IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/jed/journl/v43y2018i3p119-142.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Comparison of Stochastic Frontier Approaches for Estimating National Efficiency: An Application to Sub-Saharan African Countries

Author

Listed:
  • Michael Danquah and Bazoumana Ouattara

    (University of Ghana, University of Manchester)

Abstract

In this paper, we attempt to estimate pure national (technical) efficiency for 19 SSA countries over the 1960-2010 periods. In doing this, we compare conventional stochastic frontier models for panel data with a number of recently developed models which seek to control for unobserved heterogeneity in the inefficiency component. We find that the ¡®true¡¯ random effects model that treats unobserved heterogeneity in our national dataset generates more reasonable efficiency estimates. Moreover the results confirm that most SSA countries operate far from the efficient frontier.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael Danquah and Bazoumana Ouattara, 2018. "Comparison of Stochastic Frontier Approaches for Estimating National Efficiency: An Application to Sub-Saharan African Countries," Journal of Economic Development, Chung-Ang Unviersity, Department of Economics, vol. 43(3), pages 119-142, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:jed:journl:v:43:y:2018:i:3:p:119-142
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://jed.or.kr/full-text/43-3/5.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Anne-Kathrin Last & Heike Wetzel, 2010. "The efficiency of German public theaters: a stochastic frontier analysis approach," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 34(2), pages 89-110, May.
    2. Anke E. Hoeffler, 2002. "The augmented Solow model and the African growth debate," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 64(2), pages 135-158, May.
    3. Romer, Paul, 1993. "Idea gaps and object gaps in economic development," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 543-573, December.
    4. Robert M. Solow, 1956. "A Contribution to the Theory of Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 70(1), pages 65-94.
    5. Krishna G. Iyer & Alicia N. Rambaldi & Kam Ki Tang, 2008. "Efficiency externalities of trade and alternative forms of foreign investment in OECD countries," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(6), pages 749-766.
    6. Fried, Harold O. & Lovell, C. A. Knox & Schmidt, Shelton S. (ed.), 2008. "The Measurement of Productive Efficiency and Productivity Growth," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195183528, Decembrie.
    7. Devarajan, Shantayanan & Easterly, William R & Pack, Howard, 2003. "Low Investment Is Not the Constraint on African Development," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 51(3), pages 547-571, April.
    8. T. S. Breusch & A. R. Pagan, 1980. "The Lagrange Multiplier Test and its Applications to Model Specification in Econometrics," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 47(1), pages 239-253.
    9. Reifschneider, David & Stevenson, Rodney, 1991. "Systematic Departures from the Frontier: A Framework for the Analysis of Firm Inefficiency," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 32(3), pages 715-723, August.
    10. Prescott, Edward C, 1998. "Needed: A Theory of Total Factor Productivity," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 39(3), pages 525-551, August.
    11. Jondrow, James & Knox Lovell, C. A. & Materov, Ivan S. & Schmidt, Peter, 1982. "On the estimation of technical inefficiency in the stochastic frontier production function model," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 19(2-3), pages 233-238, August.
    12. V Sena, 2003. "The Frontier Approach to the Measurement of Productivity and Technical Efficiency," Economic Issues Journal Articles, Economic Issues, vol. 8(2), pages 71-97, September.
    13. Kumbhakar, Subal C., 1990. "Production frontiers, panel data, and time-varying technical inefficiency," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 46(1-2), pages 201-211.
    14. 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.
    15. Camilla Mastromarco, 2008. "Foreign Capital And Efficiency In Developing Countries," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(4), pages 351-374, October.
    16. William Greene, 2004. "Distinguishing between heterogeneity and inefficiency: stochastic frontier analysis of the World Health Organization's panel data on national health care systems," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 13(10), pages 959-980, October.
