IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/tufwps/200412.html

The distribution and heterogeneity of technical efficiency within industries: An empirical assessment

Author

Listed:
  • Fritsch, Michael
  • Stephan, Andreas

Abstract

This paper analyzes the distribution of technical efficiency within manufacturing industries. Using a representative sample of 35,000 firms in 255 industries of the German cost structure census, technical efficiencies are estimated by applying a deterministic frontier production function with firm-specific fixed effects. A new measure is also introduced for characterizing the extent of heterogeneity within an industry that is robust with regard to extreme values of a few small firms. It was found that the level of intra-industry heterogeneity is mainly determined by an industries' average technical efficiency, average firm size, capital intensity and the rate of new firm formation. Most strikingly, we find that in about 95 percent of industries the distribution of technical efficiency is skewed to the right, not to the left as is commonly assumed.

Suggested Citation

  • Fritsch, Michael & Stephan, Andreas, 2004. "The distribution and heterogeneity of technical efficiency within industries: An empirical assessment," Freiberg Working Papers 2004/12, TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:tufwps:200412
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/48373/1/394606507.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Klepper, Steven, 1997. "Industry Life Cycles," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 6(1), pages 145-181.
    2. Michael Fritsch & Andreas Stephan, 2006. "Measuring performance heterogeneity within groups - a two-dimensional approach," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(1), pages 17-20.
    3. 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.
    4. Winter, Sidney G., 1984. "Schumpeterian competition in alternative technological regimes," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 5(3-4), pages 287-320.
    5. David B. Audretsch, 1995. "Innovation and Industry Evolution," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262011468, December.
    6. Aghion, Philippe & Howitt, Peter, 1992. "A Model of Growth through Creative Destruction," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 60(2), pages 323-351, March.
    7. Boozer, Michael A., 1997. "Econometric Analysis of Panel DataBadi H. Baltagi Wiley, 1995," Econometric Theory, Cambridge University Press, vol. 13(5), pages 747-754, October.
    8. Richard E. Caves, 1992. "Industrial Efficiency in Six Nations," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262031930, December.
    9. Richard B. Freeman & Lawrence F. Katz, 1995. "Introduction and Summary," NBER Chapters, in: Differences and Changes in Wage Structures, pages 1-22, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Cubbin, John & Geroski, Paul A, 1987. "The Convergence of Profits in the Long Run: Inter-firm and Inter-industry Comparisons," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(4), pages 427-442, June.
    11. Chari, V V & Hopenhayn, Hugo, 1991. "Vintage Human Capital, Growth, and the Diffusion of New Technology," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(6), pages 1142-1165, December.
    12. Ricardo J. Caballero & Mohamad L. Hammour, 1996. "On the Timing and Efficiency of Creative Destruction," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 111(3), pages 805-852.
    13. Mayes,David G. (ed.), 1996. "Sources of Productivity Growth," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521554374, January.
    14. Caballero, Ricardo J & Hammour, Mohamad L, 1994. "The Cleansing Effect of Recessions," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(5), pages 1350-1368, December.
    15. Heshmati, Almas & Kumbhakar, Subal C. & Hjalmarsson, Lennart, 1995. "Efficiency of the Swedish pork industry: A farm level study using rotating panel data 1976-1988," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 80(3), pages 519-533, February.
    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. Joachim Wagner, 2006. "Politikrelevante Folgerungen aus Analysen mit wirtschaftsstatistischen Einzeldaten der Amtlichen Statistik," Working Paper Series in Economics 16, University of Lüneburg, Institute of Economics.
    2. Kozhan, Roman, 2006. "Multiple Priors And No-Transaction Region," Working Paper Series 2006,4, European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder), The Postgraduate Research Programme Capital Markets and Finance in the Enlarged Europe.
    3. Michael Fritsch & Andreas Stephan, 2006. "Measuring performance heterogeneity within groups - a two-dimensional approach," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(1), pages 17-20.
    4. Arnab Bhattacharjee & Eduardo de Castro & (Late) Chris Jensen-Butler, 2007. "Evaluating Economic Theories of Growth and Inequality: A Study of the Danish Economy," CDMA Working Paper Series 200723, Centre for Dynamic Macroeconomic Analysis.
    5. Badunenko, Oleg & Fritsch, Michael & Stephan, Andreas, 2008. "Allocative efficiency measurement revisited--Do we really need input prices?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 25(5), pages 1093-1109, September.
    6. Fritsch, Michael & Stephan, Andreas, 2004. "What causes cross-industry differences of technical efficiency? An empirical investigation," Freiberg Working Papers 2004/13, TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    7. Vigenina, Denotes & Kritikos, Alexander S., 2004. "The individual micro-lending contract: is it a better design than joint-liability?: Evidence from Georgia," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 155-176, June.
    8. Bialkowski, Jedrzej & Gottschalk, Katrin & Wisniewski, Tomasz, 2006. "Political orientation of government and stock market returns," MPRA Paper 307, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Nov 2006.
    9. Arnab Bhattacharjee & Eduardo Castro & Chris Jensen-Butler, 2009. "Regional variation in productivity: a study of the Danish economy," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 31(3), pages 195-212, June.

