IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/srlewp/109412.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

A Metafrontier Analysis of Technical Efficiency of Selected European Agricultures

Author

Listed:
  • Barnes, Andrew Peter
  • Revoredo-Giha, Cesar

Abstract

Technical efficiency refers to the situation where it is impossible for a firm to produce, with the given know-how, (1) a larger output from the same inputs or (2) the same output with less of one or more inputs without increasing the amount of other inputs. In practice, the interest is on the relative position in terms of efficiency of a particular firm with respect to others. Therefore, technical efficiency is characterised by the relationship between observed production and some ideal or potential production (Greene, 1993). Although the beginning of the efficiency work can be traced to the 1950s (Farrell, 1957), there have been a growing interest on its use in benchmarking performance, predominantly as a means of identifying best practice and improving the efficiency of resource use within the agricultural industry (e.g., Defra 2004, SAC 2009). This paper deals with the estimation of technical efficiency for the agricultural sectors in several European countries and moreover, it aims to compare the efficiency amongst them using a metafrontier analysis. The use of this type of analysis is justified because a frontier, which represents the best available technology within a particular region/country cannot be strictly compared across other regions/countries, unless they operate under the same production set. The metafrontier analysis has been developed in a number of studies (Battese and Rao, 2002; Nkamleu et al., 2006; Chen and Song, 2006; O‟Donnell et al., 2008.) The metafrontier analysis in this paper, which uses data from the Farm Accountancy data Network (FADN), was focused on four farm types: two specialised farming types (i.e., specialist cereals, oilseed and protein crops and specialist dairying) and two more mixed farming sets (i.e., general field cropping and mixed farms), and was applied to a total of 11 countries namely Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the UK. For most of the countries the information was available from 1995 until 2007, excepting Hungary and Poland, for which it was available only since 2004. Also note that not all the farm types were available for all the countries. The structure of the paper is as follows: it starts presenting an overview of the metafrontier analysis used to compare technical efficiency amongst the European countries. It is followed by the empirical work, which comprises a description of the data used, the estimation and discussion of the results. Finally we present conclusions.

Suggested Citation

  • Barnes, Andrew Peter & Revoredo-Giha, Cesar, 2010. "A Metafrontier Analysis of Technical Efficiency of Selected European Agricultures," Working Papers 109412, Scotland's Rural College (formerly Scottish Agricultural College), Land Economy & Environment Research Group.
  • Handle: RePEc:ags:srlewp:109412
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.109412
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/109412/files/leergworkingpaper55.pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.109412?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
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. C. J. O'Donnell & W. E. Griffiths, 2006. "Estimating State-Contingent Production Frontiers," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 88(1), pages 249-266.
    2. Nkamleu, Guy Blaise & Nyemeck, Joachim & Sanogo, Diakalia, 2006. "Metafrontier Analysis of Technology Gap and Productivity Difference in African Agriculture," MPRA Paper 15103, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. George E. Battese & D. S. Prasada Rao, 2002. "Technology Gap, Efficiency, and a Stochastic Metafrontier Function," International Journal of Business and Economics, School of Management Development, Feng Chia University, Taichung, Taiwan, vol. 1(2), pages 87-93, August.
    4. William H. Greene, 1993. "Frontier Production Functions," Working Papers 93-20, New York University, Leonard N. Stern School of Business, Department of Economics.
    5. Víctor Moreira & Boris Bravo-Ureta, 2010. "Technical efficiency and metatechnology ratios for dairy farms in three southern cone countries: a stochastic meta-frontier model," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 33(1), pages 33-45, February.
    6. Fare, Rolf, et al, 1989. "Multilateral Productivity Comparisons When Some Outputs Are Undesirable: A Nonparametric Approach," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 71(1), pages 90-98, February.
    7. 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.
    8. Christopher O’Donnell & D. Rao & George Battese, 2008. "Metafrontier frameworks for the study of firm-level efficiencies and technology ratios," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 34(2), pages 231-255, March.
    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. Kourtesi, Sofia & De Witte, Kristof & Polymeros, Apostolos, 2016. "Technical Efficiency in the Agricultural Sector - Evidence from a Conditional Quantile-Based Approach," Agricultural Economics Review, Greek Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 17(2), June.
    2. Paweł Boczar & Lucyna Błażejczyk-Majka, 2022. "Efficiency of European Union wheat producers on world market and analysis of its determinants based on the data envelopment analysis method," Agricultural Economics, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 68(12), pages 455-463.
    3. Cechura, Lukas & Hockmann, Heinrich & Malý, Michal & Žáková Kroupová, Zdenka, 2015. "Comparison of technology and technical efficiency in cereal production among EU countries," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 7(2), pages 27-37.
    4. Cechura, L. & Hockmann, H. & Malý, M. & Žáková Kroupová, Z., 2015. "Comparison of Technology and Technical Efficiency in Cereal Production among EU Countries," AGRIS on-line Papers in Economics and Informatics, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Faculty of Economics and Management, vol. 7(2), pages 1-11, June.
    5. Saeid Hajihassaniasl & Recep Kök, 2016. "Scale effect in Turkish manufacturing industry: stochastic metafrontier analysis," Journal of Economic Structures, Springer;Pan-Pacific Association of Input-Output Studies (PAPAIOS), vol. 5(1), pages 1-17, December.
    6. Hančlová Jana & Melecký Lukáš, 2016. "Application of the Nonparametric DEA Meta-frontier Approach with Undesirable Outputs in the Case of EU Regions," Business Systems Research, Sciendo, vol. 7(2), pages 65-77, September.