    17. World Bank, 2012. "World Development Indicators 2012," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 6014, December.
    18. Robert E. Hall & Charles I. Jones, 1999. "Why do Some Countries Produce So Much More Output Per Worker than Others?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 114(1), pages 83-116.
    19. Kumbhakar, Subal C. & Wang, Hung-Jen, 2005. "Estimation of growth convergence using a stochastic production frontier approach," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 88(3), pages 300-305, September.
    20. M. Danquah & B. Ouattara, 2014. "Productivity Growth, Human Capital And Distance To Frontier In Sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of Economic Development, Chung-Ang Unviersity, Department of Economics, vol. 39(4), pages 27-48, December.
    21. Stevenson, Rodney E., 1980. "Likelihood functions for generalized stochastic frontier estimation," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 57-66, May.
    22. Chris Milner & Thomas Weyman–Jones, 2003. "Relative National Efficiency and Country Size: Evidence for Developing Countries," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 7(1), pages 1-14, February.
    23. Pitt, Mark M. & Lee, Lung-Fei, 1981. "The measurement and sources of technical inefficiency in the Indonesian weaving industry," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 43-64, August.
    24. Schmidt, Peter & Sickles, Robin C, 1984. "Production Frontiers and Panel Data," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 2(4), pages 367-374, October.
    25. Jerzmanowski, Michal, 2007. "Total factor productivity differences: Appropriate technology vs. efficiency," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(8), pages 2080-2110, November.
    26. Henry, Michael & Kneller, Richard & Milner, Chris, 2009. "Trade, technology transfer and national efficiency in developing countries," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(2), pages 237-254, February.
    27. Arvind Subramanian, 2009. "The Mauritian Success Story and its Lessons," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2009-36, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    28. Kumbhakar, Subal C & Ghosh, Soumendra & McGuckin, J Thomas, 1991. "A Generalized Production Frontier Approach for Estimating Determinants of Inefficiency in U.S. Dairy Farms," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 9(3), pages 279-286, July.
    29. Kodde, David A & Palm, Franz C, 1986. "Wald Criteria for Jointly Testing Equality and Inequality Restriction s," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 54(5), pages 1243-1248, September.
    30. Richard Kneller & Philip Andrew Stevens, 2006. "Frontier Technology and Absorptive Capacity: Evidence from OECD Manufacturing Industries," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 68(1), pages 1-21, February.
    31. K. Kalirajan, 1981. "An Econometric Analysis of Yield Variability in Paddy Production," Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics/Revue canadienne d'agroeconomie, Canadian Agricultural Economics Society/Societe canadienne d'agroeconomie, vol. 29(3), pages 283-294, November.
    32. Mr. Brou E Aka & Mr. Bernardin Akitoby & Mr. Amor Tahari & Mr. Dhaneshwar Ghura, 2004. "Sources of Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa," IMF Working Papers 2004/176, International Monetary Fund.
    33. Augustin Kwasi Fosu, 2009. "Understanding the African Growth Record: The Importance of Policy Syndromes and Governance," WIDER Working Paper Series DP2009-02, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    34. James Carroll & Carol Newman & Fiona Thorne, 2011. "A comparison of stochastic frontier approaches for estimating technical inefficiency and total factor productivity," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(27), pages 4007-4019.
    35. Aigner, Dennis & Lovell, C. A. Knox & Schmidt, Peter, 1977. "Formulation and estimation of stochastic frontier production function models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 6(1), pages 21-37, July.
    36. Hoeffler, Anke E, 2002. "The Augmented Solow Model and the African Growth Debate," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 64(2), pages 135-158, May.
    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. Md Harun Or Rosid & Zhao Xuefeng & Sk Alamgir Hossain & Mohammad Raihanul Hasan & Md Reza Sultanuzzaman, 2021. "The Impact of GDP on Cross-Country Efficiency in Wealth Maximization: a Joint Analysis Through the Stochastic Frontier and Generalized Method of Moments," Advances in Management and Applied Economics, SCIENPRESS Ltd, vol. 11(1), pages 1-6.

