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Nonparametric linear programming tests for consistency with the hypotheses of technical efficiency and allocative efficiency for the general case of multiple output-multiple input technologies are developed in Part I. The tests are formulated relative to three kinds of technologies — convex, constant returns to scale and quasiconcave technologies. Violation indices as summary indicators of the distance of an inefficient observation from an efficient allocation are proposed. The consistent development of the violation indices across the technical efficiency and allocative efficiency tests allows us to obtain comparative measures of the degrees of technical inefficiency and pure allocative inefficiency. Constrained optimization tests applicable to cases where the producer is restricted to optimizing with respect to a subset of goods are also proposed. The latter tests yield the revealed preference-type inequalities commonly used as tests for consistency of observed data with profit maximizing or cost minimizing behavior as limiting cases. Computer programs for implementing the different tests and sample results are listed in the appendix. In part II, an empirical comparison of nonparametric and parametric measures of technical progress for constant returns to scale technologies is performed using the Canadian input-output data for the period 1961-1980. The original data base was aggregated into four sectors and ten goods and the comparison was done for each sector. If we assume optimizing behavior on the part of the producers, we can reinterpret the violation indices yielded by the efficiency tests in part I as indicators of the shift in the production frontier. More precisely, the violation indices can be considered nonparametric chained indices of technical progress. The parametric measures of technical progress were obtained through econometric profit function estimation using the generalized McFadden flexible functional form with a quadratic spline model for technical progress proposed by Diewert and Wales (1989). Under the assumption of constant returns, the index of technical change is defined in terms of the unit scale profit function which gives the per unit return to the normalizing good. The empirical results show that the parametric estimates of technical change display a much smoother behavior which can be attributed to the incorporation of stochastic disturbance terms in the estimation procedure and, more interestingly, track the long term trend in the nonparametric estimates. Part III builds on the theory of minimum wages in international trade and is a theoretical essay in the tradition of analyzing the effects of factor market imperfections on resource allocation. The comparative static responses of the endogenous variables — output levels, employment levels of fixed-price factors with elastic supply and flexible prices of domestic resources — to marginal changes in the economy's exogenous variables — output prices, fixed factor prices and endowments of flexibly-priced domestic resources -— are examined. The effect of a change in a fixed factor price on other flexible factor prices can be decomposed Slutsky-like into substitution and scale effects. A symmetry condition between fixed factor prices and flexible factor prices is obtained which clarifies the concepts of "substitutability" and "complementarity" between these two kinds of factors. As an illustration, the model is applied to the case of a devaluation in a two-sector small open economy with rigid wages and capital as specific factors. The empirical implementation of the general model for the Canadian economy is left to more able econometricians but a starting point can be the sectoral analysis performed in Part II. / Arts, Faculty of / Vancouver School of Economics / Graduate

Thesis (M.Sc. (Agricultural Economics)) -- University of Limpopo, 2020 / Table grape production plays an important role in the economy of many countries in Africa. It serves as a source of income for people who are engaged in its production and being one of the fields that is labour-intensive, thereby providing employment for many people. The aim of this study was to analyse economic efficiency of table grape production in Waterberg and Sekhukhune districts of Limpopo Province, South Africa. The study used primary data collected from semi-structured questionnaires. A sampling technique called snowball, was used in the study as this method assisted in getting those farmers that were not easily accessible. The analytical tools employed to analyse data included descriptive statistics and Stochastic Frontier Model. Findings from the study revealed that the average age of table grape farmers was 47 years. On average, household size for table grape farmers was found to be 5 members. Also, findings revealed that table grape farmers on average had a farming experience of 16 years. Average household income was found to be R47 600, 00. Furthermore, the study revealed that the average years of schooling for the table grape farmers was 15 years and only 67% of these farmers have acquired a tertiary educational level, while 33% have acquired secondary educational level. In terms of efficiency, farming experience (P<0,00), educational level (P<0,05) household size (P<0,10) and age of farmer (P<0,10) were associated with increased efficiency as they were found to be significant at 1%, 5% and 10% confidence level. The findings also revealed that quantity of grapes produced was positively influenced by Farm size (P<0,00), labour (P<0,00), pesticides used (P<0,05) , extension services (P<0,05) and fertilisers (P<0,05). Technical efficiency among farmers was found to range from 0.8 to 1, with a mean of 0.89, thus this indicated possibility of improvement in production. However, the allocative efficiency was found to range from 0.47 to 1, with a mean of 0.68, this clearly indicated that some farmers were finding it difficult to allocate their resources efficiently. On the other hand, it was found that economic efficiency ranged from 0.56 to 1, with a mean of 0.73, this indicated that most of the farmers were economically efficient. Meanwhile, some of the constraints faced by the table grape farmers included high electricity bills and labour costs, as such the introduction of prepaid electricity in the farms could reduce the strain they go through. Based on the findings from the study, it was recommended that, since the production of grapes is a male-dominated enterprise, women and youth should also participate. Participation could be encouraged through provision of learnership skills on the farms.

