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Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Agricultural Economics / Vincent Amanor-Boadu / Allen M. Featherstone / Estimation of cost functions can provide useful economic information to producers, economists, and policy makers. From the estimation of a cost function, it is possible to calculate cost efficiency, economies of scope, and economies of scale. Economic theory specifies the cost function as a frontier since firms cannot operate at lower cost than the cost minimizing input/output bundle. However, traditional parametric estimation techniques often violate economic theory using two sided-error systems. The stochastic frontier method has allowed the estimation of a frontier but continues to restrict the technology through functional assumption. Nonparametric frontier estimation is an alternative approach to estimate a cost frontier by enveloping the data which by its construct, conforms to economic theory. This research expands the economic information available by deriving multi-product scale economies and product-specific scale economies from the nonparametric approach. It also tests its ability to accurately recover these important economic measures under different assumptions of the cost function, and cost inefficiency distributions. Next, this new method is compared to other methods used to estimate cost functions and associated economic measures including a two-sided error system, stochastic frontier method, and an OLS model restricting the errors to take on only positive values. Finally, the nonparametric approach with the new measures is applied to a sample of Kansas farms. The nonparametric approach is able to closely estimate economies of scale and scope from estimation of a cost frontier. Comparison reveals that the nonparametric approach is closer to the “true” economic measures than some parametric methods and that it is better able to extrapolate out of sample when there are no zero output firms. Finally, the nonparametric approach shows that potential cost savings from economies of scale and economies of scope exist for small Kansas farms. However, cost savings from economies of scale become exhausted when farms exceed gross annual revenues of $500k, while economies of scope also diminish as farms grow larger. Results also show from annual frontier estimations that estimates of economies of scale, scope, and cost efficiency have remained relatively stable from 2002 to 2011.

For as long as managed mutual funds have been in existence there has been a desire to accurately assess their relative performance against each other, and also their respective performance in relation to an appropriate stock market index. There has been a specific interest in whether the expensive, professionally managed mutual funds can justify their high cost with respect to low cost, simple index trackers by producing superior, post-cost performance, and this proposition is implicitly tested within this thesis. The aim of this thesis is to undertake an empirical assessment of the managerial performance of mutual funds utilising a three-stage DEA-SFA-DEA methodology which combines linear mathematical programming (DEA) and stochastic frontier analysis (SFA). Specifically, this thesis focuses on evaluating the managerial performance of UK domiciled open-ended investment companies (OEICs) and unit trusts (UTs) over a three year period from 1st January 2008 to 31st December 2010. Various DEA models are utilised including CCR, BCC and SBM DEA models with various orientations, and also versions of these DEA models which make use of the SORM procedure. These are used to carry out an initial evaluation of the managerial performance of the OEICs/UTs, before two of these DEA models are combined with SFA regression analysis in a three-stage DEA-SFA-DEA methodology to purge the influence of environmental factors and statistical noise, thus leading to a more robust evaluation of the true managerial performance of the OEICs/UTs under assessment. The results of this thesis extend support to the premise of the Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) that financial markets are information efficient , and thus it is not possible, given the information available when the investment is made, to consistently obtain returns in excess of the average market return on a risk-adjusted basis, and this thesis does so through the use of a novel approach.

The aim of the thesis is to estimate the cost efficiency of the banks from the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia during 2008-2013 using stochastic frontier analysis. In addition to this, mutual relationships between the changes in banks' cost efficiency, risk- taking, and capital position are examined. First, the literature that is concerned with these relationships is reviewed and the stochastic frontier approach towards the efficiency estimation is outlined. In the empirical analysis, the cost efficiency of the banks from the aforementioned countries is estimated. The results suggest that the Czech and the Polish banks from the sample have the highest average cost efficiency while the Hungarian banks rank the lowest. The estimated efficiency is decreasing during the sample period. No conclusive results are found to support the hypothesis that the larger banks exhibit higher cost efficiency. Subsequently, the system of simultaneous equations is applied to test the mutual relationships between the changes in the banks' cost efficiency, risk-taking, and capital position. The results suggest a negative relationship between the changes in risk-taking and cost efficiency and between the changes in capital position and risk-taking of the banks. Moreover, the results do not indicate simultaneous...