    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. Danquah, Michael & Ouattara, Bazoumana, 2015. "What drives national efficiency in sub-Saharan Africa," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 171-179.
    2. Danquah, Michael, 2018. "Technology transfer, adoption of technology and the efficiency of nations: Empirical evidence from sub Saharan Africa," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 175-182.
    3. Michael Danquah & Bazoumana Ouattara & Peter Quartey, 2018. "Technology Transfer and National Efficiency: Does Absorptive Capacity Matter?," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 30(2), pages 162-174, June.
    4. Ali M. Oumer & Amin Mugera & Michael Burton & Atakelty Hailu, 2022. "Technical efficiency and firm heterogeneity in stochastic frontier models: application to smallholder maize farms in Ethiopia," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 57(2), pages 213-241, April.
    5. Arazmuradov, Annageldy & Martini, Gianmaria & Scotti, Davide, 2014. "Determinants of total factor productivity in former Soviet Union economies: A stochastic frontier approach," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 115-135.
    6. Tim J. Coelli, 1995. "Recent Developments In Frontier Modelling And Efficiency Measurement," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 39(3), pages 219-245, December.
    7. Giannis Karagiannis & Vangelis Tzouvelekas, 1999. "Measuring Technical Efficiency with Panel Data: Results from Competing Models," Working Papers 9914, University of Crete, Department of Economics.
    8. Martín Rossi, 2015. "The Econometrics Approach to the Measurement of Efficiency: A Survey," Working Papers 117, Universidad de San Andres, Departamento de Economia, revised Feb 2015.
    9. Karagiannis, Giannis & Tzouvelekas, Vangelis, 2009. "Parametric Measurement of Time-Varying Technical Inefficiency: Results from Competing Models," Agricultural Economics Review, Greek Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 10(1), pages 1-30.
    10. Mastromarco, Camilla & Ghosh, Sucharita, 2009. "Foreign Capital, Human Capital, and Efficiency: A Stochastic Frontier Analysis for Developing Countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 489-502, February.
    11. Farsi, Mehdi & Filippini, Massimo, 2009. "An analysis of cost efficiency in Swiss multi-utilities," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 306-315, March.
    12. 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.
    13. Massimo Del Gatto & Adriana Di Liberto & Carmelo Petraglia, 2011. "Measuring Productivity," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(5), pages 952-1008, December.
    14. Julio Peña & Julio Aguirre & René Cerca D'amico, 2004. "Pesca demersal en Chile: eficiencia técnica y escalas de operación," Revista de Analisis Economico – Economic Analysis Review, Universidad Alberto Hurtado/School of Economics and Business, vol. 19(1), pages 119-160, June.
    15. Gralka, Sabine, 2018. "Stochastic frontier analysis in higher education: A systematic review," CEPIE Working Papers 05/18, Technische Universität Dresden, Center of Public and International Economics (CEPIE).
    16. Paul, Satya & Shankar, Sriram, 2018. "Modelling Efficiency Effects in a True Fixed Effects Stochastic Frontier," MPRA Paper 87437, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Satya Paul & Sriram Shankar, 2020. "Estimating efficiency effects in a panel data stochastic frontier model," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 53(2), pages 163-180, April.
    18. Massimiliano Piacenza, 2002. "Regulatory Constraints and Cost Efficiency of the Italian Public Transit Systems: An Exploratory Stochastic Frontier Model," CERIS Working Paper 200202, CNR-IRCrES Research Institute on Sustainable Economic Growth - Torino (TO) ITALY - former Institute for Economic Research on Firms and Growth - Moncalieri (TO) ITALY.
    19. Anbes Tenaye, 2020. "Technical Efficiency of Smallholder Agriculture in Developing Countries: The Case of Ethiopia," Economies, MDPI, vol. 8(2), pages 1-27, April.
    20. Greene, William, 2005. "Reconsidering heterogeneity in panel data estimators of the stochastic frontier model," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 126(2), pages 269-303, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    National Efficiency; Productivity; Stochastic Frontier Model; Sub-Saharan Africa;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:jed:journl:v:43:y:2018:i:3:p:119-142. 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: Sung Y. Park (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/eccaukr.html .

    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.