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Despite measures on the European level to increase the compatibility between the HE sectors of the member states, the recent literature exposes variations in their efficiencies. To gain insights into these differences we split the efficiency term according to the two management levels each university is confronted with. Utilizing a recent advancement in the method to measure efficiency, we separate short-term (transient) and long-term (persistent) efficiency, while controlling for unobserved institution specific heterogeneity. While the first term reflects the efficiency of the individual universities working within the country, the second term echoes the influence of the country specific overall HE structure. The cross-country comparison displays if the overall efficiency difference between countries is related to individual performance of their universities or their HE structure. This allows more purposeful policy recommendation and expands the literature regarding the efficiency of universities in a fundamental way. Choosing Italy and Germany as two important illustrative examples we can take advantage of a novel dataset including characteristics of institutions in both countries for an exceptional long period of time from 2001 to 2011. We show that the Italian universities exhibit a higher overall efficiency value than their German counterparts. With the individual universities working at the upper bound of efficiency in both countries, the overall inefficiency as well as the gap between the countries is caused by persistent, structural inefficiency. To expedite a true European Area of Higher Education future measures should hence aim at the country specific structure, not solely at affecting the activities of single universities.

Over that past three decades, power sector reform has been a key pillar of policy agendas in more than half of the countries across the world. This thesis specifically concerns the empirical investigation of the economic performance of the international electricity generation industry. Drawing on the stochastic frontier analysis techniques, the thesis considers the influence of reform as exogenous factors in shifting frontier technology as well as shaping inefficiency function directly -determinants and heteroscedasticity variables. The first essay uses an extensive panel dataset of 91 countries over the period 1980 to 2010 to measure the impact of deregulation on efficiency and total productivity growth using stochastic input distance frontier (SIDF). Three specific issues are addressed in the first essay: (1) the relationship between deregulation and technical efficiency, (2) the extent of the rank correlation of the country intercepts with deregulation via their position on the frontier, (3) the trend of total factor productivity and its components. We establish a positive impact of deregulation on efficiency and some compelling evidence suggesting that the country intercepts equally account for the influence of deregulation aside efficiency. In particular, the technical efficiency index from the first paper reveals that most OECD European countries are consistently efficient. Building on this finding, the second essay investigates the performance in term of cost efficiency for electricity generation in OECD power sector while accounting for the impact of electricity market product regulatory indicators. Empirical models are developed for the cost function as a translog form and analysed using panel data of 25 countries during the period 1980 to 2009. We show that it is necessary to model latent country-specific heterogeneity in addition to time-varying inefficiency. The estimated economies of scale are adjusted to take account of the importance of the quasi-fixed capital input in determining cost behaviour, and adjusted economies of scale are verified for the OECD generation sector. The findings suggest there is a significant impact of electricity market regulatory indicators on cost. Cost complementarity between generation and emissions found to be significant, indicating the possibility of reducing emissions without necessarily reducing electricity generation. Finally, the third essay examines the performance of electric power industry s using consistent state-level electricity generation dataset for the US contiguous states from 1998-2014. We estimate stochastic production frontier for five competing models in order to identify the determinants of technical inefficiency and marginal effects. We find evidence of positive impacts of deregulation on technical efficiency across the models estimated. Our preferred model shows that deregulated states are more efficient in electricity generation than non-deregulated states. The result of the marginal effects shows that deregulation has a positive and monotonic effect on the technical efficiency.

