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Unobserved heterogeneity in stochastic cost frontier models: an application to Swiss nursing homes

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Author Info
Mehdi Farsi
Massimo Filippini
Michael Kuenzle

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Abstract

This paper applies a number of stochastic cost frontier models to a panel data set and compares their ability to distinguish unobserved heterogeneity from inefficiency variation among firms. The main focus is on Greene's 2005 panel data model that incorporates firm-specific effects in a stochastic frontier framework. In cases where the unobserved heterogeneity is correlated with explanatory variables, while the random effects estimators can be biased the fixed effects model may overestimate inefficiency. In line with Mundlak, a simple method is proposed to include such correlations in random effects specification. The sample includes 36 Swiss nursing homes operating from 1993 to 2001. The results suggest that the proposed specification can avoid the inconsistency problem while keeping the inefficiency estimates unaffected.

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Article provided by Taylor and Francis Journals in its journal Applied Economics.

Volume (Year): 37 (2005)
Issue (Month): 18 (October)
Pages: 2127-2141
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Handle: RePEc:taf:applec:v:37:y:2005:i:18:p:2127-2141

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Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Mundlak, Yair, 1978. "On the Pooling of Time Series and Cross Section Data," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 46(1), pages 69-85, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Massimo Filippini, 1999. "Economies Of Scale In The Swiss Nursing Home Industry," Working Papers 9901, University of Zurich, Socioeconomic Institute. [Downloadable!]
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  3. 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. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Heshmati, Almas, 1998. "Efficiency Measurement in Rotating Panel Data," Applied Economics, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 30(7), pages 919-30, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Andrew Street, 2003. "How much confidence should we place in efficiency estimates?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 12(11), pages 895-907. [Downloadable!]
  6. 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. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Wagstaff, Adam, 1989. "Estimating Efficiency in the Hospital Sector: A Comparison of Three Statistical Cost Frontier Models," Applied Economics, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 21(5), pages 659-72, May.
  8. Mehdi Farsi & Massimo Filippini, 2004. "An Empirical Analysis of Cost Efficiency in Non-profit and Public Nursing Homes," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 75(3), pages 339-365, 09. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Polachek, Solomon W & Yoon, Bong Joon, 1996. "Panel Estimates of a Two-Tiered Earnings Frontier," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 11(2), pages 169-78, March-Apr. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Schmidt, Peter & Sickles, Robin C, 1984. "Production Frontiers and Panel Data," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 2(4), pages 367-74, October.
  11. Cornwell, Christopher & Schmidt, Peter & Sickles, Robin C., 1990. "Production frontiers with cross-sectional and time-series variation in efficiency levels," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 46(1-2), pages 185-200. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  12. Uwe Jensen, 2000. "Is it efficient to analyse efficiency rankings?," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 25(2), pages 189-208. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Carlos Pestana Barros & Gustavo Ferro & Carlos Romero, 2008. "Technical Efficiency and Heterogeneity of Argentina Pension Funds," Working Papers 2008/29, Department of Economics at the School of Economics and Management (ISEG), Technical University of Lisbon.. [Downloadable!]
  2. Massimo Filippini & Nevenka Hrovatin & Jelena Zorić, 2008. "Cost efficiency of Slovenian water distribution utilities: an application of stochastic frontier methods," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 29(2), pages 169-182, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Bruce Hollingsworth & Andrew Street, 2006. "The market for efficiency analysis of health care organisations," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 15(10), pages 1055-1059. [Downloadable!]
  4. Medhi Farsi & Massimo Filippini, 2006. "Effects of ownership, subsidization and teaching activities on hospital costs in Switzerland," Quaderni della facoltà di Scienze economiche dell'Università di Lugano 0606, Biblioteca universitaria di Lugano (University Library of Lugano). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Mehdi Farsi & Massimo Filippini, 2008. "An Analysis of Cost-Efficiency in Swiss Multi-utilities," CEPE Working paper series 08-60, CEPE Center for Energy Policy and Economics, ETH Zürich. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  6. Mehdi Farsi, 2008. "The temporal variation of cost-efficiency in Switzerland’s hospitals: an application of mixed models," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 30(2), pages 155-168, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Mehdi Farsi & Massimo Filippini & Diego Lunati, 2008. "Economies of Scale and Efficiency Measurement in Switzerland's Nursing Homes," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES), Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES), vol. 144(III), pages 359-378, September. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  8. Mehdi Farsi & Aurelio Fetz & Massimo Filippini, 2007. "Benchmarking and Regulation in the Electricity Distribution Sector," CEPE Working paper series 07-54, CEPE Center for Energy Policy and Economics, ETH Zürich. [Downloadable!]
  9. Mehdi Farsi & Massimo Filippini & William Greene, 2005. "Efficiency Measurement in Network Industries: Application to the Swiss Railway Companies," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 28(1), pages 69-90, 07. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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