Studies (ISETs) have acquired a strategic position in the Tunisian higher education system. This paper aims to use the Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) method to measure the efficiency of Tunisian Higher Institutes of Technological Studies (ISETs) and to determine the factors that cause performance differences. The results indicate that ISETs appear well managed, although some of them warrant a more detailed analysis (below-average efficiency). Also, it was found that the ISETs situated in the most industrialized part of the country, the Central-East, record highest scores of efficiency, while those in the South-East show more homogeneous efficiency. The results underscore the importance of focusing support and improvement efforts on ISETs located in less developed regions or those with lower efficiency levels. Moreover, the negative relationship between the age of institutions and their efficiency suggests that reforms to institutional practices may be necessary for older establishments. Finally, institutes that are located in one of the main cities will not necessarily be more efficient than the others. The findings presented in this paper have targeted and practical implications for the development of the ISET network in Tunisia.

An analysis of the effect of agriculture subsidies on technical efficiency: Evidence from rapeseed production in China.

This study was conducted to examine the effects of agricultural subsidies on the technical efficiency of agricultural production technology and on factor input. It utilized a random frontier production function, instrumental variable method, and threshold regression model. The data used for this analysis consisted of 609 field yield measurements from the National Rapeseed Industry Technology System in 2020. The findings indicate that agricultural subsidies have a substantial impacts and it increases the technical efficiency of production process. Specifically, these subsidies encourage the use of land resources while inhibiting the use of chemical fertilizers. However, this does not have a significant effect on the utilization of labor and capital resources. Furthermore, the impact of agricultural subsidies on production technology efficiency varies depending on the scale of the farming operation. The subsidies significantly enhance the production technology efficiency of farmers with a business scale of less than 0.67 ha, but do not significantly improve the production technology efficiency of farmers with a business scale exceeding 0.67 ha. To optimize the effectiveness of agricultural subsidy policy, three methods and recommendations are proposed: increasing the overall amount of subsidies, expanding and diversifying the types of subsidies, and refining the process of disbursing subsidies.

Assessing the impact of environmental regulations on environmental performance in Chinese cities: A spatial Stochastic Frontier Model with endogeneity analysis.

The Chinese government has implemented environmental regulations to address the deterioration of air quality associated with rapid industrialization. However, there is no consensus on whether environmental regulations are beneficial to environmental performance. The technical challenges related to endogeneity and spatial correlation may bias the estimation of the emission reduction effect of regulations. In this study, we comprehensively evaluate the environmental performance of sulfur dioxide regulations in Chinese cities using a novel stochastic frontier model that introduces the single control function to correct estimation errors caused by spatial spillovers and endogeneity. Our analysis emphasizes that insufficient resolution of endogeneity or spatial spillovers may lead to underestimation or neglect of the environmental performance improvements achieved by these regulations. On the contrary, our revised research results indicate that regulations aimed at reducing sulfur dioxide emissions not only successfully control sulfur dioxide emissions, but also have a positive impact on reducing carbon emissions. In addition, we conduct in-depth research on the mechanisms by which environmental regulations improve performance by stimulating green technology innovation and promoting industrial structure upgrading. Based on our research findings, we propose policy recommendations to establish a city cooperation mechanism of technology exchange to achieve synergistic emission reduction and strengthen regional factor circulation.

Technical efficiency of teff farms in Ethiopia: Do neighborhood effects matter? A copula stochastic frontier and spatial Durbin regression.

Teff is essential to most Ethiopians, but its production is hampered by farmers' characteristics and spatially related neighborhood variables. This study analyzes the neighborhood effect on the technical efficiency of teff farms in Ethiopia using panel data from the Ethiopian socioeconomic survey. The spatial Durbin regression models (SDM) and Copula stochastic frontier were used with 858 teff-growing farmers. The mean value of teff's technical efficiency was found to be 53 %, meaning that farmers had a 47 % likelihood of improving teff farm efficiency. The results from the SDM indicate a significant contribution of neighborhood effects for improving technical efficiency in teff farms. Thus, policymakers could explore implementing localized interventions and knowledge-sharing initiatives to disseminate best practices, innovative technologies, and agronomic knowledge within specific spatial clusters. By doing so, they can leverage the observed influence of neighborhood dynamics on teff farm efficiency.

Improve energy use efficiency through free trade policy: evidence from the establishment of free trade zones in China.

