Description
Book SynopsisA Practitioner's Guide to Stochastic Frontier Analysis Using Stata provides practitioners with a step-by-step guide on how to conduct efficiency analysis using the stochastic frontier approach. Immensely helpful to the applied researcher, it bridges the chasm between theory and practice, expanding the range of applications in which production frontier analysis may be implemented.
Trade Review'A competent empirical application of Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) requires a clear understanding of both the production economics and the econometric theory behind the specified model side by side with adequate programming skills to write the necessary software codes. Apart from a clear exposition of the economic theory behind various stochastic frontier models that represent the technology (like the Distance Functions) and/or producer behavior (like the Cost or Profit Functions) and the relevant econometric theory, the authors offer detailed instructions on how to write the commands for various models in Stata and explain how to interpret the results. This book will prove to be invaluable for every serious researcher using SFA to measure production efficiency.' Subhash C. Ray, University of Connecticut
'This book is a significant contribution to an applied introduction to stochastic frontier analysis. The authors explain clearly many of the models used in efficiency estimation, which has become a standard tool in the arsenal of applied economics. They explain clearly the models and the assumptions and provide a thorough introduction to estimating performance and efficiency for the practitioner. The many scientific fields in which efficiency and performance measurement are important will benefit immensely from the book not only because of its clarity and concreteness but also because the models are taken directly to practice using Stata, standard software used by many researchers. The combination of theory and practical application is masterfully done in this book, and practitioners in a vast number of fields will find it indispensable for their research.' Mike G. Tsionas, Athens University of Economics and Business
Table of Contents1. Introduction; 2. Production, distance, cost, and profit functions; 3. Production frontier models; 4. Cost frontier models; 5. Profit frontier models; 6. Cost system models; 7. Profit system models; 8. Primal cost models; 9. Profit primal models; 10. Panel models; 11. Productivity and profitability; 12. Looking ahead.