Submitted by Silas Volpon de Mello (silasmelloo@gmail.com) on 2017-09-18T16:07:04Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação_Mestrado_deMello_SV.pdf: 6481861 bytes, checksum: bfe9dc719b21419babdfc049e7b8ece6 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Monique Sasaki (sayumi_sasaki@hotmail.com) on 2017-09-19T20:02:38Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 mello_sv_me_bauru.pdf: 6481861 bytes, checksum: bfe9dc719b21419babdfc049e7b8ece6 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-09-19T20:02:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 mello_sv_me_bauru.pdf: 6481861 bytes, checksum: bfe9dc719b21419babdfc049e7b8ece6 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-08-18 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Este texto apresenta uma pesquisa que propõe um modelo para calcular a Capacidade de Suporte Hídrica (CSH) de regiões urbanizadas visando o Desenvolvimento Sustentável, principal objetivo da humanidade neste século. Utilizando as Análises Estocásticas de Fronteira como ferramenta de modelagem da capacidade de suporte, juntamente com o auxílio de um sistema de informações geográficas (SIG), foi criado um método para calcular a carga antrópica no meio ambiente, ou seja, calcular a intensidade de solicitação ou estresse sobre os recursos naturais que uma dada região exerce sobre seu meio. Um estudo exploratório foi elaborado para verificar a viabilidade desta proposta e posteriormente um modelo específico foi desenvolvido, utilizando variáveis de natureza hídrica, culminando no cálculo da CSH dos municípios e das Unidades de Gerenciamento de Recursos Hídricos (UGRHI) do estado de São Paulo. A disponibilidade hídrica superficial dos objetos de estudo, uma das variáveis hídricas que compõe o modelo, foi calculada de forma aproximada utilizando a nova proposta de regionalização de vazões para o estado de São Paulo, onde foi criado o primeiro banco de dados que agrega informações sobre as vazões Q95, Q7,10 e Qm para todos os municípios do estado.Na sequência, foram simulados três cenários abordando possíveis construções do modelo CSH, dois deles consideraram diferentes formas de agrupamento dos parâmetros e o terceiro obteve as classificações de suporte hídrico para as UGRHIs a partir dos resultados dos municípios. O primeiro cenário apontou 5 UGRHIs e 213 municípios em potencial déficit hídrico e o segundo apontou 6 UGRHIs e 180 municípios nesta mesma situação. O terceiro cenário apontou 7 UGRHIs em potencial déficit no suprimento da demanda de água. A partir dos resultados, foram apontadas regiões que estão sob potencial estresse hídrico, ou seja, que não conseguem fornecer de maneira sustentável a quantidade de água requerida por seus habitantes. Essas regiões podem ser apontadas como as mais vulneráveis em períodos de seca. Assim, pretende-se disponibilizar um modelo para auxiliar na questão da preservação do meio ambiente nas escalas local e regional, considerando-se a disponibilidade de água. / This work presents a research project that proposes a model to calculate the Hydric Carrying Capacity (HCC) of urbanized areas aiming at the Sustainable Development, the main goal of humanity in this century. Using Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) as a modeling technique for carrying capacity along with geographic information systems (GIS), a method to calculate the anthropic load in the environment was created. In other words, the idea was to calculate the stress intensity on the natural resources that a given region produces on its environment. An exploratory study was carried out to verify the feasibility of this proposal and later a specific model was developed. Using hydric variables, the model resulted in the determination of the HCC for the municipalities and for the Water Resources Management Units (UGRHI) of the State of São Paulo. The surface water availability of the objects of study, which is one of the hydric variables that compose the model, was calculated in an approximate way using the new proposal of regionalization of flows for the state of São Paulo. This resulted in the first database that aggregates information about the flows Q95, Q7,10 and Qm for all municipalities in the state. Three scenarios were simulated, discussing possible constructions of the HCC model. Two of them considered different ways of grouping the parameters and the third one obtained the hydric support classifications for the UGRHIs from the results of the municipalities. The first scenario pointed out 5 UGRHIs and 213 municipalities in potential hydric deficit, while the second pointed to 6 UGRHIs and 180 municipalities in this same situation. The third scenario pointed out 7 UGRHIs in potential deficits in supplying water demand. From these results, regions that are under potential water stress were pointed out, that is, regions that cannot provide the amount of water required by their inhabitants in a sustainable way. These regions can be identified as the most vulnerable in periods of drought. Thus, the idea was to provide a model as an aid for the environment preservation at both local and regional scales, considering the availability of water.

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

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.

Nigeria, like all other rice consuming nations, has experienced a surge in domestic demand for rice since 1970. However, local rice production has not been sufficient to meet local demand, leading to this demand continually being filled by imports. The Federal Government of Nigeria has initiated subsidies programs intended to improve Nigerian rice farmers' technical and cost efficiency levels. This quantitative study evaluated the impact of these policies on the technical and cost efficiency levels of paddy rice farm households in Nigeria. Farrell's (1957) efficiency theory and production theory served as the theoretical frameworks. Data were collected from a cross-section of 300 paddy rice farmers drawn from 3 states in Nigeria. The study used 2 estimation techniques: parametric technique (SF) and the non-parametric technique (DEA). The results showed that paddy rice production in Nigeria was still profitable but low and the estimated average technical and cost efficiency levels from the DEA approach were 0.721 and 0.295, respectively. Evidence suggests that the formulation and implementation of subsidy programs on farm inputs were relevant in the variations of technical and cost efficiency levels across the rice farm households. The study findings support the continuity of the subsidy policies to encourage increased rice production; they also suggest that governments should address the issues of post-harvest losses, degrading irrigation facilities, and ineffective rural development policies. The positive social change implications of this research include providing information to inform government policy changes designed to more effectively address rice importation and pricing, positively impacting the standard of living for rural farmers and communities in Nigeria.