In the context of increasing global resource and environmental problems, it is of great practical significance to accurately test the impact of various factors on energy use efficiency for maintaining national energy security and formulating relevant policies. This paper measures firms' total factor energy efficiency (TFEE) using the two-stage stochastic frontier method within the data envelopment analysis (DEA) framework, leveraging data from listed firms in China spanning 2010 to 2022. Employing the establishment of free trade zones (FTZs) as a quasi-natural experiment, we apply the staggered differences-in-differences (DID) and stacked DID methods and analyze the impact of FTZs on firms' TFEE. The results show that the establishment of FTZs significantly promotes the improvement of firms' TFEE, and it has a greater promotion effect on heavily polluting, non-manufacturing, state-owned, private, and small-scale firms. The results of the mechanistic analysis showed that the promotion effect of FTZs on firms' TFEE is mainly realized through three channels: increasing government subsidies, reducing the financing constraint effect, and encouraging the technology innovation effect. Furthermore, industry-level decomposition results indicate that the surge in industry energy efficiency primarily results from improvements within firms rather than inter-industry variations. This paper's results propose that countries can enhance energy efficiency by progressively endorsing the implementation of FTZs.

A Stochastic Frontier Approach to Study the Relationship between the Hygienic Quality of Bulk Tank Sheep Milk and Technical Efficiency of the Coagulation Process.

Sheep milk from local breeds is important for the production of high-quality cheeses throughout the Mediterranean region, such as Manchego cheese in Spain. To maintain sustainable and efficient production, it is necessary to reach a better understanding of how the composition and hygiene of the milk affect the coagulation process, with the aim of optimizing production yield. This study implemented a stochastic production frontier function to estimate the potential production of curd and efficiency using data from the four seasons of a study of 77 Manchega sheep farms. The Cobb-Douglas production frontier model was estimated using the maximum likelihood estimation method. The results showed that the content of protein, lactose, and fat exhibited increasing returns to scale, with protein content being the most significant factor for curd production. Approximately half of the inefficiency was due to factors related to the technological properties and the hygiene of the milk. The pH, curd firmness, and concentration of lactic acid bacteria improved the efficiency of coagulation, while the concentration of spores of lactate-fermenting Clostridium spp., Pseudomonas spp., staphylococci, and catalase-negative gram-positive cocci favored the inefficiency of the coagulation process. To date, this is the first study to evaluate the effect of different factors, such as microbial groups, milk composition, and technological properties, on the efficiency of the coagulation process in dairy sheep.

Promoting sustainable development: Revisiting digital economy agglomeration and inclusive green growth through two-tier stochastic frontier model.

In the global wave of digitization, digital economic agglomeration, as an emerging model, profoundly impacts the economy, environment, and society. Countries worldwide are formulating strategies and policies to promote the development of digital economic agglomeration, yet they also face challenges of widening digital divide and environmental sustainability. Existing research primarily focuses on the positive effects of the digital economy, with limited assessment of the dual effects of digital economic agglomeration on sustainable development. This study utilizes panel data from 282 Chinese cities between 2011 and 2021, employing a two-tier stochastic frontier model. It reexamines the dual impacts and intrinsic mechanisms of digital economic agglomeration, attempting to capture regional and temporal variations in the dual effects to address this research gap. The study shows that: (1) The positive effect of digital economy agglomeration is much more than the negative effect, resulting in a positive net effect that shows an overall increasing trend with significant regional disparities. (2) Digital economic agglomeration has a significant negative spatial spillover effect, promoting local inclusive green growth while inhibiting inclusive green growth in neighboring cities. (3) Regarding the mediating mechanisms, industrial structure, technological innovation and resource allocation efficiency have positive indirect effects on inclusive green growth, while environmental regulation intensity has a negative indirect effect, and it has a nonlinear effect under the threshold constraint of the mediating mechanisms. This study provides policy insights for promoting inclusive green growth, emphasizing the need to consider regional differences in resource distribution, ecological environment, and social demands. It advocates for the organic integration of the digital economy across different regions, reducing polarization effects, and enhancing diffusion effects.

Do adjustment costs constrain public healthcare providers' technical efficiency? Evidence from the New Zealand Public Healthcare System.

