Lennart Hjalmarsson

Banking efficiency in the Nordic countries

Abstract Evidence of the relative competitiveness of the banking industries in three Nordic countries is provided, by applying Data Envelopment Analysis of productivity on the national and the pooled data sets. The analysis produces a detailed account of how well banks from different countries and different sizes may be prepared to meet the more intense competition of a common European banking market.

Generalised Farrell Measures of Efficiency: An Application to Milk Processing in Swedish Dairy Plants

This paper is concerned with the measurement of productive efficiency. Farrells measures of efficiency are generalized to nonhomogeneous production functions. Several new measures of efficiency have been introduced and applied to the Swedish milk processing industry. The empirical analysis is based on a complete set of cross section- time series data for a period of la years of 28 individual plants producing a homogeneous product, pasteurized milk. Industrial structure and structural change are examined by both studying the shape of the efficiency distributions for the individual units and their changes through time. The aggregate performance of the sector is studied by the development of the different measures of structural efficiency.

DEA, DFA and SFA: A comparison

The nonparametric data envelopment analysis (DEA) model has become increasingly popular in the analysis of productive efficiency, and the number of empirical applications is now very large. Recent theoretical and mathematical research has also contributed to a deeper understanding of the seemingly simple but inherently complex DEA model. Less effort has, however, been directed toward comparisons between DEA and other competing efficiency analysis models. This paper undertakes a comparison of the DEA, the deterministic parametric (DFA), and the stochastic frontier (SFA) models. Efficiency comparisons across models in the above categories are done based on 15 Colombian cement plants observed during 1968–1988.

Productivity in Swedish Electricity Retail Distribution

This paper examines productivity growth in electricity retail distribution in Sweden in a multiple output-multiple input framework. The approach used is nonparametric data envelopment analysis. Productivity is measured by means of the Malmquist index. Productivity comparisons are made between different types of ownership and between different service areas. The study indicates a high rate of productivity growth, due to economies of density, when measured over a period of seventeen years. The results show no significant differences in productivity growth between different types of ownership or economic organization. Copyright 1992 by The editors of the Scandinavian Journal of Economics.

Relative performance of public and private ownership under yardstick competition: electricity retail distribution

Abstract This paper focuses on productive efficiency in Swedish retail electricity distribution during 1970–1990 using hedonic output(s) constructed from physical outputs and their qualities and network characteristics. The main focus is on efficiency of privately owned, municipal utilities, municipal companies, and companies with mixed ownerships. Three different approaches are used to examine whether ownership of the distribution companies has any systematic impact on the above issues. We also examine returns to scale and technical change. Empirical results from the three alternative approaches show that privately owned companies are relatively more efficient. We find evidence of scale economies and technical progress.

Efficiency and Ownership in Swedish Electricity Retail Distribution

This article examines the efficiency of electricity retail distributors in Sweden in a multiple output multiple input framework. Productive efficiency measures are calculated by use of different versions of the non-parametric Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method. Comparisons are made between different types of ownership and between different types of service areas.

Deterministic parametric and nonparametric estimation of efficiency in service production: A comparison☆

Abstract The purpose of this study is to analyse productive efficiency in about 400 local social insurance offices of the Swedish social insurance system for the period 1974–1984. The analysis is based on parametric and nonparametric deterministic frontiers. The general results are that the efficiency is around 0.8 and that the differences between the approaches are supprisingly small.

Calculating scale elasticity in DEA models

In the data envelopment analysis (DEA) efficiency literature, qualitative characterizations of returns to scale (increasing, constant, or decreasing) are most common. In economics it is standard to use the scale elasticity as a quantification of scale properties for a production function representing efficient operations. Our contributions are to review DEA practices, apply the concept of scale elasticity from economic multi-output production theory to DEA piecewise linear frontier production functions, and develop formulas for scale elasticity for radial projections of inefficient observations in the relative interior of fully dimensional facets. The formulas are applied to both constructed and real data and show the differences between scale elasticities for the two valid projections (input and output orientations). Instead of getting qualitative measures of returns to scale only as was done earlier in the DEA literature, we now get a quantitative range of scale elasticity values providing more information to policy-makers.

Frontier Production Functions and Technical Progress: A Study of General Milk Processing in Swedish Dairy Plants

Technical change in general milk processing is estimated within a homothetic frontier production function allowing neutrally variable scale elasticity. The results show that technical progress is characterized by a rapid increase in optimal scale and a small capital saving bias, increasing the marginal productivity of labour relative to capital. To characterize technical change, Salters measures of bias and technical advance are utilized and interpreted within the framework of the efficiency cancepts of Farrell.

Temporal patterns of technical efficiency: Results from competing models

In recent years several models have been proposed to estimate time-varying technical efficiency. These models differ to a great extent in specification and estimation. This paper undertakes a compa ...