This dissertation studies topics in the areas of corporate finance and economic development. The first chapter, entitled Capital Quality, Productivity, and Financial Constraints: Evidence from India is co-authored with Poorya Kabir. We provide novel evidence that reduced financial constraints increase physical capital quality and, consequently, productivity. We use a project-level investment dataset from India, CapEx, with data on project cost, capacity added to the firm, and investment's product category. We measure physical capital quality using Unit Investment Cost (UIC), defined as the project cost divided by the additional capacity. We find UIC displays significant variation across firms and is substantially associated with productivity and output quality. However, higher-quality physical capital is more expensive, and without sufficient internal funds, firms cannot invest in them. We study a policy, the establishment of Debt Recovery Tribunals (DRT), which has generated staggered variation in access to external debt financing across different Indian states. We find that firms in treated states borrowed and invested more with all the increased investment coming from an increase in UIC and not from increased additional capacity. Furthermore, treated firms increased productivity and output quality, consistent with the hypothesis that a higher UIC induced by greater access to finance increased firm productivity and output quality. The effect of DRTs establishment is stronger in firms that rely more on external financing and industries with more scope for quality differentiation, a result that further supports this hypothesis. Available evidence suggests that other channels do not completely explain the increased productivity and output quality. Overall, this paper finds physical capital quality is an important determinant of productivity and output quality, and a firm's choice of physical capital quality depends on the availability of financing. The second chapter, entitled Credit Supply and Entrepreneurship in Low-Income Regions is co-authored with Mehran Ebrahimian. We show that bank credit affects entrepreneurship, but only in low-income regions. We present a novel methodology to identify credit supply shock from regional demand shock using comprehensive data on small business loans between pairs of banks and counties in the US. While there is no impact in top income quartile counties, we document that a one std credit shock is associated with 1.6 and 1.7 percentage point employment and payroll growth in newborn firms in bottom income quartile counties. We show that this impact is long-lasting; is pronounced only in newborn firms; is not just a redistribution of labor from established to newborn firms; and does not follow with a reduction in labor productivity. We estimate that a credit redistribution of $100 from high- to low-income counties results in at least $6.5 annual labor earnings in aggregate. In the third chapter, entitled Repair and Maintenance, Investment, and Financial Constraints, I study the role of repair and maintenance cost in capital accumulation which has been mostly ignored in finance and investment literature. I show that repair and maintenance cost is large relative to investment, persistent, and could substitute investment in some circumstances. Empirically I find that the repair and maintenance cost relative to the stock of capital is substantially higher for small and financially constrained firms. I claim that cheap upfront repair and maintenance activity makes it attractive to financially constrained firms. A stylized model of financially constrained firms with endogenous choice of maintenance vs. investment rationalizes the empirical findings. Overall, this paper introduces firm-level maintenance cost data to the literature, investigates its relation to investment, and documents several empirical properties of repair and maintenance costs.

