Efficiency, and economies of scale and scope in Japanese agricultural cooperatives

Abstract The purpose of this study is to investigate regional differences in the business characteristics Japanese agricultural cooperatives (JAs), which have been widely criticized for depending on non-agricultural activities, contradictory cooperative principles. We construct a panel data set over 2004–2019 from financial statements JAs’ prefectural-level federations and use stochastic meta-frontier cost function model, enables decomposition efficiency into two components: technical technology gap ratios. operational between JAs urban rural areas are investigated by comparing their economies scale scope. main results summarized as follows: first, meta-cost scores are, average, larger than those areas, reflects Second, exhibit overall both areas; however, product-specific differ nonfinancial outputs. Finally, relatively scope areas. These findings indicate clear distinctions cost-reduction effects. activities bring higher while benefits simultaneous production