IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/trapol/v24y2012icp73-82.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Have Spanish port sector reforms during the last two decades been successful? A cost frontier approach

Author

Listed:
  • Rodríguez-Álvarez, Ana
  • Tovar, Beatriz

Abstract

The evolution of the port management model in Spain has been marked by three legislative reforms in the last two decades. This legislation was designed so that the Spanish regulatory framework could embrace the forms of port organization and management that would in turn permit the Spanish ports to function competitively and efficiently, and to be suitably positioned within the distribution systems. This paper aims to analyze the impact of these regulatory changes upon the economic efficiency of the Spanish Port Authorities during 1993–2007 period. To do this, we use a short run total cost model after contrasting that it is the more appropriate because our results suggest that this sector is not in long-run equilibrium. The results demonstrate that the impact of these legislative reforms has not been equal. The most significant changes, in terms of economic efficiency, took place in the first period. The results were also positive for the second period, although the efficiency gains were much more modest. Finally the third legislative reform seemed to have had a contrary effect upon economic efficiency.

Suggested Citation

  • Rodríguez-Álvarez, Ana & Tovar, Beatriz, 2012. "Have Spanish port sector reforms during the last two decades been successful? A cost frontier approach," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 73-82.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:trapol:v:24:y:2012:i:c:p:73-82
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tranpol.2012.06.004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0967070X12000881
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.tranpol.2012.06.004?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hung-jen Wang & Peter Schmidt, 2002. "One-Step and Two-Step Estimation of the Effects of Exogenous Variables on Technical Efficiency Levels," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 18(2), pages 129-144, September.
    2. Caves, Douglas W & Christensen, Laurits R & Tretheway, Michael W, 1980. "Flexible Cost Functions for Multiproduct Firms," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 62(3), pages 477-481, August.
    3. Morrison, Catherine J, 1988. "Quasi-Fixed Inputs in U.S. and Japanese Manufacturing: A Generalized Leontief Restricted Cost Function Approach," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 70(2), pages 275-287, May.
    4. Nemoto, Jiro & Nakanishi, Yasuo & Madono, Seishi, 1993. "Scale Economies and Over-capitalization in Japanese Electric Utilities," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 34(2), pages 431-460, May.
    5. Battese, G E & Coelli, T J, 1995. "A Model for Technical Inefficiency Effects in a Stochastic Frontier Production Function for Panel Data," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 325-332.
    6. Castillo-Manzano, José I. & López-Valpuesta, Lourdes & Pérez, Javier J., 2008. "Economic analysis of the Spanish port sector reform during the 1990s," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 42(8), pages 1056-1063, October.
    7. Douglas W. Caves & Laurits R. Christensen & Joseph A. Swanson, 1981. "Economic Performance in Regulated and Unregulated Environments: A Comparison of U. S. and Canadian Railroads," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 96(4), pages 559-581.
    8. Vita, Michael G., 1990. "Exploring hospital production relationships with flexible functional forms," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 1-21, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Tovar, Beatriz & Wall, Alan, 2015. "Can ports increase traffic while reducing inputs? Technical efficiency of Spanish Port Authorities using a directional distance function approach," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 128-140.
    2. Tovar, Beatriz & Wall, Alan, 2014. "The impact of demand uncertainty on port infrastructure costs: Useful information for regulators?," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 176-183.
    3. Tichavska, Miluše & Tovar, Beatriz, 2015. "Port-city exhaust emission model: An application to cruise and ferry operations in Las Palmas Port," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 347-360.
    4. Chang, Víctor & Tovar, Beatriz, 2014. "Drivers explaining the inefficiency of Peruvian and Chilean ports terminals," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 190-203.
    5. Castillo-Manzano, José I. & Castro-Nuño, Mercedes & González-Laxe, Fernando & Pedregal, Diego J., 2018. "Legal reform and the devolution of the Spanish Port System: An econometric assessment," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 73-82.
    6. Tovar, Beatriz & Hernández, Rubén & Rodríguez-Déniz, Héctor, 2015. "Container port competitiveness and connectivity: The Canary Islands main ports case," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 40-51.
    7. Beatriz Tovar & Alan Wall, 2017. "Dynamic Cost Efficiency in Port Infrastructure Using a Directional Distance Function: Accounting for the Adjustment of Quasi-Fixed Inputs Over Time," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 51(1), pages 296-304, February.
    8. Tichavska, Miluše & Tovar, Beatriz, 2015. "Environmental cost and eco-efficiency from vessel emissions in Las Palmas Port," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 126-140.
    9. Zhou, Yutao & Li, Zhenfu & Duan, Wei & Deng, Zhao, 2023. "The impact of provincial port integration on port efficiency: Empirical evidence from China's Coastal Provinces," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    10. Merkel, Axel & Holmgren, Johan, 2017. "Dredging the depths of knowledge: Efficiency analysis in the maritime port sector," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 63-74.