Efficiency analysis is crucial in healthcare to optimise resource allocation and enhance patient outcomes. However, the prompt adaptation of inputs can be hindered by adjustment costs, which impact Long-Run Technical Efficiency (LRTE). To bridge this gap in healthcare literature, this research employs a Bayesian Dynamic Stochastic Frontier Model to estimate parameters and explore healthcare efficiency dynamics over time. The study reveals the LRTE for New Zealand District Health Boards (DHBs) as 0.76, indicating around 32% more input utilisation due to adjustment costs. Most DHBs exhibit consistent short-run operational efficiency, with the national Short-Run Technical Efficiency (SRTE) very close to the LRTE. Among the tertiary providers, Auckland and Capital & Coast DHBs operate below the LRTE level, setting them apart from other tertiary providers. Similarly, Tairawhiti and West Coast DHBs also fall below the LRTE level, as indicated by their SRTE scores, potentially influenced by their unique healthcare settings and resource challenges. This research brings a new perspective to policy discussions by incorporating the temporal dynamics of decision-making and considering adjustment costs. It underscores the need to balance short-term and long-term technical efficiency, underlining their collective significance in fostering a sustainable and efficient healthcare system in New Zealand.

Technical efficiency of Fishers under the condition of water hyacinth infestation: Evidence from Lake Tana fisheries, Ethiopia.

Measuring technical efficiency plays a magnificent role in identifying the possible sources of productivity gain with the existing fish resources and technologies. However, there is no any efficiency study that has been conducted in the study area. Because of this gap, the causes, magnitude and possible solutions for the inefficiency of fishers have remained unknown. Thus, the paper aims to estimate the level of technical efficiency (TE) and its determinants in the fishery of Lake Tana. To address these objectives, data from 367 randomly selected fishers were collected using a multi-stage random sampling procedure. A Cobb Douglass functional form with a single-stage estimation procedure was employed to estimate the level of TE and its determinants simultaneously. The study reveals that the level of TE among sampled fishers varied from 13.5 % to 91.2 %, with a mean TE of 70.8 %. The prevailing TE level and the average yield gap of 6.46 kg per trip per fisher, substantiate the potential for improving (by 29.2 %) the current volume of fish production, with the existing fishing technologies. In addition, fishers who are situated around water hyacinth infested areas are technically less efficient (68.7 %) compared to the non-infested areas (72.9 %). The efficiency level was positively influenced by factors, such as training and marketing site. Whereas, number of non-fishing months and distance from home to the Lake were the hindering factors for the efficiency. The study confirms that no fishers in the study area are operating at their full potential and this could have a short-run implication for the substantial improvement of fish catch without additional input and technology.

The technical efficiency of large-scale agricultural investment in Northwest Ethiopia: A stochastic frontier approach.

This study endeavoured to measure the technical efficiency of large-scale agricultural investment in Northwest Ethiopia. Besides, it strives to fathom the socioeconomic attributes and farm management techniques that influence technical inefficiency. This study uses the stochastic frontier approach to estimate the technical efficiency based on the cross-section data of 200 investors selected through a multiple-stage random sampling technique. The study established that better utilization of capital, labour, land, and seed inputs was reflected positively (albeit proportionally less) in grain output; however, the influence of agrochemical inputs was negative. The study highlighted the positive role of gender and level of education in improving technical efficiency, whereas on the other hand, age, occupation, district, and subsidies contributed to technical inefficiency. The study found that the overall mean technical efficiency for the study area was 71.7%, meaning that producers produce grain at a loss of around 28.3% due to technical inefficiency. As a result, it might be said that producers use their technology and resources somewhat inefficiently. The outcome of the study calls for more education for adults, and female producers should be encouraged and given the opportunity to manage the large-scale grain farming segment. In addition, the government is compelled to provide strategies about proper input appliances and set up a pilot research institution in the study area.

The optimal size of territorial units in the outsourcing of waste service: An empirical approach.

This study provides new insights into the relation between the size of the territorial units for which the provision of waste services is entrusted to external operators and their efficiency. The need for a deeper investigation of this relation arises from the fact that on the one hand, the European Union is pushing its Member States towards the adoption of laws aimed at ensuring competition for the market whenever competition in the market is possible; on the other, both the theoretical and the empirical literature cautions policymakers against the risks associated with contracting out. This problem is addressed here through an efficiency analysis of Italian municipalities in the organization of waste services. The stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) is applied to estimate efficiency scores for the municipalities. Then, a regression analysis is carried out to investigate the relation between the efficiency scores and the size of the municipality. This analysis has been carried out using data on a sample of 6,916 Italian municipalities (87.39% of the entire population) for the year 2019. The method adopted here can also support regulatory authorities in defining the size of the territorial units in which other types of local public service should be outsourced.

Effects of healthcare financing policy tools on health system efficiency: Evidence from sub-Saharan Africa.