[pt] A redução das perdas não técnicas de energia elétrica (PNT) constitui atualmente um dos principais desafios enfrentados pelas concessionárias de distribuição de eletricidade nos países em desenvolvimento. Por depender em parte de fatores não gerenciáveis pelas distribuidoras, as PNT no Brasil são repassadas aos consumidores através de tarifas de eletricidade, seguindo os limites definidos pela Agência Nacional de Energia Elétrica (ANEEL). Apesar do notável progresso realizado pela ANEEL, à metodologia atualmente empregada pela Agência para definição desses limites apresenta uma série de limitações o que impõem ao regulador a adoção de medidas ad hoc que acaba resultando em metas de perdas pouco condizentes com a realidade das distribuidoras. Nas últimas três décadas diversos modelos matemáticos de Análise de Eficiência vêm sendo desenvolvidos com intuito de mensurar a eficiência relativa de grupos de agente. A adoção desses modelos, no entanto, tem se limitado a temas relacionados a custos operacionais e investimento. Essa dissertação tem por objetivo cobrir essa lacuna, propondo um modelo alternativo para a definição das metas regulatórias de PNT a partir de uma família particular de modelos de Análise de Eficiência – os modelos de Análise de Fronteira Estocástica (SFA). O modelo proposto foi aplicado a um painel de dados contendo observações anuais de 62 concessionárias de distribuição de energia elétrica brasileira no período de 2007 a 2017, resultando em um conjunto de metas de PNT mais aderentes às PNT reais das distribuidoras brasileiras. / [en] The reduction of non-technical losses of electrical power (NTL) are currently one of the main challenges faced by electricity utility companies in developing countries. Because it depends in part on factors not manageable by the utilities, in Brazil is passed on to consumers through electricity tariffs, following the limits defined by the National Electric Energy Agency (ANEEL). Despite the notable progress made by ANEEL, the currently used methodology by this Agency to define these limits has a number of limitations, which have impose the adoption of ad hoc measures that end up resulting in loss targets that are inconsistent with the reality of the utilities. In the last three decades, a several mathematical models of Efficiency Analysis have been developing in order to measure the relative efficiency of groups of agents. However, the adoption of these models by Regulator Bodies around the world has been limited to subjects related to operating costs and investment. This dissertation aims to fulfill this gap, proposing an alternative model for the definition of NTL regulatory targets from a particular family of Efficiency Analysis models - the Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) models. The proposed model has been applied to a data panel containing annual observations of 62 distribution concessionaires in the Brazilian electrical system from 2007 to 2017, resulting in a set of NTL targets more adherent to the real PNT of Brazilian electricity utility distributors.

Although the German framework of incentive-based energy regulation appears to be well-defined because it draws from international experience and eliminates several present drawbacks existing with revenue-cap regulation doubts of industry and politicians concerning the application of benchmarking techniques and more importantly, the future industry structure, remain. The regulation scheme is based on experience with energy sector reforms in the US due to it being a precursor in this regard, e.g. by introducing incentive-based regulation as early as 1994 and publishing the relevant data in a very detailed way. This thesis therefore brings together the two issues of certain efficiency measurement problems and the industry restructuring in Germany and the US in order to contribute to the current discussion of robust benchmarking and to provide political implications related to the industry’s structure. Therefore, the application of DEA and SFA constitutes the heart of the whole study. These techniques are applied on German electricity DSOs as well as on data for US electricity DSOs and US gas TSOs. The application to US data can then be used to derive information about business strategies and their success in a sector that is being restructured. The US experience will lead to relevant German policy implications with respect to the future structure of the energy industry in Germany. / Der deutsche Regulierungsansatz erscheint im Allgemeinen als ausgewogen, da er zum einen internationale Erfahrungen mit einbezieht und zum anderen bestehenden Schwächen der Erlös-Obergrenzenregulierung berücksichtigt. Dennoch bestehen Zweifel seitens Industrie- und Politvertretern bezüglich der Anwendung von Benchmarking-Techniken und noch bedeutsamer der zukünftigen Industriestruktur. Der regulatorische Rahmen basiert auf Erfahrungen aus der Regulierung der Energiewirtschaft aus den USA, da diese eine Vorreiterrolle in dieser Hinsicht innehaben, beispielsweise aufgrund der frühen Einführung der Anreizregulierung in 1994 und der sehr detaillierten Veröffentlichung der relevanten Daten. Diese Arbeit verknüpft daher diese zwei Aspekte zum einen der Existenz gewisser Problemfelder bei der Effizienzmessung als auch der Umstrukturierung der deutschen Industriestruktur in der Energiewirtschaft. Damit trägt sie zu der aktuellen Diskussion mit Bezug auf robustes Benchmarking bei und liefert zudem politische Implikationen bezüglich der Industriestruktur. Zu diesem Zweck steht die Anwendung der für die deutsche Regulierung der Energienetze relevanten Benchmarking-Techniken (Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) und Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA)) im Zentrum der gesamten Studie. Die empirischen Analysen beziehen sich dabei auf deutsche Elektrizitätsverteilnetzbetreiber sowie auf Elektrizitätsverteilnetzbetreibern und Ferngasgesellschaften aus den USA. Die Analysen von US Daten können dann genutzt werden, um gehaltvolle Informationen über Unternehmensstrategien und deren Erfolg in einem restrukturierten Sektor zu gewinnen. Diese Erfahrungen münden dann in Schlussfolgerungen und Empfehlungen für die deutsche Regulierung und Industriestruktur der deutschen Energienetzwirtschaft.

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