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This research analyzes a class of fixed-cycle production lines. The main concern is the productivity of the lines. Productivity is defined to be the average number of items produced per unit time in the long run. Closed form solutions are derived for the productivity of a two-machine line with dependent machines. These solutions are used to obtain bounds on the productivity of longer lines. The transition matrix associated with an N-machine line is shown to be stochastically monotone yielding monotone increasing lower bounds and monotone decreasing upper bounds which converge to the productivity of the line. These results are then extended to include lines with Markov machines. With the transition matrix in this case having a conditional monotone property, the monotonicity of the bounds is maintained. / Ph. D.

This research investigates the conceptual relationships among quality costs, productivity, and quality proposed by Garvin, Juran, and Feigenbaum. It provides an empirical evaluation of these relationships by applying a specific linear programming approach, namely, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), to various production specifications developed for a linerboard manufacturing case study. The research investigates the changes in the efficiency values when various models derived from these qualities, productivity, and cost specifications are evaluated. The use of DEA as a method to support the modeling of these relationships is also discussed. The I.D.E.A.S. software program developed by Ali is used to implement DEA in the research. / Master of Science

This study examined three broad areas which related to plant level productivity in two apparel manufacturing plants. First, external factors, specifically unemployment and seasonal cycles, were examined. Second, internal organizational factors involving the size of the organization over time and the absenteeism rate within the company were studied. Finally, after holding constant the effects of the above factors, this study examined the impact of two types of positive incentive programs on employee productivity. It was hypothesized that there would be a positive relationship between unemployment and plant productivity. Partial support was found in one plant. A relationship between productivity level and seasonal cycles was also hypothesized. Generally, season was related to productivity, although the patterns for these relationships were very plant specific. The hypothesis that there would be a negative relationship between productivity rate and absenteeism rate received support in one plant only. It was further hypothesized that there would be a negative relationship between productivity level and size of the plant over time. The results for both plants were very different; however neither were in support of the hypothesis in the predicted direction. To evaluate the impact of the two productivity improvement programs, mean differences (adjusted for covariates and autocorrelation) were compared for three time periods: before, during, and after program implementation. In the Salem plant the time periods before and during the program had significantly higher productivity rates when compared to the period after the program ended. In the Jefferson plant the productivity level was slightly higher during program implementation when compared to the time period before the program. No other significant differences were found. / M.S.

El presente trabajo de investigación ha sido desarrollado en la empresa de Corporación Arellano Perú SAC la cual se dedica a la fabricación y distribución de pegamento para mayólica gris, dentro de su proceso tienen cuellos de botella de 2 y 5 min en las áreas de pesado y mezclado. Lo que no les permite satisfacer con la demanda establecida y a su vez generando pérdidas económicas a la empresa. Por ello se planteó como objetivo general simular el proceso de producción del pegamento gris de para aumentar la productividad, iniciando con un diagnóstico de la situación actual en que se encuentra el área de producción de la empresa Corporación Arellano Perú SAC, donde se propuso mejoras del proceso actual de producción a través del software ProModel y finalmente, se evaluó la productividad del antes y después de los cambios propuestos. La metodología de la presente investigación es de tipo aplicada, es decir, analiza cada etapa del proceso, tomando nota los tiempos de llegada de la materia prima hasta la finalización del producto. La simulación arrojo como resultado que aumento a 10 la cantidad de bolsas producidas por minuto, con una producción total de 82,73 bolsas gris al día y una reducción en los tiempos de 15,52% / The present research work has been developed in the company of Corporación Arellano Perú SAC which is dedicated to the manufacture and distribution of glue for gray majolica, within its process they have bottlenecks of 2 and 5 min in the areas of weighing and mixed. What does not allow them to meet the established demand and in turn generating economic losses to the company. For this reason, the general objective was to simulate the production process of gray glue to increase productivity, starting with a diagnosis of the current situation in which the production area of the company Corporación Arellano Perú SAC is found, where improvements to the process were proposed. current production process through the ProModel software and finally, the productivity of before and after the proposed changes was evaluated. The methodology of the present investigation is of an applied type, that is, it analyzes each stage of the process, taking note of the arrival times of the raw material until the end of the product. The simulation showed as a result that the number of bags produced per minute increased to 10, with a total production of 82.73 gray bags per day and a reduction in times of 15.52%.