    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. Fritsch, Michael & Stephan, Andreas, 2004. "What causes cross-industry differences of technical efficiency? An empirical investigation," Freiberg Working Papers 2004/13, TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    2. repec:eee:labchp:v:3:y:1999:i:pb:p:2711-2805 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Lucia Foster & John C. Haltiwanger & C. J. Krizan, 2001. "Aggregate Productivity Growth: Lessons from Microeconomic Evidence," NBER Chapters, in: New Developments in Productivity Analysis, pages 303-372, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. R. Jason Faberman, 2003. "Job Flows and Establishment Characteristics: Variations Across U.S. Metropolitan Areas," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series 2003-609, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
    5. Catherine Armington & Zoltan Acs, 2000. "Differences in Job Growth and Persistence in Services and Manufacturing," Working Papers 00-04, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    6. Stephan, Michael, 2013. "Theorien der Industrieevolution," Discussion Papers on Strategy and Innovation 13-03, Philipps-University Marburg, Department of Technology and Innovation Management (TIM).
    7. Jens J. Krüger, 2008. "Productivity And Structural Change: A Review Of The Literature," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(2), pages 330-363, April.
    8. Kurt Dopfer, 2012. "The origins of meso economics," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 133-160, January.
    9. Takeshi Kobayashi & Masaya Sakuragawa, 2008. "Boom and Bust Cycle of the Stock Market, and Economic Growth in a Vintage Capital Model," International Journal of Economic Theory, The International Society for Economic Theory, vol. 4(3), pages 411-432, September.
    10. Loayza, Norman V. & Oviedo, Ana Maria & Serven, Luis, 2005. "Regulation and macroeconomic performance," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3469, The World Bank.
    11. Corrêa, Márcio Veras & Centeno, Mário, 2009. "Technological Progress and Average Job Matching Quality," Revista Brasileira de Economia - RBE, EPGE Brazilian School of Economics and Finance - FGV EPGE (Brazil), vol. 63(4), December.
    12. Erik Canton & Harald Uhlig, 1999. "Growth and the cycle: Creative destruction versus entrenchment," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 69(3), pages 239-266, October.
    13. Schiantarelli, Fabio, 2005. "Product Market Regulation and Macroeconomic Performance: A Review of Cross Country Evidence," IZA Discussion Papers 1791, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Masashige Hamano & Francesco Zanetti, 2017. "Endogenous Turnover and Macroeconomic Dynamics," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 26, pages 263-279, October.
    15. Naomi Griffin & Kazuhiko Odaki, 2009. "Reallocation and productivity growth in Japan: revisiting the lost decade of the 1990s," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 31(2), pages 125-136, April.
    16. Tavassoli, Sam, 2015. "Innovation determinants over industry life cycle," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 18-32.
    17. Elina Berghäll, 2016. "Innovation, competition and technical efficiency," Cogent Business & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 3(1), pages 1199522-119, December.
    18. Alessandra Colombelli & Jackie Krafft & Marco Vivarelli, 2016. "To be born is not enough: the key role of innovative start-ups," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 47(2), pages 277-291, August.
    19. Colombelli, Alessandra & Quatraro, Francesco, 2018. "New firm formation and regional knowledge production modes: Italian evidence," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 139-157.
    20. Eckhardt, Jonathan T. & Shane, Scott A., 2011. "Industry changes in technology and complementary assets and the creation of high-growth firms," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 412-430, July.
    21. Amil Petrin & James Levinsohn, 2005. "Measuring Aggregate Productivity Growth Using Plant-Level Data," Working Papers 552, Research Seminar in International Economics, University of Michigan.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity
    • L10 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - General
    • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms

    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:zbw:tufwps:200412. 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: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/fwfrede.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.