    11. Pérez, Ivone & González, María Manuela & Trujillo, Lourdes, 2020. "Do specialisation and port size affect port efficiency? Evidence from cargo handling service in Spanish ports," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 234-249.
    12. Laxe, Fernando González & Bermúdez, Federico Martín & Prado Domínguez, Antonio Javier, 2021. "Are Spanish ports efficient and profitable? A quantitative analysis," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    13. Coto-Millán, Pablo & Fernández, Xose Luis & Hidalgo, Soraya & Pesquera, Miguel Ángel, 2016. "Public regulation and technical efficiency in the Spanish Port Authorities: 1986–2012," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 139-148.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gema Carrera-Gómez & José Baños-Pino & Pablo Coto-Millán & Vicente López de Sabando, 2005. "Rate of Return Regulation: The Case of Spanish Ports," International Advances in Economic Research, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 11(2), pages 191-200, May.
    2. Rodríguez-Álvarez, Ana & Tovar de la Fe, Beatriz, 2009. "Reformas regulatorias y eficiencia en el sector portuario español," Efficiency Series Papers 2009/05, University of Oviedo, Department of Economics, Oviedo Efficiency Group (OEG).
    3. Farsi, Mehdi & Filippini, Massimo, 2009. "An analysis of cost efficiency in Swiss multi-utilities," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 306-315, March.
    4. Kuo, Jenn-Shyong & Ho, Yi-Cheng, 2008. "The cost efficiency impact of the university operation fund on public universities in Taiwan," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(5), pages 603-612, October.
    5. Barros, Carlos Pestana & Williams, Jonathan, 2013. "The random parameters stochastic frontier cost function and the effectiveness of public policy: Evidence from bank restructuring in Mexico," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 98-108.
    6. Gangopadhyay, Partha & Jain, Siddharth & Bakry, Walid, 2022. "In search of a rational foundation for the massive IT boom in the Australian banking industry: Can the IT boom really drive relationship banking?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    7. Subal C. Kumbhakar & Christopher F. Parmeter & Valentin Zelenyuk, 2022. "Stochastic Frontier Analysis: Foundations and Advances I," Springer Books, in: Subhash C. Ray & Robert G. Chambers & Subal C. Kumbhakar (ed.), Handbook of Production Economics, chapter 8, pages 331-370, Springer.
    8. Wollni, Meike & Brümmer, Bernhard, 2012. "Productive efficiency of specialty and conventional coffee farmers in Costa Rica: Accounting for technological heterogeneity and self-selection," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 67-76.
    9. Christopher F. Parmeter & Hung-Jen Wang & Subal C. Kumbhakar, 2017. "Nonparametric estimation of the determinants of inefficiency," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 47(3), pages 205-221, June.
    10. Valeria Cosmo, 2013. "Ownership, Scale Economies and Efficiency in the Italian Water Sector," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 399-415, September.
    11. Javier Barbero & Olga Diukanova & Carlo Gianelle & Simone Salotti & Artur Santoalha, 2022. "Economic modelling to evaluate Smart Specialisation: an analysis of research and innovation targets in Southern Europe," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(9), pages 1496-1509, September.
    12. Tran, Kien C. & Tsionas, Efthymios G., 2009. "Estimation of nonparametric inefficiency effects stochastic frontier models with an application to British manufacturing," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 26(5), pages 904-909, September.
    13. Hung-Jen Wang, 2002. "Heteroscedasticity and Non-Monotonic Efficiency Effects of a Stochastic Frontier Model," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 241-253, November.
    14. Abubakar Rasheed & Gershom Endelani Mwalupaso & Qasir Abbas & Xu Tian & Rafay Waseem, 2020. "Women Participation: A Productivity Strategy in Rice Production," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-15, April.
    15. Sickles, Robin C. & Song, Wonho & Zelenyuk, Valentin, 2018. "Econometric Analysis of Productivity: Theory and Implementation in R," Working Papers 18-008, Rice University, Department of Economics.
    16. Chen, Ku-Hsieh, 2012. "Incorporating risk input into the analysis of bank productivity: Application to the Taiwanese banking industry," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(7), pages 1911-1927.
    17. Steffen, Christoph & Yu, Xiaohua, 2018. "Transaction Costs and Food Prices in Rural Kenya," Department of Agricultural and Rural Development (DARE) Discussion Papers 274537, Georg-August-Universitaet Goettingen, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development (DARE).
    18. Mastromarco Camilla & Laura Serlenga & Yongcheol Shin, 2013. "Globalisation and technological convergence in the EU," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 40(1), pages 15-29, August.
    19. Dorn, Florian, 2023. "Elections and Government Efficiency," VfS Annual Conference 2023 (Regensburg): Growth and the "sociale Frage" 277700, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    20. Amin W. Mugera & Gerald G. Nyambane, 2015. "Impact of debt structure on production efficiency and financial performance of Broadacre farms in Western Australia," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 59(2), pages 208-224, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:trapol:v:24:y:2012:i:c:p:73-82. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/30473/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.