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Allocative efficiency of rural water supply – a globally flexible SGM cost frontier

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  • Johannes Sauer
  • Klaus Frohberg

Abstract

This contribution investigates the efficiency of water suppliers in rural areas of East and West Germany. A non-radial measure of input specific allocative inefficiency is used to reduce the distributional dependency with respect to the inefficiency parameters. It is based on the demand system of a flexible cost function for the variable inputs labour, energy and chemicals modelled by applying a modified symmetric generalized McFadden functional form. Concavity restrictions, as required by economic theory, are imposed. The analysis reveals that efforts towards increasing suppliers’ allocative efficiency should focus on the relatively inefficient usage of the input chemicals. The input specific allocative model specification was found to be superior to the overall allocative specification. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2007

Suggested Citation

  • Johannes Sauer & Klaus Frohberg, 2007. "Allocative efficiency of rural water supply – a globally flexible SGM cost frontier," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 27(1), pages 31-40, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jproda:v:27:y:2007:i:1:p:31-40
    DOI: 10.1007/s11123-006-0024-4
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    Cited by:

    1. Francisco González Gómez & Miguel Angel García Rubio, 2008. "Efficiency in the management of urban water services. What have we learned after four decades of research?," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 185(2), pages 39-67, July.
    2. Guerrini, Andrea & Romano, Giulia & Leardini, Chiara, 2018. "Economies of scale and density in the Italian water industry: A stochastic frontier approach," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 103-111.
    3. Michael Zschille & Matthias Walter, 2012. "The performance of German water utilities: a (semi)-parametric analysis," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(29), pages 3749-3764, October.
    4. Jos L. T. Blank & Bert Enserink & Alex A. S. van Heezik, 2019. "Policy Reforms and Productivity Change in the Dutch Drinking Water Industry: A Time Series Analysis 1980–2015," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-14, June.
    5. Angel Prieto & José L. Zofio & Inmaculada Alvarez, 2009. "Economías de escala, densidad y alcance en la provisión pública de infraestructura básica municipal," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 190(3), pages 59-94, September.
    6. Picazo-Tadeo, Andres J. & Saez-Fernandez, Francisco J. & Gonzalez-Gomez, Francisco, 2008. "Does service quality matter in measuring the performance of water utilities," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 30-38, March.
    7. José Luis Zafra-Gómez & Victor Giménez-García & Cristina María Campos-Alba & Emilio José Higuera-Molina, 2020. "Direct Management or Inter-Municipal Cooperation in Smaller Municipalities? Exploring Cost Efficiency and Installed Capacity in Drinking Water Supply," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 34(13), pages 4289-4302, October.
    8. Sauer, J., 2009. "Quota Deregulation and Organic versus Conventional Milk – A Bayesian Distance Function Approach," Proceedings “Schriften der Gesellschaft für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften des Landbaues e.V.”, German Association of Agricultural Economists (GEWISOLA), vol. 44, March.
    9. Picazo-Tadeo, Andrés J. & Sáez-Fernández, Francisco J. & González-Gómez, Francisco, 2008. "Assesing Performance in the Management of the Urban Water Cycle," Efficiency Series Papers 2008/01, University of Oviedo, Department of Economics, Oviedo Efficiency Group (OEG).
    10. Sauer, Johannes, 2008. "Quota Deregulation and Organic versus Conventional Milk – A Bayesian Distance Function Approach," 2008 Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2008, Orlando, Florida 6425, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    11. Hellwig, Michael & Polk, Andreas, 2021. "Do political links influence water prices? Determinants of water prices in Germany," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    12. Walter, Matthias & Cullmann, Astrid & von Hirschhausen, Christian & Wand, Robert & Zschille, Michael, 2009. "Quo vadis efficiency analysis of water distribution? A comparative literature review," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 17(3-4), pages 225-232, September.
    13. Shanxia Sun & Juan P. Sesmero & Karina Schoengold, 2016. "The role of common pool problems in irrigation inefficiency: a case study in groundwater pumping in Mexico," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 47(1), pages 117-127, January.
    14. Johannes Sauer & Klaus Frohberg & Henrich Hockmann, 2006. "Stochastic efficiency measurement: The curse of theoretical consistency," Journal of Applied Economics, Universidad del CEMA, vol. 9, pages 139-166, May.
    15. 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.
    16. Francisco González-Gómez & Miguel García‐Rubio & Francisco Alcalá-Olid & M. Ortega-Díaz, 2013. "Outsourcing and Efficiency in the Management of Rural Water Services," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 27(3), pages 731-747, February.
    17. Johannes Sauer, 2010. "Deregulation and dairy production systems: a Bayesian distance function approach," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 34(3), pages 213-237, December.
    18. Alexandr Akimov & Paul Simshauser, 2018. "Performance measurement in Australian water utilities: Current state and future directions," Discussion Papers in Finance finance:201802, Griffith University, Department of Accounting, Finance and Economics.
    19. Changhee Kim & Hyunjung Kim & Kanghwa Choi, 2020. "Efficiency Analysis of Public Library Services Based on Establishing Entity and Outsourcing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-15, November.
    20. Valeria Di Cosmo, 2011. "Are the Consumers Always Ready to Pay? A Quasi-Almost Ideal Demand System for the Italian Water Sector," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 25(2), pages 465-481, January.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Functional form; Input specific allocative efficiency; Symmetric generalized McFadden; Rural water supply; C31; D24; Q25;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C31 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Cross-Sectional Models; Spatial Models; Treatment Effect Models; Quantile Regressions; Social Interaction Models
    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity
    • Q25 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation - - - Water

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