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Was the bell system a natural monopoly? An application of data envelopment analysis

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  • Hsihui Chang
  • Raj Mashruwala

Abstract

Examination of the relation between scale economies and natural monopoly has been a central issue in public policy research. The paper employs Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) methodology to re-examine the issue of natural monopoly for the Bell system with annual time series data for 1947--1977. Results from the DEA-based statistical tests reveal the prevalence of increasing returns to scale for the Bell system, implying that there were economies of scale for the Bell system. This evidence suggests that the Bell data was indeed consistent with a natural monopoly. Further, the results indicate that the low level of overall efficiency primarily results from allocative inefficiency rather than technical and scale inefficiency. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2006

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  • Hsihui Chang & Raj Mashruwala, 2006. "Was the bell system a natural monopoly? An application of data envelopment analysis," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 145(1), pages 251-263, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:annopr:v:145:y:2006:i:1:p:251-263:10.1007/s10479-006-0033-8
    DOI: 10.1007/s10479-006-0033-8
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Rajiv Banker & Hsihui Chang & Ehsan Feroz, 2014. "Performance measurement in nonprofit governance: an empirical study of the Minnesota independent school districts," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 221(1), pages 47-71, October.
    2. H Chang & C Galantine & A Thevaranjan, 2009. "Returns to scale pattern and efficient firm size in the public accounting industry: an empirical investigation," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 60(11), pages 1495-1501, November.
    3. Barnabé Walheer, 2019. "Dynamic directional nonparametric profit efficiency analysis for a single decision-making unit: an aggregation approach," OR Spectrum: Quantitative Approaches in Management, Springer;Gesellschaft für Operations Research e.V., vol. 41(4), pages 1123-1149, December.
    4. Yu-Chen Lin & Hsihui Chang & Jengfang Chen & Guan-Syun Wu, 2014. "Accounting disclosure quality, capital market intensity and national productivity," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 221(1), pages 239-254, October.

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