Richard A. Hofler

Privatization, Foreign Bank Entry and Bank Efficiency in Croatia: A Fourier-Flexible Function Stochastic Cost Frontier Analysis

Using bank balance sheet data for Croatia for 1994 to 2000, this study estimates a Fourier-flexible frontier cost function. Specification tests indicate that the stochastic frontier model with a Fourier-flexible form with a truncated normal distribution of the inefficiency term allowing for time varying cost efficiency is preferred. The results show that new private and privatized banks, contrary to some expectations, are not the most efficient banks through most of the period. Privatization also does not seem to have an immediate effect on improved efficiency. However, better cost efficiency is associated with a lower likelihood of failure, suggesting that better risk management and better cost management are signs of better management in general. Finally, foreign banks have substantially better efficiency scores than all categories of domestic banks.

Measuring efficiency in the National Basketball Association1

Abstract This paper investigates how closely teams in the National Basketball Association play up to their potential. Using the stochastic production frontier model, we provide efficiency measures for each of the 27 NBA teams for the 1992–1993 season.

Life on the Frontier: Migrant Information, Earnings and Past Mobility

This paper examines the extent to which information obtained from past geographic mobility affects both post-move job-search and earnings in subsequent migration [in the United States]. The study considers this linkage between past and present mobility by estimating earnings frontiers for various categories of interstate migrants partitioned by prior mobility history....[The] results demonstrate that migrant groups exhibiting high relative levels of human capital stock do not necessarily possess superior pre-move labor market information. It is also demonstrated that the incentive to acquire this pre-move information is tied to psychic cost and variation in this cost among migrant types. (EXCERPT)

A new approach for measuring wage ignorance in the labor market

Abstract In this article we offer a new econometric approach to the evaluation of information content within labor markets. We define ignorance as the difference between the wage (price) individuals earn (pay) with full information and the wage (price) they actually receive (pay) given their limited information stocks, and we make use of a frontier production function approach to measure ignorance for various markets. Our empirical results are highly consistent with the analytical results in six areas of search theory. Furthermore, our results suggest a new interpretation of the role of unions.

How close to their offensive potential do national football league teams play

This paper presents preliminary results about how close to their offensive potential teams in the National Football League (NFL) play. Our study extends the work of previous researchers in several ways. First, we are the first to investigate the efficiency of professional football teams. Secondly, we utilize a panel data set covering the seasons 1989 to 1993 for all 28 NFL teams. Thirdly we estimate a frontir for the offensive teams. By estimating a stochastic production frontier model on a panel data set of NFL teams we find that many teams have played very close to their offensive potentials. For example, teams could have scored around one point more in each game than they actually did. This shows that these NFL teams are excellent, on average, at exploiting their talent - which seems reasonable.

A Frontier Approach to Measuring the Effect of Market Discrimination: A Housing Illustration*

One area of particular interest to analysts and policymakers concerned with poverty and discrimination has been the housing market. Since World War II, housing has been a focus for antipoverty policies, and therefore an area in which discrimination could not be tolerated. However, even though the Civil Rights Act of 1968 expressly prohibits the offering of housing to nonwhites at terms that are different than those afforded whites, it has been clearly demonstrated that discrimination continues to be a real problem in both the rental and owner-occupied segments of the housing market [17]. As James Heilbrun points out in his summary of the 1977 Survey of Housing Market Practices conducted by the Department of Housing and Urban Development:

The relative efficiency of slave agriculture: a comment

In their book Time on the Cross, Fogel and Engerman (FE) present evidence that average factor productivity was greater for larger Southern slave farms in 1860 than for both free farms and smaller slave farms. In a recent article, Field (1988) lends support to the FE theory by finding that an upward shift in the production function occurs for slave farms at 15 slaves, the size at which FE propose that gang labour became feasible. In a more recent article, Grabowski and Pasurka (GP) contradict both FE and Field by finding that there was no relationship between the size of slave farms and their efficiency. The present paper extends both GPs and Fields work and refines a point made by FE. We distinguish between a technological advantage due to the gang labour system and revenue inefficiency due both to the incentive structure of slavery and the repugnance of gang labour, two factors which foster rational shirking and resistance by slaves. That is, we propose that relative to small slave farms, large slave f...

An efficiency approach to choice set formation: theory and application to recreational destination choice

An unresolved debate in behavioural choice research surrounds specifying individual choice sets. To overcome the limitations of deterministic and probabilistic approaches in a framework consistent with individual optimizing behaviour, this study develops an efficient frontiers approach to the choice set problem in the context of revealed preference destination choice. Stochastic frontier models relating costly inputs to utility generating outputs are estimated to measure the efficiency of sites; choice sets are then formed by retaining sites that exceed alternative efficiency thresholds. Choice set composition, site choice efficiency and probability of selection and consumer surplus are evaluated in the case of fishery site choice in Maine.

Impact of Nurse Practitioner Practice Regulations on Rural Population Health Outcomes

Background: For decades, U.S. rural areas have experienced shortages of primary care providers. Nurse practitioners (NPs) are helping to reduce that shortage. However, NP scope of practice regulations vary from state-to-state ranging from autonomous practice to direct physician oversight. The purpose of this study was to determine if clinical outcomes of older rural adult patients vary by the level of practice autonomy that states grant to NPs. Methods: This cross-sectional study analyzed data from a sample of Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) (n = 503) located in eight Southeastern states. Independent t-tests were performed for each of five variables to compare patient outcomes of the experimental RHCs (those in “reduced practice” states) to those of the control RHCs (in “restricted practice” states). Results: After matching, no statistically significant difference was found in patient outcomes for RHCs in reduced practice states compared to those in restricted practice states. Yet, expanded scope of practice may improve provider supply, healthcare access and utilization, and quality of care (Martsolf et al., 2016). Conclusions: Although this study found no significant relationship between Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner (ARNP) scope of practice and select patient outcome variables, there are strong indications that the quality of patient outcomes is not reduced when the scope of practice is expanded.

Predictors of Gaps in Patient Safety and Quality in U.S. Hospitals.

OBJECTIVE To explore predictors of gaps between observed and best possible Hospital Compare scores in U.S. hospitals. DATA SOURCES American Hospital Association Annual Survey; Area Resource Files; Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Medicare Provider and Analysis Review; and Hospital Compare data. STUDY DESIGN Using Stochastic Frontier Analysis and secondary cross-sectional data, gaps between the best possible and actual scores of Hospital Compare quality measures were estimated. Poisson regressions were used to ascertain financial, organizational, and market predictors of those gaps. DATA EXTRACTION Data were cleaned and matched based on hospital Medicare IDs. All U.S. hospitals that matched on analysis variables in 2007 were in the study (1,823-2,747, depending upon gap variable). PRINCIPAL FINDINGS Most hospitals have a greater than 10 percent gap in quality indicators. Payer mix, registered nurse staffing, size, case mix index, accreditation, being a teaching hospital, market competition, urban location, and region were strong predictors of gaps, although the direction of the association with gaps was not uniform across outcomes. CONCLUSIONS A significant percentage of hospitals have gaps between their best possible and observed quality scores. It may be better to use gap scores than observed scores in payments systems. More SFA research is needed to know how to lower gaps through changes in hospital and market characteristics.