Conventional approaches for inference about efficiency in parametric stochastic frontier (PSF) models are based on percentiles of the estimated distribution of the one-sided error term, conditional on the composite error. When used as prediction intervals, coverage is poor when the signal-to-noise ratio is low, but improves slowly as sample size increases. We show that prediction intervals esti...

In this study, we use Stochastic Frontier analysis approach to estimate cost efficiency, economies of scale, and technological progress among Iranian banks from 1999 to 2012. The results show that there is a marked difference in cost efficiency before and after the recent financial sanctions against Iranian banking industry. Moreover, the results indicate that specialized government-owned banks...

In this paper we propose a semiparametric Bayesian framework for the analysis of stochastic frontiers and efficiency measurement. The distribution of inefficiencies is modelled nonparametrically through a Dirichlet process prior. We suggest prior distributions and implement a Bayesian analysis through an efficient Markov chain Monte Carlo sampler, which allows us to deal with practically releva...

the purpose of this study is to compare the results of different probabilistic methods such as the perturbation method, stochastic finite element method (sfem) and monte carlo method. these methods were used to study the convergence of direct approach for slope stability analysis and are developed for a linear soil behavior. in this study, two dimensional random fields are used and both the fir...

Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is the methodology for evaluating the relative productive efficiency of decision making units (DMUs) that produce multiple-outputs using multiple-inputs. DEA was proposed for the first time in 1957 by Farrell; nonetheless, the wide usage of this method begun with its generalization and the linear programming formulation which is due to Charnes et al. (1978) (for ...

In this paper we consider the Weibull distribution as a model for technical efficiency. The distribution has a shape and scale parameter like the gamma distribution and can be a reasonable competitor in practice. The techniques are illustrated using artificial data as well as a panel of Spanish dairy farms.

The efficiency of social housing providers is a contentious issue. In the Netherlands, there is a widespread belief that housing corporations have substantial potential for efficiency improvements. A related question is whether scale influences efficiency, since recent decades have shown a trend of mergers among corporations. This paper offers a framework to assess the effects of scale and merg...

This paper analyzes the efficiency of the Brazilian banking sector over the post-privatization period of 2000-2007. We employ a Bayesian stochastic frontier approach, which provides exact efficiency estimates and confidence intervals and thus, allows an accurate comparison across institutions and bank groups. The results suggest that large banks are the most cost and profit efficient, supportin...

The growing awareness on the multiple environmental impacts of livestock production has risen the necessity to widen the definition of efficiency to a multidimensional eco-efficiency concept. Our paper suggests a combined approach of a whole-farm agronomic model and frontier efficiency method to explore deeply the determinants of eco-efficiency. The whole-farm model used, GAMEDE, is randomly pa...

Since the Labour government came to power in 1997, it has introduced a regime whereby public services are accountable in respect of best value performance indicators (BVPIs). A recent Public Services Productivity Panel (PSP) (2000) report has developed a set of criteria whereby the economic analysis of police force efficiency by the Home Office is to be made standard. In this paper we utilise a...