The contributions of technical and allocative efficiency to the economic performance of European railways

• Tipo: Artigo em Revista Científica Internacional
• Data: 2008

Autores

António Couto (Autor) FEUP; Daniel J. Graham (Autor) Outra

Revista

Título: Portuguese Economic Journal

Vol. 7 Nº 2

Páginas: 125-153

ISSN: 1617-982X

Editora: Springer Nature

Indexação

ISI Web of Knowledge - 6 Citações

ISI Web of Science

Scopus - 5 Citações

COMPENDEX

INSPEC

Classificação Científica

FOS: Ciências da engenharia e tecnologias > Engenharia civil

CORDIS: Ciências Sociais > Economia > Estudos de gestão > Gestão de transportes

Outras Informações

ID Authenticus: P-003-XKH

DOI: 10.1007/s10258-008-0030-8

Abstract (EN): This paper provides an empirical analysis of the relative contributions of allocative and technical efficiency to the productivity performance of European railways over the period 1972 to 1999. A stochastic frontier approach is used to analyse the cost structure of the railway industry. We estimate a translog cost system in which allocative inefficiency is modelled through an exact relationship between the cost share equations and the cost function. To allow the estimation of such a model using the sample theory approach we assume that the share equation residuals represent deviations from first-order conditions and, therefore, that they represent exclusively allocative inefficiencies. The use of this simplifying assumption renders our analysis computationally tractable, but it could be inconsistent with the economic theory of duality and for that reason caution is required in interpretation of results. Acknowledging this caveat, we find that European railways have experienced significant cost increases due to inefficient behaviour, with a mean value of around 15%. In contrast to previous studies, however, our estimates indicate a larger role for allocative inefficiency, which accounts for around of a half of the total increase in cost inefficiency.

Idioma: Inglês

Tipo (Avaliação Docente): Científica

Nº de páginas: 29