    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. Farnaz Pourzand & Mohammad Bakhshoodeh, 2014. "Technical effici ency and agricultural sustainability–technology gap of maize producers in Fars province of Iran," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 671-688, June.
    2. Chiu, Yung-Ho & Lee, Jen-Hui & Lu, Ching-Cheng & Shyu, Ming-Kuang & Luo, Zhengying, 2012. "The technology gap and efficiency measure in WEC countries: Application of the hybrid meta frontier model," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 349-357.
    3. Khanal, Uttam & Wilson, Clevo & Shankar, Sriram & Hoang, Viet-Ngu & Lee, Boon, 2018. "Farm performance analysis: Technical efficiencies and technology gaps of Nepalese farmers in different agro-ecological regions," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 645-653.
    4. Feng, Chao & Zhang, Hua & Huang, Jian-Bai, 2017. "The approach to realizing the potential of emissions reduction in China: An implication from data envelopment analysis," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 859-872.
    5. Gatti, Nicolas & Lema, Daniel & Brescia, Victor, 2015. "A Meta-Frontier Approach to Measuring Technical Efficiency and Technology Gaps in Beef Cattle Production in Argentina," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 211647, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    6. Li, Hong-Zhou & Kopsakangas-Savolainen, Maria & Yan, Ming-Zhe & Wang, Jian-Lin & Xie, Bai-Chen, 2019. "Which provincial administrative regions in China should reduce their coal consumption? An environmental energy input requirement function based analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 51-63.
    7. Haryanto, T. & Talib, B. A. & Salleh, N. H. M., 2016. "Technical Efficiency and Technology Gap in Indonesian Rice Farming," AGRIS on-line Papers in Economics and Informatics, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Faculty of Economics and Management, vol. 8(3), pages 1-10, September.
    8. Thanh Pham Thien Nguyen & Son Hong Nghiem & Eduardo Roca & Parmendra Sharma, 2016. "Efficiency, innovation and competition: evidence from Vietnam, China and India," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 51(3), pages 1235-1259, November.
    9. Latruffe, Laure & Fogarasi, József & Desjeux, Yann, 2012. "Efficiency, productivity and technology comparison for farms in Central and Western Europe: The case of field crop and dairy farming in Hungary and France," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 264-278.
    10. Bravo-Ureta, Boris E. & Higgins, Daniel & Arslan, Aslihan, 2020. "Irrigation infrastructure and farm productivity in the Philippines: A stochastic Meta-Frontier analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    11. Mei-Ying Huang & Tsu-Tan Fu, 2013. "An examination of the cost efficiency of banks in Taiwan and China using the metafrontier cost function," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 40(3), pages 387-406, December.
    12. MARCHAND, Sébastien & GUO, Huanxiu, 2014. "The environmental efficiency of non-certified organic farming in China: A case study of paddy rice production," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 201-216.
    13. Cheng, Zhonghua & Li, Lianshui & Liu, Jun & Zhang, Huiming, 2018. "Total-factor carbon emission efficiency of China's provincial industrial sector and its dynamic evolution," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 330-339.
    14. Kounetas, Konstantinos & Zervopoulos, Panagiotis D., 2019. "A cross-country evaluation of environmental performance: Is there a convergence-divergence pattern in technology gaps?," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 273(3), pages 1136-1148.
    15. Yung-Hsiang LU & Ku-Hsieh CHEN & Chun-Cheng WU, 2015. "Cross-country analysis of efficiency and productivity in the biotech industry: an application of the generalized metafrontier Malmquist productivity index," Agricultural Economics, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 61(3), pages 116-134.
    16. Mercedes Beltrán-Esteve & José Gómez-Limón & Andrés Picazo-Tadeo & Ernest Reig-Martínez, 2014. "A metafrontier directional distance function approach to assessing eco-efficiency," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 41(1), pages 69-83, February.
    17. Hsiao-Yen Mao & Wen-Min Lu & Hsin-Yen Shieh, 2023. "Exploring the Influence of Environmental Investment on Multinational Enterprises’ Performance from the Sustainability and Marketability Efficiency Perspectives," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-23, May.
    18. Gulati, Rachita, 2022. "Global and local banking crises and risk-adjusted efficiency of Indian banks: Are the impacts really perspective-dependent?," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 23-39.
    19. Qian Liu & Yongmu Jiang & Carl‐Johan Lagerkvist & Wei Huang, 2023. "Extension services and the technical efficiency of crop‐specific farms in China," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 45(1), pages 436-459, March.
    20. Huang, Tai-Hsin & Chiang, Dien-Lin & Tsai, Chao-Min, 2015. "Applying the New Metafrontier Directional Distance Function to Compare Banking Efficiencies in Central and Eastern European Countries," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 188-199.

    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:ags:srlewp:109412. 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: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/lesacuk.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.