Background: Evidence shows high levels of catastrophic and impoverishing healthcare expenditure among households in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The way healthcare is financed has an impact on how well a health system performs its functions and achieves its objectives. This study aims to examine the effect of healthcare financing policy tools on health system efficiency. Method: The study classifies 46 sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries into four groups of health systems sharing similar healthcare financing strategies. A two-stage and one-stage stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) and Tobit regression techniques were employed to assess the impact of healthcare financing policy variables on health system efficiency. Data from the selected 46 SSA countries from 2000 to 2019 was investigated. Results: The results revealed that prepayment healthcare financing arrangements, social health insurance, mixed- and external-financing healthcare systems significantly enhance health system efficiency. Reliance on a single source for financing healthcare, particularly private out-of-pocket payment reduces health system efficiency. Conclusion: For policy-making purposes, health care systems financed through a mix of financing arrangements comprising social health insurance, private, and public funding improve health system efficiency in delivering better health outcomes as opposed to depending on one major source of financing, particularly, private out-of-pocket payments.

Measuring efficiency of the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Objectives: The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has led to an unprecedented loss of life and a severe economic downturn across the globe. Countries have adopted various social distancing and vaccination policies to reduce the spread of the disease and lessen the impact on healthcare systems. The world should work together to confront the disaster and challenge of COVID-19. Methods: This study uses stochastic frontier analysis to measure the efficiency and influencing factors of the global response to COVID-19 epidemics and to provide follow-up strategies and reference guidelines. Results: The results of this study show that (1) the average efficiency of the global response to COVID-19 is not good, with significant space for improvement of up to 60%; (2) adequate medical supplies and equipment can reduce mortality; (3) the initial implementation of social distancing policies and wearing masks can effectively reduce the infection rate; and (4) as infection rates and vaccination rates increase so that most people have basic immunity to COVID-19, the epidemic will gradually be reduced. Conclusions: As the world becomes more aware of the COVID-19 disease, humans will gradually return to normal social interaction and lifestyles. The results of this study are expected to provide a reference for the future direction of the global fight against epidemics and the improvement of public health policies.

Technical efficiency of the urban gas industry in china.

China's Paris Agreement Pledge and recent introduction of an Emissions Trading Scheme have created a need for information on where it makes the most economic sense to use different sources of energy. With lower carbon dioxide emissions, natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas provide cleaner sources of energy relative to coal. Although it is practically crucial to investigate the use of these two sources, empirical studies are limited due to lack of data. To fill the research gap, this paper studies the efficiency of natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas sector in China by using data from 24 major province-level divisions over the years 2006-2015. Efficiency is defined as the utility's ability to produce the highest output given fixed inputs. We find that: (1) GDP per capita and high customer density are associated with higher levels of efficiency and (2) utilities that serve higher proportions of households (as opposed to industry and firms) are associated with lower levels of efficiency. Policy makers can use this information to address China's energy needs due to rapid urbanization while also pursuing Paris Agreement goals.

Measuring efficiency of public hospitals under the impact of Covid-19: the case of Türkiye.

The Covid-19 pandemic has had serious medical, administrative and financial effects on the health system and hospitals around the world. In Türkiye, compared to 2019 realizations, in 2020 and 2021 respectively there were 39% and 21% decrease in the number of outpatient services and 29% and 17% decline in total inpatient services of public hospitals. The main subject of this research is how the pandemic period affects the Turkish public hospitals' efficiency. We have measured the technical efficiency of outpatient and inpatient care services of Turkish public hospitals using Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA). The dataset includes 563 hospitals for the years 2015 through 2021. Inputs of number of physicians, nurses and other medical staff, and number of beds and their interactions with each other are introduced to the SFA models of outputs of outpatient visits and inpatient discharges adjusted with case mix index are derived. Firstly, we found that the years associated with Covid-19 have a significant negative impact on the inpatient service efficiency. Training and Research and City Hospitals have low efficiency scores in outpatient services but high efficiency scores in inpatient services. In addition, the regions with high population rates have positive impact in outpatient efficiency and negative impact in inpatient efficiency. During the pandemic, city hospitals, have received large investments, gained a key role by increasing both the patient load and their efficiency. Future reforms can be guided by taking advantage of the efficiency differences of hospitals in different environmental factors.

Towards energy conservation by constructing more transportation infrastructure?: An endogenous stochastic frontier analysis framework.

