Belén Iráizoz Apezteguía

Technical efficiency in the Spanish agrofood industry

This study estimates frontier production functions with cross-section data for the Spanish agrofood industry by using deterministic and stochastic parametric approaches. We compute the individual technical efficiency for each firm, compare the results and explain the relationship between technical efficiency and other relevant quantitative variables. The results indicate that the Spanish agrofood industry has a level of efficiency between 68% and 93%; which means that it is potentially capable of increasing production without increasing its consumption of inputs. This efficiency level is positively related to factor productivity and unitary labour costs.

Does decentralization contribute to efficiency? Evidence from OECD countries

ABSTRACT This article provides evidence on the relationship between fiscal decentralization and technical efficiency. We begin the first stage of this study with a data envelopment analysis to obtain technical efficiency estimates for a sample of 23 OECD countries over the period 1992–2009. In a second stage, we explore the effects of fiscal decentralization and other control variables on technical efficiency. The results including all the control variables reveal a statistically significant negative relationship between fiscal decentralization of public expenditure and technical efficiency.

Evolution of the Agrifood complex in Navarra. An analysis using input-output tables 1980-1995.

This paper analyses the agrofood system in Navarra (Spain) using the Input-Output data for 1980-1995. The aim is to analyse the evolution and changes taking place between the economic activities in the region. Streit, Chenery-Waanabe and Rasmussens indicators are constructed. As is usual, we have also calculated the inconme and employment multipliers. This indicators show the very important role of the agriculture and the vegetables canning industry in the regional economy.