João Rebelo

Productive efficiency, technological change and productivity in Portuguese banking

In this paper we aim at studying efficiency, productivity and technological change in Portuguese banking during 1990-95, using information on the vast majority of banks operating in Portugal during that period. We use a translog variable cost function and a stochastic frontier model to estimate inefficiency and technological change. Our results suggest that the increased competition that Portuguese banks witnessed over the last few years did not lead to a better overall performance from the standpoint of costs: on the one hand, the annual efficiency average did not clearly increase over time; on the other hand, many more banks are now less efficient (in relative terms) than they were in the early 1990s. They also suggest that there is not a clear relationship between size and cost efficiency. Efficiency and scale economies also seem not to be related with size: some of the less efficient institutions (net assets below 50 million contos) are the ones facing global, although small, economies of scale and the largest institutions are the more efficient but face diseconomies of scale, therefore suggesting that they remain competitive via a better cost control. As for technological progress, our results suggest the existence of technological recess, along the six years of the sample.

Malmquist indices of productivity change in Portuguese banking: The deregulation period

This paper will evaluate productivity change in Portuguese banking using the Malmquist productivity index. The results show that between 1990 and 1997, banks in Portugal witnessed increased productivity and strong technological progress. Both small and large banks experienced higher productivity and technological change scores, while mid-sized institutions are putting more effort into catching-up policies. Rural banks have experienced strong productivity growth and are catching up with the best practices but lower levels of technological change. Urban banks show higher productivity growth and technological change levels. Government-owned banks have experienced lower levels of productivity change. Finally, the asset per employee ratio shows a positive correlation with the productivity scores, suggesting that this simple index is a good proxy for productivity.

The Douro wine region: a cluster approach

The globalization of the wine industry needs to be perceived as a challenge and an opportunity to innovate by traditional European producers’ countries, like Portugal, characterized by a terroir model, that is, an economic structure supported by a large number of grape growers, small and medium wine firms and high public regulation, to compete in international markets. Using a cluster approach, this article presents the case of the most important Portuguese wine region, the Demarcated Douro Region (DDR), which is a strong reference of terroir and known for producing Port wine. To increase its competitiveness in the world wine market, the DDR needs to evolve from an organized to an innovative cluster.

Economic role, Property rights, Labour skills and Technology in the Portuguese Wine Co-Operatives

Agricultural markets are characterised by thinner margins, greater price and income volatility. Despite these changes, agricultural raw material markets are increasingly characterised by the vertical co-ordination of farmers and processors. The organisational form of a marketing co-operative is a common means adopted by farmers to achieve this end. In a world increasingly concerned with the importance of the separation of ownership and user, the survival and growth of agricultural co-operatives (in which the primary users of the services are also the main owners) is linked to their economic role, to how members exercise their property rights, and how inputs are used by the co-operative. This paper provides a function that summarises the economic role of agricultural co-operatives and goes on to analyse the contribution to the economic performance of Portuguese wine co-operatives (PWCs) made by the use of property rights, and the skills of the human resources and technology employed. The results of a multinomial logit model show that PWCs would indeed be able to improve their economic performance through the application of integrated management strategies to solve common property and horizon problems, as well as increasing their recruitment of skilled professionals in the areas of management, wine production and marketing, and by the adoption of new technologies of production and packaging.

USING CHOICE EXPERIMENTS TO VALUE A WORLD CULTURAL HERITAGE SITE: REFLECTIONS ON THE EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN

In the context of public amenities, whose benefits of preservation are not totally reflected by the market, the valuation of cultural heritage has given primacy to the contingent valuation method, with very few attempts being made to valuation via the discrete choice experiments technique (DCE). In the present paper, from among the various phases of the DCE conception, particular emphasis is given to the way in which the attributes levels are combined into alternatives and how they are allocated into choice sets (experimental design step). In order to configure hypothetical scenarios relating to the conservation of a World Heritage cultural landscape, this paper applies both the experimental design strategies identified in the literature review as commonly applied in DCE to value cultural items, as well as D-optimal processes, which proved to be advantageous both in terms of statistical efficiency and in the information required (number of choice sets).

Returns to Education during the Reform of State‐owned Enterprises in Hunan, People’s Republic of China

The objective of this paper is to analyse the impact of education on personal earnings during the reform of state-owned enterprises, comparing 1995 with 1998 in Hunan, China, using the Mincerian earnings equation method. The results show that the rates of return to education increased, indicating that human capital has been better rewarded as the reforms of the Chinese economic structure have progressed. Moreover, the findings show that primary education receives the highest returns, followed by tertiary education. Middle school education obtains the lowest rewards, reflecting the effects of the reform of state-owned enterprises on middle school graduates on whom the unemployment impact of this change has been the greatest.

Why do credit cooperatives disappear?: The determinants of Portuguese agricultural credit co‐operatives failure

Purpose - The paper aims to identify “problematic” agricultural credit co-operatives (CCAM) and to evaluate their risk of insolvency as a function of financial indicators, providing regulators and other stakeholders with a set of tools that would be predictive of future insolvency and perhaps bankruptcy. Design/methodology/approach - Using a database of CCAM failures in the period between 1995 and 2009, statistical models of failure of CCAM, are estimated and compared, using logistic regression analysis and multiple discriminant analysis for assessing the potential failure of CCAM as a function of financial/economical indicators. Findings - The paper identified the variables customer resources growth, transformation ratio, credit overdue, expenses ratio, structural costs, liquidity, indebtedness and financial margin as determinants of CCAM failure. It suggests that CCAM take measures geared to boosting business, to shoring up the financial margin and the deposit base, to bolstering the complementary margin and to improving the credit recovery processes. Additionally it is necessary to increase cost efficiency, rationalizing structures and procedures consistent with reducing operating costs without detriment to the quality of service provided. Originality/value - This paper helps to understand why agricultural credit co-operatives fail.

International demand for the Douro (Portugal) river cruises: A gravity model approach

Cruises on the Portuguese Douro river have been growing at a much faster pace than overall outbound tourism to Portugal, suggesting that the river is part of a worldwide trend that has been organized by global cruise operators. A gravity model is used to analyse the main factors affecting the international demand for Douro river cruising over the period from 2007 to 2014. The numbers of international passengers are positively determined by income per capita of origin country and by the population size of the leading countries of outbound tourism to Portugal.

The Portuguese Cooperative Credit System

This paper presents a literature review on the regulatory framework of the Portuguese cooperative credit system and some historic data. The aim is to understand their role in the Portuguese banking industry and how the regulatory framework affects cooperative banking activity. The cooperative credit system in Portugal comprises only agricultural credit cooperatives (Caixas de Credito Agricola Mutuo—CCAM). Its present corporate format was created in 1911, but the genesis of Portuguese agricultural credit cooperatives dates back to the sixteenth century and can be regarded as a typical example of how public policy can influence the development of cooperative credit institutions. The Caixa Central de Credito Agricola Mutuo is the pivotal institution in the Credito Agricola Group, with a remit that is the mainstay of the group, namely the strategic global coordination, supervision and guidance of its associates. The CCAM’s strong customer deposit base and prudential credit management policy have proved to be crucial in confronting current hard times. Indeed Credito Agricola is the only one of the major Portuguese banks that has not experienced negative profits since the beginning of the present economic and financial crisis.