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A agropecuária brasileira tem crescido nas últimas décadas e os ganhos de produtividade tem sido importante neste bom desempenho do setor. O presente trabalho tem dois objetivos principais. O primeiro deles foi mensurar o crescimento desta produtividade total dos fatores na agropecuária brasileira estadual, decompondo o crescimento da PTF em progresso tecnológico e eficiência técnica. O segundo objetivo foi analisar o efeito do crescimento da PTF da agropecuária brasileira sobre os preços agrícolas, no Brasil, de 1970 a 2006. O crescimento desta produtividade foi mensurado a partir dos insumos terra, trabalho e capital na função de produção translog sob orientação do produto, a partir do método de Fronteira Estocástica de Produção e do índice de produtividade de Malmquist. Para avaliar o efeito do crescimento da PTF sobre os preços agrícolas foi construído o índice de preços agrícolas utilizando-se o Índice de preços de Laspeyres para estimar o vetor autoregressivo em painel (panel- VAR), acrescentando as variáveis produtividade total dos fatores (PTF), salário rural, financiamento agrícola e renda per capita domiciliar. Além disso, foi aplicado o teste de causalidade, no sentido de Granger, e estimada a função impulso resposta. A base de dados utilizada foi, obtida do Censo Agropecuário, a nível estadual, para os anos de 1970, 1975, 1980, 1985, 1995 e 2006. Os resultados indicaram que a taxa de crescimento da PTF foi crescente no Brasil e nos estados, sendo que, na maior parte das vezes, é explicada pelo progresso tecnológico, positivo e crescente para todos os estados. A eficiência técnica variou ao longo dos anos, apresentado taxas de crescimento médias positivas para a maioria dos estados. Em média, os estados estiveram situados abaixo da fronteira de produção da agropecuária brasileira. São Paulo foi o estado com maior nível de eficiência técnica. Embora a taxa de crescimento médio anual tenha sido positiva ao longo do período analisado, a eficiência reduziu para todos os estados analisados em 2006. Da análise dos efeitos do crescimento da PTF sobre os preços agrícolas, a PTF tem causalidade, no sentido de Granger, sobre os preços agrícolas. Na função impulso resposta, o choque inicial na variável PTF reduziu os preços nos primeiros anos. Assim, o crescimento da PTF do setor agropecuário contribuiu para o aumento da oferta de produtos, reduzindo os preços agrícolas. A maior disponibilidade de alimentos e, com a redução dos preços dos alimentos, os consumidores, principalmente os de renda mais baixa puderam ter maior acesso aos alimentos. / The Brazilian agriculture has grown in recent decades and productivity gains have been important in this good performance of the sector. This work had two main objectives. The first one was measure the growth of this total factor productivity in agriculture by the Brazilian\'s states, decomposing TFP growth by technological progress, technical efficiency and economies of scale. The second objective was to analyze the effect of TFP growth of Brazilian agriculture on agricultural prices. The growth in productivity was measured from the inputs like labor, gross and capital in the translog production function, from the Stochastic Frontier Analysis and of the outputoriented Malmquist productivity index. To analyze the effect of TFP growth on agricultural prices was constructed an index of agricultural prices through the Laspeyres price index to estimate the vector autoregressive panel (panel-VAR) and establish the relationships between TFP, rural wages, agricultural finance and income per capita household. The Granger causality test and the impulse response function were used to the data panel. The database used obtained from the Agricultural Census, at the state level for the years 1970, 1975, 1980, 1985, 1995 and 2006. The results showed that the growth rate of TFP has been growing in Brazil and in the states, and technological progress explained most of the growth being positive and growing for all states. Technical efficiency varied over the years, presented positive average growth rates for most states. The states were located below the production frontier of Brazilian agriculture and São Paulo was the state with the highest level of technical efficiency. Although the average annual growth rate has been increasing over the period analyzed, the efficiency decreased to all state analyzed in 2006. The results also showed that TFP growth has causality in the sense of Granger, on agricultural prices. In the impulse response function, the initial shock in TFP decreased prices in the early years. Thus, TFP growth of the agricultural sector contributed to the increased supply of agricultural products, reducing agricultural prices. The greater availability of food and with reducing food prices, consumers, especially those from lower income might had greater access to food.

Esta dissertação de mestrado em teoria econômica tem como objetivo verificar se a Compensação Financeira pela Utilização de Recursos Hídricos (CFURH) paga a municípios que abrigam usinas hidrelétricas ou reservatórios impacta seu esforço arrecadatório. A importância dessa análise vem do fato de que um possível relaxamento fiscal por parte deles pode por em risco o seu desenvolvimento, dado que a compensação pode sofrer variações no tempo, e dado que sua duração depende da vida útil das usinas. Será utilizada a metodologia de fronteira estocástica, com base em um painel de dados relativo aos municípios brasileiros entre 2007 e 2012 Os resultados mostram que, em geral, os municípios beneficiários são menos eficientes na arrecadação de tributos do que os não beneficiários. / This Master\'s dissertation in Economic Theory aims to verify whether the water windfalls paid to municipalities that hold hydroelectric power stations or water reservoirs have any impact on their fiscal effort. The issue is relevant since a reduced tax effort may pose a threat to the municipalities\' development, since these resources can vary in time and since it may have an end due to the power plant\'s useful life. It will be used the stochastic frontier technique applied to a panel data of Brazilian municipalities between 2007 and 2012. The results show that, in a general way, the municipalities that benefit from the water windfalls are more inefficient than those which don\'t receive these resources