Whether constructing more transportation infrastructure can be helpful for the achievement of energy conservation is a long-running and debatable issue. To answer this question, the relationship between transportation infrastructure and energy efficiency must first be clarified. Nonetheless, the existence of the endogeneity problem poses a challenge to defining the relationship. In this paper, an endogenous stochastic frontier analysis method is used to investigate the influence of transportation infrastructure on energy efficiency. Based on the prefecture-city level panel data in China, we find that after addressing the endogeneity problem, the impact of transportation infrastructure on energy efficiency increases dramatically. Moreover, this impact is more pronounced in small-scale cities compared to large and medium-scale cities. Regardless of the measurement of transportation infrastructure, instrumental variable, or production function form, we get the similar conclusions, demonstrating the robustness of our findings. Additional simulation analysis shows that the energy conservation potential would be 1222-2935 million kilowatt hours if the level of transportation infrastructure could be optimized. We recommend accelerating the transportation infrastructure construction, particularly in the small-scale cities so as to boost the energy efficiency and achieve energy conservation targets.

Energy efficiency in wastewater treatment plants: A framework for benchmarking method selection and application.

Utilities produce and store vast amount of data related to urban wastewater management. Not yet fully exploited, proper data analysis would provide relevant process information and represents a great opportunity to improve the process performance. In the last years, several statistical tools and benchmarking methods that can extract useful information from data have been described to analyse wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) energy efficiency. Improving energy efficiency at WWTPs is however a complex task which involves several actors (both internal and external to the water utility), requires an exchange of different types of information which can be analysed by a broad selection of methods. Benchmarking method therefore must not only be selected based on whether they provide a clear identification of inefficient processes; it must also match the available data and the skills of those performing the assessment and objectives of stakeholders interpreting the results. Here, we have identified the requirements of the most common benchmarking methods in terms of data, resources, complexity of use, and information provided. To do that, inefficiency is decomposed so that the analyst, considering the objective of the study and the available data, can link each element to the appropriate method for quantification and benchmarking, and relate inefficiency components with root-causes in wastewater treatment. Finally, a framework for selecting the most suitable benchmarking method to improve energy efficiency in WWTPs is proposed to assist water sector stakeholders. By offering guidelines on how integrates and links data, methods and actors in the water sector, the outcomes of this article are expected to move WWTPs towards increasing energy efficiency.

Persistent and transient productive efficiency in the African airline industry.

Airline efficiency growth is considered one of the key factors for aviation sustainability in Africa and for creating a successful relationship between aviation activities and economic development in the continent. This paper proposes estimating the efficiency of African airlines in the period 2010-2019 using a state-of-the-art stochastic frontier model disentangling persistent efficiency, transient efficiency, and unobserved heterogeneity. We also examine the impact on both persistent and transient efficiency of (i) ownership structure, (ii) political stability, (iii) airline geographical location, (iv) airline domicile country's economic freedom, and (v) airline participation in a global alliance. We find evidence of relatively low efficiency and decreasing returns to scale, implying that it is important to achieve better utilization of inputs. Our findings also suggest that protectionism seems still an important driver of efficiency in a context characterized by a lack of liberalization. However, enhanced economic freedom is found to be more relevant in improving the efficiencies of African airlines, suggesting that policy interventions aimed at speeding up the liberalization process may help to remove the conditions that make air carriers operate inefficiently.

Do weak institutions undermine global innovation production efficiency?

This paper focuses on institutional influences on innovation efficiency across countries. Whereas various causes and effects of technological change have been examined, empirical investigations of the efficiency involved in innovation production are relatively few. Using data on a large sample of nations over 2018-2020 and considering corruption, regulatory quality, and state fragility as alternative institutional dimensions, our results show that greater corruption facilitates ("greases") efficiency in the production of innovations. This is also the case with improvements in regulatory quality, while greater state fragility increases inefficiency. These findings for the overall sample are somewhat different for the OECD and non-OECD subsamples, although the greasing effect of corruption remains throughout. A robustness check with patent protection and government size as alternative institutional dimensions is also conducted.

Respective healthcare system performances taking into account environmental quality: what are the re-rankings for OECD countries?

BACKGROUND: Efficiency analyses have been widely used in the literature to rank countries regarding their health system performances. However, little place has been given to the environmental aspect: two countries with the same characteristics could experience completely different healthcare system outcomes just because they do not face the same environmental quality situation, which is a major determinant of the health of inhabitants. METHODS: Using a stochastic frontier model, this paper analyses the effect of environmental quality on health system outcomes in OECD countries, measured by life expectancy at birth. RESULTS: We show that the healthcare system performance ranking of OECD countries changes significantly, depending on whether the environmental index is taken into account. CONCLUSIONS: These findings, once again, underline the critical importance of the environment when addressing population health issues. In general, our results can be aligned with the messages of the One Health approach literature.