Dans l'optique du troisième Objectif de Développement Durable ("Santé et Bien-Etre pour tous"), il est nécessaire d'augmenter les ressources consacrées à la santé dans les pays à faible revenus, mais aussi de s'assurer que ces ressources sont allouées de façon optimale. Pour cela, les mesures d'efficience sont un outil d'analyse adapté pour évaluer la performance des systèmes au niveau macroéconomique ou des établissement de santé au niveau microéconomique, afin d'obtenir "plus de santé pour son argent" (Organisation Mondiale de la Santé, 2010). Au travers de ses quatre chapitres, cette thèse s'inscrit dans la littérature empirique de l'évaluation de l'efficience des systèmes de santé.Le premier chapitre est une revue méthodologique des mesures non-paramétriques d'efficience, utilisées dans les trois chapitres empiriques qui suivent. Le second chapitre estime l'efficience d'un échantillon de 120 pays à revenu faible ou intermédiaire de 1997 à 2014. On considère que les systèmes de santé produisent des résultats en termes de santé (de la survie maternelle et infantile) grâce à des dépenses de santé. Les résultats montrent que, pour un état de santé identique, les pays de l'échantillon pourraient dépenser 20\% de ressources en moins en moyenne, et que l'inefficience augmente avec le niveau de développement.Les deux derniers chapitres sont des études de cas. Le troisième porte sur un échantillon d'hôpitaux municipaux à Weifang, dans la province chinoise du Shandong. Il met en lumière, grâce à des données d'enquête, le potentiel d'amélioration en termes de performance, et le rôle de certains facteurs sur l'inefficience des hôpitaux: la demande de soins, et la part de subventions dans leur revenu. Le quatrième chapitre traite de l'efficience des établissements de soins de santé primaires à Oulan-Bator, en Mongolie. Avec les mêmes ressources, ils pourraient produire 30\% de soins supplémentaires en moyenne. Le bassin de desserte est positivement associé au niveau d'efficience, mais la faible rémunération du personnel, ainsi qu'un équilibre sous-optimal entre personnel médical et non-médical semblent freiner l'efficience des établissements de santé. / In the perspective of the third Sustainable Development Goal ("Good Health and Well-being"), it is necessary to increase financial resources for health in low income countries, but also to ensure that those resources are optimally allocated. To this purpose, efficiency measures appear as a useful tool to assess the performance of healh systems at the macroeconomic level, or of health facilities as the microeconomic level to get "more health for the money" (WHO,2010). Through its four chapters, this thesis provides some empirical evidence to the assessment of the efficiency of health system.The first chapter is a methodological review of nonparametric efficiency measures, used in the three empirical studies that follow. The second chapter assesses the efficiency of a sample of 120 low and middle income countries over the 1997/2014 period. Production function is defined as health expenditures producing health outcomes (maternal and juvenile survival). It concludes that, for the same health outcomes, countries could spend more than 20\% for the same health outcomes, and that inefficiency increases with the level of development of coutries. The last two chapters are case studies. The third one focuses on Township Health Centers in Weifang, Shandong province, China, relying on survey data. It highlights the potential for performance improvement and the role of demand side determinants and of the share of subsidies in incomes to explain efficiency scores. The fourth chapter deals with the efficiency of primary healthcare facilities in Ulan-Bator, Mongolia. It concludes that efficiency could be spurred by about 30\%. Demand side factors are positively associated to efficiency, but low levels of staff remuneration, as well as a suboptimal balance between medical and non-medical staff seem to hinder activity and efficiency of health facilities.

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Este trabajo analiza el rendimiento académico de los estudiantes mediante la estimación de fronteras de eficiencia, método que permite distinguir el efecto de características del alumno y su entorno (edad, sexo, condición laboral, entre otros) del impacto de factores exógenos (características de la universidad, etc.). Entre los principales resultados, se encuentra que los alumnos que trabajan en tareas vinculadas a la carrera se ubican más cerca de la frontera de rendimientos, mientras que quienes trabajan en tareas no relacionadas se alejan de ella por factores ajenos a su comportamiento (por ejemplo, institucionales). Para los estudiantes que no trabajan, los resultados varían. / This paper analyses students' academic performance by estimating efficiency frontiers, a method that allows to distinguish the effect of characteristics of the student and his background (age, gender, employment status, among others) from the impact of exogenous factors (university characteristics, etc.). Among the main results, it is found that students who work in jobs related to their career lie closer to the performance frontier, whereas for those employed in other kinds of jobs, departures from the frontier are explained by factors beyond their behavior (e.g. institutional). For students who don't work, results are variable.